text: I ate here last night with Eric R. and Tony T. and then once a year ago around this time.  A year ago, Eric R. called and reserved seats at the sushi bar once he confirmed the Texas football game was on TV, so we came to dine and watch football.  Last night we got there around 6:45 PM on a Sunday night and it was very packed except for 4 sushi bar spots open by the door.  The host told us 2 were reserved and since we were a party of 3, we could wait for others to finish - that was fine.  Later the host said the people who made the reservations were not coming so we could sit there.\n\nSoon, 3 people got up from the bar further into the restaurant so we asked to sit there, away from the door.  The male server/chef said sure, so we went to sit there but the host then said the reserved sign on the first seats that we were not allowed to sit on now must be moved to the other side of the bar because those customers like \"seats 1 and 2\" even though she said they were not coming.  The male server/chef and the host argued and finally we were allowed to sit away from the door.  After we were seated, the whole bar cleared and no one showed up for the reservation, so all of that was annoying.\n\nOnce seated we tried a lot of different things.  I had iced green tea which was nice and grassy.  The standouts for me were the mackerel and the ika with shiso leaf.  They were so good that I ordered them twice.  The mackerel was perfectly cured - not dry, too meaty, or fishy, topped with grated ginger and chopped negi.  The squid was very fresh and not too chewy.  I really enjoyed both of these the most.  The whole scallop sushi was really fresh too.\n\nThe pretty good items were the hamachi (we got belly cuts on request) with serrano pepper, salmon nigiri, tako, uni, amaebi (some were missing tails, and we requested the heads after and they were very small and oily but tasted okay).  Eric R. and Tony T. had some things I did not try, including surf clam, halibut, escolar, unagi, maguro, tamago, masago with quail egg and ikura.  They both had the teriyaki/bulgogi beef which was actually almost exactly like gyudon and pretty tasty.  I also had a yellowtail jalapeno handroll which was fine.\n\nThe bad: Tony T. and I both ordered salmon skin temaki early in the meal.  The chef tried to discourage us because \"it takes at least 10 minutes\" - I did not mind because it is normal to wait for the skin to bake/toast, so we said sure.  Well when it came out, I heard Tony crunch his a little but all of the skin (and there was A LOT) was just raw fat and skin, not hot or cooked at all!  I pulled all of it out and put it on a plate, and showed the chef.  I did not want another one but I wanted him to know this was unacceptable so he did not serve it to anyone else.  He apologized and said he should have checked it before serving, but this was not his fault but whoever made it in the kitchen.  I did not want another one and a server snatched it out of my hand and whisked it away.  Tony T. also ordered seared tuna carpaccio which the restaurant initially forgot and when it was delivered it looked kind of like cat food.  He said it was very salty.  For dessert the AYCE says only one mochi but Eric R. ordered 2 without any issue.  I got plum wine ice cream which tasted exactly like bubblegum ice cream and it was nasty.  Don't do it!  I should just stick with my uni as dessert policy.\n\nOverall, it satisfied our sushi cravings in the area since Taiga and 808 Tapas were closed, but I would not rush back.  I would definitely recommend a stop here for saba and ika lovers though, because they were pretty great.  Also I second Drew A. on the pricing - if you do not do AYCE you end up paying bizarre prices like $9 for a tiny bowl of the beef.  The nigiri is priced almost $2 higher per order than other a la carte places too.  The chefs were friendly but swamped and it was very hard to order anything because they did not often look up at anyone at the bar, which was sunken.  Drinks were refilled often and the service was otherwise very good.  Open til 3 AM even on Sunday!