Sushi 88

We visited this restaurant because it was on Unilocal’s list of top sushi restaurants in Ottawa. We weren’t disappointed. Mind you, Ottawa is certainly not known for its sushi. While Sushi 88 doesn’t quite match up to places in Vancouver or Toronto, it is pretty great for Ottawa. The selection wasn’t fantastic, nor was the service (it took over an hour to be served, but they were very busy and the server was very friendly and courteous). However, the sushi was excellent. The fish was fresh and tasty, as was the rice. I will be back!

I was craving sushi during our visit to Ottawa and Sushi 88 seemed to have good reviews online. Hence, Mr. H and I hiked our way to Chinatown (it’s right on the entrance).
Luckily there was a table for two available, we were handed menus as soon as we sat down and offered a glass of water. Mr. H had a ginger tea which he loved and then we had some really good sushi.
We ordered the Black Dragon Roll, Sushi 88 Roll, Salmon Roll (I think the name was Salmonara?), some albacore tuna sashimi and spicy scallop nigiri. All of the items were delicious and fresh. My only issue was that there is just one server and I noticed that out sushi was ready for a good ⁵⁄₈ minutes before she noticed and got it over. Being super hungry, I almost got up and self-​served myself. The price for a roll is between $ 12 to $ 14, so our bill came up to $ 68 with tip.
Good place, definitely good sushi!

Definitely a solid four stars. There might only be a handful of strictly a-​la-​carte sushi restaurants in Ottawa (that I am aware of anyway), but at least you can be sure that at one of them, you can eat a decent meal.
Prior to visiting them tonight, I skimmed the menu and called them to see how busy it was (it’s a Friday night after all). It was 7:50PM and I was upfront with the other person on the phone that if they were busy, we’d rather do take-​out. Rather than chalk that up as an easy sale over the phone; she asks how long we’d be, since there was a table that just opened up for two. Suffice to say that we made it in at 7:58PM, with people waiting at the door (but we still did get that table). Really appreciated that.
The boyfriend had been in before, but not for a while. He does remember that their special rolls were quite good. Thus we ordered four of them, which I admit is overkill, but it’s Lent and I can only eat fish on Fridays; I was hungry… well you know!
We had the black dragon roll (unagi+tempura), red dragon roll (tuna sashimi+ tempura), white tiger roll (salmon sashimi+tempura), salamander roll (spicy salmon+panko) and shrimp tempura to start. A little heavy on the grease, but that was our choice, I suppose.
I really enjoyed the black dragon roll and the salamander roll. Having shrimp tempura on most (if not all) of our roll choices did get old after a while, but they were still quite good. Everything was made fresh, and you can tell — because on the red dragon roll (which they forgot, but was put on our table soon after we reminded them), I felt the cool tuna sashimi and then warm shrimp tempura as I bit in. And that’s how it should be.
Otherwise, the place is cozy, so I would recommend calling in (as illustrated above). The prices are fair for Ottawa. Our meal came to ~60 before tip, and I have paid more for worse food at other sushi places in the past. In any case, we were full afterwards. Three rolls and the appetizer would have been enough, to be honest. Our food also came at a reasonable amount of time, although from reading reviews, I had been expecting to wait around 45 – 50 minutes. Service was attentive, even if the place was packed.
It’s a keeper; we’ll be back!

Quality of the sushi is great here– love that they offer brown rice rolls/​sushi ^_^
Have come with friends before, I have ordered to pick up before– staff are very nice and accommodating! Definitely a cool atmosphere– not too large of a restaurant but perfectly comfortable and quaint (has its own interior design that’s very classy and suiting to the atmosphere)

This sushi place is always my go to when looking for a quick bite of sushi. Their ingredients are fresh.