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Wait: We walked in at 6:45 p.m. on a Thursday and were instantly greeted and seated in the sparsely populated restaurant. Service: Our drink order was taken by the woman who seated us, and water and hot tea were promptly delivered. We weren’t ready the first time our courteous server stopped by so he vanished (a refreshing change from the common hover move) and reappeared seconds after we’d made up our minds. What we liked: The sushi was so pretty I wanted to take a snapshot before we went crazy with the chopsticks. In a neat line across a spotless Japanese plate was a pure white Philly roll with flawless slices of salmon crowning each piece. Next to that, a colorful double row of Arizona roll pieces with spicy crab and cucumber topped with heaps of chopped up, sticky, pinkish-orange spicy tuna. Both rolls were sprinkled with chopped green onions, making them as pleasing to look at as they were to eat. Our Volcano roll — crab, avocado and cucumber rolled in tempura batter, lightly fried and topped with scallops and shrimp — exploded with flavor. Scene: If, like me, you cringe when you look east of Power Road toward the beat up Big Lots strip mall Sushi Kee calls home, you’re missing out. If ever there was a “don’t judge a book by its cover” lesson to be learned, it’s at this east Mesa sushi spot. Salmon-colored walls, blonde wood tables, delicate framed Japanese art and a small sushi bar make for a cozy night of fish feasting. Bathroom break: The women’s closed-door restroom was clean with painted walls and a vanity table with fabric-covered bench. Tab for two: $37 with tip and tax for edamame ($2.99), Arizona roll ($5.95), Philly roll ($6.50), Volcano roll ($8.95), ebi ($2.95) and tea ($1.50). If work weren’t buying: Pretty presentation, nice staff, reasonable prices, no wait and less than 15 minutes from home — Sushi Kee is my new go-to spot for wasabi with a side of raw fish. By CHRIS PAGE Wait: We arrived at 7 p.m. on a Saturday and were seated immediately at a table near the bathrooms. Service: Perhaps the server heard me explaining the subtle joys of toro (tuna belly) and uni (sea urchin) to my companion, because she did little more than plunk down two menus and a sushi bar sheet and fetch us drinks. Service was altogether speedy, even as the dining room started to fill with more customers. What we liked: Rolls schmolls. A sushi junkie, I judge a sushi joint by the freshness of its sea urchin. Haven’t tried sea urchin? It’s the seawater equivalent of foie gras, rich and creamy and slightly unsettling in texture, looking for all the world like an orange tongue. In a ho-hum meal of California rolls and spicy tuna, uni’s a sublime punctuation mark for the adventurous. At Sushi Kee, the uni’s pretty fresh — not as fresh as at Sushi Brokers in Scottsdale, or even Ra in Tempe — and the tuna and salmon (both sashimi and sushi-style) are adequate. For a corner strip mall establishment, I give it 1 chopsticks up. However, I was taken aback by the unagi (freshwater eel sushi) that’s served almost chirashi-style: Our eel was gutted and served in one butterfly-ed piece, skin on, atop a bowl of rice. The eel was dry and lacking in flavor, and that au natural presentation, I’ll admit, kinda freaked me out. Meanwhile, the one roll we tried, a shrimp tempura roll, included a strangely dull cream cheese that obviously wasn’t Philly. Scene: The economical dining room is laid out in a long strip with salmon-colored walls, suggesting Kee is in itself a piece of sushi. Cute. But the piano pop CD providing a dining soundtrack was on a loop, and we heard a Muzak-y version of Elton John’s “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road” three times during our stay. Not so cute. Bathroom break: The men’s room was somewhat clean, though dangerously low on paper towels. Tab for two: $40 with tax and tip for potstickers ($3.99); sea urchin ($6.50), freshwater eel ($3.50), shrimp tempura ($6.50) and tuna ($3.65) sushi; salmon sashimi with spicy avocado topping ($9.99); green tea ($3); and a soda ($3). If work weren’t buying: We’ll still hoof it over to Ra for more social sushi situations (say that five times fast), but Kee’s a fine enough choice for when we want a quick bite of fishy-fishy in the E.V. Hold on a sec ... Did you say something about health code violations? Sushi Kee
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