Sushi Elite Review
From Moscowiki
| Sushi Elite |
Cuisine: Japanese
Address: Bolshaya Nikitskaya ul., 12
Metro: Okhotny Ryad
Tel: 629-0504 / 2665
Web: www.sushi-elite.ru
Open from 11:00 until 01:00.
All major credit cards are accepted.
By Len Readle
At last, I have found the place to complain about, before I start I should say that maybe you or others have not found it quite so bad, if this was a bad day, then I am sorry.
A review of an establishment called Sushi Elite located on Bolshaya Nikitskaya sounded wonderful, I love Sushi and the location was convenient, a business lunch, with pleasant company and my favorite food, boy was I ready for this.
After successfully finding a parking place, which is difficult in this area, I crossed the road to meet my lunching guest. Initial impressions of this corner Restaurant were quite good, huge windows with an inviting design and fairly open interior, however, this invitation was just like a Venus fly trap inviting the next victim into the jaws of its poor culinary clutches.
After being seated in a corner, one part sofa which appeared quite comfortable and me on the chair, which left my backside numb after 10 minutes, the waitress proceeded in passing out the menus, in Russian only.
The business lunch menu seemed quite inviting so we were tempted towards this. 250 roubles gives you a sushi course, soup, main course with fried rice and tea or coffee.
Cold, it was all cold and all courses arrived at once within a few minutes of ordering, obviously the business lunch has been prepared the previous day and left out on the shelf to grow its own tastes and fungus.
I will try and go through what we ate, or tried to eat; I will try and remain professional and unbiased, even though it was all cold and tastless.
The Miso Soup tasted more like slightly warm drain water with green bits floating around, trying to get salt to add a bit of flavor was impossible. The sushi roles, these were in my opinion the only thing that closely resembled food, they had a sort of flavor that could be defined as plain and boring, or am I being too charitable?!
I ordered the chicken for main course, I think it may have had a taste at one time in its long life, but at that time I wouldn't have fed it to my pet rat, even if I had a pet rat. I may be a bit harsh so far but in my opinion you pay for food you expect to receive it in an edible form, my partner said her beef had a taste, and yes it did a taste like cold old beef, but cold and stodgy is not to be expected for an "Elite" Sushi place like this.
The rice, well I am a terrible cook, but my rice is, by comparison, exquisite, the excuse for rice we were served was sticky, cold, weird colored and definitely not what should see the light of day this side of the worst concentration camps.
After requesting the tea, for the second or third time it arrived, two cups, hot water, yes hot, but I think they forgot to add any tea to it, but I needed something warm to wash away the tasteless stodge that had accumulated in my throat and stomach.
I could go on about the decor, which was very nice - about 100 years ago, now it is very worn and tired looking, or the toilet, the one and only toilet, which was not clean and if found in any decent Restaurant even here in Moscow would merit a call from the local health inspectors, if there is such a thing. In retrospect the toilet might have been their breeding ground for some more ingredients for the menu.
I could also go on about the non-smiling bored staff that didn't really have an interest in pleasing their clientele; mind you if I worked in this type of establishment I would probably commit Harri Karri daily.
Perhaps my subtle message has not been expressed clear enough to you, the reader, so I would like to summarize, the location is great, a bit difficult to park. The decor and furnishings are old, worn and uncomfortable, the food was bordering on disease ridden, the service, slow and inefficient, the toilets yuck. So make your own decision, my advice stay away if you value your health.
19.05.04.
