Full bloom

Anyone who reads my reviews regularly—basically my mom—knows I like booze and better yet, free booze. Walking into Sushi Rose on a Monday night, the neon chalkboard proudly displayed, “Free Beer on Mondays” and just like that, Sushi Rose had me. Of course I assumed there had to be a catch. Did this only include cans of MGD that had been sitting out back in the sun? Not so. Instead, I could have any kind I wanted and one of the sushi chefs dared me with, “All you can drink!” Don’t tempt me, my friend, as I will prevail. My friend Annette and I settled in at the sushi bar and opted to do the all-you-can-eat sushi ($18.95 for dinner) and flagged down the waiter to start with some Sapporos.

Sushi Rose has the standard rolls one becomes accustomed to in Reno, with more emphasis on cooked rolls. That worked out fine for me because I tend to load up on nigiri when I want raw fish. We put our order in with the enthusiastic chef, but the place was fairly crowded so the rolls took a bit of time. That gave us time to chat and check out the restaurant. Sushi Rose is small but set up well. The walls are yellow with red glass lamps hanging above the sushi bar and tables spread throughout the L-shaped restaurant. The space appeared to be clean, orderly and comfortable. Something else that impressed me about Sushi Rose was the two women sushi chefs, as I have never seen women behind the bar making sushi. Free beer and gender equality? This place really does have it all.

When our rolls arrived, I was excited right away by the presentation. The first roll we received was the Flower, which had spicy crab and scallops, avocado, green onions, hamachi and lemon. The spicy scallops were thinly sliced and piled on top. This roll had a nice kick to it, and the lemon worked well to cool the mouth down. This was our favorite roll of the night. We also ordered several pieces of upside down shrimp because it had a nice sweet flavor. Additionally, we got the Golden Gate roll, which had salmon, lemon, cucumbers and crystal shrimp. I really liked this roll because the crystal shrimp and cucumber gave it a nice crunch. The nigiri we ordered—salmon, tuna, unagi—was flavorful and fresh.

We also ordered a Mermaid roll and a Tiger roll. The Mermaid came with cream cheese, jalapeños, crab and cilantro. I liked the combination of the cream cheese and jalapeños, but there was a dab too much cream cheese. The Tiger had unagi, seared tuna, avocado and tempura shrimp. I really liked the combination, and they didn’t scrimp on the unagi. I liked that the rolls weren’t loaded with rice, and everything was sliced fairly thin so you could actually try different rolls without being too stuffed.

Service throughout was a little slow, but it wasn’t like these folks weren’t working at full speed. Our waiter was running around that restaurant delivering drinks and clearing plates, but he seemed to keep a special eye on me and kept my Sapporos coming. Everyone was very friendly and helpful so that always makes up for when service is a little backed up. Sushi Rose has friendly staff, amazing drink specials, and decent sushi so this could be my new sushi spot. I know it will be on Mondays for sure.