Hotaru Sushi

Reviews about Hotaru Sushi

• 3 / 5

  By Mike Lastman
  Walked in to see the menu, great food. Went back a week later, had lunch with a friend. The food was really good and I enjoyed my company and the service was really good. Thank you very much
  April 03, 2017
• 1 / 5

  By Stephanie Vanden Boomen
  I got food poisoning. My friend and I went for lunch, and besides the extremely slow service (we had to check with the server twice to see if they forgot our food. It took 3 hours to order two rounds of AYCE), as we were eating it, we were highly disappointed with the quality. Hard bits were in the sushi that we both had to remove from our mouths, and everything was an odd temperature of cold, and tasted old. Many times I wondered if they had given us expired food. Later that night, I was throwing up, and into the next day my stomach was still upset, and I was throwing up again. My friend had a stomach ache as well for the following two days. When I mentioned to others that we went there, their first response was, 'oh yeah, that place is terrible.' It's not just us.
  March 24, 2017
• 1 / 5

  By Heather Kennedy
  I visited recently and they were basically out of food. 60% of the items I ordered were "sold out", including some really basic sushi items like miso soup and avocado. Very disappointing.
  March 20, 2017
• 2 / 5

  By Dan Clemente
  The booths here are super low to the ground- covered with a material that feels like felt and holds dirt and smells like a shag carpet, it almost feels like most adults would need a booster seat just to sit in them.
  
  Ordering food is easy enough on the iPads, as is par for most Korean/Chinese run ""Japanese"" Sushi spots. The staff do not speak Japanese, first off, so don't expect authentic sushi. Their Chinese food is more likely to be fresher and better tasting. Par for the course.
  
  The tempura here isn't great - more soft than crunchy and the smell of old oil pervades the air both inside and outside of the restaurant. That should have been my first clue to not enter but where I live, is scarce for decent all you can eat joints.
  
  The menus you find online are outdated, and they no longer have a number of items. Such as unagi. They don't have any interesting new rolls or sushi, or sashimi, they lack a lot.
  
  The tuna, salmon is not nearly as fresh as they advertise. The tuna has that slightly chilled, 'left out too long' consistency where it is soft but also strangely stringy and chewy at the same time, not at all resembling the buttery texture it should.
  
  The fried scallops come with so much mayonnaise you might have thought some Dutch person was pulling a prank on you.
  
  The spicy crunchy rolls are neither spicy nor crunchy. If they were named 'dry as cat litter rolls' it would've been more accurate. The seaweed covering the rolls hold it all together a little too well, it doesn't want to break apart, not even in your mouth. The salmon is scarce and whatever crumble or panko or crumbs they use for the crunch are moist and clump together grossly.
  
  The notable thing about this restaurant is that they are apparently trying to be known for their 'cheese' rolls. Philadelphia cream cheese is in nearly every one in three rolls, especially their special rolls. A lot of these places try to stand out- sashimi chopped up on a Pringle chip, sushi lightly grilled rice and all, seared tuna and salmon sushi.
  
  Hotarus signature dishes all come with a wallop of cream cheese, all of it having the consistency of snot and just a hint of sourness, the kind that says 'we are the near expiry, two for one deal at your local No Frills grocer'
  
  The miso soup was alright - plenty of Wakame and tofu cubes, I was surprised. But the soup base wasn't very tasty and I wouldn't be surprised if the base was also purchased from some supermarket.
  
  This place, right under a student housing complex, is the local hotspot for university kids. Remember those days? Eating whatever expired rice Krispy cereal you got on sale, a lot of noodles with maybe an egg in it if you were one of those bourgeois students, and a lot of rice and beans.
  
  Back then I'm sure I would've come to a place like this and it would have seemed like heaven. It explains why this joint has a rating higher than two stars. Near death students, barely out of a close to starvation delirium, mistake the satisfaction that comes with not dying for the satisfaction associated with good food. Although this place may make you delirious, it's not because the food is good, it's more likely because one of the slimy sashimi pieces you got served was one day too many out of the water.
  
  For the price, the selection and serving sizes were poor, not terrible, but poor. The skewers were alright and the AAA beef, which was definitely not that grade, was still not bad. A lot of the sushi and rolls are par for the course, but everything else veers off - badly.
  
  If you're a student, someone who doesn't know any better, or someone who doesn't care and just goes to all you can eats to get as much as their money's worth as possible, sure, come here. But students would be better off using the same money for pizza and wings, and those who don't know any better soon will.
  
  Do yourself a favour, use google and find a better restaurant.
  July 13, 2016
• 5 / 5

  By Ryan Longley
  Our favourite sushi place in Hamilton. All you can eat. Green dragon roll is delicious.
  June 21, 2016