By Karen Aney (The Cascade) – Email
Print Edition: March 14, 2012
#110 – 19475 Fraser Hwy
Surrey, BC
604.514.3700
Hours: Monday to Friday 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.; Saturday opening a half hour later; Sunday closing a half hour earlier.
The Fraser Valley and beyond is inundated with sushi restaurants – they overpower even a certain green-aproned monster. With so many choices, it’s important for sushi restaurants to set themselves apart somehow, and equally important for consumers to choose somewhere to eat based on what they’re looking for (low cost, intimate ambience, unique presentation, etc). Ninja Sushi, a stone’s throw from the Surrey/Langley border, is one of the best sushi restaurants in the Lower Mainland if you’re looking for something unique.The great equalizer at any sushi joint is the California roll. At Ninja Sushi, they’re $2.99 and of average size. Some of their more special rolls are at the high end of the price scale: an Alaska roll is $4.99, and house specialty rolls are priced at as much as $12.99. However, as anyone who’s perused a specialty roll menu knows, that’s not unheard of. Though Ninja has rolls priced at $12.99, they also have special rolls at the lower end of the pricing scale, with plenty between $4.99 and $6.99.We ordered one of their house specialties, the “Cali-Fry” roll – marked on the menu in the “Ninja Recommends” selection. According to the menu description, this is a “lightly battered & deep fried California roll drizzled w/ special sauce.” Priced at $4.99, and consisting of 12 pieces, this is a fantastic value. Taste-wise, it’s a great compromise if you’re craving warm food and sushi at the same time, and the special sauces—which seem like Japanese mayonnaise and teriyaki sauce—are addicting.We also ordered “Hwe Dup Bop,” a Korean dish that consists of rice with baby green lettuce and vegetables. This is then topped with a variety of sashimi. The portion size is huge; one person could easily order this and have leftovers. It even comes with Miso soup to start. At $10.99, this once again represents a huge value. The sauce served with the dish is called chojang sauce—a Korean hot sauce—and it will make you wonder what you ever saw in Frank’s Red Hot.
The final item we ordered was another menu-recommendation called “Sizzling Salmon Legs on Stage.” Found in the tempura section of the menu, this dish consists of deep fried strips of salmon on top of crabmeat bedding, both of which are drizzled with three sauces. This dish, and others on the menu (including the “Cali-Fry” roll), are unique offerings at Ninja Sushi. While you may find deep fried items at other locations, the dishes at Ninja are likely superior in taste: slightly crunchy, but with moist, rich batter. When we ordered this item, it took a couple minutes before the server apologetically informed us that they were out of the deep fried salmon. She suggested that we instead use prawn tempura, which we happily agreed to do. When the dish was served, there were six pieces of prawn tempura – priced at $6.25; this is again a great value. The sauces, similar to those on the Cali-Fry roll, were tasty and added a nice depth to the dish.
What shone in this interaction was the service: the solution to the missing menu item was a good one, and offered at no extra cost to us though the large prawns were likely an upgrade. It also bears mentioning that we have been to this restaurant before, though not since the Christmas break. Despite that, a server (not ours) recognized me and managed to remember my personal preference for gyoza sauce instead of soy sauce. Though I forgot to request it myself, it was brought to me with my meal, demonstrating that Ninja Sushi can be trusted to offer not just great specialty items but wonderful service as well.
The ambience is fairly typical for a sushi restaurant, though perhaps slightly cleaner than most. There are booths to accommodate large parties, though when we were there all the patrons were seated in the centre of the restaurant at typical tables (likely owing to the arduous task of cleaning the isolated booths). So, if you’re trying to decide which sushi restaurant to go to, and you’re in the mood for great value, something a little different, and phenomenal service, this is the place to go.
