I finally hit up this Japanese place that I’d heard some good things about. Sumo is tucked away in the corner of the Ralph’s shopping center off of Victoria. I brought along my resident sushi expert for kids, my boy T. It was a good thing I brought him too, because he had to help me find the door. There is no signage and no arrows or lights to guide you. You just pick the closest blank door to the corner and there it is. Both T and I had I hopes that this Sumo would be tons better than the Sumo in Camarillo.
Sumo Japanese Restaurant – Ventura off of Victoria in Ralph’s shopping center.
Sumo is more than just a sushi place. They have a pretty large menu and a lot of specials. I would say sushi is just a small piece to their business, but it is what T and I were interested in. I’ve never found much interest in the chicken and steak dishes unless they are cooking in front of you. I very rarely will order anything but sushi from a Japanese joint.
Sumo is a very nice restaurant. It provides sushi bar seats, full tables, and booths. It’s very clean and modern and the service is pretty good. One of the things I notice a lot of sushi places doing is bringing you a cup of ice and then a can of coke when you order a soda. I kinda, at least, like having the illusion I’m not at a block party. This place has the full on fountain drinks and gives you a hefty “man glass,” which beats the can and cup any day of the week.
I decided to try one of their many appetizers mainly because I wanted to get T’s reaction to it. It was a tempura salmon. I then ordered the spicy tuna salmon roll, a shrimp roll for T, yellow tail, snapper, and a shrimp asparagus roll.
The tempura salmon was actually a nice little dish. The sauce on it was sweet and brought out the salmon flavor. The tempura batter is excellent and my son dug it. It’s kind of a cool way to get your kids eating fish and trying new things. Plus, it beats the pants off a fish stick.
The salmon was delicious, very fresh, and melted in your mouth. The snapper was a bit tangy but still very fresh, and the yellow tail was mellow and very smooth. T said the shrimp roll was excellent and judging by sight, they were beautiful, full pieces of large shrimp.
The spicy tuna salmon roll was good. My only complaint is that it was packed loosely and kept falling apart. The asparagus in the shrimp asparagus roll was crisp and wonderful. The cucumber and onion was also very fresh and all in all the rolls were presented well and tasted delicious.
This Sumo has a pretty good grasp of fresh fish and they have a whole section of low priced rolls so that you can do what I do and try a few different fish. They also have some harder to find fish, but I was already too full to get me some. I would definitely get Sushi here again. Unfortunately, I have so many sushi places to hit that I can only do ninja style hit and runs. If I were you, I would add this location to the list if you’re up in Ventura. Their specialty rolls are expensive, but if you just love fish, you can get great variety for under 20 bucks.
Get the tuna, the yellow tail, maybe the salmon, and try the white fish. Most of the rolls contain these fish and will give you a good idea of what rolls will be good. Remember, any roll with heavy sauce or avocado will cover the taste of the fish. So, if you order these, try the fish without the sauce or avocado first. Rice and cucumber are good for really getting the taste of the fish.
Don’t be scared to enter the door with no sign. You’ll be greeted by the typical Japanese roll call. This is also a good place to bring the kids. There are some great dishes that are light on the fish taste and you can sneak in some easy introductions to some great fish.
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