Sushi II

Last night we tried this place out.  Sushi II is a small place that opened up last November.  It is located in the Sam Sung Plaza on Keeaumoku St.  They are open Wednesday to Saturday 11am - 2pm and Wednesday to Sunday 5pm - 10:30pm.  It's BYOB here but they do charge a corkage fee of $5 per person drinking alcohol.  Parking is tight if you don't go early.  They validate free for the first 2 hours.  It's best if you make reservations because it is a small place.

We had reservations for 6pm and when we got there about 5:50pm the restaurant just opened.  The owner explained to us that there was an emergency that's why they just opened.  The air condition went down and wasn't working.  It was a little hot but the repairman got it going again.  Just so happened the repairman was my friend and neighbor.  Thank you Steven for the repairs.

Can you figure the sign out?

My wife had a hard time trying to figure out the restaurant sign.  Can you figure it out?  Figure it out yet?

If you look at the bottom left it says SU SH and if you take the white I it will make SUSHI.  Ad the I and I together and you get II.  Put it all together and you get SUSHI II.  Well that's what I think.  I forgot to ask the owner about that sign.

Inside the restaurant

This is a view of the inside of the restaurant.  It looks bright but it actually is not that bad.  The restaurant seats about 35 people.

Another view from inside



Caesar Salad

At the most they try and use locally grown ingredients.  I know that salad and sushi doesn't really match but we wanted to try this.  This is a typical Caesar salad. The tomatoes are from North Shore Farms and its topped with cheese and prosciutto.  It was a refreshing salad.  The dressing wasn't strong or too much for the salad.  Very Good!!



Sushi Combo

This sushi combo was good.  You have 2 pieces of Maguro, 1 Hamachi, 1 King Salmon, 1 Sake, 1 Ika,

1 Toro, 1 Ama Ebi, 1 Scallop, 1 Tamago, 1 Unagi, and Maguro roll.  The fish quality was ok.  The king Salmon was a little fishy but ok.  



Nori Popover w/Furikake Butter

This appetizer is an interesting take on a normal popover.  It is mixed with nori in it.  It comes with furikake butter which is in the small dish on the left.  one order is only one popover so this is two orders.  These popovers are light and flaky.  A nice tummy tickler for the main meal.




Hamachi Kama

This was the best dish of the night.  This was on their "specials" menu.  This kama was HUGE as you can tell by the proportion of the fish and chopsticks.  It was about an inch and a half thick too with LOTS of meat for my wife and I to enjoy.  My wife liked the ponzu sauce.  She says it was different from the other ponzus that we have tried.  It has a little tang and bite to it.  Maybe it was the daikon we added.




Another view of Hamachi Kama




All Gone

As you can tell by the picture, we ate it all.  The skin was so crispy and oily it was too good to pass up not eating it.  YUMMMMM.




Banana Dream Pie

We were full but had to try the desserts.  Lucky we did decide to try the desserts.  This dessert looks big and filling but it was just the opposite.  Yes it was pretty big but it was light and just right.  The waitress explained that the bananas tasted like vanilla ice cream if you can imagine.  When I took a bite, I could taste the banana but it wasn't the normal strong banana flavor but mild and a little like vanilla ice cream.


Another View of Banana Dream Pie

A you can see from this picture it looks filling.  On the bottom you have the flaky but crunchy pastry, then the banana, then some cream, then another layer of the same.  It was delicious.


Pot de Creme au Chocolat

This was my wife's dessert.  It comes in a small tea cup.  It is whipped dark Waialua chocolate on the bottom with something similar to creme fresh and it is chilled.  It was rich, so this small tea cup sized dessert was just enough.

Chocolat inside

You really have to dig for the rich, dense, dark chocolate but it's worth the find.  This was just enough for my wife.





All in all, Sushi II was an okay experience.  Despite the air condition not working when we got there, the restaurant is a nice cute place to have some OKAY sushi.  I've had better.  The Hamachi Kama is worth going back for if you catch it on their specials.  The salad was very good.  The desserts were different but enjoyable.  If I do go back I will definitely try something else besides the sushi.

I give Sushi II    3 and 1/2 stars.