Wild Wasabi Japanese Cuisine — Restaurant in Lynnwood

A Disappointing Return After Years Away

I was incredibly excited to return to this sushi restaurant after several years away, but unfortunately, my experience left much to be desired. What I encountered was some of the sloppiest sushi preparation and presentation I've ever seen.

The Food Experience

I ordered three rolls, and two of them were practically drowning in chili sauce. The overwhelming sweetness completely masked every other flavor – the smoked salmon, shrimp, and all the delicate nuances that make sushi special were completely lost. All I could taste was that overpowering sweet chili sauce, which defeated the entire purpose of ordering sushi.

The Tai Tai roll, while tasty in its simplicity, suffered from extremely sloppy presentation. The roll was so poorly constructed that ingredients were falling out before I could even take a bite. It was clear that proper rolling technique had been abandoned in favor of speed.

Adding to the careless preparation, they simply threw whole pieces of cilantro on top as garnish rather than finely chopping it. Eating large, uncut cilantro leaves with sushi was unpleasant and showed a complete disregard for proper garnish technique – another example of corners being cut in the kitchen.

Service and Atmosphere

The restaurant itself maintains its elegant atmosphere, and the menu reads like something you'd find at a fine dining establishment in Bellevue – which is genuinely a compliment to their ambitions. The waitstaff were present and kind throughout the meal, though there were some minor professionalism concerns with the uniform standards.

The Real Issue: Craftsmanship

Watching the young kitchen crew (who all appeared to be in their twenties), I could see they were rushing through orders despite the restaurant not being particularly busy. This speaks to a larger problem: the loss of traditional sushi craftsmanship. Sushi is an art form that requires patience, precision, and respect for the ingredients. What I witnessed was a clear lack of training in these fundamental principles.

The decline in technique was so noticeable that I couldn't finish my meal. While I considered asking to only pay for what I could actually eat, I chose not to create a scene. However, I did express my concerns to the waitress.

Final Thoughts

This restaurant has all the right elements – elegant atmosphere, ambitious menu, and attentive service – but they're failing at the most crucial aspect: the food itself. The younger generation of sushi chefs seems to lack both the training and appreciation for the artistry that makes sushi special.

Until they address the fundamental issues with food preparation and invest in proper training for their kitchen staff, I cannot recommend this establishment, despite its potential and...

I have only eaten the food from this place once - and not in the restaurant, since we ordered it for delivery via Amazon Prime. However, the response from the restaurant about our order is more than enough to deserve a 1 star review.

We placed our order on December 28th. I cannot recall what my wife ordered, but I ordered the katsu curry - my ultimate favorite Japanese dish. Our food arrived hot and fresh and promptly, so props to Amazon for that. However, I was extremely disappointed to open my container and see they sent me regular tonkatsu - no curry anywhere to be seen.

Unfortunately this brings up a few issues: first, the katsucurry is more expensive! But second, since this is done through Amazon Prime, it's not like they can simply send their own delivery person out to fix it. Either way, my wife called to let them know what happened.

The host/manager we talked to was apologetic and then put my wife on hold to find out what to do - she said since it was through Amazon, she couldn't simply refund the difference. Lindsey was on hold for about 10 minutes. She finally hung up and called back, figuring she had been forgotten about... which she had. The same host/manager apologized again and offered to send us a gift card to help compensate the difference in price as well as the bad experience. We graciously accepted.

Now... this was in December. At the end of February, we still had not received our gift card. I've gotten gift cards from huge corporations faster than from this family-owned business. Lindsey called again to check on the status of this, and got in touch with the same host/manager. She acted surprised and shocked - "You didn't receive it?!" - confirmed our address, and said she would mail it out again.

It has now been three months since the initial incident and one month since the follow up phone call. We have received nothing.

Now, I can say the food we did get back in December was delicious. And in the end, sending us the wrong food wouldn't be a big deal... except that we have now been blatantly lied to twice. We could easily walk to this place if we had to, so you can't possibly expect us to think a gift card takes over a month to come, or magically gets lost in the mail twice. Our next step will be to stop in in person -- even if we plan to never eat here again after using the non-existence gift card, it is definitely the principle of things. Don't lie to your customers or string them along. I am a firm believer in the customer is not always right, but I am a firmer believer in keeping your word, which this place...

Pretty good sushi! Not exceptionally amazing or anything but I'd say above average slightly above 3 but rounding down. Got delivery so had to keep that in mind. Presentation wasn't perfect or anything, but taste was solid. I'm not sure what the best things to order were, so I opted for a variety throughout their categories to form an opinion. Rolls were a bit smaller though, so value was a factor in my judgment.

Kamikaze Roll Spicy tuna, avocado, shrimp tempura, and salmon. The main contents were the tempura as the roll was smaller and the tempura sat in the center making up the majority of the roll.

Sake Sashimi (salmon) Standard salmon sashimi, got two orders (each order is 3 pieces).

House Roll Spicy tuna, imitation crab meat, cucumber, avocado, and some albacore. Probably the best roll here, balanced taste but still fairly small.

Fire Fighter Roll Tempura roll with some unagi, imitation crab meat, and avocado. Nice faint crunch but relatively soggy from sauce. Maybe the least favorite roll but delivery time may have contributed.

Salmon Tower These towers were the most unexpected items, so obviously I had to try one. It's a thick sushi roll basically. Bottom layer is seaweed and sushi rice. In the center is a thick layer of imitation crab meat. Top layer is avocado, salmon, and roe. Now, it looks fancy and all, but the "usability" and experience isn't too practical. You could opt to cut it like a pizza and share pieces that are balanced or you could treat it like a burger to eat alone I guess. The heavy layer of imitation crab meat does feel like a lot which overwhelms most of the taste though.

Overall, good sushi and I'm sure dine in creates a better experience. Would like to try the larger plate entrees to...