Rafa’s Temaki

Amazing food and the people who manage it are really nice.
The sashimi are really fresh and the sushi are amazingly good. You should teach some things to that yamamori expensive place. You are so much better).
Hope you get your own place soon because is going to be amazing :)

We stopped into the Epicurean Food Hall for dinner and decided to try the temaki. A lot of the stands were closing early, and many of the places looked quite good. The temaki was a great choice, though.
I ordered a smoked salmon temaki with «mayo» (Japanese mayo) and «cheese» (cream cheese), and my husband ordered one of the combos. They aren’t as easy to eat as they look, but they are packed with salmon and SUPER delicious! One temaki was enough for me — just like sushi rolls, they are deceptively filling. I wish we had teamki at home!
Service was not that great, even for a vendor in this type of setting. She was a bit standoffish and uninformative. The prospect of speaking to customers was not one that excited her, and I’m not convinced she knows what cream cheese is. Luckily, it’s a mostly self-​serve atmosphere in a setting much resembling a food court.

TL;DR: Temakis are cool and you should try them here even if it’s only once.
This a very ok place for sushi in Dublin, with not a lot of pleasantries but serving decent food, which makes it more of a 3.5 stars review, but in the end, the prices and location weighed it down.
The location isn’t the best, one of the food counters inside the Epicurious Hall, meaning you’ll end up having your meal in a noisy, dim and crowded space. Which is ok if you are willing to sacrifice comfort and ambiance and trade that for price, quick service and variety.
I was excited to try a Temaki here in Dublin so I went for one of their cheapest combos, which included a temaki and a 8 piece roll, plus a drink (I had to have a Guaraná, which is an extra 50cent, oh well), all in all more than enough food if you ask me. I had salmon because there weren’t any vegetarian combos and I wanted to try out this place with something they would use to promote themselves, but I definitely felt that there should be better options for vegetarians and smaller combos, if I go back I may go for an individual vegetarian item instead.
I paid and I was handed a receipt with a number, so when my food was ready a bell rang and my number showed up on their display — a good system. I waited about ten minutes for my order to be ready though, because I had to wait for three orders before mine as there’s only one guy taking care of them. I went for lunch late that day so luckily there wasn’t a big queue, but I can imagin it gets really busy during other times. The good thing is it was all freshly prepared!
So, the food itself was good, but not great. The rice wasn’t right, too flavourless and loose, which is something I’m picky about. The fish was kind of bland too. But I must say it was very well rolled and had just the right amount of spice. So I was content, but it didn’t blew my mind. It also didn’t help that your tray is handed to you with no wasabi or ginger, which you have to ask for separately.
It’s definitely an alternative for sushi in Dublin, better than average, but I found it slightly overpriced for what it was and not in the best of settings. Perhaps another visit will change my mind and make me grow a bit fonder of the whole thing, but for now it goes in the OK pile.

When I came here the very first time, I was disappointed. The portion given of my salmon sashimi was small and terribly presented. Mainly due to the fact that the sashimi was not prepared by the chef itself but rather the waitress. The temaki however, was delicious but average. Then again, the time that I ordered was nearly an hour before they were going to close. So I’m not too surprised on the quality of the food given the circumstances that I went there under. However I have revisited it on a Tuesday and let me please please remind you that on every Tuesday, they have a buffet session until 9 pm and you have to book in advance for this on their website. Okay, now back to my second visit. Quality of food and presentation of salmon sashimi was way way better (I opted out for takeaway) than my previous visit. Keep in mind that it was the chef that prepared the order. But before that, I would also like to mention that a lot of what I wanted to order were no longer available to order due to the upcoming buffet session. But all in all, it was good. Temaki was amazing for me this time but if you find it tasteless, you could always add soy sauce/​wasabi to suit your own preferences. So from my experience, I would advise you that don’t go an hour before closing unless you’re really desperate for their temaki’s. Lunch time would probably be the best time.
And their shop has significantly improved in terms of appearance wise and they accept cards now! So that’s really handy if you don’t have cash and don’t want to go around looking for an ATM machine around Dublin. If you’re feeling a bit frugal about your lunch and just so happened to be craving for some Japanese temaki or sushi. This is the place to go. Compared to Kokoro which is just outside the street, I rate this better.
Oh and I don’t have a picture of my temaki because I ate it all before I could take a picture of it. He he.

Go here very often with my partner who is an avid sushi eater. The service is always friendly and welcoming and the food is always good and it’s always topped off with Guarana which I love so what more can I ask for?
I’d recommend these guys to everyone and they have cooked stuff as well for everyone who doesn’t like the sound of sushi.

The Gods be praised I found a new Sushi place in Dublin!
After I saw a friend Instagram his food from a to me unknown Sushi location, my predator instincts took over. There isn’t a sushi place in Dublin that hasn’t got a review from me, and I couldn’t let that series break, could I?
And it couldn’t have come at a better time. Today I was on my off/​cheat day from the No-​Carb diet my new gym put me on! Oh and did I mention my hangover?
Ireland’s first Temakeria is what they call themselves and the menu definitely focuses on Temakis. The combo No. 4 was an excellent choice which we foolishly extended with one additional Prawn handrolls each.
My first thought when I saw the tray was «Jesus, how am I gonna eat all that?» The Temakis are overflowing with salmon and Shrimps in our case. The sashimi was very fresh and delicious!
The food really hit the spot and I won’t mind venturing to the North side for a bit of Temaki love, especially since its right across from one of my favorite haunts «Ten Thousand Sushi».
Don’t forget though that you’re still in a Food Mall and that the sushi is served on plastic trays and paper plates.
For us it was the food that mattered, which was excellent and great value. At ~17 EUR per person we were royally stuffed and reveling in our post-​Sushi blood sugar haze, comfortably oblivious to the busy surroundings.
Mind blown!

Sushi — Excellent, Price — Very Good
Sushi — 5 stars
Service — 3 stars
The sushi is of high quality and is fresh. Prices here are very reasonable for sushi! If you go across the road to the other sushi place you’ll be paying at least twice the price.
It is clear that this sushi bar got its inspiration from the sushi bars of Brazil, I’m sure it’s Brazilian owned. During my trip to Brazil this summer I witnessed the Brazilian fascination with sushi, there is literally a sushi restaurant on every corner and even sushi bars in shopping centres. One thing I noticed too is that their portions are quite large but the prices are not too high — the complete opposite of sushi places here!
Rafa’s Temaki is just like the ones in Brazil, which I miss SOOO much, so I’m happy it has opened and I hope it does well. I’d recommend the temaki and hot rolls, absolutely delicious.
The food itself is worth 5 stars but I’m only awarding 4 overall as the cashier was talking on the phone while we were ordering– like come on!, and it’s location is not the best.

Ordered an 8 piece salmon roll that was already premade in a box. Instead of simply handing me my purchase, I was given a ticket and made to wait 15 minutes while the chef slowly made temaki and the cashier did pretty much nothing. This should have been a 20 second transaction. When I finally received my lunch I wasn’t supplied with wasabi or ginger.
The sushi was decent and at a good price too. However, the service needs to speed up dramatically, especially at lunchtime.

I had never heard of temaki but I really like sushi so I asked for the salmon temaki with salmon nigiri and a coke (better known as Combo 1) just to see what it was like.