Sushi Tei

This entry was posted on 27.02.09 // written by Leona //

15 Comments

World wide food chain with zero class.

I work around the corner from the restaurant and I always wondered what their food tasted like. My work colleagues mentioned to me they had a sushi train and everyone knowing how much i love sushi.. I had to try this place.

After walking past it a million times I decided to give it a crack. As soon as I entered, the staff were instantly unorganised and I noticed they weren’t japanese (they were speaking cantonese and mandarin WTF?). I didn’t know whether to leave or to stay.. so I stuck it out and boy do I regret it. I shouldn’t have wasted my money on this joint and listened to my gut instinct.

SERVICE
Absolutely SHOCKING!! Waitress took us to the wrong table to begin with then took us to our table which was uncleaned and spillage on the bench..the food took forever to come out that there were a lot of meal cancellations simply because they kept people waiting (including myself). Unlucky for them I was sitting near the sushi bench where the orders were picked up and taken. To make matters worse as I was there for sushi train.. which had no sushi…especially since its peak-hour lunch time crunch (12:30)

Q: Whats the purpose of a sushi train, if it has no sushi?
A: There is none!

AMBIANCE
The decor is beautiful, plates (traditional japanese), seating arrangements are beautiful, interior design is stunning.. and it’s really unfortunate it doesn’t complement the food, service and the quality. Teaches you not to judge a book by its cover.

FOOD:
Worst Japanese food EVER! (Sushi wise) didn’t get the chance to try their soups and dishes.. Definitely wont be coming back here again. Just rmemeber never take clients here, chance’s are you could loose business for keeping their belly’s hungry.

Scallop
First of all the seafood was definitely not fresh. Considering they made this straight out of the kitchen, it wasn’t even warm and this scallops were dry as though all the moisture had been sucked out of them for weeks. There was no wasabi underneath the scallops nor was there any sauce.

Soft Shell Crab
Very very small and definately not worth the price. I assume they used about 1/8 of the baby crab. The crab was sooo tiny i didn’t even know i was eating crab. There was no taste and unfortunately the crab wasn’t fresh either.

Salmon Tuna Rolls:
Nothing fancy about this sushi.. I’ve had better

Salt & Pepper Squid:
Surprisingly nice. Fresh indeed and the batter was unusual. It was fairly sweet and soothing at the same time.

Meat Goyza
Goyza’s seemed hand-made. Presented beautifuly and nice to an extent, however greesy at the same time that you could see the pork mince fat seep out of the Goyzas.

Miso Soup
Not too salty, just perfect. Down side was it took forever for the waitresses to deliver a small cup of soup!

Sushi Tei
Chifley Square
Ground Floor,
1 Cnr of Elizabeth St & Hunter St.
Sydney NSW 2000
Phone (02) 9232 7288
Fax (02) 9232 7988

Review:
Based on ambiance, taste, presentation and the quality of service.
[starreview]

Japanese, sushi, sushi train

Articles, Japanese, Sydney, Where there's food there's me

15 Comment to “Sushi Tei”

Lorraine @NotQuiteNigella
5:02 am on February 28th, 2009

Oh dear, that does not look promising at all. The scallops look very dry, you can see that from the pictures and the amount of soft shell crab used is rather small :(

leona
March 2nd, 2009, 4:38 pm

=( worst sushi ever..
scallops were soo dry that my mouth couldn’t tell if I was chewing / eating anything. =(

lis
3:12 pm on March 1st, 2009

how disappointing! yes, even as a non-seafood eater, i can tell just from the photo that the scallops are dry.

at least there were a couple of highlights, but a pretty average place that i certainly won’t be visiting.

a sushi train without sushi?! sacrilege!

leona
March 2nd, 2009, 4:39 pm

Dude shocking..
especially for a friday peak-hour lunch time in the CBD….
Shocking absolutely shockingggg..
now i now why the restaurant was soo full / packed out.. its because ppl were waiting for their food. :(

FFichiban
4:02 pm on March 1st, 2009

Gah at them! The place looks so good but they had to ruin it! That scallop really looks like death in sushi form… at least your photos have awesome composition esp the first one ^^!

leona
March 2nd, 2009, 4:43 pm

=( thats right gaaaah at them hehe..
I heard how great their other world-wide franchises were.. Its a shame that i had such a horrible experience. Do you think i should try it again one day?

LOL i felt so horrible taking the first photo.. it felt cruel =(

Howard
8:09 pm on March 1st, 2009

@ ‘worst Japanese food ever’. Bummer on the dodgy experience. This place always looks packed at lunchtime with all the business workers. Maybe they only have the sushi train at lunch ? Which is dissapointing heh.

leona
March 2nd, 2009, 5:06 pm

I assume its usually packed. I went on a friday though usually fridays are the days where we all like to eat something other than a sandwich.

At lunch they serve everything, sushi train, obento, japanese meals the lot. maybe it was my bad luck..

Cynthia
3:16 am on March 2nd, 2009

I’ve had Sushi Tei when i was in Denpasar, Bali and although this was in Bali, i was very surprised that all the workers knew how to talk Japanese themselves. Service was so-so, kinda slow but food wise, it was very nice, imo.

And yes i agree, Sushi Tei’s decor is really nice… what a shame that it was disappointing for you.

There is a Sushi place at Randwick a couple doors away from the Coles plaza, oh man that place has awful, old Sushi.

Simon
9:42 pm on March 2nd, 2009

No, don’t hold back. Tell us what you really thought…

As soon as you mentioned Chinese operators, I had feared for the worst. I had the worst ever sushi at a Chinese run Japanese restaurant in Newtown. The worst that food court sushi could offer in my experience was still better than this place.

Condolences from someone whose been there.

anita
7:25 pm on March 4th, 2009

i’ve been there with not much varity of japanese food. the food just seemed so dull.

Belle
4:49 pm on March 6th, 2009

I agree with everything you’ve said! Sushi Tei was okay when it first opened, but it’s definitely gone downhill. Food takes ages to arrive and is mostly crappy (though the fried squid is nice). There’s a new sushi train in Hunter St (where Boost juice used to be) that is quite good. Lots of food at lunch time, and it was fresh.

nick
5:25 pm on April 2nd, 2009

not trying to sound like a overprotective sushi-tei husband.. here goes..

@leona
the scallops were broiled type (see burn marks).. they flame the scallops with a torch and therefore no more moisture. (no fear.. this is normal.. according to the laws of physics, when you burn things = no moisture)
I’d be more worried if they are not dry

@anita
variety? the restaurant have more variety than average jap rest (i think)… being a guy i have problem choosing dinner. I let the ladies select the dishes, and most times I encountered a new dish or two

but then again I always go to there @ dinner.. never lunch.. so I wouldn’t be able to relate to your experience

I think the main service guy is chinese, but the chef definitely is jap (he speaks jap-lish, i dont think chinese can replicate jap-lish)

sydneyguyrojoe
1:27 am on June 19th, 2009

Good review, i havent been there but the more upmarket sushi places i think are overhyped and more expensive than they should be!! sushi train and sushi bay is good enough for me!!

einna
1:11 pm on November 19th, 2009

I’m quite surprised at the standard of Sushi tei. Like you mentioned, it is a world wide chain and I’ve been to the one in Singapore a number of times and its excellent! One of the better sushi restaurants. I’ll be sure to NOT pop into the one here in Sydney!

Sushi Tei

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