Sugarfish Sushi – Trust Me Experience and Review
Those beautiful takeout containers with carefully sculpted sushi and rolls all neatly placed in its proper sections of the labeled box… I’ve seen so many pictures of Sugarfish’s takeout and have wanted one and a photo with one for a while. A coworker told me the food is better fresh, so no takeout box for me, so my Sugarfish review and experience is based off of my outdoor dining experience at the Pasadena location.
No Reservations
Sugarfish is first come first serve and the full party must be present before seating. I flew to LA (trip too short) and my bestie and her sister were also interested in trying Sugarfish. We went to the Pasadena location for lunch since dinner can have a very long wait. We got there around Noon and got the last outdoor table! Wow, lucky us. Unfortunately, the sun was shining directly to our table and the umbrella wasn’t much of a help, so I wouldn’t have been surprised if parties before us decided to wait for another table.
Trust Me as a First Timer
Sugarfish has an a la carte menu, but they are very known for their Trust Me varieties. It makes sense based on their photo from their website which I used some of in my header photo on this post. Our server recommended that we all get the Trust Me and we can add on more afterwards. So we did that… we each had the Trust Me, and below are the photos and what was within the Trust Me.
First Course – Edamame
We all got the standard lil dish with ginger and wasabi, with a thingy of soy sauce on the side. Chopsticks were wooden standard ones with their logo on the wrapper. Cute! The first Trust Me course was edamame. Beautiful and delicious. Rather standard starter, but it was nicely salted and yummy.
Second Course – Tuna Sashimi with Ponzu and Chives
I’m more of a salmon type of girl, but this tuna was really good! Each piece was smooth and there wasn’t a bad bite to this. The sauce was not over powering. Each tuna piece was good on its own, but the sauce was so good not to put some more with the tuna. Pretty good start here!
Third Course – Albacore Sashimi with Ponzu and Chives, and Salmon Sashimi with Toasted Sesame
Yaaaaay, some salmon! The third place we receive contains 2 pieces of nigiri – 2 albacore pieces and 2 salmon pieces. The rice on these nigiri seemed very thought out too. Fancy sushi rice? Technique is definitely involved as each grain can stick together, yet picked apart separately. It wasn’t mushy or dry, and the fish to rice ratio is pretty good unlike some cheap or buffet sushi spots where there’s an overload of mediocre rice. The albacore was pretty good and it had similar flavors to the tuna sashimi with a difference taste and texture. It wasn’t as fatty and smooth as the salmon, but that’s just me being biased since I really like salmon. Of course, the salmon was amazing that I wanted more.
Fourth Course – Toro Hand Roll
Fatty tuna is my favorite type/part of tuna. Toro is the fatty underbelly of the tuna and the marbling is a factor that determines its grade. Otoro is the super awesome fatty type with a lot of marbling, but this isn’t otoro. It wouldn’t be at its price point unless they were extremely generous. The tuna handroll’s tuna is a lighter color and seasoning isn’t really added to the handroll – just its amazing rice (see all the grains!), the tuna, and the seaweed. I think I saw the to-go variation as a cut roll for presentation reasons, but it was pretty nice to receive a handroll. Each component tasted really good, but similar to a burrito, there could be chunks that aren’t quite even bites.
Fifth Course – Yellowtail Sushi with Lemon and Hirame Sushi with Yuzu Ponzu
I might actually like yellowtail more than salmon. This piece of yellowtail was so good that I was disappointed it only had one piece instead of 2 as the prior nigiri dish. Hirame is fluke and some places may call it halibut. That was good too with the yuzu ponzu, but the texture and flavor from the yellowtail nigiri piece was far superior. It was my favorite thing from the Trust Me and from my Sugarfish review / experience.
Sixth Course – Blue & Dungeness Crab Hand Roll
Another handroll. The servers took away the prior plate and gave us this handroll, and later came back and mentioned this was the last part of the Trust Me. Aw man, disappointment… it was so good, but it was coming to an end. The rice and seaweed was the same as the toro handroll. There wasn’t too much stuffed in the handroll, but it was really good nonetheless. It didn’t top the yellowtail, but usually nigiri > handrolls in my opinion.
Overall Meal and Experience
It’s a pretty good set menu for a bit over $30 after taxes and such a person. We didn’t feel full from the Trust Me, but we didn’t want to spend more to order a la carte. The sun was a bit too much for us, but I’m pretty sure we would have ordered more if weather was different. We got more food / snacks and boba elsewhere to fill us up, but we were satisfied with our meal from Sugarfish. The servers would bring out one plate at a time, but one of us would get our plate a bit later since the servers would carry one plate per hand. They took away the plate after we were done and gave us the next plate. Our waters were filled. Wooden chopsticks were not replaced. I didn’t get my pretty takeout box, but maybe next time. The outdoor dining experience was really good as I was extremely satisfied for the food. Good sushi is usually pricey, so Sugarfish does pretty well. It’s a bit pricey, but great for its quality to price.
