Restaurant Review: Sushiya

　　Yesterday, Moriah and I went to meet up with two Japanese friends (Anri and Chihiro) to have lunch at a small restaurant we found called Sushiya, near Haymarket Station in Edinburgh. Anri had heard that it was good, and so we thought we might check it out. They don't have a website, so I looked up reviews of it beforehand and found a mixed bag. But, for the sake of saying we'd tried it, we thought we'd go check it out.

　　Anyways, so we all met up at Sushiya at 12. I had reserved a table just in case, as it's a small place and it's pretty popular; however, when we got there it was empty. (Probably because it'd just opened; it's open from 12 - 2.30 and then again from 5 to something on Sundays.) We got a nice table next to the store-front window, which was prettily set with chopsticks (complete with chopstick rests), napkins, and soy sauce bowls. There was a container of soy sauce and some spices on the table as well. After giving us a few minutes to settle and look at our menus, the waitress got our orders and then our drinks. Anri ordered a nigiri-zushi set, and Chihiro, Moriah and I all ordered ramen; me and Moriah's with breaded chicken. The food came pretty promptly, from what I can remember. Another waiter brought over our ramens, and they were HUGE!! Chihiro took one look at hers and bluntly said, "Huge." (In Japanese - I can't remember the word.) Moriah's and mine were just as big, but they did look good. Anri's nigiri set looked amazing - it was all very well laid out and presented. She also got a miso soup with her set.

　　Now, onto the actual evaluation. The good points were that the service was good, there was a varied menu, the atmosphere was nice, the ramen was pretty good (chicken was the best part), and the nigiri was really good. However... now come the not so great parts.

• The high stools at the tables did get uncomfortable after a while - we were there for about 2 1/2 hours.
• The miso soup, which according to Anri is what you use to judge the quality of the restaurant, wasn't that great. It was pretty salty, and tasted a lot like the instant miso stuff - not what they should be using.
  
• It was QUITE expensive. The ramens were £7.65, and the nigiri set was £10 something.

　　So, on the whole, it was all right. Anri said that it was so-so as regards the authenticity of the Japanese food. If you're looking for a nice place out though, especially for a dinner for 2 or 4, then it's a good place to go (as long as you don't order the miso soup). Moriah and I are going to try another Japanese restaurant I found sometime - it's called Bonsai Bar Bistro and is about a 15 minute walk from Waverley from what I can tell looking at Google Maps. I downloaded the menu; it has a good selection of food, though not as much as Sushiya; e.g., no ramen. Most importantly though, it has extremely reasonable prices. You could pay about £5 and be satisfied with a decent lunch, looks like. I think the most expensive item I saw there was around £6-7. I shall report on it once we eat there! (Might be a month or so though.)

Love,
　樹利亜