Tony's Sushi — Restaurant in Ocala

We called ahead to see what kind of wait there was and we were told 15 to 20 minutes, put down our number since we were only three minutes away and they called us before we were even to the front door that our hibachi table was ready. There were already people waiting at half the table with their drinks being served we sat down and gave her our drink orders and they brought my husband out a beer instead of a hot sake. No big deal, they took it back and brought him his ordered drink. Our waitress would disappear for long wiles so my husband would flag someone else down when necessary. I placed an allergy order for myself to be made in the back of the kitchen since I cannot have cross contact on the hibachi grill but honestly was super worried they understood how sever the allergies were. At this point orders have been taken and what not and the baby and i are still standing waiting for his high chair. They brought a booster seat. My son loved that idea! So he tried the booster seat for the first time. The 2nd waitress we used more often came out to ask about the sesame allergy and they asked if i would feel better if they didn’t use sesame on the grill at all? Yes absolutely if you can not use them at our table that’s great but I still need food made in a now pan in back. We waited at least 20 minutes and my food arrived but still no hibachi chef. The baby and I started eating and the nervous chef comes out. Did they make him cook my food before the rest of the table? Seems silly but maybe! Could have been his first day? He flung his spatula and it went bonkers and it hit the cup next to me. He apologizes and gets even more nervous. I felt bad. Couldn’t get the onions to stack. Lit the whole volcano on fire rather than a bit of smoke and my kids were scared. His fire show was way too hot and the oil popped a lot more than we’re used to for hibachi. Then he’s scrambling the egg right in front of me and it’s all kinda flinging about and we have egg allergies so I was worried it would get on our safe food. I expected my food to be bland and yes it was since all i could have was salt but the rice came in a tiny bowl and the portion sizes were very small. I had no leftovers to take home of my allergy meal and my group brought home what they had left. Wasn’t impressed. Maybe he was new? Maybe it was just a busy night? Just thought service was slow and the hibachi show wasn’t much of a show. The food wasn’t anything stellar either. I think for the price it was...

Here is my first experience at Tony's.

The Inside was hotter then it was outside. We didn't even have the grill on yet at the hibachi side. Thankfully we a singular fan for the large room.

Despite it being busy on a father's day the food came out in reasonable time. The miso and salads came out good time. How ever it seems the quality was questionable. The seaweed in the miso was a little odd tasting and texture compared to other times. It seems two of our 4 bowls of miso the seaweed was bad, spoiled, or perhaps stored wrong.

Our drinks it seems we caught it during bad time sprite, dr pib, and coke was off tasting. We all switched to sweet tea which was delicious. However the refills ended up being a bad batch or perhaps didn't portion out the sugar properly it did not taste right and we settled for water afterwards not finishing our tea.

At one point during the salads and misos a server (not ours) was complaining loudly about the heat. Stood in front of our only fan and begin wiping her forehead and armpits with paper towels while we are eating. So happy my family didn't noticed or someone might of flipped.

The saving grace of this experience was Jason the Chef. He maintained his position in the entertainment and quality despite the harsh conditions and made us laugh, smile, and entertained during his segment. I ordered extra veggies on my plate it seemed as if I got the same amount as everyone else despite the bill charging me extra veggies. One member of our group didn't get their chicken they ordered but the chef was able to fix that up for him before he left in a reasonable time frame.

The bill came to be little bit over 300 plus tip chef and server equals nearly 400. My card got declined despite I knowing I had money. Then we had to try two other cards. All declined at first was kinda embarrassing in front of my family to hear my card got declined "due to a block on not enough funds" however it seems to have been something on their side they had to resolve after few attempts we made it through.

As we left and drove off. We passed a fancy looking panda express and we joked about the quality would of been better there for our special occasion and less expensive. If family wants hibachi for next special occasion I'm sure we will agree to drive a little...

I had heard a lot about Tony sushi and how great it was. So it was a real disappointment. First of all when I open the front door of a restaurant and it is dirty, not just one or two smudges but greasy, handprints and a film of dirt, I should always remember to turn around and skip it. But since it got such great reviews I went in. Truly you can see at one time this was a very beautifully designed restaurant, however it now looks like it has been ridden hard and put up wet. It needs a thorough deep deep deep clean cleaning. The counter of the sushi bar sits way too low. The point of sitting at the sushi bar is that you can watch them prepare the fish. The height of this counter puts you way below the action. The waitstaff was very pleasant and mostly very efficient however I ordered hot tea which came in a big dirty mug. In a nice Japanese restaurant you expect a pot of tea and a Japanese cup to drink it out of. A clean cup. The fact that the rim of the cup was dirty right where you put your lip with a big glob of something didn't help. The food: I must say the miso soup was some of the best I have had. Although miso is usually included when you order sushi or negiri, it was not included in the price at tonys. The yellowtail had a nice consistency, but a distinct flavor of diesel fuel. (This may not be Tony's fault, I have noticed some other Pacific seafood trending in that direction nevertheless they probably should not offer it). The salmon roe looked old and wilted, and did not have the fresh explosion on the tongue that you expect, it was edible. The flying fish egg was tasteless. The egg, I can never remember the name, was a little tough, had crevices in it which probably means it is dry and was missing that delicate sweetness that makes it so charming. The California roll was surprisingly better than most.

I have eaten sushi and New York, Miami, San Francisco, Albuquerque, St Augustine and lots of places in between. My suggestion is that Tony's Sushi is not as good as Publix's. Publix's selection is limited, but it is fresher and much cleaner. And it has a decent variety.I will start shopping around for other sushi places in Ocala although at this point publix...