Downtown Lunch: Shoyu Sushi

A couple of weeks ago, as part of the Downtown Dining Week celebrations, Puneeta McBryan said there are more and more restaurants in the core that are bringing back lunch service. As the executive director of the Downtown Business Association, McBryan knows the return of the downtown lunch rush is a major indicator of the core’s economic health.

During the pandemic, many restaurants stopped serving lunch. After all, what’s the point when no one is in the office towers? Then, as we moved into things like hybrid work and working from home, there wasn’t a lot of incentive for restaurants to bring back lunch service. But, slowly, as McBryan noted, we’re seeing restaurants firing up their kitchens for the noon hour.

So, it was heartening, not frustrating, that I had to wait to get a table at Shoyu Sushi. I got there at about 12:30 p.m. on a Thursday, and it was full. Servers were bouncing from table to table, one came over to me and apologized for the wait. It’s been years since anyone at a restaurant has had to apologize to me about a wait. It felt… good?

When I sat down, I found out that Shoyu takes the lunch bento to a new level. Basically, you get a map of a bento box, and you pick what goes in each compartment. Sushi or pork? White rice or brown? Shrimp or vegetables?

I went for some Dragon rolls, chef’s selection sushi, mixed tempura and pork gyoza. And it was maybe the biggest bento box I’ve had in the city when it comes to how much food is served. The pork dumplings were kissed long enough by the frying pan to have browned a bit; the filling was hearty. A bit of salmon, shrimp and tuna found its way into the sushi mix, and the Dragon rolls, heavy on the shrimp, had just the right amount of crunch and spice that was noticeable, but not overpowering. The tempura section of the box had shrimp, yams, eggplant and even roasted red pepper. Did I mention this was a big meal?

I thought about the deep-fried banana ice cream to finish, but I was just too full.