Sushi Q Elkridge — Restaurant in Maryland

I probably shouldn't have raised my expectations by reading all the glowing reviews for how great a strip mall, chain restaurant, sushi shop, was before going...

This was my first visit to ANY of the "Sushi Q" chain locations. Tucked away in an off the beaten path, small strip mall in Elkridge, this is a place I've driven by for years but never seriously considered stopping at.

I was looking for local alternatives to my regular Columbia-centric sushi haunts and Sushi Q popped up with tons of 5 star reviews. I have to admit, that's the ONLY reason I ever would have stopped here given the odd location and the fact that it's a "chain restaurant", which I typically avoid like the plague. (This visit was made on a Sunday afternoon around 2:00pm when it wasn't crowded at all).

First impressions were that it is a small but clean sushi restaurant with a generously large sushi bar for the overall size of the place, and a handful of tables for couples and groups. After that, everything else becomes a downhill slide...

The waitress who came to me quickly but seemed genuinely disinterested in taking my order seemed bored and unwilling to make any eye contact as she stared around the room and made me repeat my selections multiple times. This is probably why she got my order wrong...

When my order came out she quickly dropped it in front of me without a word, spun around, and quickly went back to chatting with one of the other employees at the register. (Admittedly, I didn't complain about the missing items on my order. I just took it as is rather than trying to get her attention again).

I only ordered ala carte Sashimi, which was presented nicely, but looked pretty anemic portion-wise... Most sushi places in the area give you 3 pieces of fish if you order Sashimi vs. the 2 they give you if you order sushi with rice. Not at Sushi Q... On top of that, 2 of the 5 items I ordered, (of the ones that actually showed up), were reeeally thinly sliced as compared to the rest. Literally like a quarter of the thickness of the others, (Mackerel is one that I remembered).

I probably could have overlooked all these deficiencies if, like the reviews suggested, that the prices were low a Sushi Q. But when the check arrived, there was no discernable lower pricing as justification for the skimpy portions or the disinterested wait staff. I paid just as much as I would have at a number of other sushi restaurants in the Columbia area that provide more generous portions and much more inviting and friendly wait staff.

As for making a second visit to see if this was just a one off bad day at Sushi Q... I'm gonna have to give that...

I’ll start this review first by saying that this place was once a favorite spot for me to have a nice sushi dinner. Been here several times and had the same experience that most reviews have said. Good service, complimentary soup and dessert cake, and relaxing atmosphere. However, tonight’s visit was literally the opposite.

Service: I walked in and had to seat myself and my date. After waiting 10 minutes or so, I had to ask the waitress for menus. The food came pretty fast. When our appetizer arrived, I was expecting the waitress to come back with some chopsticks or forks, but instead she just disappeared to the back kitchen. It wasn’t until she came back out, that I had to wave her down and ask for a fork or chopsticks. As one of the dishes came out, I had ask for some extra plates, which literally took 10 mins for someone to bring me. What made the experience worse was we never got our drinks during the whole dinner. I literally stared at my waitress waiting to see if she would come by and check our table, which never happen (if so she would noticed we didn’t have our drinks).

Food quality: The sushi we order weren’t so flavorful as previous times. The noodle dish was just tasteless.

Conclusion: I would say that after tonight’s experience, I wouldn’t come back, nor would I recommend this place to any of my friends. The staff just looks miserable working there. I always try to maintain some politeness to the staff even when the service sucks because I understand how hard it can be serving, especially when you have rude customers, but I was never rude and expected a basic level of service which tonight this waitress failed to provide. What really set me off was when I asked for the bill, I was charged for the drinks that never came! You would figure any restaurant would bring the drinks first, but that wasn’t the case tonight. Lastly, when it came to paying the bill, it didn’t take long for someone to approach me quickly with the card machine.

*I am not writing this release my frustration. I am writing this in hopes that this restaurant bring their service back to where it was months ago when I last came. In my opinion, your food can be mediocre, but your service must be good. The fact that I literally cancelled my dessert order and asked for the check to rush out of this...

I read the reviews, every review raved about how wonderful the sushi is, how fresh it is, how amazingly delicious it is. I am not a one time customer and say hey this is the best. I visit a place 3-4 times throughout a three-week time period. I must admit. The joint is nicely decorated and adorned with Asian art, the music is soft and calming, the chefs in full view for all to marvel at their artistry, and the waitresses neatly dressed in matching Sushi Q shirts. There must have been a food critic in on my first visit, because the the fish was fresh, the rice was soft, the portions were just right. I ordered a little of everything. Even some of the crowd favorites. Amazing textures, flavor, if you never had fresh fish then you don't know what I am talking about. For days later I decided to take a colleague of mine. I had been raving about this place for days. What a let down. I was so embarrassed, the food took a complete 180, everything tasted a day old. Not even the yumyum sauce tasted yum. The fish was rubbery, the rice had the consistency of it being reheated and then left to sweat. The shrimp, I just took off and placed to the side. We paid got up and left. A couple days later my colleague contacted me. Said he read the review's. He said maybe it was just an off day. So we invited a few more people. The following Wednesday. The results were even worse. I decided to give them one more chance. A week later, which was last night. Let's just say, I will never go there again. Why did I give them 2 Stars. Based solely off of my...