July 16, 2010

Ginza Japanese Restaurant

9616 Reisterstown Road
Owings Mills, MD 21117-4139
(410) 363-4636‎

Today seemed like a good day to go out to lunch. I hadn't had sushi in over a month, so that was the obvious choice. Now the difficult question - which one? China Best? Yuki Sushi? Edo Sushi?

A friend suggested we go to Ginza for their lunch buffet. They have some fancy rolls that if ordered separately would cost about $13. Plus they have an assortment of other items to try.

The first thing I notice when I walked in was water dripping fairly rapidly through a recessed light fixture and into a bucket on the floor. The carpeting was soaked. I could not keep my eye off of the water running across the warped boards on the ceiling, growing heavy, before finally dripping downward.

I finally got the courage to get up and get a plate of sushi. I was then confused by the lack of utensils to get the sushi. There were about 10-12 plates of different kinds of sushi. And there were maybe 3 pairs of tongs - at the other end of the bar. So one had to use a pair of utensils for multiple plates. When I worked at Burger King in high school this was called cross-contamination. Perhaps cross-contamination is now tolerated.

A lot of the sushi was fried or had some creamy sauce on it. I couldn't make out what fish was in most of them. So I just held my breath and took my chances.

The sushi was average. Okay, sightly below average. Not a fan. It didn't seem very fresh - despite seeing the guy behind the counter making it. The pork skewer was good. But that was about it. The wasabi was not that spicy - and I had a lot of it. It was very bland.

I hate to say this - I had a very difficult time understanding the servers. I found myself just shaking my head yes. I know a lot of ethnic restaurants have family members working there where English is a 2nd or 3rd language. But I got the feeling that English wasn't even on the list for most of the servers at Ginza.

The meal was about $13 person. This is what I would pay at Yuki Sushi and more than I'd pay at China Best, so I was not impressed.

Additionally, I would not be surprised to hear that the health department had come in and shut that place down. Water dripping through a light fixture? I'm no safety expert, but I think I learned in first grade that water and electricity don't mix.

So if you're in Owings Mills and in the mood for sushi, you'd be doing yourself a favor and avoiding Ginza.

2 comments:

Nakiya @ Taste of Baltimore said...

Yikes! Thanks for the tip! Is this restaurant associated with the one in Cockeysville? I've always liked that one, though I've never tried their sushi.

Eludius said...

I'm not sure if they are associated or not.