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We finally ordered 4 rolls: Two salmon and mango specialty rolls, a spicy salmon roll, and a Boston Roll. The waitress informed us, when we asked, that the menu had been revamped and the other salmon and mango combo roll was no longer offered she went on to tell us to not pay attention to the pages of photos, as many of the dishes portrayed were no longer available… That should have been yet another clue. We searched the menus but could only find one of the salmon and mango combo specialty rolls we used to enjoy.
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But she said nothing about that until afterwards… The waitress was friendly, had a positive attitude. My next missed clue - which I totally missed because we took a booth, and I sat facing the entrance to the restaurant, and even looking out of the booth I could not see the chefs my girlfriend however saw that there were two Hispanic chefs behind the counter - not the Japanese chefs we had always seen there. There had been times, pre-shutdown, when we had to wait for a table, and once we even called ahead to make a reservation (we’d always gone there on weekends). But again, we were so happy to be there once again, we didn’t take note.
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We’d never seen this restaurant so close to empty. Yet here it was a Sunday afternoon, and inside, only two other tables were occupied. However, given that at least two storefronts there were empty, victims of the extended “two week” shutdown that had lasted about a year, we really didn’t pay attention to the absence of more vehicles. Our first clue should have been the fact that there were very few cars in the parking lot of the strip mall in which the restaurant sits. Yesterday we were in the area, and finally stopped by after over a year, and were looking forward to another satisfying meal of great sushi. It was, in short, one of our favorite restaurants in New Jersey. Prior to the Shutdown of 2020, my girlfriend and I had eaten at SushiO several times we particularly liked the two salmon and mango combo rolls they made exclusively.
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