Wasabi 54, Llc

I love this place. Great sushi! Great White Shark my favorite. Staff friendly and very helpful with menu (wife allergic to onions). Prices are very reasonable and sushi is 50% off. Drive through window is nice for take out. Charlie, Joe and Stephanie are all great staff. They are expanding to the space next door.

Ordered a brew and Sushi. Everything was fresh and tasted great. Service was spot on and when i got the bill realized that they have a discount on Sushi every day. What a deal.
I will be back!

service was really good, food was good. thanks!

Love this new sushi place, conveniently located on Hwy 54. It’s not easy to spot from the main drag and from the outside it doesn’t look too impressive but the interior is absolutely beautiful. Both times I have been there the service has been great and the food was awesome! I’ve had the hibachi chicken and hibachi filet and several types of sushi. All of it was great!

It would appear that the Wasabi Express on Southtown & Frederica is doing so well that they opened up a second location on highway 54. This location is located in a strip mall that isn’t visible to 54, I guess people will find it from word of mouth. I’ve always enjoyed the food from Wasabi Express. Granted I’ve had better sushi at other places, but the fast service & low prices cannot be beat. I was looking forward to trying out this new location, Wasabi 54.
We stopped in around 1pm on a Sunday afternoon. They places wasn’t busy at all. We entered the restaurant & saw two of the teenage, female servers sitting at the sushi bar, both on their phones. They both looked at us & then back down at their phones. I walked over to the hostess stand & was greeted by the hostess, she sat us at one of the large, but very narrow booths. The décor here is a little fancier than the older location, but you can still see the DIY creations, such as the booths, the table tops & the ceiling decorations. I wished the booths had a little more breathing room though, I’m not sure how larger people sit there. They do have a couple tables with chairs, maybe they put them there.
Our server was a male in his 30s & friendly. He took our drink order & we skimmed the menu. If you’ve been the Southtown location, you’ll recognize the menu as its the same. A little gimmick they have is «50% sushi all day, every day» which to me is a little annoying. If it’s going to be half price all the time, just put the half price price on the menu. Instead you’re left to do simple math. Also, you’re given a laminated sushi menu with the places to mark your order, but then you just tell the server your order. I ordered the yum yum roll (spicy crab) for $ 6.50 or $ 3.25 after discount & the spicy yellowtail (diced yellowtail & spicy mayo) for $ 8.50 or $ 4.25 after discount. Phillip ordered the fried shrimp roll (crab meat & avocado) for $ 7.99 or $ 3.995 after discount. He also ordered the hibachi vegetables for $ 4.99. Who said math wasn’t fun?!
It didn’t take but about ten minutes or so for our food to arrive. I was a little disappointed that the sushi didn’t come with pickled ginger. I cannot remember if the other location did ginger or not. My two rolls were on a golden plate that looked more like a decorative coffee table plate than a food plate. It gave the sushi an unpleasant golden glow on the rice. I think it was 50 percent plate & 50 percent the actual sushi because the spicy sauce they used on the crab & yellowtail must’ve bled through the rice. The appearance wasn’t that great. The spicy crab was good, it is spicy. The yellowtail was even more spicy, I think the fish must soak in a spicy bath because on the bottom of the plate there was. A lot of sauce left. I tried the fried shrimp roll & was disappointed that there wasn’t much crunch at all. The fried part of the shrimp wasn’t crispy & the panko bread crumbs weren’t crunchy. I tried the veggies and rice & they were good.
On my way to the bathroom to wash my hands after lunch I noticed one of the teenage servers lying down in one of the booths. I’m not sure if this standard practice or just because there wasn’t that many people in the restaurant, but that & the phone usage didn’t seem very professional.
I’m glad that they’ve had success enough to open a new location in the up & coming 54 area, I just wished they’d focus on making the rolls a little better. Maybe the old adage ‘you get what you pay for’ rings true here.