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Sushi on The Drive
Britannia Sushi is an okay place with great low prices. The food is decent, and there are lots of options. You may feel i little gross after eating some of the dishes, especially the tempura and chicken. The waitresses and staff are quite rude and rarely acknowledge you unless you are paying them or ordering food. They tend to chat with their friends seeming to talk about the customers, or mope at the counter obviously unhappy about being there. The Ambiance is very average. Nothing special at all. Its usually dirty with food left on the tables and gum stuck under them. As i said before, I go there quite often, but i can't say i like it.
I used to go there about once a month. Nothing special about the place, just reasonably priced o.k. sushi etc. It's not exactly pristine, and the service was nothing special, but the last time I was there I'd simply had enough.
After my meal, my waitress (the one with the long black straight hair) wasn't anywhere to be found, so I walked up to the cashier to pay, like I've had to do before. I found my waitress on the phone, not talking, a guess waiting for a call. She hangs up (while I'm waiting) and makes another call. Waits, waits, no answer. She puts the phone down, and makes ANOTHER call! Waits, waits, no answer again. Finally she puts the phone down, and without so much as looking me in the eye or saying a single word...
...she grabs the money out of my hand, throws it in the till, slams it shut and walks away. No thank you, no change, no nothing.
Yes, I would have left a tip even with the sub-par service, but this was the last straw. In a way she did me a favour because now I've found some better Japanese places on the Drive.
It's a family run place, and the staff don't exactly hide the fact that they don't want to be there. And you know what? I don't want to be there either. So long, folks.
Food- Really good. I've never had something I hated and there's a large variety of veggie rolls. The bento boxes are tasty and unlike some places the tempura is always fresh and piping hot. I always tell them I'm vegan and never find roe attached to my sushi.
Service- meh. There's a few waitresses that are okay, but there's a couple of spoiled brats that wait the tables too.
Value- This place is cheap cheap cheap. Usually I go and get stuffed on ten bucks worth of food, or satisfyingly full on 7 or 8 bucks.
Ambiance - Once in awhile I forget to not look at this place. Seriously just keep your eyes forward and concentrate on the conversation with your dining partner. There's gum stuck to the ceiling, the windows are taped to the front of the building and there's unidentified goo between the banquet seats and the walls.
I keep going back because they have what I want at a price I can afford. I wish they'd clean it up though.
The food in this place is very good and very consistent. The portions are big. You get your money worth here. The restaurant is ran by a family and the service is not very good but if the food/price/quality of food is important to you, you cant beat this sushi joint. I visit it at least every 2 weeks.
Randomly walked into this place at 6:00pm on a Friday.
It took a while before the "hostess" even greeted us, and even then we didn't get so much as a hello. She just grabbed menus and pointed towards the bench in front of the kitchen. Many booths and tables were still available so we asked if we could be seated at a table instead.
The "hostess" began whispering something to one of her coworkers and rolled her eyes at us. At this point there was no reason for us to stay.
You are working at a restaurant, it's dinner time and we didn't ask for any special treatment. We just wanted to eat!
I've never been treated so rudely at any restaurant before, let alone a sushi place. They are usually the best when it comes to service.
We ended up walking a block or so down the strip and going into Asiano sushi, which was just as cheap and much friendlier.
Will not be trying this place again.
this place isn't bad to eat at. just the service really suck ! because how ..they never come to you besides asking you what to order. mostly the waitress just stand there & do their own thing. food are alright, not so bad but not so good. it's pretty crowded most of the time since it's right beside a high school and lots of ppl go there to eat during lunch time. lunch is pretty empty ! LOL ! overall, it's a pretty decent place.
Britannia Sushi is great for a discount sushi joint. The tuna, yam, and salmon rolls have nice thick thumb sized pieces of fish (or yam) in them and the quality is consistently high. It's obviously a family run place and one gets the impression that the staff would rather be doing something else. The soft rock on the radio is a bit annoying but you probably shoudn't be coming here expecting an authentic Japanese experience. Some previous reviewers mentioned poor hygiene and that may well be the case but I haven't seen anything remarkably concerning, however, there have been a couple of occasions of stomach distress a couple of hours after eating there.
Reason to go here in one word: cheap.
For 5 bucks for a meal that gets you really full it is literally cheaper than eating at home. The sushi is not that great, not horrible..but what can you really expect for 5 bucks?
Same with the service. It really is terrible as far as manners go but quick... when you are literally giving them the change from your pocket to pay for dinner/lunch do you really think you need to have them smile at you?
I haven't noticed the foodsafe stuff, never there long enough to use the washrooms. I have noticed the kids are always there and it doesn't bother me (although judging from their yawns and sighs I think it may bother them)
When you are hungry, too lazy to cook, not wanting to spend much money and just want to eat and leave, it's perfectly fine. If you want great service and excellent sushi, dont expect to pay 5 bucks on commercial for it.
My husband and I were finally bored of eating slices at The Pizza Garden ( good pizza-don't get me wrong ) and decided to check out Britannia Sushi after walking past countless of times. Yes, it seemed not as popular as some other sushi places but it suited our taste just fine. We both had the bento box special - chicken or beef teriyaki with the fixings but miso soup not included. I have to admit for the price of 4.95 you can't go wrong. The portion was just enough for us though if you were famish, it may not be enough for you then. Didn't make it to the washroom but after reading the reviews, I'm glad I didn't find out on my own...yikes!!!
It's the kind of service where they are talking to you, but looking over your shoulder. You get the feeling that they couldn't care less if you were there or not. Bordering on downright rude. Food was good, sushi tasted fresh, veggie gyoza was nice.
The main reason why I come to britannia sushi is because I work near it. If I got some time to spare and want sushi I rather get it at britannia sushi, but lately they haven't been really good on some things. One thing, I notice when I am waiting for my order is that the guy who prepares and makes the sushi doesn't really wash his hands after touching other things. Another thing I notice is that he generally talks over the food and chews gum. I find that this is not worth eating her twice a week.
A few poster back said that there was a little boy who runs around in the restaurant: I know that little boy as he uses the goes to school at britannia. He is sometimes a handful and is pretty much harmless. This is a family owned restaurant and it seems the WHOLE family is always there. The family literally lives at the restaurant.
So I been back a few times, but not as much as before. The service is great. The staff is friendly (except the sushi chef) and the ambiance is pretty good.
Thank you to the other reviews, yes they not only need food safety but a license for an adult to serve liquor, not the owner's children. I too have noticed that they do not wash their hands. One of the owner's daughters, a teenager, usually found asleep at the bar, was practicing making sushi - then rang in a bill for a customer and went back to finishing the sushi...WITHOUT washing her hands. Ick! I also recommend you do not use their washrooms. I went in and one of the servers had left a dirty used facecloth at the sink and a brush full of hair on the counter....
BEWARE
I love this sushi place. I have eaten at many of the lower mainland sushi spots for many, many years and have become quite particular with my choices. I frequent this sushi place up to three times a week, walking past four other sushi places to get to it.
They tend to stay busy enough to keep all of their food fresh, though sometimes the gommae taste as though it was not freshly made. The fish is ALWAYS fresh though. The prices are great. They even have cheap domestic beer to go with your meal.
The downsides to this place are low, however if cleanliness and hygeine are important you may want to skip this place. I have seen enough things to turn the stomaches of many people, all involving the food prep area.
Of most concern is the young family boy who runs around the restaurant daily, crawling on the floor, putting a bouncing ball from the ground into his mouth, taking the ball out and then touching the sushi prep area without cleaning his hands. This child is there almost every night and can definately ruin your meal if you let him get to you.
If you are into sushi for the sushi taste alone, this place will give you what you need. The service could be tuned up a bit but is fine. This place is nothing fancy, but always fresh and very well priced.
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| 4. | Megabite Pizza (26 m) | |
| 5. | Tony's Deli (30 m) | |
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| 7. | Sunrise Pizza (68 m) | |
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