Neon Sushi — Restaurant in Town of Glenville

I stopped in for a semi-empty early weekday [sushi] lunch in what appears to be the shell of a former Friendly's restaurant. The new owners apparently haven't changed much - the walls are still pretty bland. The only decor to remind the patrons that there is supposed to be Japanese cooking in the building appears to be cell-phone photos blown up to 8x10s and plastered on the otherwise unadorned walls. And if the 70s-style beaded curtain in the back hall makes you think "exotic," you'll love this place.

But I'm here for the food. The host led me to the 8-seat sushi bar facing a thankfully muted television (photo), and I sat down began to skim through the menu. While there was not a very wide selection, I still was able to choose a couple of maki and a handful of nigiri. The server and sushi chef were mostly attentive and courteous and I was presented with a forgettable salad and a lukewarm soup while I waited for my main. The service wasn't too bad, but I did have to flag down both the server and the chef at least once for my main.

The two-plate plating could have been a lot better. Both were extremely simple, without any adornment at all - this made the smudges that the chef should have wiped off appear that more significant. The large band of white coloring in the bland, not-spicy salmon maki made me immediately aware that this roll was at least one quarter "filler" (photo), which did not enhance the minced salmon paste texture.

The nigiri was more of a mixed presentation. I found the rice was seasoned well, and the tamago was very fresh. But the hamachi seemed to be separating apart, and the second of the pair of ikura had a pink syrup oozing through the bottom rice, sticking the base of the gunkanmaki to the plate. My guess is that when I wasn't looking, the chef tried to save time by pouring the remainder of the jar of salmon roe and remaining "sauce" onto that piece. It was as unappetizing as you can imagine.

On item did overly concern me: all of the sushi tasted warmer than I believe it should have (except, of course, for the unagi). I watched the chef pull each item from the cooler as he prepared my selections. I'm pretty sure the cooler itself was a newer Hozhisaki, the chilling tubes frosted and I even reached over and touched the glass with the back of my hand - it seemed cool enough. But temperature definitely changed the texture of the hotate and especially the ikura. Luckily, it wasn't so warm that I was affected later.

I think they have a lot to work on, so it will be a while before I...

Smaller proportions than expected.

Ordered over the phone ahead of time, putting in an order of crab rangoon, a shrimp tempura roll, and the fried seafood roll. Coming to a little over $26, a very acceptable price.

Picking up was fast and easy and the lady staffing the receptionist desk was also very friendly, the bag was radiating warmth so I knew the to-go was fresh.

Back home opening everything up I was surprised by how much smaller than expected the sizes of everything were, only a handful of crab rangoon and both sushi rolls fit in a container that I would normally just see one set inside. Now the shrimp tempura I could see being that size, but the fried seafood was pretty pricy for just a 6 piece.

So the taste must have been worth it then? Well, almost. The crab rangoon was tasty but there was way too much fried wrap, and not nearly enough stuffing. The shrimp tempura was perfectly fine, but nothing to write home about. And the fried seafood roll, the one I was most excited about, had a very strong fishy flavor to it. Not in a "oh this has gone bad" way, but in a "I have the ocean in my mouth" way. I think it might have been the fish roe that was sprinkled on top of the roll, which was very strong, salty, and had a shocking fish flavor to it. Had to counter the roe by dipping in the accompanying soy sauce.

So while I was not throughly impressed with my meal, it was satisfying and filled...

Neon Sushi is a great disappointment. I'd been looking for an alternative to my wife's preferred sushi/hibachi locale, and this is more or less close by. The menu was attractive, and on Thursday nights there is a sushi special. So we went there.

My wife asked for the special -- one super-duper roll gets a second ordinary roll. She was interested in the super-duper roll with crab but only if it was real crab. She asked, and was told her first choice was not made with real crab, but that the roll with king crab was; she asked for that. I ordered chicken tempura.

The king crab roll had no king crab -- just the fake stuff. This, after repeated assurances to the contrary.

The chicken tempura -- wasn't. The ¼"x¼"x5" chicken pieces were coated with a tasteless mess of panko crumbs almost a half-inch thick. The accompanying tempura vegetables were soggy. I asked to substitute an egg roll for the California roll that usually comes with this -- and finally got it on the second attempt. I am glad I pushed for it; it was the only really edible item.

Neon Sushi is, by local standards, not an inexpensive restaurant. One expects better quality ingredients properly prepared and cooked. One expects servers -- and the front-end manager -- to know what's in the various dishes, and to not dissemble. That was not...