Restaurant review: Sushi Mara

By Sherman Chan,
Special to The Post

A long time ago, when I lived in Oakridge, I would bike down to Mac's on the corner of Oak and 49th for my fill of snacks and sweets. Over time, the need for corner stores started to diminish and ultimately, Mac's was replaced with two restaurants: A&W and Sushi Mura. With a group of friends in tow, we headed down to my old neighbourhood to try Sushi Mura before heading out for a night of gaming.
We started with the Deluxe Chirashi Don ($13.95), which was three dollars more than the regular Chirashi Don. Other than the shape of the bowls, there were only minimal differences between the two dishes, and frankly, the extra $3.00 for the deluxe version was not worth it. The slices of fish were all acceptable and we liked the spicy sauce on the seared tuna. I wasn't fond of the sushi rice because it was dry, hard and under-seasoned. For our specialty roll, we tried the Crazy Rabbit consisting of unagi, tamago, ebi, imitation crab, and yam tempura rolled with sliced cucumber. On the outside, the roll was dressed with tempura flakes, tobiko and sauce. Without sushi rice, this roll was texturally soft except for the crunch of the cucumber. It was difficult to differentiate between any of the ingredients as they melded together with the creamy, salty and sweet sauces.
We also ordered a few smaller appetizers as well, including the Agedashi Tofu, Gomae and Gyoza. The tofu was relatively silky with a mostly soft exterior. The server forgot the gomae and it came at the end of the meal. The spinach itself was tender and nicely arranged in the small bowl. Even though there was ample dressing, it wasn't particularly sweet or aromatic. Nicely seared on the bottom, the gyoza featured a relatively thin dumpling skin. It was slightly chewy while still soft, but the filling was heavy on cabbage and the meat didn't really make an impact.
Our order of Assorted Tempura arrived piping hot. It wasn't greasy , yet it wasn't devoid of oiliness either. When I bit into the sweet potato, it was crispy, but the inside was a little oily. The batter could have been slightly less thick on the ebi, but it was fine on the veggies.  
Lastly, we tried the Seafood Udon, which was not bad. The noodles were chewy while the dashi was on the sweeter side. The spot prawn was unappealing and mushy, and obviously not fresh since it is out of season. Despite this (and all the other inconsistencies), the food was okay and considering the location, the prices were reasonable. But, if you went better sushi, I recommend driving to Oak Street and eating at Applause.

Sherman Chan is the #1 ranked food blogger on the Vancouver portal of Urbanspoon.com. Read more of his reviews at www.shermansfoodadventures.com.

Sushi Mara
6485 Oak Street
(604) 428-1145

The Good:
• Reasonable pricing
• Decent portion size

The Bad:
• Not very attentive service
• Seating is a bit tight