Six text messages went out before eight am. As the day progressed, slowly but surely our army was recruited–six large men with six large appetites for delicate raw fish. I don’t know why, but going to an all you can eat sushi joint with a large group of massive men seems like answering the call of why it was initially created. It seems improbable that endless fish consumption was inspired by the desires of moms on their way home from soccer practice. As with any group of hungry men, there was a small debate about where to get the best all you can eat sushi in Treasure Valley. Names such as IOU, Sushi Ya, and Yoi Tomo were thrown in, but from past experience. The course of action for this trip however was exploration. An all you can east sushi restaurant known as Pacific Sushi in Nampa was started on the corner of 7th and 12th avenue, where TCBY once stood for what seemed like a lingering display of the slow death of traditional non-do-it-yourself yogurt eateries. There has been grumbles around town that Pacific Sushi was started when a crew left IOU–and the menu shows a similar taste, but employees wouldn’t comment on the relations aside from coy grins.
Our team rolled into the parking lot around eight pm, which gave us an hour and half till the fish was put back into the chill chamber. The skill of the sushi chef(s) would most assuredly be tested. Our seemingly unhappy hostess sat us in the lunchroom style metal chairs, which would be seasoned with the burden of added weight as the night progressed. The sushi bar, which I couldn’t quit imagining as the yogurt counter, offered full view of the fresh tuna, octopus, salmon, and roe delights of the sea.
The price for the all you can eat option was $23.95, which seems like the going rate in the valley for fish gluttony. It was interesting to learn that food left on the plate at the end of the night would be charged for additionally. I would like to point out that instead of looking at this as a negative, my team saw it as a challenge.
There are fourteen rolls on the menu, broken down into Dinner Long Rolls, Popular Rolls, and Specialty Rolls. The first two categories are 11$ each roll, whereas the last is 13$. There also two little special drops from heaven called the Governor and the Mayor, which have a limit of six pieces per person. These are not rolls per se, but they do include a combination of rice, fish, sauce in a stacked fashion. The Governor was the group favorite, as the seared tuna was perfectly matched with a small ball of sticky rice, avocado, krab, and an amazing nectar. The group limit was reached an appetizer, and set the tone for Pacific Sushi in Nampa.
Orders are written down a small piece of paper, where boxes are checked for ease. One of each roll was
requested, which seemed to not stun the unenthused server. For the sake of your attention span, I will not take time to review each individual roll consumed by our group, but rather the consensus of the top 3. In order, the top 3 rolls were the Kyoshi, Rock-n-Roll, and the Double Trouble Shrimp. These rolls stood out as having an exceptional combination of unique ingredients. The Kyoshi elegantly paired crystal shrimp, cream cheese and crab over seared tuna, avocado, krab, sweet sauce and green onion. It was the perfect amount of texture and flavor for a sushi roll. The Rock-n-Roll similarly used the famous crystal shrimp, tuna, krab, avocado and sweet sauce, and the Double Trouble Shrimp had tempura shrimp, shrimp, green onion and sweet sauce. One thing to point out, and this may be due to the fact of mass consumption–is that after a few rolls, the majority of the rolls began to taste alike. The combination of the crystal shrimp mixture and sweet sauce was, although delicious, found by the group to be quite common and involved in many of the rolls.
After the initial 14 rolls were consumed, about six or eight more rolls came to the table. At this point, the world slowed down for our team. Well, most of the world at least. We were the only six in the restaurant, but the sushi chefs were trained ninjas. There was not a break between bites, which only enhanced our all we can eat experience. This was possibly the highlight of the experience, since time is an enemy when consuming large quantities of food due to the brain/stomach time delayed connection. Some sushi restaurants capitalize on this biological arrangement, but Pacific Sushi in Nampa kept the flow as consistent as the ocean tide.
As our company of men began to tire and slow down, leading to arguments of who would finish the last four of five pieces, there was reflection on the experience. The highs were the quality of the fish (in Idaho, a landlocked state), the timeliness, and cleanliness, and the wonderful Governor. The lows were the lack of friendliness of the staff, the general similarity of many rolls, and the limit of the wonderful Governor. As we stood and felt gravity take its toll on our rice holding cells, it was agreed that the experience was one that would need to be repeated. At that point, we decided to “roll out”.
