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Tucson Restaurant Tournament: (8) Sushi Garden vs. (9) Mariscos Chihuahua

A couple of seafood places going toe-to-toe in the first round

By Jason Bartel

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Jason Bartel

We continue moving through the Santa Ritas Region with eight-seed Sushi Garden taking on nine-seed Mariscos Chihuahua.

Be sure to vote in the poll at the bottom. You can also vote by tweeting the restaurant name with the hashtag #TRT.

More: Full Tucson Restaurant Tournament Bracket

Tale of the Tape

(8) Sushi Garden

sushi garden Jason Bartel

Neighborhood: Two locations (Broadway and Country Club pictured)

Website

Cuisine: Sushi

Yelp rating: 3 stars

Entertaining Yelp review: "Upon opening the small courtyard gate that is necessary to enter in order to reach the door to the restaurant, I experienced a sudden and sharp pain, looked down and watched as blood began pooling in my shoe and onto the sidewalk. I asked my son to get me some napkins. After mopping up the blood, my toe was throbbing and the site of the injury was too bloody still to get a good look at it, plus I wanted to stop the bleeding, and so I wrapped it up tight and limped through the door of Sushi Garden.

I walked toward the hostess counter where there were three employees with whom I shared the news of my injury. They all looked at me with blank stares and said nothing. After an uncomfortable pause, one of them finally asked if she could do anything. I said, "Yes, I'd like to speak to a manager." At this point, one of the other women escorted my son and I to a table. The manager appeared soon after and asked me what happened. I barely managed the composure to explain it and to give him the feedback that they may want to do something about the little metal piece sticking out of the bottom of the gate horizontally, which is what dug into my toe upon pulling the gate open. To this he said, "Oh, the stopper?" as if to justify the incident, and not a word of concern.

The very first thing he said was, "This has never happened before." The next thing he said was, "Can I see it?" To which I said that I'd rather not because I was keeping it wrapped to stop the bleeding (and it was not as if his analysis of the injury was especially valuable in the situation). Then he actually REPEATED that this has never happened before and that, if I should need to get it checked by a doctor to let him know. No mention of "How can I help you?" nor "Can I get you anything?"-- like, I don't know, maybe some ICE, perhaps? Or even simply some concern, which was painfully absent the situation. His repetitions of "This has never happened before" felt dismissive and eerily accusatory ... as if determining that somehow made it having happened this time simply a *me* problem."

(9) Mariscos Chihuahua

mariscos chihuahua Jason Bartel

Neighborhood: Multiple locations (22nd and Treat pictured)

Website

Cuisine: Mexican seafood

Yelp rating: 4.5 stars

Entertaining Yelp review: "Well shut my flaming hot mouth and color me a Jalapeno popper on steroids - in a town of gooey cheesy and beany lumpiness that all too often passes for Mexican food, Mariscos on Grande is a nice surprise."

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