Eat around T-Town: sushi

The authors,
eating popcorn.
Not sushi.

Yet.

The internet doesn't have enough restaurant reviews of places I'd like to eat at here in Tuscaloosa. Well, more like the places I'd like to eat at here in Tuscaloosa don't have an internet presence period. I'd like to fix that, at least a little. Here is the first installment of a new series:

Eat around T-Town: Sushi.

Restaurants being reviewed are Bento, Hokkaido and Ichiban. Neither Bento nor Ichiban have Web sites, and while Hokkaido has a meager home page, there is fortunately a menu to be found online. How handy. My sushi associate Rebecca and I have evaluated these establishments using the following criteria:

• selection
• price
• quantity
  
• taste
• service and
  
• cleanliness,

as well as

• parking/accessibility
  
• fortune cookie taste and
• fortune cookie fortune.
  

Current grading scale consists of "awesome," "pretty good," "aight"(neutral or forgettable) and "awful." My MO is raw salmon rolls; Rebecca's are California and either salmon or tuna rolls.

Bento

The Strip. Hours: not late enough.

Me:

1. Selection: aight
2. Price: pretty good
   
3. Taste: pretty good
4. Quantity: pretty good
   
5. Service: aight
   
6. Cleanliness: aight -- Rather dim.
   
7. Parking: awful -- Shared lot has about eight-ish tight, tight spaces. No bike rack.
   
8. Fortune cookie taste: aight
9. Fortune cookie fortune: aight
   

Rebecca:

1. Selection: pretty good
   
2. Price: pretty good
   
3. Taste: aight
4. Quantity: aight
   
5. Service: aight-awful
   
6. Cleanliness: aight
   
7. Parking: awful -- Very accessible from campus, though.
   
8. Fortune cookie taste: aight
   
9. Fortune cookie fortune: aight
   

Hokkaido.

15th Street. Hours: 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 4:30 to 10 Sunday through Thursday; Friday and Saturday, open until 11.

Me: n/a (but I trust Rebecca's judgment)

Rebecca:

1. Selection: pretty good
2. Price: aight
3. Taste: awesome
4. Quantity: awesome
5. Service: pretty good
6. Cleanliness: aight
7. Parking: aight-awful -- Depends on the time of day. If it's meal time, then awful.
8. Fortune cookie taste: aight
9. Fortune cookie fortune: aight

Ichiban.

15th Street. Hours: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 to 9 Monday through Saturday; Friday and Saturday, open until 9:30. Of special note: Ichiban has a 100 health rating. Nice work, guys!

Me:

1. Selection: pretty good -- Their menu is nice and easy to navigate.
   
2. Price: awesome
   
3. Taste: awesome
   
4. Quantity: awesome -- You get eight instead of six!
   
5. Service: pretty good-awesome -- Waitress was a little...odd, and the cashier talked about president-elect Barack Obama being assassinated.
   
6. Cleanliness: awesome
   
7. Parking: pretty good -- They share a big lot with a bowling alley, among other things.
   
8. Fortune cookie taste: awesome
   
9. Fortune cookie fortune: awesome -- "You deserve respect and will eventually get it." I like the way this fortune cookie thinks.
   

Rebecca:

1. Selection: pretty good
   
2. Price: pretty good
   
3. Taste: awesome
   
4. Quantity: awesome
   
5. Service: awesome
6. Cleanliness: awesome
   
7. Parking: pretty good
   
8. Fortune cookie taste: awesome
   
9. Fortune cookie fortune: awesome
   

Judges' favorite.

Whose sushi reigns supreme?

1. Ichiban
2. Hokkaido
3. Bento

And there you have it, folks. Allow our limited expertise to guide you on your culinary journey through Tuscaloosa.

Now, if you'll excuse us, we have grad school projects to put off.