Sumisu 309 E. Center Pocatello, Idaho 83201 Located in the historic old town section of Pocatello Sumisu occupies a small corner store front. The inside is minimum at best, dark gray colored walls, a few paper lanterns hang from the ceiling and a miss match of tables and chairs. There is a small prep area with about 2-3 stools and the kitchen is partially open, all in all I was not impressed with the atmosphere and quite frankly expected much more. We were greeted by friendly staff that seated us quickly and gave us our menu’s and almost as quickly returned asking if we were ready to
order. Sending her away she returned in a couple of minutes, so to give us breathing time I ordered an appetizer of salt and pepper calamari with hot tea for me and iced for my daughter. The order came back to us in less than 5 minutes with the hot and iced tea arriving a tad bit sooner and of course we were not yet ready to order. I do believe by this time our waitress understood that we actually wanted to read the menu and decide what we wanted instead of just jumping in and opting for the first item in view. We decided on the Godzilla roll ($12.00), a crab and spicy tuna, shrimp, tempura shrimp, avocado, cucumber, asparagus roll topped with seared tuna and finished with sweet soy and wasabi aioli and the 6 piece Sashimi ($9.00) which was the fish of the day or better, what was available. To our good fortune we got Salmon and Hamachi, which for the price was okay but not a
great value. Presentation was nice, served on a long oval white platter the roll was about 10” in length, with the tail of a tempura shrimp bringing in the end of roll, a cute arrangement. The aioli was drizzled in the platter and dollops of wasabi and ginger rounded out the dish. As one can imagine with all of the ingredients listed above the roll was quite large and taking the usual one bite per slice was a bit much. Even though I opted for the first one this way I cut the rest in two so I could chew and breathe at the same time. The flavors of the ingredients were fresh and artfully arranged and with the aioli it was an enjoyable taste. Let me not forget the salt and pepper Calamari which was tempura battered and fried to a golden brown and paired with the sweet chili sauce was absolutely suburb. Tea bags instead of loose are used and they offer iced green tea, the usual assortment of soft drinks and a children’s menu offering corn dogs, mac and cheese, chicken nuggets and teriyaki c
hicken are available. Prices range from $3.00 to $18.00 for the Sushi combo plate and they offer the usual rolls, sushi, nigiri sushi, and basic maki and combo platters. The mid-day diner can enjoy a bento lunch consisting of house soup, house salad, tempura vegetables, steamed rice, California/tuna/spicy/tuna roll until 4PM. Only when our meal was done did we notice a chalk board to the right of the door which offered several really nice specials one of which was a soft shell crab combo. Alas there was no mention of any specials to us or as we listened to the other diners, they do not offer beer, or wine. Rating: Food 8, atmosphere 3, service 6
Sumisu 309 E. Center Pocatello, Idaho 83201 Located in the historic old town section of Pocatello Sumisu occupies a small corner store front. The inside is minimum at best, dark gray colored walls, a few paper lanterns hang from the ceiling and a miss match of tables and chairs. There is a small prep area with about 2-3 stools and the kitchen is partially open, all in all I was not impressed with the atmosphere and quite frankly expected much more. We were greeted by friendly staff that seated us quickly and gave us our menu’s and almost as quickly returned asking if we were ready to 
order. Sending her away she returned in a couple of minutes, so to give us breathing time I ordered an appetizer of salt and pepper calamari with hot tea for me and iced for my daughter. The order came back to us in less than 5 minutes with the hot and iced tea arriving a tad bit sooner and of course we were not yet ready to order. I do believe by this time our waitress understood that we actually wanted to read the menu and decide what we wanted instead of just jumping in and opting for the first item in view. We decided on the Godzilla roll ($12.00), a crab and spicy tuna, shrimp, tempura shrimp, avocado, cucumber, asparagus roll topped with seared tuna and finished with sweet soy and wasabi aioli and the 6 piece Sashimi ($9.00) which was the fish of the day or better, what was available. To our good fortune we got Salmon and Hamachi, which for the price was okay but not a 
great value. Presentation was nice, served on a long oval white platter the roll was about 10” in length, with the tail of a tempura shrimp bringing in the end of roll, a cute arrangement. The aioli was drizzled in the platter and dollops of wasabi and ginger rounded out the dish. As one can imagine with all of the ingredients listed above the roll was quite large and taking the usual one bite per slice was a bit much. Even though I opted for the first one this way I cut the rest in two so I could chew and breathe at the same time. The flavors of the ingredients were fresh and artfully arranged and with the aioli it was an enjoyable taste. Let me not forget the salt and pepper Calamari which was tempura battered and fried to a golden brown and paired with the sweet chili sauce was absolutely suburb. Tea bags instead of loose are used and they offer iced green tea, the usual assortment of soft drinks and a children’s menu offering corn dogs, mac and cheese, chicken nuggets and teriyaki c
hicken are available. Prices range from $3.00 to $18.00 for the Sushi combo plate and they offer the usual rolls, sushi, nigiri sushi, and basic maki and combo platters. The mid-day diner can enjoy a bento lunch consisting of house soup, house salad, tempura vegetables, steamed rice, California/tuna/spicy/tuna roll until 4PM. Only when our meal was done did we notice a chalk board to the right of the door which offered several really nice specials one of which was a soft shell crab combo. Alas there was no mention of any specials to us or as we listened to the other diners, they do not offer beer, or wine. Rating: Food 8, atmosphere 3, service 6
1 comment:
It seems most Asian-themed restaurants, at least in our area, put a LOW LOW LOW ranking on atmosphere. Generally, tho, as you noted, they make up for it in food quality. The pictures of the rolls, themselves, sold me to try this place next time I'm in Poky.
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