^

Great news about Covell Park.

My one experience there was excellent and sounds like the food will be getting even better.

Andon,

Thank you for your suggestions and critique. Coming from San Francisco where there is a sushi restaurant (that specifically serves sushi and just a few other items) on every corner, eating Sushi in Oklahoma has been a disappointment. For some reason, the fish feels fresher in SF. I know flash frozen techniques are used so freshness shouldn't be too much of a question. Maybe it's because the sushi is more authentic (as in no cream cheese, weird sauces). The sushi restaurants in SF (and most of the west coast) don't offer hibachi and usually is just a bar with a few tables in a very small with just a few tables. There are specific places with hibachi but most in SF do not offer that. For example, one of my favorite sushi joints (there are so many to choose from) in the SF area where I grew up is a place called Uzen. There are so many others. Look at some of the pictures, I cannot find this in the OKC area. Uzen Japanese Cuisine - North Oakland - Oakland, CA | Yelp (http://www.yelp.com/biz/uzen-japanese-cuisine-oakland) .It just feels like their fish is fresher and their sushi is more authentic.

I have only lived on the west coast prior moving to OKC where there is a large japanese population (LA, SF, Seattle). Maybe other cities like Tulsa, Little Rock, Omaha, even Dallas don't quite offer what I was used to. It might just be me.

What bchris said, it would seem that a lot of the population here is adversed to eating raw fish. Everybody here likes their fish fried or slathered with sauce, mayo, fried crunchies to mask the flavor? I do like some americanized rolls, but cream cheese... really? I like the comment that sushi restaurants have to adapt to the general population's preference and I guess lots of fat and sauce makes sense here... sadly.

Places I need to try before I completely discredit OKC for their sushi (in no order)

1) Sumo
2) The Sushi Bar
3) Saii Bistro
4) GoGo
5) Samurai

I have been to Tokyo (solid), nhinja (yuk), Thai delight (why does thai serve sushi, its decent), o asian fusion in norman (not for me), in the raw, and some others I forget... I was largely underwhelmed.

So far, Tokyo is the best out of the ones I tried. Thank you all for the suggestions and keep them going.

It's been awhile, but Sumo has increased the selection of their AYCE selection since I last went there (2010?).
Sushi Bar I would put above Tokyo overall for their environment too.
GoGo is good on value.

I need to try Volcano.

My wife and I just tried Kobe sushi bar at Danforth and Santa Fe, next door to Buffalo Wild Wings. The place was empty when we went in and we soon found out why. We ordered tuna and eel nigiri and both were bland and tasteless. The Tempura roll had some flavor but wasn't quite up to the standards of the sushi we eat at most Chinese buffets. The expensive rolls we ordered were the Handsome Boy and Sexy Lady and both were so bad that they were almost inedible. We did finish them because we paid for them but it was a trial. The Handsome Boy roll tasted like processed chemicals and the Sexy Lady had a layer of avocado on the outside that was just disgusting. Nothing wrong with the avocado itself, it was just a horrible pairing of ingredients.

I don't expect this place to last more than six months, which is too bad because someone invested some serious money there. They have three hibachi islands with two grills each and a bar so they are set up to do some serious business but our experience is that the quality just isn't there. It was easily the worst sushi I've had in my life and I'm including sushi served at Chinese buffets in that comparison.

Stoked on the new Sushi Bar location; I hope the quality transfers over as well!

Also, just a heads up that I'm currently consulting up at Covell Park in Edmond for their sushi bar, establishing a new sushi menu (if all goes according to plan, though we shall see), and handling their rice and product procurement, so take that for what it is. You'll find me there most evenings.

Is this just for Covell Park, or Guernsey as well? Guernsey is my favorite $15-30 restaurant in OKC but I was pretty disappointed the one time I ordered their sushi.

Is this just for Covell Park, or Guernsey as well? Guernsey is my favorite $15-30 restaurant in OKC but I was pretty disappointed the one time I ordered their sushi.
It was just for Covell Park, though I was actually there for only a month before I terminated my consultation contract with them. Do not support that business, nor its owners.

It was just for Covell Park, though I was actually there for only a month before I terminated my consultation contract with them. Do not support that business, nor its owners.

Andon,
I don't know you and I have to ask the question, why? I don't believe it's fair to post a comment like yours without an explanation. I have had bad experiences with places but I would never bad mouth them without my reason why.
Thanks,
C. T.

Labor issues and ineptitude were the major players.

There were/are[?] just two main owners now, and nepotism runs rampant in that company. Quite literally everyone and their sister/brother/aunt/you-name-it works there, and they're all either inept or conniving. Rather than trust the people that you hired to do their jobs, they were taking the word of their family members as to what is or is not right or wrong rather than listening to the people that have been doing this for half of their lives. If something comes out of the kitchen that looks just slightly different by their inane perception, then they're all texting each other about it. If someone said something that they perceived as cross, then they're all texting each other about it. This then brings in one of the owners who then asks to speak to the person that everyone is texting about, rather than that initial person talking to the staff in question. It's counter-intuitive and counterproductive at best, and micromanagerial and toxic by any normal standards.

If you look back on my social media, you'll find an image of their former chef having his second mental breakdown in as many days; he then spent three weeks back in Texas recuperating among family.

Another issue was staffing. Covell was extremely understaffed at all times, and ownership were constantly complaining about labor and numbers there, even when they were good. We were doing the same amount of work and volume as Guernsey was, on less than half of the staff. They took a big gamble putting that concept in where they did, and I get that, but that's also no reason to be riding labor and sales so hard; you had people working 80+ hour weeks because they had no choice, because ownership wouldn't approve hiring more staff. The labor thing was so bad that at one point ownership tried to clock me out without my knowledge for making a run to Cao Nguyen, saying that they "didn't know that it was a business-related jaunt," when I have correspondence acknowledging that they knew it was before and after the incident (and really, why would I drive a half-hour away to an Asian supermarket just to take a break?)

In case anyone didn't understand that last part, what they did was very much illegal. I am currently filing grievances with the DOL.

Covell Park was a big gamble on their part, and who knows if it will pay off. Ownership aside, the main issue with Covell Park is that it's just too far north, plain and simple. They settled on that location because one of the owners of Uptown Grocers/Buy4Less/etc. suggested that she would like a concept like Guernsey Park near their Uptown Grocers on Danforth and Kelley, and they got a decent deal on the rent there so they accepted. Never once did they consider that the demographic that far north is anything but what you'll find at Guersney, and, hell, if they would have chosen a location just a mile or two south that they would have greatly increased their numbers.

Nothing about that place was good, and nothing about it made any sense.

You answered my question, thanks,
C. T.

It was just for Covell Park, though I was actually there for only a month before I terminated my consultation contract with them. Do not support that business, nor its owners.

We went to Covell Park with two of my wife's co-workers and none of us were to impressed with the food or the service. The brussel sprouts appetizer was really good but beyond that, nothing really stood out and their sushi wasn't better than that found at some Chinese buffets.