Yoshi Sushi — Restaurant in Town of Colonie

Updating to reflect new ownership. TL;DR - I would prefer to rate the place a 3.5, but am rounding down because I'm picky and don't feel right rounding up to a 4. The new owners have tried to change things as little as possible. Food is still a little more Japanese-y than other places around. I feel like the place is a lesser shadow of its prior self. The façade is there, but the soul has understandably changed. Keeping so much the same makes what I think the place has lost feel sadder. It's a tricky thing to make change, but not alienate old regulars.

It's interesting to see other comments saying service is faster or better; I actually feel like service has slowed a bit and consistency has decreased. I've visited on a couple occasions both at first re-open and a few months later.

Portion sizing is more variable, and I feel like the overall knifework and assembly are significantly less polished than before. When things first opened, I feel like there was more care put into 'getting it right', and now that the place has settled into the everyday, quality has dialed back a bit. Fish is still fresh. Menu is the same, but I didn't see any posted specials when I came in. Staff were less engaging and energetic than when they opened. Perhaps I caught them on a less-than-great night most recently. I am glad that the focus is still on sushi and sashimi.

I'd argue that even more than the fish, sushi is about getting the rice just right. For me, this is one of the biggest losses in technique. The texture and rice quality just aren't what they used to be; I don't know if it's how they're making the sumeshi or how they're handling it (hard to see at the counter with the different translucent slider) when forming the shari or whatever. Bummer!

I know it's hard to stack up against the sheer amount of experience Yoshi had by the time he stepped down, and I have hope that the new duo will grow into their work. You can tell all the staff are working to make a good impression, but I can feel the lack of polish.

Some extra context - I'm absolutely picking more nits than most will. I travel to Japan semi-regularly, and this place used to be my go-to because it was the most like sushi in Japan (it helps to have an owner brought up making it there). The new owners appear to be trying hard to retain some of this feel. It's just really hard to copy something from someone who's made it muscle memory over literal decades of experience. While I still think this is likely better and more 'authentic' than other sushi places in the cap region, I do feel like something not insignificant has been lost. The small details have slipped away a little, and for someone super-picky like me, that makes...

Don't let the garish neon signs in the window distract you - this is a classic sushi restaurant.

I stopped for a weekday lunch and was politely greeted by the one chef - the one server had stepped out of a few minutes. I sat down at the bar and was surprised to find the sushi display cooler had small English signs next to each type of fish (photo).

I was presented with a pencil and a single-page print-only menu. This tells me that either, 1) most other patrons know exactly what they want, or 2) this speeds up order taking for a very limited staff.

I understand that the chef has been preparing sushi for over thirty years. I watched each piece of fish cut to order, and a small dab of wasabi added to each nigiri - a step often omitted in other local restaurants. The plating is extremely simple, then you notice that the nigiri are very large and the maki pretty small. The unagi was very good, but seemed different somehow - the large size and it appeared baked, not grilled.

I returned on a weekend afternoon, to find a completely empty restaurant save the one chef and one server. With zero waiting time, there was no distraction from the food. (Previous rating was lowered due to long wait time.)

...although I think I saw the chef cheat with the spicy salmon maki - with a bottle of Siracha (the maki was constructed from freshly cut strips of fish, not some unknown paste/filler that is too common in lesser restaurants). But it actually was spicy.

The only drawback is the waiting time. I don't have the patience to imagine a visit during a weekend night.

2019...

Yoshi Sushi with new owners is... dare we say it, even better than it was before?

We delayed visiting after hearing that Yoshi sold the business, especially after seeing the first few not-so-great reviews. We figured it would take the new owners some time to sort through things and get up to speed, and that seems to be the case.

Our first visit back since the original owners handed off the baton was actually... great. We ordered a few old favorites: Mixed sunomuno, Eel avocado, etc. They taste nearly identical to how Chef Yoshi prepared them, indicating that the exact recipes were passed along. Even the egg was the exact composition (Though you can see the technique is not 100%, but tastes the same)

The eel in the roll is still served warm, which was one of the things that Yoshi did that no other restaurants seem to do. Sushi was all about the same level of execution that we experienced before, with the only exception being the octopus- which was extremely tough and looked a bit freezer burned. I think the sunomuno is also slightly less substantial than what Yoshi used to serve, but honestly I am just glad that it still mostly tastes the same.

A refreshing salad now comes with the meal, with miso soup still complimentary.

The service is ... let's say, much less jarring for new customers now. The new owner is very nice, exudes Japanese hospitality, and is very attentive. A welcome change.

Bottom line: Same sushi, now with great service and a different sort of charm. Another score for...