Sushi Mou-Shi: It's okay to eat the chicken sushi! photo: Joseph Yarmush

Two factors make this sushi joint stand out: all-you-can-eat deals and you can bring your own wine. Wow. Surely that would spell disaster? That last time I ate all-you-can sushi, many years ago, I was seriously underwhelmed by bland fish and rice. But Sushi Mou-Shi had the goods I was told, and hey, if you can bring your own booze, at least you can drown your sorrows for cheap.

Although it's an unprepossessing resto, there's clearly a room for the cool kids where you take off your shoes and sit at a sunken table. If you go on the weekend, reserve ahead for this plum spot.

The all-you-can-eat starts with a soup - a wan but flavourful miso - and follows with a simple, sweetly seasoned salad. Next up is a kaboom cone, spilling over with crunchy sweet tempura, ginger, cuke and cooked snapper. Sit back and await the chef's choice, a medley of sushi and maki made according to his whims.

Now on to the extended eating. To prevent absolute piggishness and discourage waste, a table can order two maki rolls and two sushi pieces per person, per round. You can choose from single notes of radish, cucumber, salmon or avocado, or the multi-sensation New York, Boston or California rolls (think American!), or the spicy kamikaze with salmon. Or how about a futomaki with crab and salmon skin? I do recommend the torimaki, an unusual concoction of still-warm cooked chicken, tempura and spicy sauce ("Like having a chicken sandwich," a companion said). And the Hawaiian? I think pineapple's suspect on a pizza, but in a maki roll with crab and shrimp, it was pretty good.

I urged my veggie sib to pick the vegimaki with cheese, but she replied, "You order it. The idea of cheese in sushi makes me want to barf." Not so gaggingly fast, sis. The cheese is no Emmental or Bleu d'Auvergne, but cream cheese. By coincidence, I mentioned cream cheese in sushi just two weeks ago in this column, as something I'd come across in Mexico.

Mou-Shi's not mushy at all. Thanks to the chefs' rolling on demand, the seaweed wrapper has no time to become soft. But there's a downside to the made-to-order sushi. On a packed Saturday night, we had to wait between courses.

And wait.

And wait. Sigh. It took 45 minutes just to get to the salad. In the time between the chef's choice and the next platter we'd ordered, I managed to get hungry all over again. Which is fine - even desirable - if you are into serious lingering. But if we'd ordered another round, I'd have chewed through the fake tatami in a frothed-up impatience.

The chefs were just too busy for the volume, which includes plenty of take-out. If you go on a weeknight the pacing's faster I've heard. Next time I'll do so, for it's too good a deal to pass up on.

Sushi Mou-Shi
5193 Decarie, 369-8860
All you can eat: $19 each Sun. to Thurs.; $22.95 Fri. & Sat.
Regular menu, dinner for two, not including tax, tip: $20 - $40

 
 

		Write your comment on this article!

Delicious!!     To be honest I loved it. All you can eat sushi for $19.95!!!??? I just couldn't believe it. I personally wasn't expecting the best but to my surprise I was very impressed. I also loved the fact that you can bring your own wine. The service was a little on the slow side but it didn't bother me much. It gives you a chance to enjoy a pleasant evening and to get hungry all over again :) I've been eating sushi for years and I do compare this place to a lot of good sushi restaurants I've been to in the past. Oh, and to the comment above about getting poor service because she was young.... yeah I'm young too and they were nice to me and my friends. Maybe it's because we were polite and have proper table manners.... I give this place an 8/10.
Matthew Boucher		February 22nd, 2005
SUSHI MOU-SHI is japanese for "yawning & drunken patrons who wish they'd gone elsewhere"     So let me see if I've got this straight: adequate albeit sluggish service, ok selection, so-so prices and a reheated decor & locale of sushi dives past. Oh yeah, I smell a winner here. For a city that actually has a wide selection of wickedly good places to eat at, this place is hardly what I'd call a real go to place. I haven't set foot in there yet and judging by the review I'm less than likely to unless it's to use the bathroom or apply for a second job.
Pedro Eggers	{23 votes}	May 14th, 2004
Stop whining!     Most of the people dissing this place haven't even been there, go figure. If you enjoy paying 30$ for a california roll then you might prefer a place like Kaizen in Westmount. Mou-Shi is a place sushi lovers can go to enjoy excellent sushi at affordable prices. Not everyone can afford to drop 100$ per head for sushi. Mou-Shi is not pretentious and thats what I like about it, it's accessible sushi. Granted the service is a bit slow but that just means more time to get hungry for more. BTW: Their ordering policy is totally coherent with all other all-you-can-eats and is in place to avoid abuse, of course you can't order as many sushi as you would like per round. Allthough, I must concede, the music should be changed, it sucks.
Simon Prégent	{1 vote}	November 13th, 2004
Hit and Miss     I have eaten at Sushi Mushi (sic) several times. The food was good 2 out of 3 times. The loud music (Mix 96! &*@%$#()! )- was not pleasant 2 out of 3 times. The food is inexpensive and there are evenings when I suppose that is what I was looking for. Truth be known- there are dozens of better sushi restaurants in this city. I was sorry to see OBento change ownership in the Faubourg. They always made my favorite Kamikazee rolls (sniff, sniff). I was unaware that the ownership had changed when I eagerly ordered 40$ worth of sushi to take home (a real treat at the end of a long day). I had to throw most of it out- it was inedible! Really inedible. It was wet and slippery and had a stale deep-fied oil taste to the rice- not sure how they managed that. So- sushi mou-shi is not the worst around. And as for delivery, well they have a really nice Indian driver. Fast and friendly! And if you live on that side of the city then why not? Presumably eating at home would made the experience more enjoyable than eating it in the restaurant. Where on one of the occasions I was there, the heat was turned up so high I was worried that my fish would get cooked!
Ada Mullett		October 5th, 2004
YUUUMMMMYYY!!!!     This place is great.. everyone who goes there has gotta try there KA-BOOM... It's amazing!! The only bad part of it is the long wait.. it's true.. u do get frustrated sometimes cuz it takes so damn long.. but when u finally do get the sushi... IT'S ALL WORTH IT... YUMMM! I suggest u try it.. who cares about what others say.. just try it and see for ureself..
Does it really matter?		September 4th, 2004
Moushi Moushi     YUM YUM! IT was ALL tasty.. and the waiting (and yes I must admit it often felt like an eternity!!!) made ya hungry for the sushi all over again!! Yea the ordering structure is a lil regimented...but its to avoid excessive-over-ordering!! (Wasting sushi is bad-bad!!)*TSK Bring your own wine is ace! (*lovesit!*) Makes the dining experience all that more affordable! Overall its an alright all-U-can-eat dining experience.
Neige Var		August 13th, 2004
Deal?     I love sushi. However, after reading the review on Sushi Mou-Shi, I probably wouldn't go there because it just doesn't seem to deliver the goods. Although I'm all for all-you-can-eat deals, the long waiting times between courses, the number of times you have to re-order and the limited amount you can re-order each time surely discourages one from eating all you want. So, I'd rather spend my money at a restaurant that offers a real all-you-can-eat-deal.
Edward Wong	{8 votes}	May 18th, 2004
Its a Fishy business - Montreal     I usually love Sushi... being from Vancouver, 'all you can eat' is very common and the service and food is exceptional! I have only tried one Resturant here in Montreal, Jardin Asean (5828 Sherbrooke) and would never go back. The service and Food was terrible. Being that most of us look young the manager did not realize that most of us were professionals... the dinner meetings that we were planning to have ... well that idea soon faded. We ordered some appetizer dishes and tons of Sushi. We asked that the sushi be brought out ASAP.... not everyone was going to eat the appetizers. they insisted that we wait and the Manager was rude.... WE had to wait at least 45 - 50 minutes for the sushi to come out. I'm not surprised Sushi Mou-Shi has had the same kind of reviews .... the Sushi industry here in Montreal is definately taking advantage of people's money and patience.
Angela Haer	{3 votes}	May 17th, 2004
Hello Mou-Shi!     Well...the article gives this place a good rap. The dishes offered seem to be of taste and choice. If the place is a slow wait...could mean they need more servers and a faster cook..but the overall article gives the restaurant a great review. I couldn't personnaly take the smell or look at the fish but for all the sushi lovers I think they would find this place quite entertaining. They aim to please with the dishes they have to offer and the surroundings seem low key and the price affordable. To respect to the way we answer out telephones...Mou-shi everyone.
Jennifer Berardini	{7 votes}	May 16th, 2004
Smells like fish     I really have to say that I found this restaurant to be quite the eyeopener in the sushi marketplace.The food was really quite delicious(bait on rice balls), and the server knew exactly what he was doing, (absolutely nothing).I give the restaurant two middle fingers.
Marc Bedard	{10 votes}	May 14th, 2004
Ummmmm. sushi     If you are a sushi lover and you want to get your money's worth Sushi mou-shi is the place for you. I have not been on the weekend but on the weekdays you can eat to your heart's content. I love sushi and since it can be a little pricey it is nice to find a place with a fixed price where you can enjoy the different types a sushi you like. It is only worth it if you are ready to inhale an overload of sushi. The things to try are the chef's special handroll. Also the spicy salmon and tuna. Really yummy and the miso soup is great. I also agree that the toromaki is delicious. The other thing that this place has going for it is the bring your own wine. This is probably one of the only sushi places where you can do this. Great way to indulge with out breaking the bank.
Selena Lobo	{6 votes}	May 14th, 2004
Sushi     Sushi is not my favorite kind of food, although I don't mind vegetarian versions of it. In fact, I find the vegi-sushi with cream cheese to be rather intriguing, even if any kind of cheese does seem kind of weird with Japanese food. The all-you-can at this place definitely makes it appealing- my husband is a big eater, and most Japanese food isn't filling enough for him. If I'm feeling in the mood for something out of the ordinary, at least for me, I will definitely consider trying Sushi Mou-Shi. It does sound like a pretty good deal, if you go during the week.
Heather Jackson	{1 vote}	May 13th, 2004
For me it was discusting     I'm not in writing in english so I'll be very short. We were used to go to KANDA ( all you can eat sushi restorant) but we decided to tray the sushi mu-shi..... It was a big big big mistake. Fisrt off all no one from asia was there .... This means something. The service ?? - the warst that I have seen. I fill like I was a homeless and they were fiding me for free. The quality ???? The taste ??? Is much better in the littel sushi shops in the comercial senters ( that I dont really like ) . The rice very hard and you coldn.t fill the diference beetween different type of sushi. I'm never going back or refere somebody to go .... Even thinking about this girl who srved us make fill bad . and thinking about what I eat ther make me fill like throwing up I'm really sorry but they have to go once at KAnda and see the big diference for a 20 $ sushi buffe
linda caci		March 31st, 2009
Exellent     I went to the one on Decarie and it was exellent, if you dont your own Sake you can go buy some at the SAAQ thats right around the corner and they warm it up for you.. We didnt even wait that much for the food.. Go there in big amount of people.. The tables in the middle are awsome!! great service and awsome place.. Going there again!
Kat Chan		March 1st, 2006
Not good     hello, save your money... its not that great... the service is bad.. and the food is not of good quality.. we got ripped off.. we spent over 130$ for poor quality food. kanda much better. the sushi rice was not even well cooked..
Bob Kal		October 30th, 2005
Sounds.. kind.. of .. good?     Really people, is this place that bad? I love sushi with a passion. Carmela, I used to be like you.. someone offered me eel sushi a long time ago and i threw up. I then didn't eat sushi for 3 years, until my ex made me taste some...oh soooo yummy! Start off with the vegitarian stuff, and ween yourself on the hard stuff.. thats the way I did it, and I try to eat it once a week.. "must get sushi fix" Ive been telling myself lately. Oh boy.. can't wait to go.. all you can eat sushi...
Jason Hills		May 28th, 2004
Sushi Not For All     I have only tried sushi once in my life and I hate it with a passion. Many people enjoy sushi but the first time and only time I tried sushi was a couple of years back and I threw up because it was so bad that it made me sick to my stomach. I'm not a huge fan of Japanese cuisine. This restaurant seems pretty expensive compared to the other restaurants where it's all you can eat like Buffa Stanza and Buffa Vichy which are my favourites for all you can eat restaurants. I wish this restaurant good luck but it seems very expensive compared to the other places where it's half the price than this restaurant.
Carmela Sicurella	{2 votes}	May 16th, 2004

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