Gari Sushi Bar

6.3 Average

Food  7      Ambience  7      Service  5      Value  6     

We came in for a quick bite after the movies in 2011. Don't mean to be rude, but I must say that having asian waitresses in a sushi bar seems more familiar. Espeically noting the absence of traditional Japanese greeting. In any case, the food was reasonable without anything notable.

Apr 09, 2012 

6.5 Recommended

Food  5      Ambience  7      Service  8      Value  6     

Upstairs and away from the food hall, the big plus here is getting away from the shoppers and noise is Westfield.

The train was occupied so we sat at one of the tables and placed our order from the menu. The cooked tuna rolls and Teriyaki were quite edible but the Tuna Nigiri was very chewy and full of sinew. Whoever was cutting the sashimi seemed to be inexperienced?

With the Nigiri removed from the bill and an apology, overall Gari sushi bar was a little disappointing.

Feb 21, 2012 

9.3 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  10      Value  9     

I went the restaurant with my friends. It was first time to go there cause I live queensland... Anyway I had a good service and food as well. I ordered sashimi and satay salmon. I didn't expect much cause it was not busy restaurant... But the taste of food especially the sashimi was so fresh the satay salmon was amazing salmon, eggplant and greenbean with sauce... yumm! Also I read other reviews.. quiet long time ago! I guess a lot changed!! you guys need to go there. Nice service! The staff all friendly! I wanna go there again! Might be next year... lol.

Oct 21, 2011 

9 Highly Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  9      Service  10      Value  9     

I came here holding spreets vouchers, and at first I was disheartened with the poor reviews here but gave it ago since its been a while.

I have to say they must have changed a lot because although the food was not the best sushi I've had its decent especially for the price I paid for the vouchers, however, I can see how its original price may have been a little hefty but all sushi train places are like that. When we didn't see any good ones left on the train we were allowed to order from the sushi menu and the kitchen would make it. Everything was really good especially the service.

This follows on to my next visit with I get there at 8:15 and they close at 8:30 (it was a sunday). We went in and we were not rushed out at all and was told that they can make what we want from the kitchen. I ate quickly because I felt guilty about arriving so late, but after 8:30 passed they still did not order us out and even asked if we would like extra drinks. We left about 8:40 and the main waiter/manager was still polite and smiling.

I will go there again.

Jul 25, 2011 

7 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  7      Service  7      Value  6     

Well, I walked in with a spreets voucher bracing for the worst. I even decided to takeaway so I wouldn't whine and make a scene. Best miso soup I've had. Sushi was a bit loose but same quality as that place on bondi road. The wasabi paste was a bit cheap but no tears from me. If you see my other reviews, you'll see I'm merciless so give it another go.

May 15, 2011 

2.8 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  3      Service  4      Value  3     

I went to Gari with my boyfriend just before our movie started for a quick bite. It was terrible. They had our orders wrong and as it was close to 9 (I presume they were closing up soon), they did not have most of the food we wanted. Very disappointing. Not going there again.

Jan 13, 2010 

2.3 Not Recommended

Food  1      Ambience  2      Service  5      Value  1     

Thought we'd grab a bite before the movies. I remembered that the food wasn't that great there, but hoped that maybe they had improved. It was even worse than last time. The eel 'special' was actually off and we both spat it out at the same time! We sent it back and they still wanted to charge us for it. I felt ill through the whole movie, so it spoilt our night. As far as value goes, the food is cheap, but it certainly doesn't represent value. I would rather pay 3 times as much and have something delicious.

Oct 31, 2009 

5.3 Average

Food  3      Ambience  6      Service  6      Value  6     

About to embark on a Christmas shopping frenzy, the family and I were choosing between Kam Fook for yum cha and Gari for sushi for lunch. Sushi won and we headed into the elegant furnishings of Gari Sushi Bar, and were seated at a table by a friendly and efficient waiter.

Miso and green tea were ordered, both of which were tasty and arrived in a reasonable amount of time. The sushi train, however, was very disappointing, possibly the worse I've encountered. The choices were very limited, quite uninspired and sparse. At lunchtime on the weekend, the train was never more than at 1/3 capacity. I waited and waited for this to change, surely this isn't normal.

Unfortunately it didn't and we ended up ordering from the menu so that we didn't leave hungry. Looking around at other diners, it appeared as though others were doing this too. And, perhaps, as a consequence, the replenishment of the sushi train remained compromised.

A vicious cycle of the same small, dull and lonely dishes making their journey around the train, rousing not a wink of acknowledgement from the deflated diners.
Value's a bit of a shocker as well.

Nov 16, 2008 

3.8 Below Average

Food  2      Ambience  5      Service  4      Value  4     

Oh dear. I wish I had read the reviews here first. Some countries have great food in shopping malls, and not only the fast kind, but truly great restaurants can be located there. This doesn't happen very often in Australia and North America, but hey, you can sometimes find tasty cheap food.

Gari looks nice, I liked the decor. It looked classy, and a good alternative to the sometimes manic food hall downstairs. But agh. A sushi restaurant must have good rice. Perfect rice. And this was awful, you could see it on all the little plates as they came down, a little too moist, falling off the sushi. Seriously wrong.

Soft shell crab karaage was a great idea, but was just a greasy mess with a strange nest of deep fried rice noodles in the middle. The sweet omelette with sake and kingfish was so sweet it was a like a strange and unpleasant dessert.

Jul 12, 2008 

4.5 Below Average

Food  4      Ambience  5      Service  6      Value  3     

When I first walked in the place felt really classy. Service was pretty good, we got our drinks straight away. The selection of sushi was limited at prime dinner time (730) on a saturday night which was strange. The traditional sushi that was on offer was ok. Some of the "hot food" on the train was ice cold which was a bit disgusting (eg deep fried oysters and spring rolls). I would recommend people to go downstairs to the food court instead.

Jun 02, 2008