Catch of the day

They say fish is best right off the boat, and that’s how they serve it up at Sushi Boat. Sushi Boat has a sushi bar and a Korean restaurant, and you can opt to eat at either. When my friend and I visited a few nights ago, we went for the all-you-can-eat sushi dinner ($17.95). There is a little plastic canal circumnavigating the sushi bar, separating the patrons from the chefs, and little wooden boats tied together by strings go ’round and ’round in the canal, bearing sushi dishes.

Part of the appeal of the restaurant is the sheer thrill of snatching a plate full of sushi off a moving water vessel. Culinary adventurers rarely achieve this kind of daredevil recklessness. However, as the boats are remarkably slow-moving, the novelty quickly begins to wear thin, and the responsibility of measuring up to a critical assessment must inevitably fall upon the food itself. So, how is it?

Sometimes it’s good, and sometimes it has that what-the-heck-is-it vibe.

There are some problems, many of which are rooted in the very thing that may initially draw diners: the boats. First off, nothing is labeled, so the experience is a real test of your sushi identification skills—and this might be of concern if you’re one of those people who likes to know what he’s eating.

I fared average in the sushi-recognition game. I could spot the crystal shrimp and the roe. I could clearly identify the salmon sake, but I was thrown for a loop now and then, especially by what appeared to be a fried chicken wing that continued to circle the table for the duration of our visit. It was probably some kind of tempura dish–but boy did it look like fried chicken.

Since I was dining at a sushi restaurant and therefore not at all in the mood for fried chicken, I was never the least bit tempted to pick it up and, apparently, neither were any of the others patrons present. So it continued to circle the table, comically conspicuous and seeming to yearn to be snatched up. This leads me to another issue I have with Sushi Boat’s creative approach to serving–one is never sure how long the sushi has been rotating. If it’s a rather slow night, as it was on the weeknight we visited, one sees the same undesired options go by again and again.

That being said, the sushi was actually pretty tasty and consistently better when ordered rather than rescued from the life-raft parade. Whenever we made actual requests to the chefs, the sushi was served quickly and with a smile, and it seemed to taste better and somehow fresher. I especially enjoyed the unagi, freshwater eel. However, ordering was a bit awkward, in large part because there didn’t appear to be menus.

We spent much of our time trying to rack our brains for the names of favorite sushi dishes—our concentration often interrupted by the regular and increasingly comic appearance of fried chicken. But the meal was largely satisfying, the service friendly and the novelty of the boats rather delightful.

If you do decide to visit Sushi Boat—and it is worth a look—heed this lesson: As we were leaving, a couple who seemed like regulars sat down next to us and promptly requested menus, which were immediately handed over. Imagine that, they asked for menus and were given menus. I slapped my forehead and cursed my own name for never having thought of this. Learn from my mistakes, friends!