Sushi Time — Restaurant in Raleigh

Welcome back to another sushi review by the Ginga Ninja!!! 🫚🧑🏼‍🦰🥷😂

Tonight, we are reviewing Sushi Time! Located in Raleigh, NC, off Falls of Neuse and Strickland road.

That said, my wife and I were in the area and just wanted a good-sized snack if you will 😅 and one of our go-to's is Sushi, so I hot Google to see what was around.. Sushi Time came up, and based on the good / decent reviews, food pics, and moderate pricing, we decided to pop in and give them a whirl!

That said, it was odd to walk in at 5:30 p.m. and only see 1 other couple in a restaurant that could easily sit 60-80 🫣🤔 but we sat down anyway.

Our server Gabriel was really nice and accommodating, and the bartender, who was likely tue manager, was also quite hospitable, so I will give credit where credit is due.

The restaurant itself was rather bland.. Just a sushi bar, some older looking tables that were too close together (make sure you get a booth if you go), and blue walls.. It just didn't have any character or sense of "this is our business, who we are, are, and what they're about."

At any rate, we ordered a bottle of hot sake, a plate of crispy gyoza, and I believe it was a 16-piece deluxe sashimi plate as well.

The crispy gyoza came out piping hot and were certainly tasty but were quite small compared to traditional gyoza or even those I've had at most other restaurants.

The sashimi wasn't bad, but anyone who eats a lot of sashimi knows it should be served around a certain temperature range.. Ours came out, not only very cold, which means they are only trying to preserve it as long as they can, but it tasted just a little a little fishier than what I'm accustomed to. Credit for the REAL fresh ginger, though (not that pink stuff soaked in pickled sugar water).

I'm sure we are a little spoiled, though, as we typically go to places such as M Sushi, Elements, Waraji, Sushi Mon, City Market Sushi, etc..

At any rate, here's a couple photos for everyone.

This is the Ginga Ninja, and I approve this...

I have eaten at this place several times before and I would’ve given the rating a higher star but on my most recent visit I quickly realized that I did not want to eat at the restaurant anymore!

Upon arriving for dinner with my daughter, we ordered buy one get one Sushi (the bagel roll to be exact). We ordered crab wonton and shrimp hibachi. When the crab arrives, they were overcooked. I kindly asked the server to bring a new batch. And within minutes, he brought a new batch that was undercooked and cold. A few minutes later he broke my daughter’s shrimp hibachi that included four shrimp (and a LOT of onions) based on our physical count and asked the waiter to correct the dish that cost almost $20! The server took the dish back to the kitchen in which the kitchen responded That “there were actually seven shrimp and not four”—- How disgusting for you to counter back in such a passive aggressive way and not be genuinely concerned to correct this for the PAYING customer!!!

Once we received this response, I told the waiter I no longer wanted the Hibachi and I would keep the BOGO. I told him that I would like to take the undercooked wonton back to the kitchen to be corrected. However, that never took place. The only dish I received that was halfway decent was the bagel sushi roll.

Upon receiving my bill I was charged for the food and was expected to pay, even though the food went back to the kitchen, needless to say the end of this visit did not go so well, and I will not be patronizing this business...

After reading other reviews, my friend and I went into lunch with high expectations. The fish quality was decent, and the presentation was nice. The space itself is an excellent location and very polished interior. However, they definitely have some kinks to work out.

I'm sure that they were just having a rough morning, but their rice was somehow mushy, sticky, and flavorless at the same time. We have eaten at almost every sushi place in town, and can occasionally look past overcooked or under seasoned rice if it isn't somewhere top tier, but this is the first time that we actually found rice that was inedible.

When our server brought us the check, I mentioned to her our concern, that we both had worked as sushi chefs pre-covid, and that I didn't want to see them fail. However, all she did was say thank you for letting her know, and waited for us to put a card on the check. It was a bit awkward, and neither of us are big complainers, so we paid the bill and left.

Hopefully they were just rushed for time and either overcooked the rice or didn't have time to make a fresh one from the night before and weren't able to reheat it properly in time? I hope they are able to get issues worked out as they seem like they could be...