The quality of the take-out sushi at Thrifty Foods is going to vary store-by-store. After two epic fails at the Shelbourne and McKenzie branch, I finally explored my options at the Hillside location.

Tuscany Village is slowly slipping off my radar in terms of quick bites. They still do a very mean fire oven roasted pizza when its fresh out of the fire, but with sushi, there are two other locales to sate my craving: Fujiya is about 1km down the road and the other Thrifty’s an extra 1.5km further.

Even though both operations only have a small space to display their wares, that does not make up for the huge difference in quality. Either my timing is off with visiting the Tuscany Village location or I just have to show up as its made fresh.

What I’ve tasted from the refrigerated products has the quality of a days old product, which, in my opinion, is not allowable in the takeout world. Perhaps the display unit needs to be tweaked so the rice does not taste like it’s been through a cardboard grinder. Even the fish lacked flavour.

At the Hillside location, even though the rice has been through refrigeration, I can taste the difference. More love and attention is put into the rice and presentation, especially for the variety packs. I’m not struggling with wondering what went wrong with the rice. Even the ratio of the ingredients are spot on.

When considering the Hillside location has been in the take-out sushi scene far longer than any of Thrifty’s other locations, they have a lot riding on them. Students from nearby Lansdowne Middle School or Camosun College know they can get their sushi fix and thoroughly enjoy it.