1777 Ocean Ave (Avenue M cross-street)
Brooklyn, NY 11230
- serves typical Japanese dishes but their specialty is 50% off anything sushi and sashimi
When anyone thinks of sushi there are certain things that come to mind:
- Such as how fresh the raw fish are because no one wants to eat fish that is old and stale.
- The overall size of the pieces of sushi rolls in comparison with previous sushi restaurant ventures because unlike cell phones that are small, slim and compact, we want the pieces as generously big as possible.
- Going along with the size of the piece, the amount of rice surrounding the "meat" cannot be significantly greater than the amount of "meat" itself, just like I doubt anyone who orders a pepperoni pizza slice expects 1 slice of a pepperoni circle on their triangle (or square in some cases)... same rule of thumb.
So with all that said and done lets get to the review. Please note however that this review is only applicable for the sushi due to the fact that although the other day was not my first time there, (this restaurant was first introduced to me by a friend in late august of last year, and since then until the beginning of this year J.C. Chikurin saw me at least once a week if not twice on some occasions) to me it would be an injustice to order anything other than sushi because let's be honest... it's half off !! (meaning rolls start around 2.50 and sushi/sashimi pieces are $1 and up).
Contrary to popular thought amongst my friends this restaurant is not called "Half Off Sushi", though it's really hard to come to grips with it because as you can see from the picture, the sign "50% OFF SUSHI" is thugnormous and displayed three times. I already knew when I first sat down the place wasn't called "Half Off Sushi" but it's honestly just easier to say when everyone's suggesting where to go for dinner (or no one suggesting because that happens more often than you realize).
I've been to this restaurant more times eating sushi than I've ever eaten full price sushi in all my years combined. Sushi as anyone knows is not a cheap eat and since I'm a very big eater, so my wallet suffers in size to satisfy my consumption level. Being honest and blunt this place puts to shame anyone who is willing to pay full price for sushi. Granted I'm not a sushi connoisseur don't be fooled by the half price sign thinking the quality will be half as good as well. The moments after your sushi dinner you and others including myself will know the true meaning of being spoiled. Regular price sushi will never taste or look the same again.
The picture above is a visual representation of some typical rolls I always order. The "must have" rolls for me are always Spicy Tuna, Spicy Salmon and the Dynamite Roll (tuna and salmon together, which are reddish and striped orange respectively). The above mentioned spicy rolls are the diagonal six piece set on the left and the Dynamite Roll is split into two three piece set on the right next to the East Roll (egg omelette, avocado and the crabmeat found in California Rolls). The spicy looking roll straight down the middle of the plate is the Spicy White Tuna Roll. The sushi pieces on the right are Octopus (top) and the Red Clam (bottom).Just some things worth noting:
- As you can see the spicy rolls are bulging with "meat" and doesn't match the rice quantity
- The Tuna and Salmon pieces from the Dynamite Roll are abnormally big considering it's two fishes for one roll.
- I've ordered Octopus from other sushi restaurants before and the slices are never that large
Usually rolls go for close to about $4.50 per but it also really depends on what you have in the roll as well because California Rolls are the cheapest (ranging no more than $4) so a regular priced sushi restaurant if they have the Dynamite roll will cost roughly around $6.50 or so. Let's do the math with rough guesstimations:
- The three spicy rolls are usually five dollars each, the East roll will roughly be $4.50, and the Dynamite roll I'll put it at 6.50. The Octopus and Red Clam regular priced sushi pieces are roughly $2.50 each. The grand total my sushi dinner at regular priced will be roughly around $36.
- Contrast that price with J.C. Chikurin. Three spicy rolls and East Roll are $2.50 each, the Dynamite Roll is $3 and the four sushi pieces are $1 each. The grand total at the half price sushi restaurant was $17.
J.C. Chikurin also has a leg up on other half priced places with their large selection of rolls. There is a place in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn called Omiya on 86th Street (4th Avenue cross-street) that is half off sushi as well but their selection is literally about a third of what J.C. Chikurin offers. I don't plan on going there any time soon or ever so the other only two things I really have to say for my review of this place is that the pieces are small in comparison to J.C. Chikurin and even though their menu says "buy one special roll get one free", aside from five special rolls they start at roughly $15 and up to maybe about $30. Seriously who in their right mind is willing to order a $30 six piece sushi roll?
All in all this restaurant sets the bar for other half priced sushi restaurants and although I don't have a picture of the inside of the restaurant, I do have a picture of one of the waiters there. We don't know his name so we just called him Hector lol.
*One last note as I think should be stated. Being part of a middle class family (and not that I'm ungrateful by the way) I don't have the finances to eat at a thugtardly expensive sushi restaurants in Manhattan. I have a friend who's parents on their birthday treated out to one of those places and each person was minimum $300. One could only imagine the difference between regular priced sushi and whatever it is they offer at those kind of restaurants. here is the website for Megu
