Squeamish Squid

I was in Tampa last week for a media preview of the new Cheetah Hunt roller coaster at Busch Gardens. The area around the park is loaded with chain restaurants, diners and fast food. I wanted to try something more local (and healthful) so I stopped at Tokyo Sushi on Fowler. Its just off of  I-75, about 10 minutes from the theme park.

As I walked in I heard the low thumping of music from the Zumba Studio next door. The five dry-erase boards haphazardly hung by the sushi bar caught my eye. They were full of special rolls named after patrons like: The JoJo, Dale, Brenda etc. It would seem Tokyo has a contingent of regulars but none were there when we were. In fact no one was. Its not the first time my party has been the only one in a restaurant but it's usually because we are closing it down. This was 7:00 on a Thursday.

I get a little squeamish about ordering raw fish in a place with no customers. It makes me wonder how long the fish has been in the case. That being said, I didn't try the raw items I would typically order. I went for something safe, cooked. The Nancy & Les had shrimp, crab, avocado and eel. It was good but we were uncomfortable so we paid for our roll and left. Didn't even have a cocktail.

The restaurant was clean and the staff was friendly but I doubt I'll stop next time I'm in the area. Let me know if you do.

A side note about the Cheetah Hunt, it was awesome and I'll be posting a video soon. I've been accused of staling since the video is a bit humiliating, but very entertaining. It is in HD and I've run into some problems formating it for the web, but help has arrived and I'm waiting patiently.