Sushi Ninja — Restaurant in McMinnville

The atmosphere is fresh and elegant, the sushi made fresh to order with all of the sushi items capable of being gluten free (just ask) if not all ready. They also have gluten free soy sauce in packets, just ask. All their sauces are made in house and are free of gluten, including their eel sauce! A rarity in my experience. The service was excellent. I have several allergies and keep a business card with all of them on it, Becky took the card and checked everything I asked about for my allergens and made sure I didn't have any other common allergies. She was attentive but not too attentive. The sushi was delicious! I had the black widow roll and something else but that widow roll was where it was at for me! The Wasabi is good too. The prices are very reasonable. They even have a very affordable lunch option keeping this at the top of my list for a satisfying lunch. Their chopsticks were of good quality too, thick, smooth, and rounded with no splintering. They have a drive thru option, just pull up just past the door. The drive thru can sometimes block the door a bit, depending on the car. I would recommend patrons be considerate of this when using the drive thru option.

Room for improvement: The menu doesn't state anything about their gluten free options and doesn't say anything about it being available. This would go a long way in navigating the menu for such a common allergen. None of the side items I inquired about were gluten free (including all of their salads and the miso soup, so sad about the miso soup!) The acoustics make for a very loud experience with just one person talking. I would recommend padding their art with acoustics foam or adding art installations with acoustic foam. It would help it sound as intimate as it feels. Maybe even padded boards hanging above each table to dappen conversations and prevent them from bouncing around so much. The parking lot is tiny and not well maintained. I hope they can negotiate something with the landlord because they deserve better. This isn't enough to keep me away from a new favorite spot tho!

Overall, I would recommend and will be going again!

Update 3.29.23 Brought my husband in today and Sushi Ninja did not disappoint! SO good. I had the tempura master roll, black widow roll and my husband had the crisp shrimp roll, Oregon roll, and double shrimp roll. The tempura master roll was hands down our favorite. Everything was so flavorful and fresh and well balanced that soy sauce was not needed. They did upgrade the gf soy sauce in a vessel they bring out to you, rather than the packets. I love this place. They also replaced the imitation crab with real crab to keep it gluten...

I was initially thrilled to see a ramen place open in town, but my excitement quickly turned to disappointment. While the decor was nicely done, the experience left much to be desired.

Firstly, I was let down by the lack of spicy beef on the menu. The waitress, although very sweet, failed to check on us until we were nearly finished with our meal. This lack of attentiveness was frustrating, especially since all three bowls of ramen we ordered were cold. Once you grt your food, you are pretty much left on your own. The eggs felt like they had just come out of the fridge, which was quite off-putting.

The water, no ice... was surprisingly warmer than our ramen.

I tried to wait and stop eating so I could inform the waitress, but she never came to check on us. As a result, we ended up eating our ramen cold. The taste was just okay, but it's clear the flavors would have been much better if the food had been served hot. Especially at $18 per bowl it wasn't worth the price

Overall, the experience was disappointing, and I hope they can address these issues...

Don't be fooled by the 5- and 4- star reviews. This place is bad. My husband and I like Chinese food and were looking for a decent dinner place. We came there 5 minutes after they opened and were greeted by the owner (we assumed). The place was freezing and its interior was dark and uninviting. The owner was the only waitress at that moment and we had to wait on her for everything, starting from hot tea (which was the cheapest black tea you can imagine) and ending with our check. Add for the food, it was pretty bad as well- hot&sour soup was too sweet, fried rice- mushy, sweet&sour chicken and fried shrimp-too greasy and plain, fortune cookies-stale...And by the time we got our entree it wasn't even hot! Also, I did have a bad heartburn after the dinner. In a word, it was the biggest Chinese restaurant disappointment in my life. Do not...