Trenton Sushi’s “to find a girlfriend” sign appears on The Ellen Show

By Allen Steinberg

TRENTON – A sign that turned the heads of many locals this year made an appearance on one of America’s most watched TV shows on Tuesday.

Earlier this year, local buffet Trenton Sushi closed temporarily after displaying a sign on their front door that said the owner was returning to China in search of a girlfriend. The sign quickly caught people’s attention and the forward nature of the message led to it being shared widely on social media. 

Trenton Sushi closed on January 2 and reopened on March 4. In the meantime, many customers were left without their go-to restaurant while the owner was looking to find his special person. The restaurant left this note giving more insight into the situation. Photo Courtesy Laura Maathuis

On Tuesday, this sign was featured on The Ellen Show in Ellen’s “What’s Wrong With These Signs?” segment where she critiques bizarre signs that fans from all over the globe send in. The sign was submitted to Ellen by Hailey Armstrong-Simpson, who is from the Quinte region.

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The Trenton Sushi sign appears around the 25 second mark. In the clip, Ellen says “This is one of those signs that has more questions than answers, actually.”

Jack Liu (left) and his brother, Allen Xiu have owned Trenton Sushi for over two years, dating back to its grand opening in December of 2016. Since then, Trenton Sushi has become a beloved restaurant in the area. Photo by Allen Steinberg, QNet News

Allen Xiu, co-owner of the sushi restaurant spoke to QNet News in attempt to answer these questions. Xiu owns the restaurant with his brother, Jack Liu, who also happens to be the one famously looking for a girlfriend.

Xiu said that his restaurant’s appearance on The Ellen Show has already made customers excited.

“Many customers come in and say ‘you guys were on T.V!’ It’s a very famous show.”

While Xiu says being included on Ellen is great for publicity, closing for so long confused some of his customers.

“Lots of customers came here and asked ‘Why are you guys closing?’ We answered ‘do you see the note? You don’t need to ask about it!'”

QNet got a quick word in with Jack Liu to ask the golden question: Did he manage to find a girlfriend?

“Not yet.” he answered.

Allen Xiu then spoke on his brother’s behalf and said his search for a girlfriend wasn’t completely in vain.

“Yeah, (he did find a girlfriend.) But now he’s single.”

In response to Ellen’s segment, Trenton Sushi took to Facebook to focus on the matter at hand: Trenton Sushi is open again, girlfriend or not.