Summerlin’s The Sushi doesn’t separate from the pack

Justin Massongill

The Sushi, located at 8427 W. Lake Mead Blvd. in Summerlin

By Brock Radke (contact)

Wednesday, July 28, 2010 | 5:45 p.m.

I can accept that everyone has their own personal neighborhood sushi bar, and that “my sushi bar is the best in town, bro.” If you say so. I happen to believe they’re pretty much all the same. But if the restaurant were called The Sushi, one would assume it’s attempting to climb atop the heap, no?

The Sushi has its work cut out. It opened a few months back in a cursed Summerlin-area locale, a quiet storefront at Lake Mead and Rampart that has operated as several unsuccessful businesses over the years. But maybe The Sushi doesn’t have to work too hard, as there are few sushi bars in this neighborhood. The room is very comfortable, with wooden booths, plenty of bar seats and big TVs. The menu is pretty standard, including silly, innuendo-laden names for a wide variety of rolls.

The one surprise was a nice appetizer of agedashi tofu, lightly fried rectangles served with dried bonito flakes and a savory broth for dipping. It’s not Raku tofu, but it’s good. Then mediocrity sets in. The Kiss of Fire roll is rightfully spicy, with tuna, sweet and soft-shell crab, shrimp tempura, jalapeno and sriracha, but beyond the heat there’s little substance. The Candy Cane roll also lives up to its name: a slightly sweet sauce on plenty of crunch from fried softshell crab, with cucumber and yellowtail. Specialties are less than special, and straight sashimi is just like your neighborhood joint. If The Sushi really is The Sushi, our standards have fallen too low.