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| - Ask any sushi aficionado who has been in Las Vegas for at least one week where the best rolls may be had and the answer is always Yama Sushi. Located in one of the city's lower-class areas, this strip-mall inhabitant does serve some of the best, freshest and most innovative fare in the genre.
Another of those AYCE places - All You Can Eat - Yama offers its own take on both the traditional , read: Sea Urchin, California Roll, etc. and the new and/or unconventional, such as rolls with provocative name like Happy Ending and Minute Man. Crunch is the newest element to pervade American sushi, and it is in great supply here, with Panko doing its best to supply the umami.
With individual prices up to $16.95 per roll, even a finicky diner may almost eat a couple of hundred dollars worth of good food for a lunch price of $22.05, with tax. I enjoyed my favorite, Ikura, a.k.a. Salmon Roe, with the addition of a raw quail egg slithering atop. The large, ruby pearls burst a refreshing brininess which complimented the unctuousness of the tiny egg. Other winning rolls are pretty much anything listed, though my palate leans toward the spicy and sauced versions.
Special items allow one per customer, and are marked accordingly. These include a nicely fried soft shell crab and Salmon Hama, or Cheek of Salmon, a veritable slab of barely cooked salmon meat which could be a nice, small meal in itself, with a bowl of the salty Miso soup and a seaweed salad.
Service can be a bit like a roller coaster, sometimes right on target, other times perfunctory. And, as with many Asian eateries in this country, their website is, to put it mildly, a disaster. But you are not going to the restaurant for their web skills, right?
As with any AYCE locale, sushi or otherwise, arrive hungry and do not rush. Also, pay attention to the menu's various disclaimers and warnings, including one advising diners to eat ALL their rice, lest they be charged for ala carte dining. A bit harsh, but these creations are not average, buffet-style chunks of rice with a rumor of fish. They are full-bodied and flavorful, so... eat it and enjoy!
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