me love sushi longtime ~pearl vs. mr. kim~

Pearl Sushi was recently taken over by new management, and they do serve some fine sushi. But, we are lucky in this town to have options when it comes to all things food so it is necessary to compare the sushi from both Pearl and Mr. Kim (the General Store).  In reality it's more a comparison of the Maki rolls served at both places, and I am comparing take-out.  I'm pretty sure for ambience that Pearl would win quite handily, so we will try to remain objective.

Comparison of Dynamite Roll, Unagi Roll, Spicy Tuna Roll and Edamame:

MK = Mr. Kim
PS = Pearl Sushi

Price/Wait time:
MK - $28.75 total / 20 minutes
PS - $32.65 total / 20 minutes

Dynamite Roll:
MK (Deep fried shrimp, avocado, cucumber, crab) - roll is a good size, texture of rice is just right, flavour is good
PS (Deep fried shrimp, avocado, cucumber, caviar and sauce) - colours are vibrant, roll is drizzled with a sweet white sauce (coconut), taste is fresher and fuller

Unagi Roll:
MK (BBQ eel, avocado and cucumber)- toasted notes from the BBQ eel are extremely pleasant, slightly sweet as well and a generous size
PS (Eel, fish, egg and cucumber) - roll was poorly made, sloppy and small, slight fishiness to the eel, not their best effort

Spicy Tuna Roll:
MK - focus on the spice, roll is well formed with a top of crunchy tempura bits mixed with spicy sauce, great texture but the tuna is somewhat lost
PS - focus on the tuna, nori is wrapped on the outside of the rice, tuna and spicy sauce in the centre, spice doesn't come through strongly enough

Edamame:
MK - look and texture of the pods are overdone (microwave?), baby beans inside are quite delicious and firm
PS - pods looks great, bright green and firm (steamed), beans are a quite fresh and al dente, perhaps too much so?

Accoutrements:
MK - ginger is natural in colour, tastes less commercially made, wasabi is good and hot and is nicely piped with a swirl pattern, soy sauce is slightly sweet
PS - regular pinkish ginger, wasabi is hot (though less so than MK) and is plonked down without much presentation, soy sauce is saltier

Conclusion:
Somewhat a split decision: for the simple fun enjoyment of some filling Maki Rolls it's gotta be Mr. Kim's.  At a slightly better price and significantly larger portions he's the better choice.  But for more 'serious' sushi with a focus on the fish instead of the extras Pearl has some winning notes as well.