Saburo's

http://www.saburos.com
1667 SE BYBEE ST
Portland, Oregon
First of all, be prepared to wait. Good things come to those who wait! They open at 4:30 on weekends and 5 during the week, so it is a good idea to be there half an hour before. If you are a single or double you may be able to sit at the bar for a shorter wait but if you are bringing a group come early and bring good conversation.

You may have had cheap sushi. You may have had good sushi. But you haven't had cheap, good sushi until you've tried Saburo's. The thing about Saburo's is not necessarily that it's cheap but for the same price you get huge amounts. The size of your typical California roll for example, is probably twice what you would expect. Although not necessary, I usually start with a few appetizers. Some favorites are Spicy Tuna Salad, Agedashi Tofu, and Edamame.


Now for the real stuff, the sushi you've never had. The nigiri range in price from a $2 inari (comes with 3) to a $4 unagi (each about 5-6" long). The regular rolls like the futomaki (veggies, crab, tamago) and spicy tuna roll are around $4 for 5 huge pieces. California rolls are huge and range from $3.50 for a regular with fake crab to $5.50 for real crab with smelt. Then there are the $6.50 special rolls like a sabu roll (tuna, salmon, yellowtail, avocado, cucumber, smelt) or budokhan (shrimp tempura, crab, avocado, cucumber, smelt) and finally the most expensive roll, spider roll (soft shell crab, avocado, green onion, cucumber, smelt) for $7.25. You can't really beat those prices. What is the catch? Why are they so cheap? Well they must be small, right? WRONG! These pieces of sushi are huge! So much so that Japanese people (from Japan) don't think it's right. But we are American fatties and we think it's great! It's a great deal, its fresh and delicious.


Jeremy and I always get way too much sushi and end up taking half of it home. You mark off your order with a dry erase pen on a plastic menu and sometimes we get a little too pen-happy. We end up with two huge platters of sushi and need all the room on the table. The people sitting next to us always stare and think we are crazy. It is just so good and cheap, for $60 two people can eat like kings and still have leftovers! These pictures don't really show how big the pieces are but basically nigiri take at least two bites and the rolls maybe 3 bites each piece. We always leave really full and end up in a food coma shortly afterward. I try to bring all my friends here and no one leaves hungry or wanting. It is the best place to get sushi in Portland!