Uchu Sushi & Fried Chicken

Great food not so good service! Sat at the bar for what seem like 10 long minutes after making several gestures to initiate and order. However the B.L.A.T. Is the reason why we would come back! It was amazing!

I am always suspect of a place that serves weird combos like pizza and donute or sushi and chicken. I’ve been to this place probably 10 times since my place down town went down hill. I previously wrote a not so great review, but have been back often and I am sold. Havent been for dinner but a great lunch spot. They dont open until noon. Its great. I have enjoyed everything I have tried which is an assortment of nigiri, agedashi tofu, rolls and all of it has been great. Fresh. I havent done the fried chicken but would put the sushi up against most places in Portland.

They were so unbelievably kind to us. The BLAT (bacon lettuce avacado tomato) roll was ah-​mazing. Thank you.

This is definitely a good sushi restaurant for vegans. They have so many veggie roll options and can even sub cream cheese with vegan cream cheese.
My only qualm would be the service. Service here is hit or miss depending on the waiter or waitress. It really has nothing to do with the time of day as I’ve gone when it’s super busy and incredibly slow.
Still I would recommend.

The fried chicken is ok but disappointing considering it’s the «staple dish»
The karaage is not good, and not at all like what karaage is supposed to be like.
The calamari is decent but not worth going to a restaurant for.
All in all, I’d rather walk over to Mee Sen.

I was seriously skeptical about a place with sushi + fried chicken… but this place is good. My favorite dish is the fried calamari which is actually gluten free. Also love the salmon poke salad, which is more like a seaweed salad + cucumber salad + poke salad in one.
And who doesn’t love a place with an all day happy hour?

Best happy hour. Love the tempura veggie and iggy pop roll. Fish tanks and atmosphere are cool, best to go on a nice cool when the garage doors are open. Gets a little cold in the winter, but one of my favorite spots. Fried chicken is awesome.

So far my fav. sushi spot on the North side.
Gyoza — not hard to do properly but consistently good here.
Iggy Popper — I love this roll BUT sometimes they forget to get ALL the seeds out and the roll can then become overwhelmingly spicy as the seeds are the hottest part of the jalapeño.
Vegetarian Tempura — Makes one see angels.
Vegas Roll — Life Changing.
Do yourself a favor and go. They are fantastic.

My own personal jury, is hung.
On one hand, you can’t really argue with happy hour all day Monday-​Wednesday. Don’t threaten my with all day deals! There is some great stuff on the HH menu and your can put together a pretty great meal for yourself on the cheap. The sushi roles for HH are basic, which is standard, and they are all solid. They also have a wide variety of apps and even ramen which is what I often go with. As far as drink go, I’ve never gotten a mixed drink I’ve loved here. Stick with beer.
Now is where we veer off into the gray. There is something slightly dirty about this place. I use the word dirty with caution because they seem to have good food practices, it just seems a bit sketchy. That being said nothing jumps out at me with that super fresh taste. The space is modern with concrete, wood beams, and huge fish tanks filled sparingly with sad fish and no decorations otherwise in the tank… it’s like they thought that would be a nice touch then realized how expensive it would be to do right and just said ‘efff it. It seems like if you scratched under the thin veneer of modern you’d arrive promptly at dive. Which I’m not above in any way. just don’t try to hide it from me! Music is always loud and some kind of trance music which in my opinion doesn’t match the ambiance. Uchu seems like it’s trying to be a lot of things and it is simply missing the mark on each by not committing to one.
I wouldn’t come here outside of happy hour. But if it is happy hour… it’s a good option.

I seldom write one star reviews because for 1. Bad service can be inconsistent and 2. Many times I only visit a place once and don’t like to write bad reviews for a restaurant that may just be having a bad night.
Unfortunately I have been to uchu enough times to stand behind my one star review.
We expected it to be busy as it was a Sunday night. After 10 minutes of standing at the front we had to speak up to one of the hosts who had walked by us many times without eye contact. We decided to sit at the bar and put in our order as we thought this would speed the process.
After an hour (and no word from the bartender on the progress of our order), we decided to leave without our sushi. No apologies and absolutely no communication throughout the entire 1.5 hours that we were there. The two of us work in the service industry and UNDERSTAND that things happen and sometimes orders are forgotten. It’s about communicating and trying to still make it an enjoyable experience for your guest. We left disappointed and hungry.
Please do yourself a favor by spending a bit more money for sushi across the street at blue samurai.

Good happy hour prices!
Sushi is pretty solid for the price. I don’t like the unagi there because there’s WAY too much sauce. I stick to the simpler rolls.
I don’t like the calamari here, or the mussels. Haven’t tried any chicken yet.
The portions are huge compared to other sushi restaurants, especially for the price.
The drinks are all really good! The dessert is good as well.
Atmosphere is usually good. Sometimes it gets kind of loud in there and people are yelling/​rowdy, but it’s usually good.
Location is great. Servers are usually attentive.

Like a lot of others, I thought the concept was good, but the execution not as good.
One thing that I have noticed here is that their fish seems to be universally off. They either need to get better quality fish, or fresher fish. Too much of it seems like it is going bad.
First Visit:
Sushi dinner
Iggy popper
Chicken Karaage
Asparagus roll
Cucumber salad
Cat’s eye drink
Candy castle (drink special) — gin, blackberry Brandy, lime, agave, soda
Second Visit:
Jalapeño Poppers
Chicken Karaage
Iggy Popper Roll
Avocado Roll
Sashimi
Third Visit:
Jalapeño Poppers
Hamachi Kama
Tempura Plate
Cucumber Salad
Chicken Katsu
Sashimi Dinner
Over all, anything that doesn’t have seafood in it is EXCELLENT. They have excellent drinks, which alone are enough to warrant a visit. I could easily go here again and never eat seafood and this would be a four star experience. Unfortunately, (visit #3 was over 18 months after visit #1,) the biggest problem was consistently bad seafood. This last time I had to send the poppers back because the tuna was that awful.
Fix the fish! Uchu is an awesome concept, but the seafood literally ruins it.

Unfortunately I must report that I contracted Anisakiasis (sushi worms) from here. It was confirmed via lab tests after an unfortunate late ER visit. I’m guessing it’s rare, and that I was unlucky, but I feel obligated to mention it. Other than that, the food tasted great but the service was poor. All and all, I must assign one star to this review.
Unrelated, I probably won’t eat sushi from anywhere again for at least a year.

Any restaurant with outdoor seating on Mississippi is going to be appealing on a warm evening. Don’t make the mistake of not taking the quality of food into consideration. It is difficult when there is such a wide range of Japanese food in Portland.
Tempura with shrimp. The vegetables were overcooked and greasy. That goes even more for the shrimp we added on. Different breading for some reason. Cooked way too long.
Assorted sushi was ok. Since cooking wasn’t involved, this wasn’t as much of a train wreck.
Service was good, but I don’t think I will be back.

Vegan options: Yes, plenty!
Service: Eh. Not great, not bad
Price: Very reasonable
We went during happy hour on a Saturday and were seated right away. The ambiance is casual but nice. I’m vegan and had no problem whatsoever ordering.
Seaweed Salad– Simple but very flavorful. Will get this again.
Iggy Popper Roll (w/​vegan cream cheese) — This was fantastic. Really appreciate that vegan cream cheese is an option.
Green Dragon Roll– The sauce on top and the crunchy asparagus were excellent. Beautiful presentation.
Veggie Yakisoba– Nothing too fantastic but pretty good. Nice portion.
This was our first time here and we’ll certainly be back.

Popped in here for a late lunch. I think if we go back it will be for cocktails and a snack not necessarily a full meal.
Totally felt like a night club in the daytime which gives me a slightly seedy walk of shame vibe for some reason. I guess after dark I wouldn’t feel that? But I might because the bathrooms had a clubby vibe too. By that I mean it seems like they get a lot of use and abuse inbetween upkeep.
Service though was very nice and attentive. We shared sashimi, yakasoba, spring rolls, chicken wings. It came with miso soup and a salad. I love salads but this one felt like work to me.
Spring rolls were tasty and simple. Husband had the fried chicken and said it was good. Sashimi — wow like a pound of fish on that plate now I know what another poster meant by «dense»…super thick cuts. It just wasn’t what I was expecting or in the mood for maybe. But the fish was fresh and texture was smooth. The extra dry sake paired well.

It is a nice ambience. And the sushi is dense, it makes you full.
I got a free miso soup when I checked-​in on Unilocal.I also had the Wasabi Bloody Mary special and it was dank.
However I know good sushi and this is not it.

I thought the food was a bit hit or miss, but the service and cocktails are great! Love the industrial décor and the all-​day happy hours on M/​T/​W.
— They’re really nice about giving you the free miso soup with Unilocal check-​in, and it’s a really good miso soup!
— Good lychee cocktail with actual lychee — tart and citrusy and strong, $ 6 for HH.
— Cocktail on special — green ginger hot toddy — was fantastic!
— Iggy Popper roll was good, and a great value at $ 4 during HH.
— Eggplant roll was just ok, seemed to be missing something.
— Veggie curry was awful. Watery, light colored curry with overly large chunks of potato and carrot. $ 7
— Ramen was fine. A clear brown pork broth, decently flavorful.

Pretty Average.
Walked in around 5pm sat at the counter/​bar and was handed a water and a menu. I ordered a Sapporo, then later a happy hour spicy salmon roll and the Ramen.
The beer was delightful. The salmon roll was good but not spicy. The ramen was okay — I could have doused it with hot sauce. Consistency and flavor was standard, I wouldn’t recommend.
The service sort of felt cafeteria like, I wasn’t ignored, but the gal that took my order never bothered to check on me and the employees roaming back and forth to the bar seemed task oriented, or they wanted to complete their shift and leave.
Their sushi, beer selection, and fish tank are the highlights.

Something was a little off about my visit to this place. I suppose that may come with going to any sushi restaurant during happy hour, but still. We walked up and the server offered us two options for seating. We chose the table over the bar and then he handed me menus and said that i could go sit down and he’d be right back with waters. Handed me menus and told me to sit down. Like, what? You didn’t think to seat a guest in this restaurant? And you made me carry my own menus to my table? I guess it’s not a huge deal, but as a first impression i didn’t feel all that welcome or that the staff therr was happy to accomodate me. Whatever, I guess.
That server was not very efficient or tactful in his job but someone came and started helping him so it became less stupid. I stopped paying attention once I finally got a beer anyway.
Tried the chicken wings. Pretty mediocre. I don’t want sweet chile sauce on the side with my fried chicken. I want fried chicken that can stand on it’s own. But what can I expect when that seems to be just a gimmick anyway.
The happy hour prices seemed decent for appetizers and rolls but nigiri was not included. And regarding nigiri, be aware that this restaurant has no hallibut. Hirame is one of my favorite fish to eat so that was a little disappointing. The nigiri that I did eat was solid though. I think this place definitely moves enough product on a day to day basis that you probably won’t have an issue with freshness ever. As someone who worked in a sushi restaurant for over 3 years, i have to say that the chef who made my nigiri did it right. Just the right amount of rice. My hamachi and albacore were cut super thick too. Almost too thick if you’re super traditional about how you like your sushi, but i dgaf about that. The hamachi was money. One of my favorite fish. Was not disappointed in that at least.
I will try somewhere else next time i want fried chicken and/​or sushi tho. Sorry I’m not sorry.