I had a dinner meeting tonight with my partner and we were starved. Coffee and more coffee do not a healthy diet make. Sushi? Yes. Sushi is healthy.
The Arclight theater/shopping/restaurant plaza in Hollywood isn’t exactly known for stellar food, but Club Sushi has Happy Hour from 5-7pm, so it seemed like a good idea. Holy moley. Not so much.
This fairly new spot (formerly various failed restos so far gone that no one remembers them–Charcoal, anyone?) has all the hallmarks of a tourist-friendly restaurant. Modern brushed aluminum accents meet standard booths and an antiseptic-looking sushi bar. An outdoor patio abuts the walkway from sidewalk to theater. I didn’t expect much from this super mainstream-looking restaurant. It all seemed pretty boring and…safe.
We figured we’d go with the spicy tuna roll and spicy albacore roll, things we’re familiar with and are fairly difficult to mess up. After one bite of the albacore, I knew we’d entered the danger zone.
WHY???
Before I even go into the overall roll issues (there are a couple), let me start by saying that sushi-grade fish needn’t be over-seasoned, even in a spicy situation. A little squirt of sriracha or a light dressing of spicy kewpie mayo and I’m set. But this, this was uncalled for. Gone was the delicate sweetness of the yellowtail, the faint buttery nuance of the tuna. All that I could taste was spicy spicy spicy. Daikon sprouts were a lovely addition, and might have been a nice counterpoint to the richness of the fish if they hadn’t been so completely overwhelmed by the fiery chile flavor that assaulted my palate with every bite.
The eel roll was the lesser of the three evils on our plate. Bland, under-seasoned, but obviously oversauced (thinned out teriyaki–why?), the eel practically disintegrated in my mouth. Ah, yes. Overcooked eel. Slightly mushy, a little mealy, kind of warm. Warm? Yeah. Urgh.
The rolls, at no more than $6.50 each (that was the eel, the spicy ones were $5.95 each because of the Happy Hour half-off deal), were admittedly a steal. But I shudder to think that people actually pay $13 for the eel and $11.90 for the spicy rolls during dinner service. Because who wants to pay that much for rolls with rice that is too soft, unseasoned, and not nearly sticky enough?
Not I, sir. Not I. Especially when the rolls unroll themselves upon moving, as half of mine did, causing me to lose bits of fish and vegetation between plate and mouth. Sloppily rolled sushi rolls? At home, sure. I’m no sushi chef. But at a restaurant it is simply unacceptable.
Mmm...beer. Yeesh...calamari.
While the fried calamari was good–tender, faintly sweet, crunchy–it was by no means the best I’ve had. The sauces came in tiny little ramekins that held just enough sauce for half of the calamari, meaning that the other half had to go undressed because only one of the sauces (the cocktail sauce) was edible. The other, ostensibly some kind of spicy Japanese-style remoulade) was pure spice with no hints of acid or sweetness or salt. Again with the overly aggressive spicy!
I suppose all that sauce drama wouldn’t have been so bad if the calamari weren’t also stuck together and had come with lemons. When asked for some wedges, the waitress brought us halved slices of lemon. We did a whole lot of squeezing for very little acidity over our mountain of calamari clumps, I’ll tell you that much.
But the place isn’t a total failure. We each had a pint of ice cold Sapporo beer for $3 and we got to keep the glass.
All’s well that ends well, and the beer ensured that we had a smooth ending. Just one more reason why I love beer.
Club Sushi
6374 W Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90028
(323) 461-3330
Club Sushi
