Samurai Sushi, Lake Mary

Today I tried the newly opened Samurai Sushi in the Winn Dixie shopping center. I had the Sushi Lunch Special for $9.95. It's a Bento Box of one piece of white tuna, tuna, salmon, crab stick and shrimp, miso soup, salad, clear noodles, cucumber squid salad, fried rice and a california roll. That's right. The salmon and white tuna were good. The crab stick was actually not a dry tube. The tuna was a very washed out pink (old - no blood). The shrimp seemed as though it came from a supermarket shrimp cocktail platter (wet and fishy). The cali-roll fell apart at the seams. The salad was roughly ripped into overly large pieces. The salad dressing was a mayo-ie deluge. The cucumber salad was similiarly drenched in the pink mayo-ie mess (but this time spiced up). The noodles were served cold with seaweed and a sour, brothy dressing. The fried rice was fluffy (not sure if that's a compliment). Overall it was average for quality and great for quantity. You usually leave hungry or in the poor house when you go for sushi. Not here. The place was fairly well layed out and appointed. They have a bar and a flatscreen. There are many booths. The staff (of 2) was courteous. I received a re-fill about 3/4 into the meal. The place was clean. It was about half full. It's what you would expect from a Japanese restaurant run by what I presume to be Chinese immigrants. They also do Tempora and Teriyaki. They even had some innovative starters.

I would suggest that you: cut the lettuce into smaller pieces, add less dressing, buy fresher tuna and shrimp, and become obsessive about the rice. In Japanese cooking the rice is the star. Your rice is average. It might be acceptable in China, but, it's not in Japan.