Friday, February 04, 2005 Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

RESTAURANT REVIEW: Sushi Factory

Just the Basics: Sushi Factory diners should pretty much stick to the sushi, even though it does little to stand out

Sushi Factory, in an end row of a strip shopping center, is a good neighborhood spot. Photo by Ralph Fountain.

Neighborhood sushi spot -- there's a term you wouldn't have seen 10, 15 years ago in most American cities, but, as in so many other culinary cases, here we are.

Most of us define a neighborhood spot as a place where we'll stop if we're in the neighborhood -- after work, maybe, or on an evening when the pace of life simply wipes out the opportunity or energy to cook -- but wouldn't trouble ourselves to drive out of our way to visit.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, or them. Neighborhood spots may not be stellar examples of food, atmosphere or service, but they fill a need in that they're usually cheap, friendly and quick -- and convenient, if it's your neighborhood. Such is the case with the Sushi Factory.

Unless you're on a first-name basis with the owners, finding happiness at a neighborhood spot usually lies in enabling it to play to its strengths. So, even though Sushi Factory has egg rolls ($3.95) on the menu, you might want to stick to more traditional Japanese fare. These egg rolls were just OK -- crisply fried, but with a filling of mostly shredded cabbage, and served with a sauce that tasted like it contained nothing more than ketchup.

You might, in fact, want to pretty much stick to the sushi. (Yes, the place is called Sushi Factory, but whatever's on a restaurant's menu should be equal to the strongest link; if you can't do it, don't sell it.) The gyoza ($3.95) were browned maybe a little too enthusiastically -- not for nothing do they call these potstickers, I was thinking as I chewed -- but the filling had a nice subtle touch of ginger, as did the light sauce served with them.

The teriyaki chicken platter ($7.95 Mondays through Thursdays), however, had a number of weak spots. This one was potentially quite a bargain, including, as it did, the lightly sauced chicken breast, shrimp and vegetable tempura, soup, salad and rice. (There was supposed to be a California roll, too, but it apparently had gone missing.) The miso soup: quite nice, hot and smoky. Salad: Mostly iceberg, but with a flavorful, ubiquitous ginger dressing. Rice: rice.

The tempura, however, was inconsistent, with some of the vegetables on the soggy side, others quite hard. And it was way too greasy, apparently having been fried at a temperature that was too low, or perhaps in oil that wasn't sufficiently fresh. At any rate, the batter coating that should've been crisp was mostly soggy and greasy.

The sushi was, overall, much better. Someone at Sushi Factory clearly has a love for the stuff (not to mention an eye for marketing), which results in a long list that include the whimsically named Mike's Mardi Gras, Kamikaze, Bally's, Fireball, DQ Roll -- even a "secret" roll.

We stuck to the basics, to provide a better basis of comparison. We had four rolls -- spicy tuna ($4), shrimp tempura ($5), salmon ($4) and Yum Yum ($4), which involves shrimp and crab.

All were rolled and cut sufficiently neatly that we could pick them up with chopsticks without much problem, the rice was just sticky enough and toasted sesame seeds were used liberally. The rolls were accompanied by generous amounts of wasabi and pickled ginger, and the fish was uniformly fresh.

But -- and this is a big but -- there wasn't anything about any of the rolls that made them stand apart from the crowd; even the spicy tuna wasn't particularly spicy. This is, as one of my cohorts said, a good place for sushi beginners.

Or for those who just happen to be in the neighborhood.

Las Vegas Review-Journal restaurant reviews are unannounced and done anonymously at Review-Journal expense.