I have truly conflicting feelings about this restaurant. On the one hand the wait time is wildly unpredictable, but on the other they always deliver great sushi for a bafflingly affordable price.
Five Sushi Brothers is housed in a little building on Freedom Blvd in Provo. It used to have a second location in Salt Lake City, but that one ended up a casualty of COVID. Pre-pandemic, the Provo location had a handful of tables inside and a TV setup complete with Mario and Zelda (gross to think about how we used to put our hands all over things.) It was chill, the service was solid, and it was an excellent place to observe Gen-Zers out in the wild. Now they just do delivery (Provo only) and takeout.
My go-to order has always been the Coconut Curry and the Band Manager. The Band Manager is an amped up California roll with cream cheese added into the avocado, crab, and cucumber. It’s deep-friend and doused with sriracha and eel sauce. I wouldn’t have ever thought to add cream cheese to a California roll, but it works really well and its added richness is balanced pleasantly with the crunchiness of the tempura. The Coconut Curry is a sweet shrimp tempura roll topped with a creamy coconut sauce and just a smidge of spice. The balance of savory and sweet is aces, and it’s a good pair to the spicier sriracha flavored rolls. If I’m feeling extra peckish I’ll also order a regular California roll, because even though it’s a relatively simple staple, it consistently hits the spot. I also recommend the potstickers if two rolls aren’t enough, but three are too much.
If the rolls above aren’t your jam, I also recommend the Plus Ultra, Yeezy, and Zachary Binks. One of the things Five Bros does best is harmonize the secondary ingredients in the roll so that they’re flavorful, but don’t overwhelm the freshness of the fish, and this balancing act shines bright in these rolls.
Overall, quality food. But the problem with Five Bros isn’t the food, it’s the prep time. No matter when I order my rolls, my order is always done at least 45 minutes after the website says it will be. I cannot explain this, I don’t know why it happens, and no amount of prayers, good vibes, or human sacrifices have ever been able to change it. I know it’s not the website software, because when you order online it gives you the available times based on how many orders they’ve already received. So they’re at least trying to manage the customer flow, but whatever algorithm they’re using isn’t working. There’s also zero communication if they’re running behind, so you could show up at 8:00pm and be waiting in your car for half an hour to an hour.
But all that said, I still go to Five Bros like once a week. It’s too good and too cheap not to, and I clearly don’t believe in opportunity cost. Five Sushi Brothers gets $$ because it’ll cost you about $18-25 a person if you’re ordering two rolls and a drink/app. I give it 4 forks because it’s just really good sushi, even if you end up eating later than you planned. When you go, let me know and I’ll recommend a couple of good podcasts for your wait.
