Restaurant: Hikaru (Orangeburg, NY)
Restaurant: Hikaru • 7 Orangetown Shopping Center • Orangeburg, NY 10962 • 845-359-4400
Category: Japanese Sushi
Rating: (1)
Hikaru is an “All You Can Eat” sushi restaurant located a few minutes above the NJ/NY state line in Orangeburg, NY. As most other “All You Can Eat” sushi restaurants, they also have an “Ala Carte” menu as well. I was curious since the average Yelp review of this place was 4.5 (out of 5)
We decided to try the “All You Can Eat” option and the sushi was rather uninspiring to be kind.
Our first order was a mix of nigiri and two rolls; a “Godzilla” roll and a “Spicy Tuna Crunch” roll. The “Spicy Tuna Crunch” is a basically a spicy tuna roll with tempura crunch added. The spicy tuna itself was extremely dry and bland, lacking any kind of flavor and hardly spicy at all. The “Godzilla” roll is also based off of spicy tuna but with avocado, masago, scallion with “chef’s special sauce” which ended up being just spicy mayo and unagi sauce. The whole roll is tempura battered and deep fried. The “Godzilla” roll was mediocre at best and the “Spicy Tuna Crunch” was atrocious.
Our second order was a “Rainbow” roll and few more pieces of nigiri. The “Rainbow” roll was OK, however, they were cheap with the amount of fish that goes on the outside. Typically a “Rainbow” roll usually has three different kinds of fish, layered in a “Rainbow” pattern on top of the roll. Usually the three fishes used are salmon, tuna and a white colored fish such as izumidai (tilapia) or hirame “fluke”. The norm is to use two slices of each fish for a total of six slices of fish wrapped diagonally on top. However, Hiraku uses only three slices laid horizontally across which I’m sure is done intentionally to cut down food costs.
The nigiri was also rather quite disappointing. The rice lacked flavor and was cold. When eating nigiri, the rice should be warm, contrasting with the cool fish that provides the sensation of temperature contrast in your mouth. The fish was also meagerly and unskillfully sliced and out of proportion to the rice.
The only saving grace was that our server, a young Chinese gentleman, was pretty efficient with a pleasant demeanor. While Hikaru isn’t the worst sushi I’ve ever eaten (that award goes to Mr. Sushi in Wayne, NJ), it isn’t that far off.
Would I go back or recommend this restaurant? Obviously no. Compared to the best of “All You Can Eat” sushi restaurants, it’s quite lacking and personally I’m confused as to why it’s received such good reviews on Yelp.
hamatama 