The Biggest Complaint Shoppers Have About Costco Sushi Has Nothing To Do With Seafood

When Costco fans began seeing sushi appear at their local warehouse club, they rejoiced. After all, Costco seems to carry just about everything else you can imagine. However, once customers began buying the sushi, their excitement turned into dismay, as some realized that it wasn't exactly what they'd hoped for. The issue wasn't about the raw fish, as you might guess, but rather something just as fundamental to sushi: the rice.

To clarify, Costco does carry multiple types of sushi, but what you get depends on where you are located. Not every Costco store serves sushi (my local location only does poke and sashimi platters). Some locations make their sushi in Costco's on-premise kitchens, while some are only supplied by third-party manufacturers. Snowfox supplies grocery stores, deli counters, and convenience stores with pre-made sushi products, including some Costco locations.

Snowfox sushi products, in particular, seem to have garnered a universal complaint that their rice is perpetually gummy. In a Reddit thread about the Costco Snowfox sushi, one Redditor wrote, "The rice felt like I was chewing on Play-Doh. The only saving grace was the salmon from the nigiri. I'll probably not buy from Costco again unless I'm really hungry." In another thread, a different Redditor claimed, "The rice was so bad the couple of times I've gotten it. Mushy and way too wet." Now, I've seen the Snowfox sushi in person — it's actually pretty attractive looking. But if so many people are warning against it, you may want to save your money for a restaurant visit instead.

Personally, and I'm heading into opinion territory here, if the rice is no good, then the sushi experience won't be any good. You may as well peel the fish off and eat it sashimi-style instead. That's because sushi is meant to be about the rice. In fact, the definition of sushi, quoted directly from Merriam-Webster, is "cold rice dressed with vinegar, formed into any of various shapes, and garnished especially with bits of raw seafood or vegetables."

Note that the seafood and veggies are called a garnish here rather than the main focus. I kind of liken it to a bad pizza dough — if a crust is inedible, then no matter how high-quality the toppings are, they can't distract you from its most significant feature, which is the bread. The same goes for sushi rice. Coupled with the fact that it has been refrigerated (which isn't the optimal temperature for rice), the starches have congealed, resulting in a recipe for disappointment.

If you're in a pinch and really want sushi, consider sticking to the poke from the prepared foods section and making a poke bowl at home. That way, you know the rice will be worth eating.