Hot Tuna Sushi Bar and Grille — Restaurant in Oldsmar

I had high expectations going into this place because I had three friends tell me how amazing this place is. Well I have issues with it. Way too many problems. Like most of my reviews I will say the good and the bad and I will start with the good. It does have cushion the bench seating which I love on the outside of the restaurant however there needs to be more cushioning it's pretty flat. The sake was nice boiling hot. Of course a great selection on the menu. This place has very good lighting I think that's the best appeal of it. Now For the bad. It's not even in my top 10 around Florida for the sashimi dish. The pieces are very small and shredded and it's put on a plane plate not even a piece of art. Going around Florida I've had to see me delivered in boats and inside crabs and all kinds of cool cucumber artwork and flowers and everything. This was as plain as it gets. Next when I order tea they give me one tea bag and a gigantic carafe of water are you kidding me I could not even taste the tea and they only have green tea that is ridiculous where are the different flavors of hot tea? When You pay your bill they want you to scan the code and pay it through your phone however no app should make you accept cookies if you don't want them. Sorry they need to use a different pay app. There's a sign in the bathroom that says cleanliness is important but they can't even clean the exhaust fan which is absolutely disgusting and also guess what the toilet is broken and nobody's in there fixing it. There's water all over the floor leading to the bathroom and nobody's mopping it up. Lastly we shouldn't have to ask for napkins over and over again just provide us with enough napkins. What's up with the soy sauce? It's A funky teriyaki sauce... Not even soy we could not get over the flavor. There's like terrible parking here. Sorry folks I know you love this place but it's got way too many problems. Once you eat at places that have good parking real colorful sashimi dishes artistry real cleanliness... Real good flavors you won't want to eat here. If you do bring your own tea bags and your own soy sauce....

Dinner at Hot Tuna was a date night to remember,

A customer of mine had recommended hot tuna to me a couple of weeks ago and he wrote down some of his favorite things on the menu for me on a sticky note. I was interested but not motivated enough until he started showing me photos of the dishes he had just eaten earlier that day. If I had been asked to guess I would have said they looked too expensive for me a college student to afford to take his girlfriend out for. Good thing I was wrong!

My girlfriend and I have now been here a couple of times, for lunch and for dinner. At the time of this review, they are still doing a special most days from 5-7pm on a reduced menu they have cheaper sushi rolls and sashimi. My girlfriend is big into sushi and is very picky, through her I have learned to have high expectations for sushi as well. That being said, this place will not let you down.

She had the wonton soup, I had the stuffed mushrooms. We can’t get enough of their starters here they are delicious and well presented. The staff is very nice and on top of everything. The tables are set with a recycled paper tablecloth, which makes things feel very clean. We are children at heart and we actually played hangman and tick tack toe on the tablecloth while waiting for our appetizers.

I tried the caterpillar roll at the suggestion of our waiter the first time we ate here and I’ve become an addict. Her favorite roll is the California roll, and she doesn’t like cream cheese on her sushi which makes a lot of rolls a dealbreaker for her. Luckily nothing is pre-rolled here and we ordered everything -cream cheese!

We will be coming back here as often as we can for our...

I've dined in at Hot Tuna a handful of times. Every time, the food is tasty and they get it out to us fairly quickly. I do find myself a little disappointed with portion size, but not egregiously so. In general, the service is always pleasant and the atmosphere is great. Not too loud and the lighting is elegant.

Tonight though.... I had a horrible experience. I ordered the Tokyo Stir-fry (chicken), which I've had before and enjoyed well-enough. I'm a big udon fan, so it's pretty hard to disappoint me with an udon dish. Tonight, my food was served and my very first bite sent me reeling and questioning if I was having a stroke or something. The broccoli I put in my mouth tasted like it had been marinated in liquid smoke. This bite tasted horrendously burnt. By the grace of God, I managed to swallow it and not spit it out while my family was enjoying their respective meals. I thought maybe it was just that piece, but the next few bites all proved to taste (although not look) burnt to inedibility. The only decent-tasting part of my dinner were the noodles, but I couldn't justify going through with my meal at that point.

Our server, I don't remember her name but she was blonde with a cloth headband, was kind enough to remove the dish from our tab and offer to make me something else. Between my limited diet and the fact that my family was already done with their meals when she came to check in, I didn't want to wait and try for something else. I came home and made a palette cleanser. Looks like a ramen...