4540 Post St
El Dorado Hills, CA 95762
Rating: 
Located in the less fancy part of El Dorado Hills Town Center near Nugget, Sushi Kuma serves up a variety of sushi at a 50% off price point. At this price, you shouldn’t expect Mikuni quality, but you generally get decent tasting sushi at a great price. As we entered the restaurant, we were quickly seated at one of the many available tables. The server took our drink order as we reviewed the menu. We found it very odd that many of the menu items resembled those found at Arigatos with the exact same names. This could mean the owners are related, or mean they really ripped off the other restaurant. With that said, we were ready to order.
Today, we decided to order the lion king roll, volcanic scallop roll, tempura crunchy roll, sesame chicken roll, and the golden gate roll. We did have to wait a bit of time before the sushi arrived, but that was because there was only one sushi chef cooking for the very few tables with customers. The chef prepared all five rolls before the server brought over the large plate of sushi. The lion king roll was a bit small, but each piece had a piece of salmon on top and tasted quite sweet and tasty. The similar volcanic scallop roll was also baked, but did not taste as appetizing even though it used the same sauce. The sesame chicken roll was very interesting because the roll itself has cream cheese and crab meat in it, but the chicken just sat on top. The roll on its own was not very appetizing, but it went very well with the tender juicy flavorful chicken. Things went downhill with the last two rolls because the sushi chef used frozen tempura shrimp and just cooked them in a toaster over. Thus, the tempura crunchy roll tasted pretty plain and the texture of the shrimp tempura was undesirable. The same applies to the golden gate since the contents of the rolls were so similar. The shrimp inside the tempura was quite small, so there was a lot of breading.
Overall, Sushi Kuma serves up a great deal for sushi consumers in this busy shopping plaza, but the quality is quite underwhelming. If you ordered the same rolls from Arigatos, they would taste a lot better and fresher, especially for rolls including shrimp tempura. Service and value really shine here at the restaurant, so the meal was not too disappointing. With so many food options in this shopping center, I would not make Sushi Kuma my first choice, but if you are looking for cheap sushi with great service, Sushi Kuma does the job.
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