TJ Hibachi & Sushi Bar

I’m not delusional enough to think that I was going to get great sushi in the Great Northern Mall food Court. It was worth the money. Way better than supermarket quality.

We came to Great Northern mall on a whim; we happened to be in the area. While perusing the mall, we got hungry and thought «Why not try TJ Hibachi & Sushi?»
The Hibachi concept is similar to Sarku/​Sakkio Japanese food court fare: cuts of meat stir-​fried in front of you, served with white rice and vegetables.
Options include chicken, steak, chicken + steak and deluxe (chicken, steak + shrimp). My husband and I ordered one deluxe meal to share: it was very filling! There was a lot of food in that plate, I almost think it’s designed to be shared. The chicken, steak and shrimp were all very tasty and tasted fresh.
The deluxe meal cost $ 10.99 and was enough for 2 people.
I did not order sushi, but the lady behind me did. It seemed they made her sushi order fresh because she waited quite a while for it. Not sure if this is the norm for sushi.
Décor? It’s at the front end of the Food Court.
Service? About average. Neither friendly nor unfriendly– maybe indifferent? There are tip jars at the cash register and the food prep area.
Overall: for Food Court fare, the deluxe combo was a great value, filling, tasty and satisfying.

I stopped here for some sushi when at the mall. Big mistake. I had a California roll and a tuna roll. Never again! The seafood seemed to be at or near room temperature (not chilled), and tasted flavorless, especially the tuna. The quality of the tuna seemed sub-​par, with too much marbling of the meat. I’ve had much better sushi at various Japanese restaurants in NYC and Cleveland throughout the years. Long story short, I threw out most of my sushi, and went to the other side of the food court to get a nice slice of greasy, foldable NY style pizza and a bowl of baked ziti. At least I knew what I was getting with the pizza and pasta!

TJ Hibachi & Sushi Bar is the latest addition to the revamped food court at Great Northern Mall. The basic idea appears to be to offer the same chicken, beef, and shrimp (all with rice) offerings as mall-​staple Sarku Japan with the addition of a sushi bar. The store itself has an interesting setup – lots of space, a clean layout, and even a couple of chairs in front of the sushi bar.
I went with Combo A: an Eel and Avocado Roll with Hibachi Chicken on White Rice ($ 6.99). The sushi was below supermarket-​quality. Have no delusions that you’ll get traditional grilled eel, particularly after you see the sushi chef pop the 6 pre-​cooked pieces of eel in the microwave before putting them on the roll. The roll itself was far too light on the eel sauce, which would have been at least a decent attempt to mask how mediocre everything tasted. Amazingly, the hibachi chicken managed to be even worse. Low quality bits of chicken covered in a tiny bit of brown sauce, the dish managed to be utterly devoid of taste. The only worse Japanese mall food chicken I’ve had was at Silver Wok in the basement of the Halle Building (but only by a shockingly small margin). The chicken came served on top of about 2 cups of white rice. Vegetables (which I did not get) are $ 1 extra.
On a whim, I also got a cup of the Miso Soup ($ 2.49). This was about at mall food quality-​wise, maybe straying a bit on the side of being too watery. Ironically, the miso soup could have used some time in the microwave along with eel.
The total damage (not including intestinal and spiritual damage) with a large Diet Pepsi ($ 1.59) came to $ 11.20 including tax. Subtracting out the Miso Soup, the one redeeming factor that TJ Hibachi & Sushi Bar may have going for it is that it is a lot of food at a relatively low price, particularly for sushi. It might not be a bad value if you were really hungry or were willing to split the combo with a friend (preferably one who had lost his or her sense of taste). In the end, though, this place had me yearning for mall neighbor Sarku Japan, which is a truly scary thought.