Location Location

This little sushi restaurant is just around the corner from my apartment on Ulica Banderii. It takes 5 minutes or so to walk there. If you are coming from the city centre then you will need to take a tram 13, 23, 24. The tram stops on the opposite side of the road and the restaurant is about 2 minutes walk away. It is the first restaurant undermeath a semi circular block of apartments that face the main artery of Wola that leads all the way to Plac Bankowy and eventually the Old Town. The only reason I can think of why visitors would come to visit Sush Iro is if they were doing a tour of the cemeteries or visiting the famous crowning circle where kings and Queens of Poland were originally crowned. This is across the road from my flat - I can see it from my bedroom window.

Decor

This is a very small restaurant with three tables only seating 5 people at a push on each table. Tables are made from pine with ladderback chairs to match. My son has the same table and chairs in his flat. They are simply decorated with a single vase holding an orchid. Sometimes this changes and I have seen a Lucky Bamboo on each table. There are place mats, a white square plate, a set of chopsticks. At the back of the dining area is a small wash basin and the door to the toilets which are very clean but basic. The walls are painted a pale lemon colour and there is a huge Japanese fan spread out on the back wall.

To the left of the dining area is a serving counter with 3 or 4 stools set up against the counter. You can't really call it a bar as alcohol isn't served. All drinks; Coca Cola, Fresh orange, apple, blackcurrant and tomato juice are in bottles or cartons and situated in a fridge which is to the left as you enter through the door. Mineral water is available too - fizzy and natural. This counter is where the chef prepares his sushi dishes although there is a small kitchen behind a floral curtain at the back of the counter.

Atmosphere

I'm struggling here to find descriptive words because basically there is nothing to describe. Music isn't played at all. Usually, the chef stands behind the counter dressed in his red Japanese top. It's not a kimono as such -more like one of those tops you wear when you practise karate. Baggy with a belt around the middle. He looks more like Father Christmas than a Kung Fu warrior. There is another guy who sits in the corner looking at his laptop all the time. Never really sure what his job is - I think he must be the delivery person as the restaurant does Take-away meals as well.

Why do I visit if there is no atmosphere?

The first time I went along was with my husband as I was determined to make him try sushi. He has always been very stubborn about eating raw fish and usually if you mention sushi to him he pulls distorted faces, a bit like my Granddaughter when she doesn't want to eat lettuce. He eventually gave in but never went again as he decided that was the first and last time he would eat sushi. I have since returned to order a take away for myself as the food is actually okay and reasonably priced.

First experience

The time we sat in the restaurant was pretty grim - it was pouring down outside and the lighting in the restaurant was dull having no luxurious candles or mellow wall lights. The owner/chef took our order immediately after our posteriors had touched the pine chairs. There weren't any smiles or pleasantries exchanged. We were asked if we would like a drink from the fridge - we chose mineral water.

I'm not a sushi expert but I think the menu here is quite varied apart from the starter section. The front page of the menu shows starters of which there are two:

Salads consisiting of Wakami Salad, Radish, Japanese style and a green salad consisting of lettuce, cucumber, carrot and red pepper.

Soups consisting of Miso, Tom Yum and Kakitama

The different sushi dishes are; Hosomaki, Nigiri, Uramaki (Californian), Futomaki, Temaki and Sashimi. Under each dish there is a list of different types and the price for each dish. For example: you can order a salmon hosomaki - 6 pieces for 12 zloty or a tekka (tuna) hosomaki - 6 pieces for 14 zloty. If you order Nigiri you will get two pieces, Uramaki - 8 pieces, Futomaki - 6 pieces, Temaki - 1 piece and Sashimi comes in three sizes, small, medium and large.

The other page of the menu shows 12 different sets starting from 34 zloty (cheapest)which consists of 8 pieces mixed and the most expensive set being 154 zloty for 44 pieces mixed.

You can imagine my husband's eyes rolling when he saw the menu. He hadn't a clue what to order. He wasn't really tempted by the salads on offer and he didn't like the look of the soups either so I breathed in and then let out a huge sigh - we were in for a long evening and no beer or wine!!

In the end we chose a mixture: a Futomaki mix (6 pieces) consisting of salmon, crab, avocado and calabash, (16zloty), a Californian Uramaki (8 pieces) consisting of crab, advocado, radish and cucumber (16zl) and a Tekka Philadelphia (8 pieces) consisting of tuna, cream cheese, avocado, cucumber and salad (20 zloty). 22 pieces in all with a bowl of rice each.

Presentation and taste

I can't fault presentation at all - our order was served on a communal wooden platter and we both had separate white bowls containing Soy Sauce and Wasabi. I'm hopeless with chopsticks and so is my husband so we used our tiny digits called fingers.

There's not a lot you can say about the set meal - the salmon was fresh and moist as was the tuna. My husband wasn't keen on the addition of cream cheese in the Tekka Philadelphia - he said this was a bit sickly and he thought the Wasabi sauce was too hot so I mixed both the sauces together for him and he liked this concoction better. It can be very hot sometimes but I thought this one was okay. The rice was okay - large portions, a bit too sticky but not bad. The pickled ginger slices were nice to cleanse the palette with as was the green tea we had after the meal which came served in a lovely Japanese pot made from porcelain with two cups to match.

As a restaurant experience it was pretty awful and I have never been back. I have a couple of times ordered a Take away - this is usually when I'm on one of my health kicks and think I should eat healthy food. You get a very quick service when ordering a take away. You can either wait in the restaurant or have it delivered to the door. You are looking at a maximum of 30 minutes wait from phoning your order in to when it is delivered.

Prices: I don't think the prices are too expensive and the restaurant does advertsise special offers like the Lunch Menu. If you visit from 12.00 to 1500 hours you receive a 10% discount and get a free green salad thrown in. Other offers are: if you order three sets you receive a 15% reduction, if you spend more than 100 zloty you get 10% knocked off and you get a free drink on take away orders over 60 zloty.

The restaurant is open from Monday - Saturday, 12-2100 hours and on Sunday from 12 to 2000 hours.

Do I recommend Sushi Iro? Not really. As a restaurant it has no atmosphere and it is dark and a bit drab inside. The two staff who work here are certainly not dynamic and to be honest I think they put potential customers off although the restaurant has been open 2 years so they must be doing something right. Presentation was fine - no complaints here. I'm not an expert on Sushi but the dishes tasted fine to me although I can't rave about them but I think this is to do with the cuisine - give me a pizza any day or a bowl of hummus and some marinated olives - even a plate of piorogi will do.

Finally - don't eat in the restaurant but order a take away instead. There are probably better sushi restaurants in the city centre so no need to come out of the city anyway unless you are coming to see me.

Our bill came to just over 100 zloty = approx £20. This includes drinks mentioned above.

1 PLN = 0.198627 GBP- 1 GBP = 5.03456 PLN This is the exchange rate today - XE Currency Converter.