Restaurant review: Sushi Nine

For one of our Out & About lunch meetings we ventured to Sushi Nine and were pleasantly surprised. (At least, some of us were.)

Posted 4:34 p.m. Jan 24, 2012 — Updated 6:18 p.m. Jul 13, 2018

Kathy Hanrahan

With its close location to the WRAL studios, you would think I would be familiar with Sushi Nine, but no. I have been a little scared to try it because of the sketchy Chinese buffet that used to operate there. I tried that place once and ended up with a stomach ache!

So, for one of our Out & About lunch meetings we ventured to Sushi Nine and were pleasantly surprised. The atmosphere was clean and modern. It was well lit and the Japanese decor helped make the dining area more inviting than the previous place.

The Location: 3812 Western Blvd. near Bojangles

The Company: Four awesome members of our Out & About team

The Service: Well, when we did see our server she was nice, but she would disappear for long periods of time and seemed rushed. The place wasn't crowded, but it took forever just to get our orders taken and to get the bill.

The Meal: Everyone tried something different, so we could get a good take on the menu. Here is everyone's take:

Kathy: I started with the Miso soup, then had the grilled chicken and vegetables. The soup was great! Loved the pieces of tofu inside. The grilled chicken and veggies were covered with way too much sauce for me. I also split some California Rolls with the table. Those were freshly made and my favorite part of the meal!

Sarah: The vegetable pad thai was delicious! I'd definitely order it again. It was kind of a sweet tasting pad thai so if you're in the mood for something spicy you might want to ask for it with some extra heat!

Lisa: The tofu pad thai is almost always my go to dish here, because there aren’t any vegetarian rolls on the sushi menu and the steamed dumplings can’t be made vegetarian (what??), but on this most recent visit I opted for the vegetarian spring rolls and edamame for a quick bite and neither disappointed.

Jodi: I had a bad attitude going in, since I don't like sushi, and Sushi Nine failed to win me over. The service was inattentive. Our server seemed overextended and rushed, even though the dining room was far from crowded. I had the Miso soup to start and Spicy Eggplant with ground pork. I was bit disappointed that my eggplant dish had so much pork. Meat lovers may prefer this ratio, but I would have liked the eggplant to dominate. The level of spiciness (I asked for "very spicy") was adequate, but I never needed a drink refill. I expect my "very spicy" to make me sweat and this fell short.

The Final Bill: For lunch entrees, it was pretty reasonably priced. Each person ended up spending $10 and under. The California Roll was $7 but it was huge and took up an entire plate. We had leftovers.

The Verdict: Three out of four of us would go back.

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