Godai Sushi Bar & Japanese Restaurant

Reviews 4

BR

Brad Seehawer

I am not a sushi expert. I grew up in the Midwest, where our idea of seafood was the Friday fish fry. Even still, my knowledge of sushi comes from the California Roll and Sushi Zushi, so imagine my surprise when upon ordering the sushi special at Godai I received a half dozen makizushi consisting of nothing but fish and rice (and nori, obviously) and the another half dozen of large nigirizushi with nothing but rice, seafood, and the occasional dollop of wasabi to hold things together. Where were all of the crazy maki ingredient combinations that I was used to? As I ate my sushi, I was disappointed that the dish failed to meet my expectations, but then I started thinking - what is sushi? What are the traditional Japanese people eating when they eat sushi? Is it overflowing with lemon grass, cucumber, avocado and sauce? With a little help from the internet, I realized that true sushi is the marriage of fish and rice. The other ingredients come later, but to be called sushi, you only need the rice (which can be a complicated in itself - some sushi chefs train for years just making sushi rice) and the fish. Of course, with such a simple dish, each ingredient has to shine, or the entire thing falls apart. The seafood here was impeccible, and I was glad I was giving the chef carte blanche to pick the best of what was good that day, along with paying the premium price for the cost of any landlocked restaurant to ship fresh seafood on a daily basis. This was best demonstrated in the giant piece of octopus nigiri I initially looked upon with nervousness - the last octopodes I ingested did not go down easily. And though you can never really get rid of the slightly rubbery texture of octopus, the fragrance of the animal was at a minimum and I was able to appreciate the flavor easily. Similar freshness was throughout the chefs sushi special (Tuna, Salmon, Tai, Shrimp, Squid, Clam, Octopus, 1/2 Tuna Roll, 1/2 Salmon Roll), though I dont recall a clam nigiri as part of the dish. As others have mentioned, the nigiri were pretty large - 2 to 3 bites per - with the exception of the ocopus, which was considerably larger than anything else on the plate - and that did create some structural issues with the rice as I arrived at the last bite of each piece, but it wasnt a huge issue. The end of my meal marked a better appreciation of the essence of sushi, and what it can be without gumming it up and covering it with loads of other ingredients. Not that theres anything wrong with that type of sushi either - even Godais website touts that theyre now service fusion-style dishes, and I certainly saw my fair share of crazy-looking creations coming from the bar - but if you can get the basic elements of sushi right, then the rest is just icing on the cake. *Im not usually one to comment on service, but it was scattershot at best. I waited at least ten minutes to order before a server different from the one who sat me realized I was there, I was served my check before my sushi arrived, and I got a general feeling of inattentiveness for most of the meal. However, I also overheard one of the waiters talking about the problem, as well, so Im inclined to pass it off as a fluke, despite some of the other reviews here, and the service was nice enough for me not to factor it in to the overall impression of the restaurant.

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Ann Hua

food here ranges from a 2 to 4 [out of 5] depending on what you order, but id say that it averages somewhere below a 3. the fish is hit or miss, but mostly misses, based on the sashimi combo the hubs ordered. their avocado salmon roll [sunset roll?] --usually always a winner for me wherever i go-- was especially disappointing. first off, the rice mix at godai is atrocious. im not even sure it is really sushi rice with sugar+vinegar because it tasted just like normal rice. my husband received a bowl of it and it was also in my sunset roll. the salmon on the sunset roll was the opposite of buttery and fresh and was for some reason also different from the salmon that came in the sashimi combo. not only are the ingredients here inconsistent, but the menu is also not updated. despite what the menu read, our server informed us that the sashimi combo did not come with rice. the only thing that saved this review from 2 stars was the special roll of the day. it was a riceless roll with a variety of fish and seemed relatively fresh. perhaps it was only decent because it didnt have the faux sushi rice to ruin it. but overall, id say that even for the special roll, the taste and quality do not match up to the prices ($10-20/roll). the ambiance at godai is also just average and there was a kid screaming bloody murder half the time-- not the ideal situation for a friday night date. unless godai comes out with some stellar happy hour specials or a new rice recipe, i probably wont be back.

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A Private User

My girlfriend and I went to Godai last night to try it out. We are both temporarily relocated to San Antonio for work and this restaurant is very near our apartment. I always am willing to try any restaurant at least once, but I dont think Ill be visiting Godai again. The service was very poor, they seemed very understaffed. The restaurant smells like pickles, which may be okay for some, but it kind of spoils the air for me. The quality of the fish was surprisingly good, but the rice was way too sweet for sushi. I base my opinion off of travels around the world trying different varieties of sushi, including twice to Japan. Their menu has a good variety of very Americanized sushi rolls, but it just isnt what I consider to be excellent combinations. If youre looking for really good, quality Americanized sushi in town, I would definitely recommend Sushi Zushi over Godai any day. But if youre a foodie like me, give Godai a try at least once and see if its for you, but it just doesnt fit my bill. I rated it average because thats all it is to me, nothing impressive, but nothing worthy of a horrible rating.

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A Private User

I was really looking forward to this restaurant as it comes highly recommended. The decor was surprisingly rustic and confused, mixing contemporary shapes with wood walls. Chinese symbols abound in this Japanese restaurant. I was disappointed with a lot of the food. Salad had a tasty dressing, but was over dressed and had bitter lettuce ends in it. Miso soup was good. Gyoza was the hero of the meal...which is sad. The spicy tuna roll has subtle korean flavor in it. It was also chopped too finely for my taste...more like a puree. The $23 plate of sashimi tapas is cheaply overseasoned with sharp mayo ruining the salmon, and a strange tasting yellowtail, which more resembled a herring. Again, seasoning was strange. The tuna portion of this dish was better with a strong sesame oil base and simply seasoned with salt and scallions. Sashimi is good here. Fresh fish. Maybe a little thin on the slices, but not bad at all. Didnt bother with dessert. Took forever to get a check. Got chinese fortune cookies with the check. This is not a 4 or 5 star restaurant as many say it is.