New Clovis sushi restaurant opens in former Old Town Cafe spot. What’s on the menu?
Old Town Clovis’s newest restaurant is a first for the downtown area, known for its quaint architecture and tree-lined cobblestone streets
It’s a sushi shop.
Oishi Sushi & Grill opened on Monday, Sept. 16. at 361 Pollasky Ave in Clovis in the former location of Old Town Cafe.
“We felt this would be a great addition to what we already have,” Oishi Sushi owner Jesse Mendoza said.
Oishi Sushi serves up affordable Japanese cuisine ranging from classic sushi rolls and ramen soup to hibachi-grilled steak and rice bowls.
“ I love sushi,” Mendoza said “It’s very good. It’s very healthy. It’s very fresh. “
Japanese food is currently experiencing a wave in popularity, he added. ”Sushi is a big, big item right now.”
New restaurant opens in Old Town Clovis
Mendoza has been part of the Old Town Clovis restaurant industry for 30 years.
“Everything’s been pretty smooth sailing,” he said.
Mendoza owns Salsa’s Cantina, 410 Clovis Ave. in Clovis, with his wife, Leticia. The restaurant serves traditional Mexican food including tortas, fajitas and chile relleno.
Their son, who’s also named Jesse Mendoza, owns The Local a few doors down at 401 Clovis Ave. That restaurant serves up American food classics ranging from burgers and sandwiches to salads, pastas and rib eye.
“If we’re short handed in one of the other restaurants,” Mendoza said. “I can send from here for shorthanded here, they can send over here. So it really works out in helping each other.”
The older Mendoza ran Old Town Cafe for five years before deciding to turn it into a sushi restaurant.
The 2,500-square-foot space was “already built out,” Jesse Mendoza said. “I just pretty much added a sushi bar, changed the menu and changed the aesthetics.”
What’s in store at sushi restaurant?
Oishi Sushi & Grill gets its name from the Japanese words for delicious, Mendoza explained.
One of the most important things for Mendoza was the location of the restaurant, which employs 16 part-time staffers.
“This area is very well supported, very well loved, and all the businesses thrive here,” Mendoza said.
“Clovis brings hundreds of thousands of visitors to this area a year, and it just keeps growing,” he added. ”There’s just so many things going on here that is a fantastic place to put a business in.”
Mendoza said Oishi Sushi’s proximity to beauty salons and retail stores has helped bring in customers. He’s also seeing some traffic from his other restaurants.
“It’s opened up a whole new clientele of people that love sushi, that work in Old Town, that had to drive away to get sushi for lunch,” he said. “Now they just walk over here.”
What is on the menu at Oishi Sushi & Grill?
Oishi Sushi & Grill’s menu kicks off with appetizers including edamame — steamed soybeans tossed with garlic oil — and pan-fried gyoza pork dumplings.
The menu offers soups and salads such as miso ramen topped with green onion, corn, seaweed, cured fish surimi and pork.
The restaurant also serves traditional teriyaki donburi rice bowls topped with green onions, sesame seeds and housemade teriyaki sauce. Customers can choose from chicken, New York strip steak, salmon and shrimp.
Fried rice comes topped with bacon or shrimp as well as diced bell pepper, onion, egg, corn and homemade soy garlic sauce.
Oishi Sushi’s hibachi plates featured grilled chicken, tofu, steak or shrimp as well as sauteed onions, mushrooms, broccoli, zucchini and bell peppers. Those are served with bacon fried rice or white rice.
The restaurant offers about a dozen sushi rolls including the dragon roll featuring jumbo shrimp tempura, cucumber, avocado, eel and eel sauce plus tobiko flying fish roe.
Nigiri sushi options include tuna, eel and salmon, each served with wasabi sauce.
Beverage options include hot tea, sodas and bubble tea as well as sake, beer and wine.
For dessert, you can order mochi ice cream in flavors including strawberry, passionfruit and mango.
How much does food cost?
At Oishi Sushi & Grill, appetizers cost $8 to $22, while soups and salads are $14 to $16 and teriyaki donburi rice bowls are $12 to $15.
Prices for hibachi plates range from $17 to $24, while sushi rolls cost $12 to $20.
Nigiri sushi costs $10 for two pieces or $40 for a chef’s choice platter.
Drink prices range from $4 to $15, and dessert is $7.
What do customers think?
Oishi Suishi & Grill has an average rating of 3.8 stars on Google Reviews.
In her five-star review of the restaurant, user Sara Fike praised its affordable prices and “simple menu, with a little bit of everything.”
“The gyoza are handmade daily and they were great,” she wrote. “We had the tempura roll and nigiri hamachi. Both (were) very good. “
Google reviewer Nicole Madrigal also had positive things to say about Oishi Sushi.
“For a new and upcoming sushi place, it was great food and the staff is very nice,” Madrigal wrote. ”(We) will definitely be going back again!”
What are Oishi Sushi open hours?
The restaurant is open daily from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. for lunch and 5 to 8:30 p.m. for dinner.
This story was originally published October 4, 2024 at 11:47 AM.
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