Let’s roll

Yummy Sushi’s all-you-can-eat menu gets the green light, so prepare to fill up
Ottawa XPress

Article By: Colleen Johnson
Photo By: Ben Welland

All-you-can-eat sushi joints make me feel like a kid in a candy store. Instead of agonizing over the menu, I can try as many types of sushi as I can stomach for one price. What’s not to like?

You might think one all-you-can-eat sushi joint is as good as another, and on the surface that may be true. Most discourage waste by charging you the à la carte price for what you don’t eat. You order up nigiri, sashimi, tempura and dumplings one piece at a time. They have the same overlit, dull atmosphere, and the same mildly irritating music piped into the restaurant. The important difference – and the most important thing, really – between Yummy Sushi and others I’ve sampled in Ottawa is the quality of the food. Yummy Sushi’s rolls are tighter, fresher and (thankfully) not all laced with gobs and gobs of spicy mayo.

Upon entering the restaurant, I was greeted by an enthusiastic server and a remarkably clean fish tank filled with large orange goldfish. My date and I settled into one of the booths and began to fill out the order sheet, choosing as many items as we thought we could reasonably finish, and then adding just a few more.

The food arrived quickly, beginning with the tamago and the salmon sushi, the latter of which struck me as fresher. Our miso soup was a no-show, but this omission was quickly forgotten with the arrival of the vegetable and shrimp tempura, which were truly excellent with their feather-light crispy batter. The dumplings were also pretty tasty, though a few fresh herbs in the filling would have perked up them up a bit.

My date ordered the grilled chicken kidney, and though I’m not especially keen on organ meats, the little skewer held some surprisingly good flavour, if you can get over the chewiness of the meat.

The maki, the hand rolls and the salmon teppanyaki were last to arrive. Spider rolls, spicy avocado rolls, chicken teriyaki rolls and sweet potato hand rolls filled the table. The rolls were prepared competently and were delicious with the low sodium soy sauce on hand. Unfortunately, the salmon teppanyaki left much to be desired with its undercooked white onions sprinkled lamely on top.

As long as you don’t stray too far from the sushi and the tempura, Yummy Sushi is worth a visit.

Yummy Sushi
702 Somerset St. W.
(613) 680-9301

Lunch buffet: $4.99-$14.99
Dinner buffet: $8.99-$22.99