Oishi Japanese Restaurant

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For a Hillsborough St. joint, this place beats all expectations. Despite being a small, decently priced restaurant in a college area, the food is great and the employees are professional.

My boyfriend and I visited this week and got take-out. We sampled two hibachis, one tempura, and two sushi (since they currently have a buy one get one free sale). The sushi was excellent--the rice was fresh and the sushi chef handled all the ingredients very well. The hibachis were also excellent--the fried rice was well seasoned, all of my vegetables were well cooked, and my boyfriend's salmon was also great (according to him, I'm not a fan of salmon). The tempura was also very good; our only complaint was that the portion was small, especially for a vegetable tempura.

The employee (he was both a chef and a receptionist) addressed us quickly when we walked in, told us about their specials (in this case, the two for one sushi), and immediately jumped into the open kitchen when we had finished ordering. We took a seat at the sushi bar to watch the kitchen. The sushi chef was quick, sanitary, and immediately washed the station after our sushi had been made. The other two chefs were just as quick and sanitary and (as my boyfriend noticed) they handled all the equipment with the utmost caution, as if it were all new.

The sit-down area of the restaurant is brightly lit and well decorated. I didn't notice anything that might raise my concerns in terms of sanitation. Most of the customers sat in the front, but there was much more seating on the other side of the kitchen as well.

Overall I was very pleased by Oishi, and I hope it continues to be just as good and can succeed as a Japanese staple on the iconic Hillsborough Street.