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Sushi spot a great addition to the avenue

RATINGS Rating 1 Below bad Rating 2 Below average Rating 3 Average Rating 4 Above average Rating 5 Excellent OSAKA SUSHI Address: 1951 Oak Bay Ave. Tel: 250-590-6650 Hours: Open daily. Lunch 11: 30 a.m.-3 p.m.; dinner from 5 p.m.

RATINGS

Rating 1 Below bad

Rating 2 Below average

Rating 3 Average

Rating 4 Above average

Rating 5 Excellent

OSAKA SUSHI

Address: 1951 Oak Bay Ave. Tel: 250-590-6650

Hours: Open daily. Lunch 11: 30 a.m.-3 p.m.; dinner from 5 p.m.

Major credit cards and Interac accepted. Wheelchair accessible. Rating 3 1 /2

If you've ever driven along Oak Bay Avenue, then you know the location, tucked away on the last corner before you cross into the next municipality.

There have been a number of restaurants here over the years, usually Mediterranean, though someone broke the pattern when they opened a spot specializing in breakfast. But it, too, closed up a few years back. The space sat empty for awhile, until Osaka Sushi arrived.

It's certainly a welcome addition to the neighbourhood. There are other Japanese restaurants in the area, but none offers the vast selection of dishes available here. A comprehensive all-day menu features sushi (maki, nigiri and temaki) sashimi, donburi, salads, teriyaki dishes, noodles and more, in addition to a large list of specially priced bento boxes available at lunch.

I visited Osaka Sushi a couple of times when it first opened and didn't feel strongly about it one way or the other. It had been about a year since my last visit when I dropped by with my favourite Japanese-born cousin for lunch recently.

We arrived precisely at noon, and though it seemed mildly chaotic despite the fact that it wasn't full, we were seated relatively quickly. We began with well-made white miso soup, then shared a platter of chef's-selection sashimi, with octopus, squid, salmon, scallops and tuna. Though it was attractively presented, the latter two were a little under par, though still quite edible. Since I was in the mood for raw fish, I would also have preferred to know that 40 per cent of my sashimi (the squid and octopus) was going to be cooked.

Though the first part of our meal arrived quickly, the rest took somewhat longer.

Jay's unagi donburi tsukemono - a generous portion of glazed barbecued eel and golden pickled daikon radish nestled atop a massive bowl of rice - was another mixed result. The fish and nitsume sauce passed muster, but the pickles were substandard and the rice was a bit overcooked, though still edible.

I chose from the lunch special menu. My rice was also overcooked, but the really weird thing was the featured element of my dish, namely a New York steak. Though flavourful enough, it screamed frozenfood supplier, since it arrived wrapped in bacon, unsliced (not helpful when it arrives nestled in a tiny compartment in a bento box, something you are meant to attack with chopsticks, not cutlery) and undercooked. The fruit and salad that came with it were fresh and delicious, however. For a mere $2, you can add tempura to a bento box. This was also very good, and I was surprised it included a prawn.

I dropped by again a few days later, mainly to see if the rice issue was sorted out, but changed my mind when I found that the chicken karaage I intended to eat it with was sold out. I had soup and a wonderfully chilled salad of crisp chunks of iceberg and assorted vegetables with thick slices of seared albacore tuna. Still hungry, I added a couple of skewers of better-than-average yakitori - bite-sized morsels of moist chicken interspersed with pieces of sweet green onion.

I would happily return for another meal here. You can stuff yourself for less than $20, including tax and tip, and a real effort is made to make things look attractive.

Food is pretty good here, with nothing other than the rice (which would have been fine in a Chinese restaurant) being of any major concern.

Things outside the kitchen need much more work, however. The reception area is messy, the chairs need to be refinished and service tends to be uneven. My cousin and I asked for tea refills three times. By the time it arrived, we had eaten our meal. There doesn't seem to be any rush to clear tables, which should be more of a priority, since no one really likes eating next to a pile of someone else's dishes, as I did on both occasions - especially when people are standing behind the counter staring blankly out the window.

If they fix these things, I suspect they will have more regular customers than they'll know what to do with.