While the opportunity to try your hand at creating a sushi masterpiece or sushi burrito is a unique, new opportunity in Tulsa, SushiFork’s distance from the university makes the restaurant not an ideal choice for students. When it took a few friends and I longer to get to a restaurant than it does to eat there, we realized a mistake may have been made. SushiFork, a fast-casual chain sushi restaurant located in the Tulsa Hills shopping center, perfectly embodies this experience.
SushiFork gets its name from its signature utensil, which is a fork on one end and chopsticks on the other. While this does give you the element of choice without looking foolish in your attempt to use chopsticks, we found using them on sushi rolls was difficult as the chopsticks didn’t have a large enough grip to grab the sushi.
The menu welcomed everyone, even those who dislike sushi. Kids meals, salads and sandwiches are offered which don’t resemble sushi at all. As for the sushi itself, there were three choices: signature, burritos or build-it-yourself. The signature category featured pre-determined rolls one could find anywhere, such as a California roll, along with a few unique combos. Sushi burritos were fewer in number, but included Dante’s Inferno, made with ghost pepper chili spice, death nectar, tuna and krab mix. This was one of those food challenges you have to sign a waiver for. The burritos, from pictures, appeared to be uncut sushi rolls with a seaweed wrapping. The build-it-yourself section was centrally placed in the menu, as they were the franchise’s trademark dishes. Customers could pick a meat, either raw or cooked, and as many toppings, fillings and sauces as they liked. These options were varied, including strawberry, spicy crushed Cheetos, crushed funyuns and Hot Mess mix. The restaurant also offers desserts, either as prepackaged cookies and brownies made by some outside corporation, or a strawberry and Nutella wrap. A variety of sides are also offered, including not only staple appetizers such as edamame but also tuna nachos and miso soup.
Like many other fast-casual places, you order at the front before sitting, and then find a place and wait for your order. The seating area is somewhat small, as people move in and out quickly, but covered in photos proclaiming individuality, rebellion and similar topics. The time spent staring at these, or even talking, was null, as our names were called almost immediately. SushiFork prepares your order right before your eyes, so you can see the assembly chain-like method. It was much faster than any of us expected, given most sushi places inform you to expect a wait.
Only one of us ordered something that wasn’t sushi, and that was the SushiFork wrap. I tried to make my own sushi, and instead of planning something that would fit perfectly together, I went with the strategy of picking items that sounded good independently. So my roll consisted of smoked salmon, strawberries, sprouts, avocados and carrots, topped with mango and rolled in tempura. The mango topping gave some beauty to the roll, but proved difficult to eat without falling off, while the tempura crunch was barely there, seeming as if they’d rolled only an edge in it. The more toppings you request, the smaller in size they get, so making out a distinct flavor combination was difficult. Others at the table picked SushiFork’s signature rolls. These were more balanced than my selection. Unfortunately with sushi, it’s difficult to share. The wrap looked like something one could get at any cafe, just a simple tortilla with chicken and other fillings. Because it was sushi, we were all done relatively fast, but none of us felt like this was a joint you could loiter in. New customers were constantly arriving and there wasn’t much seating.
If you’re in the area, and craving sushi, SushiFork may be the way to go. Similar to Noodles & Co or other fast-casual places, SushiFork delivers food quickly and cleanly. Some of the offerings, like sushi burritos and the chance to be your own chef, are novel, but unfortunately the drive from campus means this restaurant may not seem all that worthwhile when closer options exist, like Yokozuna downtown.
