RA Sushi Bar Restaurant

07/09/11

No RaRa here!

by jcburnham

Ra Sushi is a fusion style Japanese restaurant with appealing décor. Conveniently located next to the cinema, you have your choice of bar style dining with high step chairs or the traditional dining room. Retro rock music sooths the mind. This is good because you will need it!

Upon arrival I find the hostess and manager seated at the bar. They stand promptly when I enter and greet me kindly. The hostess is young, beautiful, and with a smile from Heaven; her choice in uniform surprises me- stretch pants, Uggs, and a tank top style blouse one might wear lounging around the house. Casual, approaching sloppy, trumps professionalism in this case.

The restaurant is not at all busy on this Sunday afternoon, so service is prompt. I sit and order. Eighteen minutes later my food arrives. An awkward moment immediately follows. The waiter places the food on the table and then holds a knife and fork in his hand for me to take. Yes, I have to grab my eating utensils by the dining end with my own hand. Strange. I am so glad I washed my hands before leaving the house.

The traditional box lunch looks appealing upon first examination. But I soon find the salad to be brown, soggy, and without dressing. I show the waiter and he brings me another, this time with fresh lettuce and dressing on the side. The egg role and dumpling are no better than frozen microwavable pot stickers. They simply lack any pleasing texture or flavor. In my mind, the true tell of the quality of any restaurant is the quality of meat served. Though nicely cooked with just the right amount of char, the aftertaste following the teriyaki beef signals low quality meat. This is certainly not a fresh, prime cut.

Another good test for the quality of a restaurant is the cleanliness of the bathroom. Here the décor is top-notch. Unfortunately, the urinal is broken. No problem. These things happen. But when I returned to my table and unfinished food, I find that my food has been removed. I notify the waiter, who apologizes and asks if he can bring something more. I decline. I’ve had enough of mediocre, low quality cuisine today. Though, after some thought, I am ready to forgive the error. After all, I was almost finished. But such pleasant thoughts are erased when I see the waiter having a good laugh about it with the bartender. Both snicker and peek with furtive glances in my direction. I feel like the target of a fraternity prank the way they carry on.

Now is the moment I consider talking to the manager. But I figure it is pointless. She is seated rather comfortably at the bar with her drink and a, I’m very sure important, managerial notebook open before her. I don’t think customers are her biggest concern at the moment. So I let it go and move on, dreaming of a Japanese restaurant which takes pride in being all that is true Japanese- simple, full of flavor, tediously prepared dishes from the freshest and highest quality ingredients available- everything Ra Sushi is not!

Ra Sushi comes across as a corporate style restaurant more interested in turning a profit than turning out quality food. The price is very economical, but then again, you get what you pay for.

01/12/11

Poor service, terrible sushi

by CSMobileUser3

Went to RA with my family. The service was terrible, waitress could not remember the order and food too an awfully long time to get to the table. The fish on the sushi was not fresh. Neither the chef or the waitress put wasabi or ginger on the sushi plates. I had to ask for both. I will never ever eat here again.

02/01/10

TERRIBLE

by Beccaxbby

I've worked in 3 different sushi places before. All with amazing quality, taste, and authenticity.

I've got a keen eye for good sushi, and taste.

Not to be racist or anything... but there wasn't a single person working there that was asian.

From experience, i've noticed most places that hire people with a background related to the food they make, it'll taste better.

The food was god awfully expensive, and the fish was kind of old and dried out. Definitely food borne illness questionable.

I had to wait 15 minutes to get a drink refill, so eventually i just went up to the bar and got it myself.

I ordered a tuna roll which cost $6.

which took too long to make and wasn't fresh.

I could walk across the street and order a tuna roll for almost half price, and twice the fish quality.

Word of advice. If you're looking for authentic sushi, don't go to an americanized, over done contemporary, T.G.I. Fridays style sushi restaurant.

• Pros: Nice atmosphere
• Cons: Everything else

12/15/09

Best Happy Hour in town!

by Redxoxo

Want a great..CHEAP..FUN happy hour? Come here!

10/24/09

Yuck...worst sushi I have had ever!!! Zip is way better!!

by PinkHawk

So me and my friend went here the other evening...our waitress was as smart as a block! Seriously, she was horriable. Paid no attention to detail, knocked over my friends soy sauce tray and didn't even bother to clean it, after coming to our table 3 times. So my friend finally said something, after we realized she was a ditz. Not to mention the sushi was not fresh at all and tasted like it had been sitting for a few days...I will never eat her again! Ra just lost like 12 customers because of this!! :P

• Pros: Maybe the atmosphere...that's it!
• Cons: Sour tasting-old fish used-exspensive-poor service-loud