content: I've read many positive reviews of Chaya that I almost wonder if I went to the same restaurant (I did)\n\nWe went on a Tuesday night, the service was fine, we weren't rushed...but there also weren't any parties waiting to be seated.\n\nThe positives - one of the best ginger dressings I've had. The sides of sticky rice that came with my dining companions entrees were very good. The roll sushi was good (cali roll, sunrise mix roll), but not unlike any other roll I've had. The portions are large, if that matters to you. The fried chicken that comes with the meal is decent, but nothing special.\n\nThe negatives (which far outweighed the positives on this occasion) The miso soup was incredibly fishy in the bad way, they use a fish broth that tastes like it's been sitting around or something. \n\nThree of my dining companions ordered the tempura (2 chicken, 1 veggie)  The dishes are very bland, no seasoning whatsoever. The texture itself is enjoyable, but you must rely on the accompanying teryaki sauce to get any flavor whatsoever. One guy in our party got the beef teryaki which looked good, and he confirmed this, but I did not try it.\n\nProbably the most dissapointing part of my meal was the part I was expecting to be the best - the nigiri pieces. I ordered uni (sea urchin) ika (squid) fluke fin, anago, and toro. \n\nI'm not really an uni fan, but this didn't appear to be fresh. Fluke fin is a muscle, so one would expect it to be tough at most sushi places but I was hoping for better from chaya (as an aside, umi managed to make it incredibly delicate) the squid was tougher than I would have liked. The anago was fine, but nothing special. Worst of all - the toro was a bit tough. To my understanding toro should never be tough.\n\nI'm hoping I just caught them on an off night. I do plan to give chaya a second chance as so many rave reviews make me hope that they truly can provide a great meal. I wanted to give Chaya a rave review, but my first experience was way less than stellar.