GoFish Modern Japanese Kitchen — Restaurant in Tyler

This is my favorite Japanese food restaurant in Tyler, so this review will be longer than probably any other review I've written because I absolutely love this place. I have probably ordered from here at least once per week (on average) for three years now. It's so good that I actually make room in my budget to eat here; I have never done that for any other restaurant. To my knowledge, this is one of the only drive-thru Japanese restaurants in this town/area. Their ingredients are so fresh and unique, with many healthy options, and their service is always friendly. Their sushi is creative, well-plated (even when you take it to go via drive thru), and in my opinion, it tastes comparable to (even sometimes noticeably better than) most local sit-down restaurants. The pricing for many of their menu items is very reasonable for the quality and quantity of food they serve. They also have deals/specials sometimes posted on Facebook, and you can ask them for a punch card that gets you $13 off a meal after 8 punches, and for me, that usually equates to a free meal every now and then.

Please allow me to rave about their "Poké Bowl" for a minute (or two). Their "Poké Bowl" comes with about 7 or 8 different tasty food items in it for around $11-$12 in a plastic bowl (if taking it to-go). The choices for those 7 or 8 items are plentiful as well. The Poké Bowl is very fresh, filling, nutritious, and healthier than almost any drive-thru restaurant options I've encountered in East Texas. As I mentioned, there are numerous options that can be selected for the Poké Bowl, including low-carb options. I'm a lover of carbs, so I appreciate that they give options for tasty carbs with lots of protein and many nutrients. I usually order my Poké Bowl with 4 Tempura fried Tiger Shrimp, drizzled in creamy spicy mayo (it's not very spicy, but it is very tasty), which I choose to be layered on top of a bed of their seasoned white steamed-rice, with 3 fried Gyozas (seasoned ground pork with cabbage inside of fried dumplings served hot and crunchy) and a serving of their seasoned imitation crab meat (served cold, tastes a little sweet, soft texture) [or sometimes I just order the sweet canned corn instead of the crab meat], and Misago (tiny tasty orange fish eggs often used for garnish on Sushi). The Misago texture is really interesting, like tiny beads that pop when you chew them, and it gives the food a nice natural hint of salt and great flavor. Finally, I like to top my Poké Bowl off with freshly cut green onions and red onions [or sometimes I order their sweet pickled purple cabbage.] Always add freshly sliced Avocado to your Poké Bowl for $1; you won't regret it! I love that they drizzle the spicy mayo (or whatever sauce you choose) all over the top layer of your Poké Bowl. I enjoy sweet and salty with variable textures and temperatures, so those are my choices for ingredients, but they have some of the most unique and adventurous menu options I've ever seen around here. Somehow in their Poké Bowl, they mamage to skillfully combine so many different textures, ingredients, different temperatures, and various seasonings: hot with cold, smooth with crunchy, sweet with salty, cooked with raw, etc. The chefs are exceptional.

My family members enjoy their Poké Bowl with the Pork Charsiu, which is a flavorful sliced cooked tender pork, and kimchi & red raddish. The chicken nugget Kids' Meal around $5 (without drink), has a large serving of fries, which are surprisingly really uniquely-seasoned, and have great texture and taste.

Regarding healthy choices, their menu has many options. I noticed on their Poké Bowls, they have lower-carb options, such as brown rice, kale noodles (served cold), and salads. The kale noodles were not my favorite menu item due to my own unfamiliarity with their cool temperature and slippery texture, but they didn't taste bad, and they could be helpful for many on low-carb diets. I noticed there are vegetarian options as well.

It's such a great place to eat. It has indoor seating, but I love that it also has...

This is my second trip to this restaurant. The first time, I was too worried to actually go in and eat. Which was a big mistake on my part!

The first time I went to have dinner here, I was brand new to Tyler, and was looking for sushi close by. GoFish is 5 minutes away. So, I jumped in my car, drove on by, and saw a big square shack that looked more like a fast food joint than a nice Japanese restaurant. Glancing in the front window, I saw what looked like a deli counter. And they had a drive through window! So I just noped on out of there. It just didn't seem like it'd be a good experience.

I realize that was perhaps a bit prejudiced of me. So I went back for a second try today. And yes, you do order inside at a register/bar area, just like a deli. And there were only about a dozen tables to sit at. But still, I was quite impressed with the meal.

The food was very fresh, and well presented. I've had suspect sushi before--when that fish starts getting a little older, it starts smelling and tasting fishier. And I am sure to get the tummy rumbles later. None of that was evident here! Everything was very clean tasting. I ordered the Crazy Tuna (spicy tuna, mango and panko inside, sliced tuna and avocado outside), the AAC (avocado, asparagus, cucumber), the Unagi roll (eel) and some fried gyoza (dumplings).

The Crazy Tuna was super tasty. I find mango in sushi can be very hit or miss, but this was just the right amount of sweet--it wasn't overpowering or cloying. The asparagus in the AAC roll was the tender part of the tip, and wasn't woody. It still had a touch of bite, so it wasn't mushy either. The Unagi roll was sweet and succulent--though the sauce was perhaps a tad sweeter than I'm accustomed to. The gyoza was crisp, hot, and delicious. The sushi rice was well-seasoned with just the right amount of vinegar, and the gyoza sauce had that touch of ginger I'm looking for when having dumplings.

I'm glad I gave this place a second look. It's not a traditional Japanese restaurant setup for sure. But it sure was delicious. And with the happy hour pricing, it was about half the price I'd have spent at one of the other sushi restaurants I...

I decided to try this place for lunch after seeing all the good reviews.

Overall, the food is okay. We ordered three different kinds of rolls: the Hello Kitty, a vegetable roll, and a shrimp tempura roll. I personally found the Hello Kitty roll to be too heavy on the cream cheese, but that's just my opinion. I liked their take on the vegetable roll; it has seasoned tofu alongside several veggies. The rolls are quite large in diameter and I had to cut up some of the pieces to eat them. Again, the food was alright. The free miso soup was a nice touch.

Where GoFish needs to focus is the cleanliness of their building. It has a worn look on the inside that had me questioning the cleanliness of the kitchen. Granted, I realize it is a very small, high-volume restaurant, however, the interior doors are covered in greasy fingerprints where you push them open, there is chipping paint on the wall, the floors look like they could use a good scrubbing, and frankly, the woman's bathroom was pretty abysmal. I don't know how the vent fan was still running with all the dust that was on it and the mirror has started to desilver. Also, the front counter area is very compact and small but it is quite cluttered and the equipment needs a good wipe down. One of the signs in front misspelled "Japanese". The handheld menus were sticky and the table numbers are falling apart. While these are all small things, together they do make me question how clean the kitchen is.

After reading the lower rated reviews, it seems as though this has been an issue for quite some time. As a new customer to the owners, I would encourage you to have a deep clean/touch up day. It's obvious by the size of the lunch crowd that you are very popular and there's no reason to lose customers over cleanliness or maintenance issues.

Edited to say: I appreciate the owner's quick response. This could easily be a five-star restaurant once the maintenance issues have...