Gem Sushi Bar — Restaurant in Hue City

After two excellent visits, my third experience was disappointing due to significant inconsistencies with the food. The service is still exceptional and attentive. I even noticed the waitress had improved, remembering to confirm the order since there was a bit of confusion from my end last time.

The most telling example of inconsistency is the salmon nigiri. On my first visit, the salmon toro (belly) nigiri was noticeably larger than the regular salmon, though the taste and quality were virtually identical. The small price difference reflected this minimal quality gap, making it a fair offering. However, on my second visit, the toro portion had shrunk to match the exact same size as the regular salmon, making the distinction a meaningless marketing tactic.

This trend of shrinking portions continued. On my (3rd) last visit I noticed the nigiri (yellow tail this time) was smaller than usual and the kimchi beef rice bowl was lacking the amount of beef from my previous visits. There was noticeably a lot of leftover rice compared to my previous bowls where I finished the entire plate.

While the service remains exceptional and attentive, the decline in consistency and value is hard to ignore.

I thought I found a hidden gem that was different from the other nearby tourist traps, but it’s no different. Not terrible, quite tasty in fact, but the quantity of food is inconsistent and still a tourist trap. Unfortunately, I won't...

I stayed in Hue for 4 days and spent dinners here 2 days in a row. Yes all the reviews you are reading here are all true. If you ask me about the food, to be honest the food is good enough, but not excellent. The reason you should come here is the vibe of the restaurant. After looking at many sushi places in Hue, i chose this restaurant since you can see lot of reviews from foreigners here. I went to gem alone, sat at the bar/counter where i can see the staffs preparing my food. The food is good, not too excellent like other sushi places i've been too, but the vibe is everything 🙂 you will get to listen to jazz in a very quiet place while having sushi. At first i thought playing jazz music in a sushi place is weird, but since i was there alone, i have to say it's somehow match the vibe and i feel so good to be there. The staffs were so friendly and helpful, the one who making food was very thoughtful that he tried his best to adjust the food to suite my taste. The experience is so good that i have to bring my friend back here the next day. Thank you gem. I will absolutely...

We came in for the nice and pleasant interior and ordered some sashimi with other the 2 best seller dishes.

Though the salmon sashimi was totally on point with freshness 10/10, the 2 bestseller dishes: Spicy Tuna Roll and Udon Noodle Stirfry With Salted Egg and Salmon was disappointed.

The roll lacked of tuna so all we can taste is the nice crunchy part, rice and sauce but very little tuna.

Udon Noodle Stirfry with Salted Egg and Salmon was even more of the disappoinment when we hardly find any salted egg but plain noodle and creamy cream sauce and shredded salmon. The plain noodle didn't go well with the sauce because it was also plain. We expected it was more of the salted egg savoury and saucy. There were also salmon bones in the salmon so you have to be very careful to eat.

The icecream at the end was nice - that saved the day - it was fresh, smooth and not too sweet. Though I expected it to smell more of the Sakura flavour but it wasn't a bad...