Restaurant: Sushi Village (Westwood, NJ)
Sushi Village • 700-90 Broadway • Westwood, NJ 07642 • 201-666-8800
Category: Japanese Sushi
Rating: (2)
Another “All You Can Eat” sushi restaurant located in Westwood, NJ. This restaurant seems to be related in some way to Sushi Palace located in Edison, NJ since both restaurants use the same “order cards” and the servers wear the same outfits. They are both Chinese run and for an “All You Can Eat” sushi restaurant, it’s not that bad. It is a far cry from many “regular” sushi restaurants, but then again one would spend far more than $19.95 ($21.95 on weekends) to eat the same amount of sushi.
If you have a light appetite and want better quality sushi, Sushi Village is not for you. If you are ravenous and want to just gorge on mediocre sushi, then places like Sushi Village or Sushi Palace in Edison are just up your alley. And you know what, sometimes we all need to pig out and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Tonight, we ordered various sashimi, nigiri and some maki rolls. We also had an order of “Spicy Seaweed Salad”, “Tempura Udon”, “Miso Soup”, “Chicken & Vegetable Soup” as well as “Fried Banana” and “Green Tea Ice Cream” for dessert.
My main criticisms about the sushi in general were that the rice was cold and under-seasoned and the rice to fish ratio was off with much too much rice (a common theme in “All You Can Eat” and “Buffet” establishments). The fish in general is also watery and mushy with very little texture to speak of which comes from not maintaining the fish properly. As for the the other items? The “Spicy Seaweed Salad” which is a mix of seaweed salad and a spicy mayo concocted kani (imitation crab) salad, was actually quite tasty. All of the soups, including the “Tempura Udon” were terribly bland and lacked any depth of flavor. Of the lot, the “Miso Soup” was probably the most successful but even that was OK at best.
The “Fried Banana” also was fried in slices, where as it should’ve been fried in one larger piece and it seems they drizzled corn syrup which was ill advised. Even maple syrup with a light sprinkle of powdered sugar would’ve been a much much better choice in my opinion. The “Green Tea Ice Cream” just like at 99.9% of any Japanese restaurant is pre-made and most likely sourced from either Maeda or another brand.
The service was efficient enough, however, there was hardly any communication aside from the initial drink order. Overall, Sushi Village is one of the better “All You Can Eat” sushi restaurants along with Sushi Palace in Edison, NJ but at the same time, neither restaurant serves what I consider good sushi.
hamatama 