Sushiya

I have recently been to California and I tried a lot of sushi there and I have never had sushi in Scotland until now and I must say I was pleasantly surprised Yummy Tokyo Roll and chicken dumplings. Great friendly, quick service. I will definitely go back when I have free time. Good value!

Went for ramen. It’s a very small location. We lucked out showing up early enough to get a table promptly. The ramen wasn’t the greatest, but we’re starting to get some excellent ramen in Austin, Texas. Their broth was tasty, but the contents were spartan at noodles, egg, and chashu. I still finished it and the rolls we had were fine. Unfortunately I was hoping for a little bit more.

Heard a lot of hype about this place so had high expectations. Had better elsewhere and lacks in variety as specialises in noodles too!

Getting a table at sushiya has, for some time, been a minor goal of mine. Booking one, rather than turning up in hope, finally achieved that last weekend. The place is tiny and has been popular pretty much since first opening its doors so it came as no surprise that even on a wet Sunday evening it was full.
The sister establishment of the larger Kanpai on Grindlay Street, it was clear from the website that many of the same dishes were going to be on offer. Like Kanpai Sushiya lets itself down with the initial impression created upon opening its menus — marker pen crossings out of dishes etc. all look unprofessional. Added to that they had apparently run out of common or garden pork so stock management issues seem to be another trait the two places share.
The two ramen dishes we ordered were well served and as filling and unfinishable as you’d normally expect for that option. As with Kanpai the green tea and water are regularly topped up and the service overall was attentive and speedy. Still, I’d not rush back.

Being a sushi virgin I was a bit hesitant given the small menu choices for non sushi however the waitress was very helpful when we asked for advice.
My friend had teriyaki chicken which came with the best miso soup apparently and I opted for dumplings, a portion of seaweed and spicy salmon maki. The food was super fresh and tasted delicious although I now know how potent wasabi is!
Would recommend booking as its small but please try. £12 for three items and a juice. The dragon rolls at the next table looked amazing and are my choice for next time!

I love Japanese food.
Its usually non greasy, great presentation and with fresh ingredients.
Previous experience in sushiya had been good, but the last time I went, two things I’ve noticed; different people (chef and staff) and the quality of food was disappointing.
I’ve ordered one of my favourite item from their menu which was Tokyo roll. When the food arrived, presentation was great just like the old times… but as I was having my first bite… it tasted funny… like it was cooked in some overnight oil or something like that. It had that stale taste. it wasnt pleasant. Then the ramen I ordered and was so looking forward to, again it looked exactly like how it used to look but flavour wise was very bland… lack of flavour… both my favourite…
I was so doubly looking forward to my meal at sushiya… and I was doubly disappointed…

Best Sushi in Town.
Sushi restaurants have started opening up all over Edinburgh. Nonetheless, I think this remains the best. The menu changes very little (which is unfortunate), but the quality of the sushi is vastly superior. The small size of the restaurant also adds atmosphere. It’s not easy to get a table however and this is definitely not a good place for large groups (I think 5 is the max) opt for takeaway.

Great little sushi place with a very cozy atmosphere. Delicious sushi rolls, gyoza, seaweed salad and saki! YUM! :-D

The overall atmosphere of the Japanese restaurant is good. There are about 6 table (not wide restaurant). I ordered traditional port ramen, california roll, kyoja (a fried dumpling stuffed with minced pork). Ramen is very good. California roll is not bad (it is bigger than the size I anticipated and a grain of rice is not ‘Shari used to making sushi. but it is general in Edinburgh). Kyoja is so so. Price is a little expensive than my anticipation.

So, recently, possibly the worst thing ever happened.
When you hear what it is you’ll know how sheltered my life has been.
Also just how dramatic I can be.
I developed an intolerance to latex fruits… NOOOOOOOOOOO! Ok, so it’s not that bad but unfortunately avocados fall into this category. This is why, last Tuesday, in the kitschy surroundings I see in most Edinburgh sushi places, I could be found picking every last piece of avocado out of my meal with chopsticks. It was in everything except my noodles. I started with a green tea and the salad and prawn spring rolls, they were delicious, really fresh and cold in a rice paper round. Difficult to eat though! My first one burst out over the table! Luckily this warned me there was avocado in it so I was thankful I’d made such a fool of myself.
For mains I had the breaded pork noodles. Honestly, I wasn’t sure if it was pork or chicken which worried me slightly. But the noodles were fantastic and the broth delicious. Lucky for me, one of our party couldn’t finish her tuna maki and prawn sushi rolls SCORE! I laid into them, looking like an absolute pig in the process.
And then dessert, because there’s always room for dessert, black sesame ice cream. Amazing. I’m partial to brown bread ice cream and the texture is very similar but with a subtle sesame taste it was the perfect way to end the meal.
The drinks are a bit on the pricey side and there was no coffee. The service here was excellent, though possibly slightly over bearing. It’s a small place so they go for quick turnover. The waitresses are always close at hand and keep your glasses full but they also take your plates away immediately and this means the meal is less relaxed and more hastened. As we were interviewing a potential new employee during the meal it wasn’t the perfect setting and felt a bit rushed. 5 people, 3 courses, 90 minutes. The toilet is weird, I felt like I was walking up to a pedestal.
Overall I enjoyed the meal but wasn’t taken by the surroundings.

California rolls! — My downfall. I always have to avoid oily fish as I have allergies. But I was persuaded to try this Sushi /​Maki place for a take away– as they also have non fishy options. So I went for the raw meat roll Tataki and the California rolls (with crab meat). Each was £9.50 and £8.50 respectively — I threw in some Edamame for good measures. (£3.90)
The ordering was done it took about 25 minutes to prepare. We decided to wait outside the place since it is a compact (OK it is actually very very small) place.
On delivery I saw the colourful creations and I was ecstatic! Me! Ordering and eating SUSHI. And what a good looking pieces they are! Hello raw beef, come to pappa. mmm nice. Succulent is the word. The rice packet dipped within the soya sauce and I was drooling. I love this. NEXT PLEASE — roll up California. cucumber, crab meat encased in nori and rice and rounded off with shiny pink/​orange roe. Mmmm —
*…quiet moment…*
Right that was a great experiment and I am so glad this. oh hold on. why I learnt something very rapidly. Pink roe (salmon or bream roe) DOES contain fish oils — even tough these level are negligible I have a very good stomach to detect these levels of oil. (it takes practise.) so not before long I had cramps and a mild reaction, Good thing I didn’t eat the lot (as they were delicious!)
I give it 3 stars as I am unable to enjoy all their deliciousness and that they are quite expensive for a take away.
Recommended for raw fish lovers with deep pockets.

Not a cheap place to get take away on the go, but then, Japanese never is! The staff welcomes you with hearty smiles and serve you with water and lemon. It’s the little touches that count. I ordered Sushi and Edamame beans. I had to wait a bit for the food to be prepared, but in the end it was all worth it. Definitely recommend this place. Not for every day take away, except if you are super rich, but on occasion a visit worth.

This restaurant is only appropriate for a quick casual lunch/​dinner, but is not recommended.
Pros: very tasty prawn tempura, ok food presentation, very kind and attentive waitress.
Cons: average taste overall, very poor ambience, uncomfortable chairs, poor value for money, misleading pictures on the internet, very unsuitable for a date.
Comparison: Kanpai, Tang’s, Koyama and Bonsai are all much better (in order of preference).

For some reason, I had a craving for ramen in Scotland of all places. I found this place near a bus stop on my way back to the hotel. I ordered the traditional ramen. It was a miso based ramen with all the fixings. The bamboo shoots was almost candy like (don’t like it). The half egg was hard boiled instead of being half boiled and flavoured. The noodles had a good textured and cooked perfectly. I was still hungry and ordered a scallop handroll. It wasn’t on the menu, but the chef agreed to make it for me. He made me order it through the waitress instead of him telling her to put it on the bill. He wasn’t that friendly. They seemed pretty busy back their.
I would give it 2 stars if compared to restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area, but it deserves 3 stars for being in Edinburgh.

Pretty good sushi.
It’s a small place but the sushi tastes fresh and bright. Decently priced. I’d go again.
One drawback: I don’t know if she was having an ‘off’ day, but our service was pretty bad, she was rude and then ignored us (and the place wasn’t busy at all).

Can’t comment on the sushi in the joint, although the platters floating by did look appetizing. I came here because I was hid with a sudden and severe craving for ramen, and Unilocal helpfully told me this might well be the only place in town that does it.
I ordered the traditional ramen and it hit the spot perfectly. The broth was sweeter than I’m used to, and there was no chili oil to spice it up, but it was still hearty and flavorful, good for the soul and the hungry belly. Noodles cooked to perfection, and all the fixin’s — tender pork, sweet bamboo shoots, salty seaweed, a hard-​boiled egg — and this Unilocaler was in ramen heaven. The vat, I mean bowl, was big enough to stick my head in, I mean fill me up with delicious ramen goodness. Mmm, I’m craving it all over again.

My quest for good sushi in Edinburgh is one I have been patiently working through. Each time a friend suggests «sushi?» I make sure it’s a new place I’ve not tried before. And when said friend lives near Haymarket, there were really a lot of options close by. Two doors down in fact.
We pipped for Sushiya as, firstly, there were good Unilocal reviews and, secondly, it just ‘felt’ nicer. It’s really small inside, and we nabbed the last table (at the bench bar) and a few people were turned away after us. Although I did see ‘reserved’ tables so you can book.
I was impressed initially by the display of raw fish at the counter. Yum. The menu isn’t *too* extensive which is, in a way, nice as it stops my endless chop-​and-​change, last minute panic «I’ll have it all!» dilema.
I went for the chicken skewers, and the squid. I was excited about the squid. It’s one of my new discoveries, and one which I love. I wanted a whole mini squid to nom. My friend ordered the rice box with eel, which she was also excited about.
The chicken skewers were chicken skewers. Nice, did the job, but no better than a pack of chicken skewers from a supermarket you could heat up. They lacked any ‘grilled’ or charcoal flavour too. And my squid. Oh sad, sad days. Not a whole squid at all. Instead, a little ball of rice with the thinnest, spaghetti-​type strips of squid I’ve ever seen. I couldn’t even taste the squid. The way it had been cut, into spaghetti strips, meant it didn’t have that satisfying juicy bite. This is the first thing I“ve ordered in a long, long time that I have been thoroughly disappointed with and eat only out of «well I’ve paid for it now». It was mainly rice.
It could be my fault for not understanding what the dish was. But the description only described it as ‘grilled squid’. No mention of rice. First off, the squid-​spaghetti on top was not grilled. And secondly, there was probably one whole mouthful of squid in there.
My friend’s eel box was rice, eel, brocolli and that was it. The eel had a really strong flavour but was a bit spongy.
I did eye-​up other people’s dishes (of course) and the sashimi dishes looked far more appealing and well presented. You still don’t get a lot on your plate (standard practice in sushi bars it seems) but the raw tuna and salmon looked like it would have been more flavourful and satisfying.
Three stars because it’s cute inside, the other dishes looked ok, and it wasn’t ‘bad’ per se. Apart from my squid-​disappointment (squid spaghetti I tell you!) Next time I’m just going to order ‘a whole squid please’.
Also, three stars as so far I’ve been generally unimpressed with all of Edinburgh’s sushi offerings and this seemed to be one of the better.

I’m vegetarian and I LOVE sushi.
It is the antithesis of all other foods which I indulge in when visiting restaurants. Light, delicate, healthy, and when you stuff your face full of it you don’t feel like lying down in a dark room, unmoving, for a few hours.
What on earth do I eat in Sushiya?
Skewered vegetables to start, a beautiful selection which always includes slightly charred leeks with a delicate sweet soy sauce.
Maki. Wonderfully uniform rolls of rice wrapped in nori (seaweed), with tender rice and either creamy, rich avocado in the center — or a tiny and refreshing crunch of cucumber. Dip them in soy sauce swirled with wasabi and feel that countering hit of savoury bite and mustardy inhalation assault your senses.
Tofu nigiri. Hand shaped rice ‘pillows’, wrapped in a miniature tent of slightly sweet, delicate tofu.
Wash it all down with some Asahi Super Dry, which compliments the wheaty richness of the soy sauce — and cool off with a serving of deliciously light Green Tea Ice Cream.
There’s not much space in the restaurant, but I personally could not care less. Service has always been lovely.

Sushiya is nestled between two other much bigger buildings on Dalry Road near Haymarket and if you blink you’ll probably miss it as it’s only around a third of the size of its neighbours. My little sister is somewhat obsessed with all things Japanese, so when she came up to visit last month, she jumped at the chance of eating at an authentic Japanese restaurant.
We had Inari and chicken Yakitori for starters (along with a cup of very unremarkable green tea) which were both very nice but perhaps a tad too pricey at what amounted to £3 a mouthful. Fearing the same cost/​size ratio from the sushi we opted to order from elsewhere on the menu.
I had chicken teriyaki (with a bowl of miso soup) whilst my sister plumped for a bowl of chicken ramen; and by bowl I mean vat — that dish was freakin’ huge! Both are fairly staple dishes for a Japanese restaurant and were equally acceptable if not outstanding but what struck me about both (especially when taking into consideration what I said about the size of the starters) is that this place’s portion control is way out of whack — the mains were huge and I struggled to finish mine, my sister gave up halfway through. That’s not the worst thing in the world but I can’t help but feel that I would have been happier paying slightly less for a portion I could have comfortably managed. That’s not to sound like I’m being cheap (besides the non sushi mains a very reasonably priced anyway) it’s just that I’m begrudged to leave food I’ve paid for. As opposed to stole. Obviously.
The service was okay and the waitresses were friendly enough but we did wait for around forty five minutes for our main courses to come. As for its facilities, the interior is small but well kept. It just about barely escapes feeling cramped when full but that’s the kind of setting you come to expect from communal eating bars like these. Size then is an obvious limitation for small lunch bars so it proved to be somewhat surprising when customers were continually turned away due to the establishment being full despite the fact that there was an unoccupied «reserved» table big enough for a party of seven who (I learned from overhearing the waitresses) were already over half an hour late. Surely this isn’t good business sense; I understand that a reservation of seven is certainly better than the prospect of no custom at all but at the same time there needs to be a line drawn where you lose your reservation and it’s your fault. The seven eventually swaggered in with no hint of apology or excuse as to their tardiness. I hated them a little bit.
Whinge and moan from me then — and it’s certainly not directed at the restaurant itself it’s more because a) I deplore lateness and b) I really want to see little restaurants like this stay open; they’re three a penny in other parts of the world but we genuinely don’t have all too many of them in the UK and it’s poorly behaved customers along with the reluctance to discipline them (i.e. by cancelling their reservation) which threaten their very existence.
All in all then, Sushiya proved very acceptable for a Saturday lunch. I’m not all too sure I’d go out of my way to go there again, or that the mood would ever strike me to just pop along; but for aficionados of Japanese cuisine, it’s certainly worth a look.
The Water Situation:
Water served happily and without fuss.

Often said to be the best Sushi joint in Edinburgh, I’m not surprised.
It’s got a chic interior high tables with barstools which aren’t particularly comfy but make you believe you are in space-​challenged Japan. Strange TV channels are shown with various typical Eastern programmes that take your mind off the fact you have never mastered chop sticks (oh, just me then?)
The food is fresh and comes quickly, which is good when you’re ordering things one at a time. I always start with Miso soup and then order one raw fish dish after the other so it ends up more like an 8 course extravaganza. Braw!