More all-you-can-eat sushi comes to Hackensack

All-you-can eat sushi is $29 per person at Oyishi Sushi in downtown Hackensack.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

Oyishi Sushi is at the opposite end of the size scale from Port of Call, the "mega" buffet restaurant that opened this year in the Home Depot Shopping Center in Hackensack.

But the idea is the same: All the raw fish you can eat for a set price.

At Oyishi Sushi, in downtown Hackensack, all-you-can-eat sushi is $29 per person.

But the small restaurant also serves lunch specials for $10 to $15, including sushi-sashimi combinations, and such other dishes as seaweed salad, dumplings, shumai and miso soup.

I spoke with Jesse Jiang, a Chinese-American, who said Oyishi Sushi opened last week.

Lunch is served from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and dinner hours are 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. Closed Sundays.

Super Rico, a Colombian fast-food restaurant, once occupied the space, which is next to Greek Island Grill.


Oyishi Sushi, 75 Main St., Hackensack; 201-546-8655. BYO. Metered parking until 6 p.m., except Sundays. 

First report on Port of Call buffet in Hackensack

Port of Call, an all-you-can-eat Asian buffet restaurant in Hackensack with 400 seats, opened on Wednesday.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

A restaurant owner who had dinner at Port of Call, the new all-you-can-eat Asian buffet restaurant in Hackensack, says he prefers another seafood buffet in Little Ferry.

He also said he doesn't see how the new restaurant -- the biggest in Hackensack -- can survive with its high rent and no liquor license.

He said he had dinner there about 5 p.m. on Wednesday, the first day Port of Call opened, and didn't see many other customers or that much food laid out.

The restaurant offers "American fusion and sushi," and claims to serve more than 200 items a day, including beef, pasta, cooked seafood, raw bar and salads.

Serves sashimi

One thing he likes is that Port of Call serves sashimi, raw fish without rice, in addition to sushi and sushi rolls (with rice).

The restaurant owner says he prefers Minado, a "Japanese Seafood Buffet Restaurant" in Little Ferry, with all-you-can-eat dinners ranging from $29.95 to $31.95, higher than Port of Call's introductory prices.

Minado, at 1 Liberty Road, is opposite H Mart in Little Ferry.

He believes Port of Call is paying about $30,000 a month is rent at the Home Depot Shopping Center, 450 Hackensack Ave. in Hackensack, and cannot rely on high profits from selling beer, wine and liquor.

Seafood restaurant to unveil $35-plus lunch entree

The Oceanaire Seafood Room replaces McCormick & Schmick's at The Shops at Riverside, an upscale shopping center in Hackensack once known as Riverside Square.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
Editor

The Oceanaire Seafood Room in Hackensack is open for happy hour and dinner, but won't serve lunch until early January.

Oceanaire replaces McCormick & Schmick's, a seafood restaurant with dark wood and leather booths, and food prices are among the highest in North Jersey.

A Hackensack lunch menu hasn't been posted online yet.

The Oceanaire Seafood Room in Washington, D.C., offers Chilean sea bass or Maryland rockfish at lunch for $37.95 each, and side dishes appear to be extra.

Parking is difficult in the crowded lot outside the Hackensack restaurant, in The Shops at Riverside, and the narrow spaces raise the potential of your car being dinged.

If the prices don't give you heartburn, damage to your car will.

Seafood Gourmet, a fish market and restaurant in Maywood, offers fresh fish, lobster and other fare at far more reasonable prices.

The opening of an all-you-can-eat buffet restaurant has been delayed to at least next week.

At the Home Depot Shopping Center in Hackensack, the opening of the Port of Call American Fusion Buffet & Sushi has been delayed until at least next week.

The opening originally was scheduled for Dec. 7 -- the anniversary of the 1941 Japanese attack on the U.S. fleet in Pearl Harbor.

The Courthouse Cafe & Deli has opened at 10 Sussex St. in Hackensack, near the Bergen County Courthouse. John's Coffee Shop operated there for many years.

The new Courthouse Cafe & Diner in Hackensack won't stay open past 4 p.m., fearing few customers would venture out to eat dinner on the city's quiet Main Street.

Main Dish at 152 Main St. closes at 3:30 p.m. for the same reason.

The new-American restaurant opened in the space used for many years by Naturally Good.