Sushi Boy – Torrance

When you try to offer an expensive commodity for cheap, you inevitably run into commercial spawn like Sushi Boy, the ultimate problem-child of chains. Chains are built on the principle of offering low-priced items that appeal to everyone, which would work if sushi actually appealed to more than 10% of the population.

I had the Tokyo, a dirt-cheap lunch special at $5.99, which probably pleased less than 10% of my tastebud population. The cooked scallop exceeded my expectations, but good thing it was cooked. Trying it raw would have been like getting a McDonald’s burger cooked rare. Otherwise, the eel was good and the spicy tuna was fine, but the tuna and salmon nigiri had a lot of extra connective tissue. I would take a bite and have to shift through a lot fascia, which made it chewy and gross. I obviously didn’t expect the highest quality from a chain, but this was just clearly not the more quality of cuts. I just wish they made more of effort not to remind me.

I added the Salmon Hand Roll to my order, which was an even bigger mistake than the last time I decided to supersize. Why, you ask? Because like the lettuce in this hand roll, supersizing is gross. That many fries and that much soda is gross. To top if off, they wanted to put mayo in it. Not spicy mayo, but the milky white stuff. I think I’d rather drink bleach. Mayo was never a thing in the east coast. Is this a weirdness of the west?

Usually chain restaurants aim to please everyone, but when you take something high-end like sushi and try to make it cheap enough for everyone, places like Sushi Boy seem to please no one. We can’t all be Cheesecake Factory, especially after all the publicity it get from Big Bang Theory. And with its unpolished presentation and McDonald’s playground-esque plastic tables and chairs, it’s clear that like all boys, Sushi Boy has more growing up to do than Howard Wolowitz. So if you’re looking for solid sushi that won’t break the bank, forget your Sushi Boys and go to Sushimon for a Sushi Man.