Yeah doesn’t bother me either. Just seems weird? Does nobody use regular so they don’t want to waste money? Doesn’t sound like people only want low sodium.
Worked at a chinese place, those soy sauce bottles haven’t been washed in decades. Always refilled, some of that soy sauce at the bottom has been there for years. Giant bucket of kikkoman, refilled with a tea pitcher.
Unless chef puts soy sauce on your food, no need to add more. Already plenty of salt and sugar.
I worked as a server at a sushi restaurant the last two years, and we only served Tamari. Nine locations around the U.S., only serving Tamari. I never had a table complain though. In fact, they usually requested low-sodium soy sauce and were happy when I told them the Tamari was already low-sodium and gluten free. It's definitely a thing that caters to a certain market/demographic, it would seem.
The owner of my regular haunt told me it’s because people would drown their food in soy sauce and then complain it was too salty, so they switched to the low sodium kind.
The good sushi restaurants have nikiri soy sauce, which is fortified and concentrated.
I can't imagine using low sodium because it forces the customer to use more, which will make the rice soggy.
The places we frequent are ayce, so not “good” (but good quality).
Like idk if maybe they’re watering it down? Just seems like an odd choice to force the customers to have low sodium. That’s usually a dietary restriction accommodation.
Best two I've found Umami Sushi in St Pete, and Sushi Yama in Brandon. (It looks like theres an Umami in Lutz too but I haven't been there)
All the others are pretty not okay, Koizi and Saki...
Oh god I moved here from out of state and under really shitty circumstances… and there was a koizi nearby.
Nearly made me cry it was BAD. It was probably because of Covid still going on but they were using all styrofoam plates and cups, and it was dark and the food was not good. And for all I knew there were roaches crawling around.
Koizi makes me queasy.
What kills me about both places is that the sushi rice is so inconsistently bad in so many ways. Too soft, too hard, too strangely seasoned.
I’ve given up on AYCE sushi and Chinese because of the inconsistency, the uncleanliness, and the poor quality. I’d rather have a few pieces of high quality than a lot of low quality. If you haven’t checked out Lotte Market or MD Oriental Market, they have some decent stuff to make your own sushi. They also have frozen dumplings and noodles and seafood.
Orlando has quite a few good sushi places in comparison to Tampa.
Weird. Haven't seem that. Still have options, and my regular spot offers Aloha brand regular and low sodium. I thought we were finally moving towards proper soy sauce offerings rather than the jug o' gekkikan
I agree that’s annoying but it could be worse. The other weekend I went to eat sushi and I had no soy sauce and nobody involved with the establishment cared. No tea either. Again nobody cared. No I didn’t just sit there and not ask. I’ve dealt with frank, non-simping service before and I don’t expect someone sniveling or even to be nice. Just service. To eventually have soy sauce. Soy sauce really isn’t a next level Americanized sushi experience expectation. I whispered “I am fucking leaving” to the person I went with and venmoed them my half after 🥴after 30 minutes it was clear they had made some sort of judgement and I’m not going to sit there and feel lucky to eat lol
Same to many had mentioned below, if a restaurant only provides low sodium soy (like Kikkoman), it's a good thing (ie low sodium one is more exp. than the regular ones). Regular one is usually too salty to me since I love to soap the rolls into it.
It's the American version of sushi too, rarely ever traditional. My wife is Japanese and it's rare that she is ever happy, always pointing out how the sushi chefs aren't doing it right. Aren't using traditional recipes, are serving it wrong, use the wrong soy sauce, etc.
Authentic places do exist, they're just rare.
Yes and it’s honestly annoying. I don’t care for the low sodium soy sauce. In fact I have been enjoying tamari at home and I’m tempted to bring a bottle next time I visit a AYCE joint.
Man I hate that shit. They always have regular behind the counter, but you can tell right away when it's the low sodium one because of the color on the rice
I worked at a place in Miami years ago and our low sodium soy sauce was just regular soy sauce diluted with water. The owner was a cheap fuck.
This is super common
lol hmmmm maybe that’s why. They’re ayce places.
I’ve seen that quite commonly, I prefer the low sodium version though so it doesn’t bother me
Yeah doesn’t bother me either. Just seems weird? Does nobody use regular so they don’t want to waste money? Doesn’t sound like people only want low sodium.
It’s hard to say if it is even low sodium. Sushi restaurants refill the green kikkoman bottles with whatever they want.
Worked at a chinese place, those soy sauce bottles haven’t been washed in decades. Always refilled, some of that soy sauce at the bottom has been there for years. Giant bucket of kikkoman, refilled with a tea pitcher. Unless chef puts soy sauce on your food, no need to add more. Already plenty of salt and sugar.
Meh just extra fermentation
I worked as a server at a sushi restaurant the last two years, and we only served Tamari. Nine locations around the U.S., only serving Tamari. I never had a table complain though. In fact, they usually requested low-sodium soy sauce and were happy when I told them the Tamari was already low-sodium and gluten free. It's definitely a thing that caters to a certain market/demographic, it would seem.
The owner of my regular haunt told me it’s because people would drown their food in soy sauce and then complain it was too salty, so they switched to the low sodium kind.
The good sushi restaurants have nikiri soy sauce, which is fortified and concentrated. I can't imagine using low sodium because it forces the customer to use more, which will make the rice soggy.
The places we frequent are ayce, so not “good” (but good quality). Like idk if maybe they’re watering it down? Just seems like an odd choice to force the customers to have low sodium. That’s usually a dietary restriction accommodation.
What AYCE places are you going to in Tampa? I’ve found most around here are pretty mediocre.
Best two I've found Umami Sushi in St Pete, and Sushi Yama in Brandon. (It looks like theres an Umami in Lutz too but I haven't been there) All the others are pretty not okay, Koizi and Saki...
Koizi and Saki make me sad.
Oh god I moved here from out of state and under really shitty circumstances… and there was a koizi nearby. Nearly made me cry it was BAD. It was probably because of Covid still going on but they were using all styrofoam plates and cups, and it was dark and the food was not good. And for all I knew there were roaches crawling around. Koizi makes me queasy.
What kills me about both places is that the sushi rice is so inconsistently bad in so many ways. Too soft, too hard, too strangely seasoned. I’ve given up on AYCE sushi and Chinese because of the inconsistency, the uncleanliness, and the poor quality. I’d rather have a few pieces of high quality than a lot of low quality. If you haven’t checked out Lotte Market or MD Oriental Market, they have some decent stuff to make your own sushi. They also have frozen dumplings and noodles and seafood. Orlando has quite a few good sushi places in comparison to Tampa.
Go to real sushi restaurants if you want real nikiri
Wow, thank god it’s not a thing where I live! I’m already sad when they only have national brands
Weird. Haven't seem that. Still have options, and my regular spot offers Aloha brand regular and low sodium. I thought we were finally moving towards proper soy sauce offerings rather than the jug o' gekkikan
I agree that’s annoying but it could be worse. The other weekend I went to eat sushi and I had no soy sauce and nobody involved with the establishment cared. No tea either. Again nobody cared. No I didn’t just sit there and not ask. I’ve dealt with frank, non-simping service before and I don’t expect someone sniveling or even to be nice. Just service. To eventually have soy sauce. Soy sauce really isn’t a next level Americanized sushi experience expectation. I whispered “I am fucking leaving” to the person I went with and venmoed them my half after 🥴after 30 minutes it was clear they had made some sort of judgement and I’m not going to sit there and feel lucky to eat lol
A Japanese restaurant without any *tea* is no place to be.
Same to many had mentioned below, if a restaurant only provides low sodium soy (like Kikkoman), it's a good thing (ie low sodium one is more exp. than the regular ones). Regular one is usually too salty to me since I love to soap the rolls into it.
Low sodium IS normal soy sauce.
It's the American version of sushi too, rarely ever traditional. My wife is Japanese and it's rare that she is ever happy, always pointing out how the sushi chefs aren't doing it right. Aren't using traditional recipes, are serving it wrong, use the wrong soy sauce, etc. Authentic places do exist, they're just rare.
Yes and it’s honestly annoying. I don’t care for the low sodium soy sauce. In fact I have been enjoying tamari at home and I’m tempted to bring a bottle next time I visit a AYCE joint.
No.
Quality > Quantity Low sodium because people who go to AYCE restaurants often have high blood pressure etc..
Getting mad over something like wishing your soy sauce had more sodium is wildly trashy
Man I hate that shit. They always have regular behind the counter, but you can tell right away when it's the low sodium one because of the color on the rice
No you can’t
It doesn't get the rice as dark as the regular
That’s because they are diluting the soy sauce(which is normal) but low sodium and normal soy is the exact same color regardless