Thursday, July 3, 2008

Sushi Deli 2

Friends and I recently went to Sushi Deli 2 next to Horton for their happy hour specials. It was fun hanging out, but damn...the crap that was served to us left a nasty taste in my mouth.

Prices during happy hour are pretty sweet. Hand rolls are half price (roughly 1.25-50 each) and sake is hella cheap. And yes it's sake not saki, goddamnit! Even the staff there got it wrong. I think Sapporo was cheaper too, but I don't remember. Nigiri runs about the same price as the hand rolls. Doesn't sound too bad right?

Wrong.

Our orders took a full half hour to come to us as surrounding tables filled and emptied. Apparently if you order off the happy hour menu, Sushi Deli will take their sweet ass time to prepare your meal. But why would they do such a thing?! Oh to run out the clock, of course! We arrived thirty minutes before the end of happy hour and Sushi Deli did not want us to place additional orders at the discounted price! Honestly, though, it doesn't matter either way because after your first glance, bite, or sniff, I'm sure anyone with functional tastebuds would just get up and leave.

Let's start with the handrolls. I mean...how can you screw up a hand roll? Oh I know! You can use thick, damp nori that is impossible to tear. While you're at it, why not use overly sweet rice that has been heavily pressed before it's tossed into the fridge? I assure you refrigerated rice takes a whole lot of effort to chew. The spicy tuna was quite a contrast with the rice. Sushi Deli must have used a food processor to chop up the tuna into a spreadable paste. How considerate of them! They must have realized that since the rice is so hard to chew, they'd do us a solid by filling up the hand roll with spicy tuna that requires no chewing whatsoever.

Hand rolls were bad, but they were heavenly in comparison with Sushi Deli's nigiri. I had ordered the tuna and hamachi as a litmus test. I laughed out loud when my server set down my order. I've never eaten light-brown hamachi before, and as much as I like taking risks, I did not intend to spend my graduation week sitting on or huddled over a toilet. Maguro was the same story--limp pieces of rotting fish. I'm not exaggerating. Meat becomes discolored and starts to give off unpleasant odors when it rots. Duh. Common sense right? Well looks like the folks who run Sushi Deli think it's fine to serve this shit to customers.

The various "imaginative" rolls (lol @ the Mexican roll) served at Sushi Deli are equally horrendous. Same story: poorly prepared rice, rotting fish, etc. Sushi Deli attempts to mask these shortcomings by over-saucing each roll. Hell, if it still tastes bad, every table has a bottle of Sriracha for further flavor masking.

You would think a place like Sushi Deli would get shut down either due to failing a health department inspection or lack of patrons. Nope. Nuh-uh. Sushi Deli is as popular as ever with up to an hour wait during dinner. I have noticed that most of the clientele are young college students or twenty-somethings probably drawn to the "hip" ambiance created by the "Asian" decor. Or maybe they get off on eating shit a la 2-Girls-1-Cup. No don't Google the video...it is not for the faint of heart. Even Clooney couldn't handle it.


Interestingly enough, there are many very positive reviews of Sushi Deli on Yelp! and blogs like Plate of the Day. Keep in mind over half the people on Yelp! don't know what the hell they are talking about. Sushi Deli 2 is just terribad.

How can one not recognize rotting flesh when it's just stinking up the plate in front of you?

This is by far the most negative review I've ever posted. It'll likely be the last raging/vulgar post that will find it's way to my blog. I apologize if I offended any readers. If you honestly enjoy dining at Sushi Deli, all the more power to ya. It's nice to be easily satisfied. I mean that in a good way. Honest! I just get really worked up when it comes to food...you know, like how some folks go bonkers over politics.



EDIT: Due to the late hour when I wrote this post, I neglected to mention the discrepancy between Sushi Deli 2 and Sushi Deli 1. Thanks for the reminder Marie! While prices are very affordable in both locations, Sushi Deli 1 serves up some pretty damn good food. Moowie has actually done a terrific write-up on Sushi Deli 1. Check it out



Sushi Deli 2's address provided as a formality. I truly hope all of you trust me enough not to try out this horrible restaurant.



Sushi Deli 2
135 Broadway
San Diego, CA 92101
619-233-3072

14 comments:

Meandering Eats said...

Sorry, first draft of comment needed some editing for grammar.

There's a lot of debate about which of the Sushi Deli's are worth eating at. Both SD1 and SD2 have their loyalists. I, for one, hate SD2 and really like SD1. It's an addicting place for lunch. Nothing is amazing, but it's good and cheap Japanese-American food.

Sushi Deli 1

It's on Washington St. in Mission Hills.

Roger said...

Oh no! I totally forgot about the Mission Hills one. SD2 is such a far cry from SD1...don't know what happened there. SD1 isn't too shabby, I agree!

Little Miss Contrary said...

I definitely agree with you about Sushi Deli 2. I recently had a bad experience with the food and service--terrible service, which I guess shouldn't be too surprising. The service was so terrible as to say that my waiter at one point refused to take my request for water because he was too incompetent to remember it while he brought out the rest of my party's food. Cheap sushi definitely comes at a cost!

Charlie Fu said...

Sushi Deli 1 has something called "udon" which actually is just crappy instant noodles. What a sham.

caninecologne said...

hi there! actually i've eaten at sushi deli 2 once and the service was slow. the server also mixed up my order with someone else's.

i didn't order any raw items, thus did not experience the oversauced, rotting fish. everything there was too salty and very mainstream. i don't think most of the clientele care too much about the quality- they're just attracted to the price. woe to them.

Roger said...

Hallo CC! I can't believe I've never wandered across your popular blog before... Thanks for dropping by!

Anonymous said...

FUCK YOU...apparently u have no sense of taste and seem to think everyone agrees with u whereas this palce has AMAZINg food for an incredible price...enjoy your own expensive ass sushi thatll never top this stuff u prick

Roger said...

Wow I don't even know where to begin. Let's start with how you came across my website by searching for "sushi deli 2 reviews" on Google. Now why would you want to read reviews of a place you clearly are such a big fan of? Ah, I know. You must be the owner.

Serve better ingredients, you bastard. The people of San Diego deserve better.

In the meantime, I think I will go enjoy my "expensive ass sushi" because I don't feel like getting food poisoning from Sushi Deli 2.

By the way, it is quite sophomoric for a grown man to resort to cussing and personal attacks instead of using clear, thought-out arguments.

I feel sorry for you.

Anonymous said...

You called their fish rotten three times, which seems very irresponsible. How can a place with a line out the door possibly sell rotting fish? A sushi place so busy is likely to "turn over" their fish often so isn't this highly unlikely? Sounds like they aren't using the highest quality but that doesn't mean it's rotten. Just because you didn't like the place, don't make up lies about them. To those of us who know sushi, u sound like a douche.

Roger said...

If telling the truth about my experience at Sushi Deli 2 makes me a douche, then okay fine. I am a douche.

This still does not change the fact that sub-standard fish unfit for human consumption was served. If your sushi gives off a stink, chances are the fish ain't fresh. When meat starts to smell, it is starting to decay.

Roger said...

If you "know" sushi, you would know that smelly fish is not good sushi. Oh wait no, that is called common sense. Also, just because a restaurant has line dinner lines does not make it a good restaurant. Ever been to The Cheesecake Factory?

Don't come here insulting me when you clearly do not know what good food tastes like. If you do insist on continuing the insults, have the balls to sign your post.

Jordan Ray said...

Wow, pretty harsh. Sushi deli isn't the greatest sushi I've had but it's definately up there; and far from the worst. There's plenty of flavor and the fish seems pretty fresh to me. Besides, the 400 trillion people who freakin go through that place on an average saturday night can't be wrong! I <3 Sushi Deli 1 & 2, and will stick by their excellent food. Now I just need to check out 3! ^_^

Anonymous said...

shut up you idiot!! sushi deli 2 is awesome. Too awesome for you, loser:)

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