Dr Sushi & BBQ

Really nice atmosphere but sushi was mediocre at best.
Fish was old, rice was gooey and used too much.
Rolls were slapped together and anything that would be premium such as mango or eel in the roll was reduced to a sliver.
Paid full price and got nothing worthwhile.
might be OK if you come for happy hour

I was on a trip and my partner had never had kbbq, so we decided to try out this place for his first!
Area wise, it’s in a good place kind of Downtown Portland in a richer area and decent, I’d say.
It was very clean inside and spacey, which was great. I rly liked the aura of the place. So I’m guessing it’s not all you can eat, because it didn’t say anywhere, but they did give us a huge portion to feed a 5 foot tall girl and a 6’2 male. haha.
The sides were on point and kbbq is very typical, but their soy bean paste made everything taste better and their galbi wasn’t like any other I’ve had.
Their service was great, one of the ladies were super friendly and happy, tipped her well .
They also have sushi ! Large selection and their beers and alcohol menu was fairly long :)

Im giving 2.5 stars for this one…
1^st– We arrive around 2:30 for a lunch on a SATURDAY. There is no one around to seat us.
2^nd– When we finally get seated there is only one «1» waitress in the whole place… They have the sushi cook clearing tables (wasn’t ordering sushi when I saw that)
3^rd– The prices are less than awesome. I think our lunch was $ 30 and we were both still hungry after
4^th– THE ONLY REASON THEY GET STARS… The food was pretty good
5^th– As we are leaving around 4:00 (4) people started working… Little late!
So if your looking for a nice lunch or dinner place and don’t mind HORRIBLE SERVICE but Pretty good food come here!

Is this place also called Sura Korean Restaurant? There’s some name confusion here.
Our experience very much qualifies as one star. It was unequivocally disappointing.
The staff were all very friendly but there was some odd universal dysfunction where, even though the restaurant was only half full and there were plenty of servers, nothing got done correctly.
It took forever for everything: getting menus, ordering, getting drinks, getting food, getting follow-​up help. When our food arrived we waited a very long time to get napkins and chopsticks. I finally gave up and got up and grabbed some for our group.
The banchan was uninspired, skimpy and limited. The kimchee lacked dimension.
The restaurant does not serve grain-​based tea, barley tea or otherwise. I consider this to be really important in winter-​eating Korean bbq.
The food arrived. It was well presented but bland, lacking chili and garlic seasoning and the marinade was too sweet. Somehow we failed to receive lettuce or soy/​chili/​garlic doenjang paste. We weren’t served any rice either. I gave up trying to flag someone down. Having previously failed with trying to get chopsticks (so we could actually eat!) I got up and grabbed an unused plate of lettuce and doenjang from a table where another party had just left.
The tofu soup was good.
Consistent with the terrible service, once we were done, it took forever to get a bill. I finally got up and waited at the cash register. Waiting here took forever too.
This restaurant helps me maintain my rule that restaurants with TVs tend to be a disappointment.
My expectations for restaurants are not high, really, and I don’t enjoy posting negative reviews. I think if the staff got more focused on how to work more efficiently it would not be difficult to turn this restaurant around. As I said the staff were friendly and seemed hard working. I wonder if the distance of the kitchen from the tables makes things difficult for the serving staff?

Beautiful décor, friendly helpful staff, excellent quality fish, but a bit spendy. Can’t wait to try the donburi and the Korean side of the menu.

!!!STAY AWAY FROM THIS RESTURANT!!!
Service: Slow staff and incredibly bad attitude.
Please be aware that they will take your order anyway even if it’s not available for serve, so keep check your server every minute that how’s your order preparing.
This is what happened to me. I ordered a speical meal for dinner and I’d waited for 45mins, so I asked again to my server when my order will be ready. And he told me back that it can’t be serve becuase it’s not ready for cook tonight. And he also proudly told me that I dont have to worry about it because he won’t charge for it!!! WTF??? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?
So I tried talked to the owner and explained what happened, and amazingly it seems he doesn’t care what happened, but kept telling me that it can’t be ready for tonight and I shouldn’t be ordering it at the first place.
How the hell am I suppose to know whether it can be or can’t be???
Worst experice ever in my entire life.
I would give zero star if it allows me to do.
!!!STAY AWAY FROM THIS RESTURANT!!!

So Korean BBQ is to Texas BBQ
as
«Chips» in London are to Chips in Portland.
Both chips are made from potatoes but that’s where the similarity ends.
So while both Texas and Korean BBQ’s have meat on offer —
In Texas they smoke the meat slowly
in Korea you cook the meat yourself quickly at your table.
In Texas they offer cole-​slaw
in Korea they offer fermented cabbage.
Both are very tasty but also very different.
This is the first Korean BBQ I have been to without being with someone who knows how to partake. It was a great experience. The staff was very helpful and patient with us, the food was great and plentiful, the place was immaculate and it wasn’t very crowded. Being from Texas I had to order the brisket — which in a Texas BBQ place is a good idea, but in a Korean BBQ place this is one of the few meats that are not marinated — so while it was tasty, I will stick to the marinated choices on future visits.
The prices are not cheap but when you come to this place you should block out a couple of hours for the experience. This isn’t a short order diner, this is a dinner to prepare for, to enjoy. The flavors are complex and savory.
Try it — with an open mind, a relaxed schedule and expecting something new and different, I think you will like it.

HAPPY HOUR REVIEW
4:00−6:00pm Mon-​Sat
Food Deals $ 5.00
Selected nigiri and maki are 50% off all day. Plus, a special HH menu of 16 delights will round out everything you’d want to eat, with several kimchi-​based specialties, lots of stir-​frys, plus chicken, pork, or beef on sizzling platters.
Drink Specials
$ 2.50-$ 4.00 beers; $ 2.50 wines and select saké
$ 6.00 wide array of cocktails
Atmosphere
It’s an under-​the-​radar place, with kind of a funny name, but rest assured that Dr. Sushi takes his Happy Hour seriously! The restaurant is pleasant, refined, and understated, with surgeon-​like attention to design in furniture choice, lighting, paint, and moldings. Great group space!

Solid take-​out food. Chicken Yakisoba, spring rolls, and pork dumplings. The dumplings were nothing special, seemed similar to any pot sticker that I have really ever had at an Americanized Asian joint. The spring rolls were solid, very crispy, nice flavor. The Chicken Yakisoba was a bit salty, but there was a lot of it and I like salty food. (especially when I am a bit hung over) This place isn’t great but it hit the spot when I needed to curb my hangover. I am sure I’ll be back but probably pretty sparingly.
——
UPDATE!
Decided to go back here for dinner and order off of the sushi menu. It was excellent. Fish was fresh and they pickle their own seaweed which was a great touch. I am officially a big fan of this place, I’m pretty excited to try the hot pots once it gets cold out.

The food was not bad but not amazing. The soft crab rolls weren’t really edible. Everything else was very good. The meal was quite economical. There wasn’t much flexibility on having the BBQ unless 2 people agree to have which I thought was a it crazy.

Dr. Sushi & BBQ is exactly what the 3 stars says… A-​OK
Had a pretty good meal here consisting of three different sushi rolls, edemame, and tempura.
For $ 6.50 I thought we didn’t get much tempura. Four or five small pieces didn’t seem enough for an appetizer. The sushi rolls however were fairly decent. The Ichi roll was alright… fresh tasting with the tuna and salmon. The menu said pine nuts and we got peanuts… nearly whole it was a little strange to have on sushi.
The Super Dynamite roll was probably my favorite. A mixture of spicy tuna, shirmp tempura, crab salad, seared tuna and a few other goodies with was quite tasty.
Last but not least the Volcano roll was so-​so. I had never had one that tasted like the one at Dr. Sushi. On top was cooked tuna and white fish that was pretty dang spicy.
All in all the meal wasn’t bad… wasn’t great. I would likely come back to try out the BBQ perhaps. The place was packed… probably because it was near the last day to use the Groupon but service was SLOW. People pilled up in the doorway waiting to be helped or waiting for a table. Food came out extremely slow. The staff was friendly and I think doing the best they could considering the larger crowd.

There seems to be some disparity between the sushi reviews and the BBQ reviews. Mine is the latter!
The BBQ is delicious. It was 90 for 4 of us, which actually didn’t strike me as being too bad. It’s not a get in and get out type dinner, which suited me, so if you’re expecting quick you’ll be disappointed. All in all, the food was delicious and the service was really good.

Went last night with a Groupon. Wasn’t sure what to order as they have sushi as well as BBQ — hence the name… We got the cooked sampler for 2 – 3. Which was a TON of food. The salads it came with were ok. The egg soup was quite yummy. The meats — which you cook yourself — were an interesting variety of steak, brisket, pork and chicken. the brisket was the best. If we ever go again I’d get that. I also got the jalapeño bomb which was filled with spicy tuna (barely) and cream cheese. I wouldn’t order that again… not spicy and really no tuna.
Service was friendly. I might go back for the half price sushi all day — seems a good deal.

In my opinion, Portland has far too many sushi, thai, korean ‘style’ restaurants, while experiencing a real dearth of say — outlets for cuisine from Norway or Oman.
That aside, the two most positive things I have say about my experience last nite, are 1) it wasn’t my choice, and 2) I didn’t have to pay.
Sushi has become the junk food of choice for people of a certain age and background, and Dr. Sushi (really, that’s the best name you could come up with?) caters to that group with aplomb.
It being a spendy place, with less than stellar service (slow!) detracts from any positive experience you might be hoping for.
Tho I can’t single out Dr. Sushi for the one peculiarity of Americanized sushi — cream cheese as an ingredient, lovers of this product will be more than happy here.
We didn’t try the Korean-​style BBQ (cook your own food); I was afraid that it might come with a punctuation mark of «wash your own dishes.»

The sushi here is average. Both presentation and taste lack a bit of creativity, which tells me that the owners have not strived to improve or do market research to see what other sushi restaurants are doing.
We got some special rolls but they were quite disappointing and didn’t taste much like special rolls.
*One thing to know if you purchased a Groupon, any type of happy hour prices don’t apply if you’re using a coupon of any sort.
I’d say this place will pass for those new to sushi. But if you’re an experienced and opinionated eater, there are better places in Portland.

The sushi is yummy and fresh. They have a wide selection of asian fare — korean, shabu shabu (one of my favorites!), japanese, etc. Prices are good too, they have some silly «happy hour, all day, every day» special — which isn’t really a special but hey, they need to build up the business so if it gets people to come in, who cares?!
Our server was very nice, in fact everyone that we encountered was super friendly and asked if we were enjoying our dinner.
Two things that are a must try:
— Monkey brains, an appetizer with seaweed salad, topped with spicy tuna topped with avocado, sauces and fish roe, all surrounded by tempura flakes! Soooo good!
— Spicy tuna tempura roll

Horrible service. Not worth the money or the headache. We went because of the groupon but regret buying it all together. After going here, it makes me skeptical of trying new places on groupon.
After 10 mins of sitting, the waiter asked if we were ready to order without having the menu. We had the sushi order form without the marker to write for another 10 mins.
The Korean meat was sitting On the side for 20 mins out in the open before it was brought to our table by my sister.
The Dr. Needs their license revoked!

I dropped in here with Beth W. when we were shopping 23^rd. She was visiting from MT and, therefore, has little access to super great sushi. One of her requests while she was here was that we get sushi atleast twice, and as I love sushi, I was more than happy to oblige.
I had never been to Dr. Sushi before, but I will definitely be a return customer after our trip here. The restaurant was clean and open with plenty of space for larger groups. We sat at the sushi bar and ordered about 4 different types of rolls, some Nigiri and some Edamame to share. All of it was excellent and fresh and the service was prompt and friendly.
I’m not so sure I’d be into the idea of BBQing my own food, but I’ll definitely be back for sushi.

The name is weird, the food concept is weird (a restaurant that is physically divided into half Japanese, half Korean fare), and yet… it works.
When I arrived I was confronted with the battle of choosing to between eating Japanese on the left side of the restaurant, or Korean to the right. I chose Korean.
I didn’t buy the Groupon (but should have when it showed up in my inbox a few weeks prior), and after the waiter asked me if I had one in stow I realized why: the prices are pretty spendy! I can see someone on a date easily spending $ 70+ dollars. However, I should note that you’re also paying for the experience that you get, of cooking your own food and engaging in conversation with the members of your party.
The waiters were helpful and knowledgeable, and I can definitely see myself returning as a customer. However, I would never go here to eat alone. Because then you might have to sit at a table by yourself in front of the window to cook your delicious dinner, all while lookie-​loos walked by and gazed in at you all by your lonesome. And that would be sad.

*sigh* I really want to like you more Dr. Sushi. I think you’re such a cool idea, your staff are incredibly friendly, you’ve got a nice enough exterior, you’re walking distance from my work, and when I first tried your stuffed jalapenos, I thought we were going to go all the way…
But alas, you didn’t really excite me the way I thought you would. The sashimi plate was dull and umm «not so fresh». It wasn’t terrible, but it just wasn’t anything to write home about. Granted there was a good amount of it, but I would’ve preferred a smaller amount of fresher sashimi.
I appreciate the fact that you were kind enough to put some sweetness back into our evening with the rib eye BBQ. However, tragically I feel like you may have overcompensated for your sashimi shortcomings by delivering a bbq that was a bit too sweet for my taste (however the veggie side dish that came with it was absolutely delicious).
I’d love to see you again Dr. Sushi, you’ve got some other stuff on your menu that I’m certainly curious about… but I’m afraid I’m going to have to keep this an open relationship (yes I’ll be seeing other people) as far as the Sushi and BBQ are concerned.