Sockeye Sushi

My husband and I are bold sushi fans and since moving to Victoria have been eager to find a restaurant equal to those we enjoy in Calgary or Vancouver. This is not it.
The environment is welcoming, cosy and inviting. The service is good, and the prices are average.
The food was really inadequate. The reliable best things about a sushi experience are not offered here.
The tea is flavourless and served in plastic, which is so unsatisfactory.
The tempura is a large portion, but the shrimp are skimpy and watery, the batter is greasy and soggy and warmish.
Every special fusion roll has a California roll base or tempura and the selection is a long list of similar rolls, overwhelmed by sauce and flat.
The nigiri was as close to off as it could get without us being sure we shouldn’t consume it, like definitely not fresh and sweet, but not stinking and old.
The fish cuts were chewy and the rice ball base skimpy and too warm.
Other than a lovely bowl of miso, a totally unsatisfying meal but not bad enough to make complaints, just boring and uninspired.

I love Sockeye! I have been eating here for the past 6 years, every time I get the same thing because I know it will be EXACTLY what I want! Great price for the amount of food, check it out!

I used to love this place… we haven’t been here for a year. This time I ordered the Angel kiss role… they have certainly changed it, because it showed up with a processed cheese slice melted on top! It was DISGUSTING :(what is worse is that I asked for it to have real crab so the last thing I would want is a Kraft cheese slice on top! Yuck. Icing on the cake is that they charged me an extra $ 10 for it! So this roll cost me $ 20 and it was not good at all. I sent it back and asked for at least some money off… they said there was nothing they could do but bring us a complimentary scoop of icecream. So disappointed in this place. Any other place in town would have taken it back.

Having tried all of them, Sockeye is perhaps the best sushi in Victoria. For me it’s even with Sen Zushi, but each other very different environments and styles. Sockeye’s diversity makes it great for both groups or solo dinners. Some really fun creations.

Great Japanese restaurants are rare in Victoria, but this one is really good! If I have craving for sushi when I’m visiting, I always come here; the food quality and service is great. The price is a little on the expensive side, but I’m from Vancouver so my standard for pricing is different.

My friend suggested this restaurant as he thought it was great, so we decided to pick up another friend and head there for dinner.
When we arrived, a waitress came up and told us that she’d be a few minutes preparing a table, and then awkwardly looked around and told us she’d be right back. I assume she was new. There were only three other customers in the entire place and they were all at one table. I’m not sure why she had to pick the one table that hadn’t been cleaned in order to seat us, but I looked past it.
The tea was basically just hot water. Extremely bland in comparison to other Japanese restaurants I’ve been to. I ordered the vegetable tempura and jumbo yam roll. About fifteen minutes later, she came back to us and told us it’d be a while longer, because they had to make another batch of rice. I’m not sure why a sushi restaurant did not have enough rice prepared, especially with so few customers, but again, I looked past it.
Our food came slowly. The vegetable tempura was fine, but then the waitress came with a normal yam roll, saying she had messed up instead of ordering me the jumbo yam roll, and hoped it was okay. I’m not much of a fuss, so I just went with it. It was nothing fantastic either.
My friends and I discussed the atmosphere of the restaurant. It was like traditional Japanese mixed with western culture really awkwardly but it was a fairly cozy place. We also noted the change in music, from Taylor Swift to J-​Pop to traditional Japanese-​sounding songs and back again.
All in all, it was fine, but I’ll likely not be going back, with so many other Japanese restaurants to choose from in downtown Victoria.

Amazing ! I was wowed by the selections of their menu, and all of them looked so mouth-​watering! The rolls and udons we ordered were hands down The Best in Victoria! Servers were very generous and helpful to us; the sockeye sushi’s first visitors. The chef is probably putting magic to each dish! Everything there was so wonderful! Their place even looked so cozy and welcoming inside, which totally contradicts to their outside dull paint and hidden spot in town. Great experience, and cannot wait to go try their other meals!
Seiously worth going for fresh sashimi, great service, and a really cozy atmosphere!

I was encouraged by the rave reviews, so I decided to check it out with some friends for lunch today. The service and atmosphere were quite good. The food was fine, but certainly nothing to rave about.
I had:
— the jumbo yam roll — a delicious-​sounding tempura yam/​avocado/​cucumber roll that ended up being mostly yam. Yam is good, but if I’m paying more, I want to be able to at least taste the avocado.
— sunomono salad — it wasn’t what I’m familiar with by that name; the noodles were piled on greens with cherry tomatoes, cucumber, and some kind of salad dressing. Our lovely waitress tried to explain it to me when I ordered by saying «no soup», but I didn’t get it. At least the greens and veggies were fresh and tasty!
— agedashi tofu — delicious, and a generous serving. This alone would help a lot, if they hadn’t put bonito flakes all over it. Why cover one of your few vegetarian dishes with dried fish?
— gomaae — not bad, but a bit too sweet.
I’m still looking for a great sushi restaurant downtown, but for now, the best option is still Sakura over on Yates and Quadra. Sockeye would do in a pinch, but it’s not likely to get my business again with so many other options around.

Yummy sushi for a decent price. I’ve been coming here for awhile now and every time I’m never disappointed. Their fusion rolls are delicious and very unique — taking classics, such as California roll, and deep frying it for a different taste and texture. The menu offers all of the typical sushi fare with sashimi, nigiri, rolls, donburi, and noodles.
On my last visit, I had the gomae, tuna and salmon sashimi plate and a spicy tuna roll. Their spicy tuna is actually spicy — so good. The sashimi was good. The gomae was a bit of a disappointment though. It was very obvious that it had been prepared beforehand and put in the fridge.
The service is okay as they only had one waitress tending to all the tables. It wasn’t super fast, nor was it really slow either. Pretty good considering there was only one.
They also have some Korean dishes on the menu, but I have yet to try them. Maybe the next time I’m there I’ll give it a shot. They do take out as well so for those nights I don’t want to cook and craving sushi, this is the place to go.