Review: Fresh sushi is Garden's best catch

The restaurant space at Broadway Village, once home to Elle, has been completely transformed into a sleek, hip, colorful Sushi Garden, courtesy of the restaurant's owners, Sue and Chun Kim.

The bar in the front room was ripped out and the wall between the two dining rooms opened. A long, shiny stainless-steel sushi bar with a backdrop of geisha dolls, bottles, and large-screen televisions tuned to sports runs the length of a wall where tables once sat. The private dining area has been turned into a lounge with a lowered red acrylic ceiling that is backlit and casts a cozy glow over the room. And the bar is gorgeous - it's white onyx lit from behind by an LED light panel.

The whole space sparkles with glitter and chrome. It also has a wall papered with a repeated 1940s-era image of a beautiful young Asian woman.

"We're supposed to say it's the owner's mother," said a waiter when asked who it was. "But it isn't. We don't know who it is."

It's one of the few false notes we found at the restaurant, which does sushi very well, and a few other dishes not great, but not bad, either.

One of those false notes: Spicy Tuna Tater Tots ($8.95), a special on one of our visits. It just sounded too decadent to refuse, but in reality, it was pretty banal.

Minced raw tuna was spiced up with Sriracha sauce (Sriracha is very, very hot) and placed on top of a Tater Top-shaped hunk of crispy rice. Now, that deep-fried rice tasted just like a Tater Tot, which was a bit of a jolt. And while the tuna was fresh, and the slice of avocado on top helped temper the heat, this was neither decadent nor interesting.

The calamari appetizer ($5.50) was another disappointment - the deep-fried squids were dry and tougher than they ought to be. The tempura-like coating added nothing.

Which made us a little concerned about the tempura chicken ($10.95) we had ordered as an entree.

However, this dish was moist and the tempura coat was light and delicate. The vegetables - sweet potato, onion, broccoli, zucchini - were cooked to keep their firmness and flavor (except for the undercooked sweet potato; too firm, too raw), and the strips of chicken were moist.

Still, as tasty as the tempura was, it's really sushi that shines here.

Colorful, fresh and each plate designed to look like a piece of art - it seems you can't go wrong.

You can order the "all you can eat" deal Sushi Garden offers for $19.95 a person. But that seemed a little overboard after already indulging in appetizers and tempura.

Plus, the rules are stressful: there's a $5 charge for leftover rice or wasted food; you can't share with another person who isn't on the all-you-can-eat ticket (if you do, extra charges apply), and you can't bag leftovers.

So, naturally, we went a little overboard in placing individual sushi and sashimi orders.

Which made for a slow, delicious and stress-free meal.

The sashimi - thick (uncommonly thick) slices of raw fish sans vinegared rice - was pure joy. Freshness is the key to good sushi and sashimi, and Sushi Garden's fish practically swim to the kitchen door.

The tuna ($8.95) was rich and buttery; the salmon ($8.95) velvety and slightly sweet; and the yellowtail ($8.95) barely oily and very flavorful .

As mentioned, the slices were very thick, but we have no issue with too much of a good thing.

Among the rolls sampled were the crunchy tuna roll ($6.50), tuna rolled in vinegary rice, crunchy, heated with the Sriracha sauce and topped by a silky avocado; and the Las Vegas Roll ($8.50), a hefty roll with salmon, crab, cream cheese and avocado. Understandably, it's the restaurant's most popular dish, said Chun Kim.

And a favorite among the nigiri sushi (that's a slice of raw fish served on a finger of the tart rice) we tried: the delicate halibut ($4).

Sushi Garden has service down to a science - the wait was barely existent on our two visits, and service was quick and thorough.

A downside: The new design doesn't absorb much sound. And tables are close together - it's easy to feel crowded there. Conversation was difficult.

But then there's this: with sushi this good, who wants to talk anyway?

Review: Sushi Garden

3048 E. Broadway in Broadway Village, 326-4700.

• Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m., Mondays through Thursdays; 11 a.m.-midnight Fridays; noon-midnight Saturdays; noon-10 p.m. Sundays.

• Family call: If you can persuade your kids to eat raw fish, it's a family-friendly kind of place. Noodles are a staple in Japanese food, and tempura is fried and crunchy. A few of the entrees, such as teriyaki chicken, are specially tailored for children.

• Alcohol: A full bar, some Japanese beers, and a sake bomb for $8 (that's a big Japanese beer and small sake).

• Noise level: Don't plan for intimate conversations; it's too loud.

• Vegetarian options: Several.

• Gluten-free: Yes.

• Dress: Casual.

• Reservations: Not accepted.

• Prices: Entrees top out at about $12. Sushi and sashimi is anywhere from $3.25 to about $9. The all-you-can-eat sushi is $19.95 a person; $10.95 for kids.