Yoshi Sushi

Yoshi Sushi is one of the most popular sushi joints in the HD, they have 2 locations in the HD (Victorville, Hesperia) and seem to be growing more popular every month as the sushi craze continues in the HD. Today I visited the 1st Victorville location that resides in a building that is built to resemble a lighthouse (fitting for a sushi joint). I was lucky enough to catch Yoshi's during their sushi happy hour, which is from 3-5 monday-thursday and offers half price on select rolls and sushi menu items.

I started off with an order of baked mussels, the presentation was amazing and the mussels came fresh out of the oven straight to table. The sauce on top is a mayo-like teriyaki sauce with diced green onion garnish. As soon as the first muscle touched my tongue it immediately sent an explosion of flavor that ranks in my top eating experiences EVER. The creamy mayo based sauce was tangy, yet subtle due to the offsetting teriyaki glaze on top. The crust on top from the broiler added a crunch aspect to the dish that offset the soft texture of the mussels. The mussels literally melt in your mouth and taste as if they were just pulled from the ocean, their is also little to no sandy/grainy texture that mussels tend to have. This dish alone should be more than enough reason for you to come to Yoshi's. I could've sat at the bar and drank Yoshi's house-made pineapple saki and eaten baked mussels all day, but there were still more items left to try in this visit!
The roll above is the Heart Attack Roll, the roll consisted of crab and cream cheese stuffed inside a jalapeno which is then tempura fried. They served it on a bed of teriyaki and tangy mayo sauce. This roll tasted exactly like it sounded, it had big time spice from the jalapeno, almost too spicy at times. The cream cheese and crab mix in the roll did their job of extinguishing the heat from the jalapeno and offering a soft and creamy texture to offset the crunch from the jalapeno and the tempura. The different textures and flavors in this roll made it fun to eat, but sometimes a little too spicy and is not recommended for anyone that has a hard time handling spicy food. If you enjoy high heat and big flavors, give this dish a try.
Next up was an item that was compliments of the house, it was called the UFO. The UFO is a layered dish, the first layer is a flat pile of sticky rice formed into a disc which is then tempura fried. The second layer is a large portion of spicy tuna, the third layer is a spread of avocado, the dish is topped with crunchy tempura flakes and served with a side of spicy mayo and teriyaki sauce. The tempura rice disc tasted good enough to where I could see myself ordering just the disc with a side of tangy mayo sauce for dipping. The spicy tuna had great taste and wasn't too overpowering, the avocado and tempura flakes added great texture and offered relief to any spiciness from the tuna. My only gripe about this is that I wish they would've put the dish in the broiler before bringing it out so that the spicy tuna would've been warm. The cold spicy tuna didn't play well with the hot tempura rice cake. It almost grossed me out at times, all it would've taken is some warm tuna and this dish would've topped the Heart Attack Roll.
Next up were the Crazy Boy and Crazy Girl rolls. The Crazy Boy is a tempura fried California Roll (crab, cucumber, avocado, wrapped in seaweed). The Crazy Girl is a spicy tuna roll that is also tempura fried, the Crazy Girl also has avocado inside, both rolls are served on a bed of teriyaki style sauce. Both rolls were amazing, they were fresh out of the fryer and were fried to perfection. The crazy girl was everything that i had hoped the UFO would've been, cooked through but still keeping the tuna cooked rare. The crazy boy tasted just like a crunchy/warm california roll. The teriyaki sauce tasted great and the tempura had amazing crunch and texture. In case you didn't notice, I mainly ordered fried items this time around in my visit to Yoshi's. I decided it would be best to do something different other than reviewing the basic fish items. In the past i've eaten sashimi items at Yoshi's and the experience was great, the fish is fresh and the portions are generous. This time I wanted to offer a different experience in the world of sushi, Yoshi's does a great job with fried rolls and I felt it was something worth dedicating an entire visit to. Yoshi's stands as one of the heavy hitters in the HD's sushi scene, and this visit proved that this restaurant is one of the best in the HD. The service is great, and the sushi chefs are friendly and fun to chat with. Being that it was happy hour, my bill for everything came in at just under $30. I would recommend going during a happy hour (mon-thurs 3-5 pm), the low prices allow more financial flexibility which opens up the menu for you to try many different things on the menu without being scared of taking a chance on something new. Yoshi's has 2 locations in the HD, the original is located at 14177 Kentwood Blvd in Victorville. The 2nd location is located at 17005 Bear Valley Rd in Hesperia.