If you’re like me, you love sushi. Sadly, good old College Park doesn’t always have the most premiere sushi options to choose from. After scrolling through GrubHub, you probably become overwhelmed by your options. While there may be a wide selection of restaurants to choose from, which one is actually the best? Well, a few of us foodies did the ultimate College Park sushi taste test and ranking experiment so that you can have the answer to where to order from. After obvious ~scientific~ research, we’re here to present the stats.
We tested 4 popular rolls: Shrimp Tempura, Spicy Tuna, Alaska, and Eel Cucumber and ranked them by various factors, including appearance, “mouth feel”, taste and quality, and then we ranked them each. We tried each kind from different restaurants, and after extensive research we came to a conclusion.
Photo by Alex Vu
Spicy Tuna
Photo by Alex Vu
Clockwise from top: Kiyoko, Hanami, Wasabi Bistro, Shanghai Tokyo.
Wasabi Bistro
Price: $6.00
Pieces per roll: 8
Average Appearance: 3.5/5
Average Quality: 3.25/5
Comments: This one had the darkest tuna, meaning it looked the most realistic. However, we concluded that the spice of this one really overpowered the tuna taste, and one of our foodies said the spice still lasted even after eating a large amount of ginger.
Shanghai Tokyo
Price: $5.25
Pieces per Roll: 8
Average Appearance: 4.2/5
Average Quality: 3.5/5
Comments: This one was the most aesthetically pleasing, and was very clean looking. Overall, we enjoyed the presentation with the added spicy mayo, but the spice was severely lacking in this roll.
Kiyoko Express
Price: $6.00
Pieces per roll: 8
Average Appearance: 3.5/5
Average Quality: 2.6/5
Comments: There was definitely too much rice. Avoid this restaurant if you don’t want to eat a lot of carbs. There was little spice, and the sauce was almost sweet instead. We were also kind of turned off by the over-vibrant orange color. It had a really unpleasant mouth feel — doughy, pasty and overall unpleasant.
Hanami
Price: $6.00
Pieces per roll: 6
Average appearance: 2/5
Average Quality: 2.3/5
Comments: You can definitely taste the fish, and the sesame is nice. But there wasn’t a lot of spice, and it was a pretty inconsistent roll.
Winner: Shanghai Tokyo
Alaska Roll
Photo by Alex Vu
Clockwise from top: Kiyoko, Hanami, Wasabi Bistro, Shanghai Tokyo.
Overall, we didn’t really enjoy the Alaska rolls from any of the restaurants that much. Even though it’s such a common roll, each restaurant had different renditions, which were overall kind of weird.
Wasabi Bistro
Price: $5.50
Pieces per roll: 8
Average Appearance: 3.8/5
Average Quality: 3.6/5
Comments: You can definitely taste the salmon.
Shanghai Tokyo
Pieces per roll: 8
Average Appearance: 3.2/5
Average Quality: 2.5/5
Comments: This roll was just “off” to us. It wasn’t consistent, there was too much avocado, the salmon was really pale, and it just tasted weird. One foodie even said “pass — not my thing.” Yikes.
Kiyoko Express
Price: $6.50
Pieces per roll: 8
Average Appearance: 3.8/5
Average Quality: 2.7/5
Comments: The cucumber was really inconsistent in this roll, and the avocado was prominent but somewhat slimy. Overall, it was pretty bland and an unexceptional Alaska roll.
Hanami
Price: $5.00
Pieces per roll: 6
Average Appearance: 3.2/5
Average Quality: 2.7/5
Comments: The avocado was really creamy, and we were surprised by how good it was. We thought the sesame was a nice touch, but it was pretty much typical and nothing out of the ordinary.
Winner: Wasabi Bistro
Shrimp Tempura
Photo by Alex Vu
Clockwise from top: Kiyoko Express, Hanami, Wasabi Bistro, Shanghai Tokyo.
Wasabi Bistro
Price: $6.00
Pieces per roll: 6
Average Appearance: 4.2/5
Average Quality: 4/5
Comments: The domino effect of the presentation was very nice, and we enjoyed the crispiness of the shrimp. We also noticed the shrimp in these rolls were larger than some of the other places that offered it for the same price.
Shanghai Tokyo
Price: $5.95
Pieces per roll: 6
Average Appearance: 4.3/5
Average Quality: 4.7/5
Comments: The pieces were very good, and we were impressed because some even had two pieces of shrimp. The rolls were stuffed full and had the best representation of shrimp.
Kiyoko Express
Price: $6.50
Pieces per roll: 8
Average Appearance: 3.3/5
Average Quality: 2.5/5
Comments: The tobiko was a very nice touch, but the roll was dry and there was too much rice. While it was pretty, it lacked in sauce, and the shrimp “looked like popcorn shrimp.”
Hanami
Price: $5.95
Pieces per roll: 5
Average Appearance: 3/5
Average Quality: 3.5/5
Comments: We were a little upset that we only got five pieces, but we thought there was a nice fry to the shrimp. We recommend this roll for someone who wants to cut back on carbs, because there was minimal rice.
Winner: Shanghai Tokyo
Eel Cucumber
Photo by Alex Vu
Clockwise from top: Kiyoko Express, Hanami, Wasabi Bistro, Shanghai Tokyo.
Wasabi Bistro
Price: $6.50
Pieces per roll: 8
Average Appearance: 4.5/5
Average Quality: 4/5
Comments: While one foodie said the eel was too hard to chew, the rest of us thought that it was rather “silky” and had the best mouth feel. While the avocado was prominent, this roll had the most eel sauce and was the most fulfilling.
Shanghai Tokyo
Price: $5.50
Pieces per roll: 8
Average Appearance: 2.7/5
Average Quality: 3.2/5
Comments: While the fresh and crunchy cucumber was a nice touch, the rolls were small and flimsy, and kept falling apart.
Kiyoko Express
Price: $6.50
Pieces per roll: 8
Average Appearance: 2.8/5
Average Quality: 3.2/5
Comments: Again, way too much rice. Also it should be noted that cucumber is additional — the roll typically comes with only avocado and eel.
Hanami
Price: $5.95
Pieces per roll: 6
Average Appearance: 1.8/5
Average Quality: 2.5/5
Comments: This roll wasn’t very appealing — one foodie even said, “I hope it tastes better than it looks.” While there was a nice eel-to-rice ratio, it was once again an inconsistent roll.
Winner: Wasabi Bistro
Overall Winner: Wasabi Bistro
After factoring in the comments, prices, quality, taste and appearance, a decision was made. And the winner is…Wasabi Bistro! After taking into account the negatives, positives, taste, mouth feel, etc. it was clear that Wasabi just touched out Shanghai Tokyo.
Kiyoko Express came out to be the most expensive, but Shanghai Tokyo is definitely the best bang for your buck. As a side note, we really liked the ginger from Hanami because of its sweetness, and the wasabi from Wasabi Bistro (as per the name) was top-notch.
Final Rankings:
1. Wasabi Bistro
2. Shanghai Tokyo
3. Kiyoko Express
4. Hanami
So there you have it, Terps: Wasabi Bistro is the winner of the unofficial ranking of College Park sushi.