By Nami Nagaoka
Chartwells Dining Services at Youngstown State University introduced Hissho Sushi on Nov. 27 in Kilcawley Center’s The Cove. Hissho Sushi features menu items like maki sushi, specialty rolls, combo items and more. The sushi is made to order in front of customers.
Wesley Paing, senior regional manager of Hissho Sushi, is originally from Bourma, Burkina Faso in West Africa.
“We use premium items,” he said.
Paing said Hissho Sushi has many other locations. The corporate headquarter of Hissho Sushi is located Charlotte in North Carolina.
Hissho Sushi’s menu items are within a price range of $6 to $13.
“We make sure that students can afford [our product],” he said. Paing said the quality of the food is the same as more expensive sushi options, however, the quantity of product helps balance the cost.
Paing said every morning Hissho Sushi sets more than 20 packages of popular items such as Crispy Crab and Crunchy Shrimp Roll at the each “Grab and Go” location across campus.
“Students here are very friendly, and I am very pleased to work here,” Paing added.
Eddie Howard, vice president for student affairs, said he and Chartwells decided to pursue installing an Asian food counter service restaurant after reviewing the results of a survey conducted last spring. Almost 100 students were surveyed from the YSU resident halls.
“One of the things that came as a result to the conversation was [students] want some type of Asian concept [of a food],” he said. “It’s also not a lot of sushi anywhere close our campus,” Howard said.
Howard also found there was a need to increase vegetarian options on campus.
According to Howard, having Hissho Sushi in The Cove also satisfied the want to have a food option on the south side of Kilcawley Center.
“It brings a different scale of variety,” Howard said. “I just hope people enjoy it and come there a lot,” he said.
Rayven Shaffer, a freshman psychology major, loves sushi and hibachi and was very happy to have a sushi restaurant on campus.
“[The cost] is a little high, but I understand why they have it like that. They know that people would buy it because the closest place you can go [get sushi] is Boardman,” Shaffer said.
Garret Kuchmaner, a freshman music major, thinks some of the sushi rolls are inexpensive and affordable, and he got Special Cooked Combo on the opening day.
“I have had a sushi at a lot of different places, and this seems very high quality,” he said.
Kuchmaner said it is great to have a healthy choice to eat on campus.
Risa Kimura, an English language institute major, is an exchange student from Nagoya University of Foreign Studies. She said she was happy to have a sushi restaurant on campus.
Kimura has been to some Japanese restaurants in Boardman, however, it was not easy for her to find an off-campus ride.
“In order to get there, we have to use Uber or a bus,” she said.
Kimura said she was surprised that there was a great interests from many students to bring a Japanese style of food on campus with such a small number of Japanese students at YSU.
“[The sushi] was so good. I want to get their food every day if I can,” Kimura added.