Sushi Factory

By Peter Nguyen

Virginia Tech is ranked #1 in food service, but it lacks in one crucial area of cuisine: Asian food. At the beginning of the semester, I found myself constantly craving for decent rice. On my first trip to the Math Emporium, I passed by Sushi Factory for the first and I promised myself to eat at that place when I had money.

Walking into the small restaurant, I was greeted by the nice cashier lady and the sushi chef standing behind the counter. The restaurant only had four small tables with only two seats each. The menu, which could be found either outside the entrance or next to the cash register, was a sheet of paper folded in half and listed it’s thirty some options. The interior was very nicely decorated and gave an Asian feel to it. The walls were painted red and black, which matched with the lanterns that hung above the sushi bar. There were a few posters of famous Asian paintings. The bathroom was extremely clean and also well decorated. There was a stand in the corner with bathroom tissues and also a cute poster of instructions on how to wash your hand correctly. The music was complemented with the Asian theme as the songs that were played were in Japanese.

Looking at the menu, I was very surprised at the prices for it was relatively cheap. Normally sushi can go as high as a few dollars a piece of sushi, but at Sushi Factory the prices ranged from $3.00 to $6.00 for 6 pieces.

I ordered six pieces of the eel roll and 6 pieces of the V.I.P roll. I waited sitting on the table while sipping the delicious free tea. The wait for the sushi was only about five minutes long which afterwards I picked up the bag with the food inside a Styrofoam rectangular box, napkins, a pair of wooden chopsticks, a plastic saucer and three bags of soy sauce. The box was neatly decorated as well. There was a decorative piece of plastic colored green and shaped to represent grass. There were pieces of ginger and a chunk of wasabi in the corner.

As a fan of eel, I would have to say that the eel roll at the Sushi Factory was relatively good. The eel was traditionally wrapped on the inside with bits of cucumber and the rice was doused with eel sauce. The combination of the sweetness of the sauce and the saltiness of the eel was perfectly blended and required minimal soy sauce to complement the rice.

The V.I.P roll was a Sushi Factory specialty that contained rice, seaweed, spicy tuna, eel, cream cheese and avocado. The spiciness of the piece was immediately registered onto my tongue, but was followed by the smoothness of the cream cheese and the saltiness of the eel. Overall it was a bit too much at once, but had an interesting combination of flavors.

The Sushi Factory is perfect for the typical college student. He or she can stop by before going to the Math Emporium to treat himself or herself to a small, healthy, and relatively cheap meal. However, as the restaurant interior is limited in size, I would suggest this place as a pick up and eat at home kind of meal.