SushiOo Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in North Port

Old world building, Austin's building. Now SushiOo.

Date 08/01/25 Hour 18:00 6pm

Appetizer: meat balls on skewer. Main course: (1)shrimp tempura. (1)shrimp and scallops hibachi Sides (1) side salad (1) clear soup

Drinks (1) diet Pepsi (1) water

To go order was also placed. (2) Boston sushi roll (1) spicy tuna roll

We were greated by a very friendly receptionist upon entering the restaurant. The manager and one wait staff member which were also at the front receptionist station also greated us as well. Very inviting first impression. We were sat immediately at a about 70% full capacity dinning room. The dinning room has a kinda 1/2 finished feel to it. There was nothing on the walls.... no paintings or anything... empty. The booths looked like something from a 80's strip club and didnt fit a Japanese restaurant. They had installed new track lighting but the holes for the old recessed lights were still open with electrical junction boxes visible. After around 10 minutes our waiter stopped by our table to let us know he would be right back with us. Within a few minutes he did return to take our drink order and asked if we had any questions about the menu. Very polite young man. We ordered our drinks and the waiter left us to get the drinks. A short time later he returned with our drinks and took our dinner order. We ordered our dinners, a side salad and a soup as our side dishes with our meals. We also ordered the meatball skewers as a appetizer. Those two sides were promptly brought to our table within just a few minutes. But unfortunately they were out of the meatballs skewers and were informed by the waiter that all they had was the chicken ball skewers. I told him that the chicken ones would be fine. Both the sides were great. The soup was hot and it was more like a bowl then a cup. The salad had a ginger dressing on a bed of lettuce with a tomato slice. The salad was indeed way to small but it was good all the same. Soon after finishing off our soup and salad one main course was brought to our table. Shrimp tempura and veggies with white rice. Cooked perfectly. Dinner number one was a win. But...

The time was 18:30.

This is where the problems started and why we will not return nor can I recommend this restaurant at this time. Waiter came by to check if everything was okay and if we needed anything. I asked where my dinner and appetizer was? He said "My Bad" and left to go check. A few minutes after that he came by again and I reminded him about our appetizer. About 10 more minutes later he brought out the most disgusting chicken balls I have ever had. Spit it out on the spot. NEVER HAVE I DONE THIS IN A RESTAURANT. So gross. I asked him again to check on my entry. He said he was going to remove the chicken appetizer from the bill and tell the manager what is happening. The manager promptly came to our table. I told him I don't want any freebies or discounts immediately. I feel that a lot of people try to take advantage of establishments be it a restaurant to a retail store just to get something for nothing. I'm not one of those people. I wanted him to know this upfront. I want good friendly service, food in a timely manner and at a reasonable price. Pretty basic. He listened to the situation and then left to the kitchen.

Time 18:44 (6:44) 13min after entry number 1 was brought to our table. Unacceptable.

a couple minutes later he returned with my dinner. The scallops were like chunks of a used Goodyear tire and the shrimp were the same. The veggies were done perfectly and so was the lo main. But by this time my wife had finished her dinner. I finished as fast as I could to keep my wife from having to wait for me. When the waiter brought the bill the chicken balls were still on the check , so my wife asked him why and he said he forgot. He left and came back with a revised bill of $75 . Maybe in a few months they will get thier ducks in a row but until...

This was my second visit to Sushi O since they recently opened. The first time I went they had only been open 2 days so I didn't think it was fair to write a review. Now a few weeks later I decided to visit again. The decor is great albeit a bit too bright, at least during the day. I wish they had some sort of tasteful coverings over the large windows that look out onto the rather unattractive parking lot. Regardless, they definitely did a nice job of updating the place and it's a vast improvement from what it used to be. I was disappointed that the only menu available at 12:30 on a Saturday afternoon is the dinner menu. Lunch is lunch - dinner is dinner - period. I don't care what day of the week it is. Like most folks I tend to eat far less during my mid day meal than my evening meal, no matter the day of the week, so I resent having to pay more just because it's a Saturday. Nonetheless, I ordered the all you can eat special which at $35 is about 30% more than the lunch price of $25 and as far as I can tell the offerings were basically the same. I appreciate the fact that everything is prepared to order but the restaurant was far from full and it took forever to receive my food. My server and her busser provided excellent and attentive service - the problem was with the kitchen which was really slow. The food was good if not outstanding but certainly met my expectations for this type of restaurant and I think it's a bit better than Tokyo Sushi in Pt. C. One thing to note, for my main course I ordered 4 of the specialty rolls and they are huge - far bigger than what one would typically expect which creates a bit of a problem when dining at Sushi O. I was only able to finish 75% of what I was served and had to plead my case for the waitress to not charge me $15 for an a-la carte roll based upon the restaurants policy (that apparently is strictly enforced) which they have in place to prevent guests from over ordering and wasting food. I respect their policy and understand the reasoning but they really should give some indication of how oversized these specialty rolls are; they're both extra long and fat - see attached photo and note that 4 rolls equals 32 oversized pieces of sushi presented on an 18" diameter coupe platter. If I had any idea of how absurdly large they were I would have ordered no more than 3 and most likely only 2. So In summary I think this place has lots of potential but there are a few bugs to be worked out before they are ready for "Prime Time" when season hits in a few...

So first, I'll start with the negatives to give a clear understanding of why it was rated the way it was. First negative for the Sweet Potato Roll, the Sweet Potatos were a bit undercooked, they weren't very soft to chew through and were also visibly undercooked. (Update: 2 of my pictures now show from a certain direction what that specific roll was.) Secondly, it was taking way too long to make the rolls, especially compared to other sushi places around, but ill compare it Tokyo since its also an AYCE Sushi restaurant. It was taking about 20 minutes to make the rolls that we had ordered tonight. Of the rolls we ordered i think only 1 or 2 of them are rolls we've never seen at other restaurants, however, every other roll was one that we've seen and have ordered before, but it's never taken that long to make 4 rolls at other restaurants. Implementing a time limit then having it wasted by taking 20 minutes to make the rolls feels a bit too planned out. The positives: aside from the Sweet Potato Roll, everything else was super delicious. The Rock and Roll was definitely one of the favorites we decided on, of the rolls we ordered. Our server/waitress, Makayla, was really nice, very social with us, made sure we got drink refills when we looked like we needed one. Prices for the sushi are very decent. Atmosphere was pretty nice.. upbeat and lively. Though this particular detail didnt bother me very much, but rather my girlfriend, she said it was too bright inside, however we rated overall a 5 for atmosphere because it wasnt that big of a deal to us.

The food we ordered: From me: Clear Soup, Naruto Roll, Sweet Potato Roll, Rainbow Roll, Texas Roll, Tokyo Roll, and 1 Spicy Grilled Salmon Onigiri, and 1 Egg and Krab Onigiri.

From my Girlfriend: Edamame, Snowman Roll, Sweet Tooth Roll, Philadelphia Roll and the Rock and Roll.

Overall we did enjoy the food as well as the service, just gotta work on making the rolls faster. We would more than likely come back again to try more of the rolls and other foods we didnt...