I Love Sushi Teppan Grill - Albuquerque

I haven't been here since it was just I Love Sushi, it's been quite some time too! That was when they only did sushi, I should mention that it is now called I Love Sushi and Teppan Grill. Seriou. It says so on the building. Tee hee. Came here on an impromptu girl's night outing looking for sushi because the ramen joint we tried to visit was closed. Upon entering we were surprised to see the teppan grills and when asked where we wanted to eat, I think we were conned into saying teppan! LOL! They pressure was on and they caught us off guard! Sheesh! Not to worry, we could still order sushi at the teppan table! Now, if you've ever eaten at any teppan grill eatery you know that it is like family seating. You may end up sitting with few different parties, until your table is filled. Then they bring the chef out and begin your meals. In our case, there were several other teppan grills filled and we were the first seated at our table. We placed an order for two sushi rolls and and they took our meal orders too. Alas, no one else came to join us. They closed our table and the chef came out. Maybe we shouldn't have ordered the rolls? We ended up with so much food! Not that I am complaining, but let me tell you! Their teppan dinners come with noodles, stir fried vegetables, fried rice and your meat of choice! We had mounds of food on our plates. Not to mention the soup and salad that you get before hand. The chef was very friendly and funny. Very entertaining and did a great job with our meals. We ordered a salmon, chicken and steak plate. All of which were cooked just right. They didn't get that last star for me because our waitress was bit on the slow side. Left us hanging a few times and seemed to be really disturbed my request for no rice and extra veggies. She basically came at me like, what kind of asian doesn't like rice? Don't get me wrong, I was thoroughly amused with the question, because I do love rice! I just choose not to eat it from time to time, due to dieting! Sheesh! All and all, a good first time back in what has been years. I'm glad to see them still around and doing well. Will have to come back soon to revisit the feast at the teppan grill, and make sure I am eating rice too.

I've been to sushi restaurants far and wide and believe it or not, I Love Sushi falls somewhere in my Top 10. Luckily, sushi hasn't been tainted by franchisees, it's still a niche for those of us who appreciate seafood. The service is always good, they check to see if everything's okay and serve in an appropriate time. Meals come with a tiny salad and miso soup. It's very very inexpensive and the rolls are pretty well-crafted. The salmon here is buttery and soft. The tuna tastes a little too raw for me, but my must-try is the lobster roll; it is superb. I know there are other places to choose in town, but somehow we always end up here. Be it for date night, girls night, or a major sushi craving, this restaurant is a cross of cozy and New Mexico hospitality. I Love Sushi. Period.

This was my first time coming here, and although I loved the little salad and the miso soup that was given before the sushi, the sushi was just alright. I tried the New Mexico roll, which would have been a slam dunk but the green chile was so full of seeds that it really distracted from everything good about the roll. I also tried the tempura tuna roll, which said has cucumber inside but, disappointingly, did not. It was just a tempura battered small piece of tuna inside a standard rice roll. It suffered from a lack of... well, anything else in there would have helped elevate it, it needed something to help it out. Service was fast and friendly though, which is always appreciated. If I come back I would try totally different rolls.

Quick find while riding down San Mateo. And I'm glad about it. Glad for the marquee, because I would've passed it up. Ordering take out was #easypeasy. The cashier was very friendly attentive despite me being on the phone... Rude, I know. Quick easy pickup. Ordering was simple. You get a writing utensil an ordering sheet. Sushi is freshly rolled as you wait terribly inexpensive!!! Inexpensive, not a low of chewing I'm full!!! Ooooooooooh #illbeback.

So on a girls night where do we go? Well we come for some awesome sushi and some Teppan. It's one of those nights where nothing but watching a guy grill you up some awesome food will make things better. So my mom and the bestie and I decided that we would eat here after we realized that Noodle House was closed! OMG so sad but we made the night work. So Julie had grilled salmon with a ton of veggies my mom had chicken with rice and noodles and veggies and I had Sukiyaki steak. Which was amazing!! What I really love is that they give you both rice and noodles with your meat of choice because hey why not right. We also got a sushi roll that if I recall was a spider roll. which I almost didn't eat because I hate spiders in any way shape or form. But I did manage one piece which thankfully was not an end piece because that looked like a spider! But I digress. So for anyone who hasn't ever been to a Teppan grill place, which these days is hard to believe, you usually have to wait for the entire grill to be seated. Since it was just the three of us we were seated given tea and soup and chatted while waiting for more people to join our grill. We sat for about 15 minute chatting and finally when no guests came to the teppan side we basically had our own grill!! Which is exciting because it was just us. Our grill master came to our table and was awesome!! He put on a great show and even made us laugh when he used a little peeing man to put out his grill. It was the best! He cooked all of our food to perfection and with all the food we had I don't know how were going to finish it all!! Spoiler alert we didn't lol. I know a lot of people like to go to other teppan and sushi places but I suggest coming here because it's not to crazy busy and the staff is very friendly. Also another suggestion and this is most for anyone who has hearing issues plan on leaning in to ear your party or waiting to have a discussion until after they turn the hood fan off. It is loud! All in all I loved coming here and I plan on returning!