Review: Woo Chon

This is how sushi should look (unlike what we had at Woo Chon) [CC-BY-2.0 ThinkDraw](http://www.flickr.com/photos/87292528@N00/2230269)

Jon and I found ourselves in Reno last night and thus, in need of sushi. We decided to try somewhere we hadn’t been before and that led us to Woo Chon.

This review will consist of a few parts; my review of the restaurant, our review of the food, some comments from Jon, and the verdict.

Location: Near Toys ‘R Us, across the street from the Mall, and Barnes and Noble

Price: $15 for Lunch, $20 for Dinner — didn’t notice if the selection differed though

Service: SLOW — place was fairly empty when we got there, and there was a couple that was just finishing up as we sat down; appeared to be 2 chefs and a waitress, not sure if she was handling things in back or if there was someone else there as well

Selection: myeh — medium amount of rolls on the menu, smaller than usual (which is great for AYCE, but would suck for anyone doing a la carte)

Quality: Below Average for Reno (see critiques of the rolls we ordered)

After we placed our first set of orders, and before he made us anything we ordered, he gave us the “House Special”, a fried California roll, that seemed to be close to the Papa Roll on the menu. I found it decent (I like fried things), Jon found it lacking.

What I had:

Upside Down Shrimp — Every place I go has a different version of this; their version was Ebi with rice on top with a divot in the middle that had a scallop bit — ok, but lacking in the scallops.

Volcano — Reminded me of the Mountain Roll they have at Sushi Pier, but much smaller and less colorful. They mash up some crap with spicy sauce and pour it on top.

Touchdown — This ended up being exactly what I had hoped it was. Basically, a California Roll with “yummy sauce” and a scallop bit on top that they bake. This was reminiscent of a roll that I have only ever found at a sushi place in Las Vegas: Japanese Lasagna. It was quite tasty, but like every other roll involving scallops, the scallop was a tiny chunk (raisin size or smaller).

What Jon had:

Salmon — Sliced thin with more rice than usual. As Jon put it, “half the salmon, twice the rice”.

Alaska Roll — This was supposed to be Crab, Salmon, and Avocado; the last ingredient apparently got lost in shipping. This seemed to occur in a couple instances where the chef made things differently than what the menu described.

California Hand Roll — This was supposed to be Crab and Avocado; a chunk of Avocado was there along with something else, possibly onion… was “interesting”.

Here’s what Jon thought:

While the quality overall was “ok”, the sushi settled very hard in my stomach (I’m not sure if it was the excessive and compacted rice, but I doubt it helped) and wasn’t terribly happy the next few hours after. Plus their menu seemed to be lacking a bit. There is cheaper and better sushi available elsewhere in the Reno area.

The verdict:

John — Might go back again if I get a hankering for the Touchdown roll, but that’s about it. Upside Down Shrimp is one of my favorite types of sushi and the tiny scallop portions really kill it for me.

Jon — There were 2 sushi chefs and the place wasn’t busy so we had the one guy all to ourselves. Even still it was extremly slow. I wouldn’t want to see what the place was like on a busy night. Combined that with the unhappy stomach afterward… don’t think I’d go back.