Sushi Tei follow up

I discussed Sushi Tei in my last post. I thought I might go back, and ended up going back quickly. My wife and I went yesterday for lunch.

It was not as good as the first time, but still decent. I had sashimi this time to give it more of a test. It's easier to tell the quality of the fish with sashimi. I had several pieces and most were fresh. A couple of pieces were a tiny bit off, but not horribly so.

We had a few other dishes. The tempura udon (deep fried shrimp in a bowl of noodle soup) was not great. I eat the same dish at Miyako regularly, and it is much better there. The flavor of the soup at Sushi Tei was not bad, but not right. Also, at Miyako you get a few vegetables in the soup along with the shrimp. Not here. And the noodles were also not as good as at Miyako. It wasn't horrible, but I would not order this again - partly because other items here are better.

My soup came with a California Roll. This was just fine. The avocado was particularly good. We also got an Alaska Roll. They used smoked salmon instead of fresh salmon. Not what we expected, and the salty taste of the smoked fish didn't really go. If you like it with fresh salmon, be sure to specify that when ordering. I also had inari (rice in a soy bag), which was okay, but it's better at Miyako and Yoshi. The tamago was acceptable but well below the better places.

My wife had a sukiyakidon (beef with vegetables over rice). The sauce was very good. It had less meat than my wife hoped for and a lot of tofu which she doesn't like. That is not a criticism - just not her thing.

Sushi Tei stood out again for one big reason - price. We had a lot of food and the bill, before tip, was under $30. While overall the quality is not up to the best in the area, Sushi Tei is the best bargain sushi place in the Albany area that I have been to. Also, their non-sushi Japanese dishes are better than other low-price places like Ichiban.