Meadow Sushi - Pitt Meadows

I went to Meadow Sushi last month and sadly, will not be returning again. I held back on writing this review for a while because i don’t like writing bad reviews, but in this case because there are so many 5* reviews (which I myself mistakenly trusted before coming here), I feel it my duty to share my experience. I walked in an hour before closing. The space/atmosphere was initially nice and cozy. However within minutes of being seated, there were several employes buzzing and rushing hurriedly around creating an uncomfortable rushed feeling that they all wanted to get out of there. The waitress greeted me promptly, was very friendly and polite throughout service. Sadly, the great service cannot compensate for the horrible food. Everything i ate tasted unfresh and bad, even the water tasted off. I ordered the beef teriyaki dinner box. First arrived water which had a strange unpleasant taste – how water can taste bad…i don’t know. Then came a complimentary “thing” (see photo) which was a nice touch and pleasant surprise. I call it a “thing” because I was not told what it was when it was brought to the table. Its taste was ok at first until I tasted dirty burnt frying pan. If you look at the photo you can actually see the burnt gunk on its edges. I’m not one to be ungrateful and complain about free things, but this was bad. The miso soup was the worst miso soup I’ve ever had (and I’ve had a lot in my life). It was lukewarm, watery, tasteless and had only 2 tiny pieces of green onion and no tofu whatsoever. The ebi sunomo arrived next. This tasted ok but the shrimp did not taste fresh and kind of grossed me out. The beef teriyaki was the worst. It came in a foul liquid instead of a sauce and believe it or not, tasted more like Chinese food than teriyaki. The gyoza, spring roll and tempura tasted good but old/unfresh. The salad was ok/standard. The dynamite roll was thick and packed but tasted fishy. I usually have a hard time taking food photos which convey the deliciousness of the food, but alas in this case the photos depict food which in reality tastes vile and unfresh. The friendly lady asks me “how was everything?” and of course I can’t say that everything tasted horrible, so i say “good, thank you”, what else can i say? I can’t very well complain about everything. I couldn’t finish my food and took the rest to go. I normally give leftovers to my dog but this time I wouldn’t because I didn’t want to risk him getting sick. I really am sorry to have to write a bad review for a local business. If this was a matter of slight taste preference, portion size, slow service or mistakes, I never would have written this review. However, when they serve me food that is this unfresh and old (who know how many hours or days old), they knew exactly what they were doing and such a thing cannot be rectified or explained away. Unless you have so little respect for your customers that you think they can’t tell the difference between old stale food and fresh food. I would not eat this food again if they were giving it away for free. And I’m the least picky eater ever, I’ll eat just about anything and be content. The service was friendly though…what a shame…