Sushi Hachi - Richmond, BC

This place has been on my radar for a really long time but as you can probably see from their hours of operation and limited capacity, it was difficult to to find the time to come here to eat.  Monkey even scoffed at the idea that I'd make it in there for a meal someday.  Hater.  They only operate Tuesday through Saturday from 6 pm to 9 pm, that's it.  I know right?  Apparently, they don't need to operate more hours than that.  Hm, that may be a good sign or a bad sign but we'll soon find out. 

Saving grace for their limited hours is that they do take reservations so Mr called in on a Tuesday night for a meal Wednesday night at 6 and we had no problems getting a table for two.  Reservations are needed because once we walked in, I noticed all of the tables had reserved signs on them and we were asked immediately whether or not we had a reservation.  The place had a few tables already eating at 5:50 so I guess they open earlier?  I don't know.  We sat down at our table, perused through the simple menu and waited for our order...

Chef's Choice Sashimi - $25

The sashimi were expertly cut and at the right temperature but I just wish there were more variety.

 

Beef Sashimi - $9.50

I've had beef carpaccio but not beef sashimi Mr has had neither so he's really curious about this dish.  This one came with some ginger, green onions and other little toppings and a dip that tasted slightly like Worcestshire sauce.  It was very thinly sliced, tender and moist beef and with the toppings were nice little bites.  Mr and I both enjoyed this dish.

Grilled Salmon Belly - $4.50

This is THE MOISTEST piece of perfectly grilled fish I have ever had.  Great charcoal taste on the outside and just super moist.  The only thing that bothered me were a few small bones - they were small and soft enough to just eat but they still bugged me.

Dynamite (Prawn Tempura) - $3.50

It's just a dynamite roll.  I'll give it to the chef that the nice is nicely cooked, not too moist, and it's rolled really well (not too packed) but in the end, it's just a dynamite roll.

Real Crab California - $4.50

It's just a California roll with real crab.  I do really appreciate the real crab - it's a better consistency, certainly sweeter and crabbier and again, the rolls are made really well.  But in the end, it's just a California roll.  Our recommendations is to eat the other items and skip on the rolls - you can get rolls at any other Japanese place! - and experience the stuff that SH does exceptionally. 

We have a mixed review for Sushi Hachi - the sashimi and grilled salmon were excellent in terms of taste, texture, temperature an every other descriptive word starting with the letter "t".  The rolls were not that expensive but they were also just *shrug* meaning ok, nothing special.  We'd recommend that you come here if you're looking for authentic Japanese cuisine, not the roll stuff that you could find at any other Japanese or pseudo-Japanese place.  Just remember to bring the credit card and you'll be fine.  Bon appetite!

Oinks:

• Delicious food - get the grilled salmon belly!
• Friendly and intimate service
• A large variety of sashimi and sushi
• Free parking in the back of the restaurant in a covered parkade

Doinks:

• On the pricier side
• Smaller portion sizes - it's about the quality, not quantity here
• Noise issues - for a good 15 minutes of the beginning of our meal was interupted by constant drilling noises but the rest of the evening was pleasant (nice jazz music in the background)