I first visited this location back when it was Naples Sushi. I really didn't get a "bang for my buck," at Naples and didn't leave a particularly positive review. I got a message from Kihon saying that they had switched owners, so I thought, hey why not try this place out? It helped that I got a 30% percent discount coupon in the mail. That was pretty sweet.
So the BF and I went in on a random Tuesday evening and there were a couple groups inside already, which is always a good sign. We were seated immediately at a table of our choosing. The first thing I noticed was that the ambiance was a lot nicer. It was definitely casual, but the wooden flooring and the cute hanging tortoise-shell lamps and nice paintings gave the restaurant a comfortable feeling, whereas the previous restaurant was all dark (I like to be able to see what i'm eating, especially if it's seafood). So I already figured the ratings would be higher just based on the "feel" of the place.
Our waitress was named Jeanette (SP?) and she was really nice. We started off with some water, and when I checked in, we got a free lemonade. The lemonade just came out of a can, but hey...it's free. Who is complaining?! We perused the menu and our only disappointment was that they didn't have any udon, which we love at sushi restaurants. But there were some other great choices for rolls, sashimi, and tapas. We ended up getting the Yellowtail Collar app, sake sashimi, a rainbow roll, and a creamy shrimp tempura roll. Jeanette was really nice and asked if we wanted the rolls to come out all at once, or one at a time. This was the first time I've ever been asked that at a sushi restaurant so I was pleasantly surprised. We opted to just have the food get to the table when it was ready as opposed to all out at once. We were hungry!
The yellowtail came out first with a ponzu sauce. One word: amazing. It was melt-in-your-mouth delicious. Perfectly cooked, super soft and just the right amount of burnt-ish skin and salt. The ponzu sauce was nice too, similar to what you might use when dipping tempura. They also have two choices of soy sauce- regular & low sodium. Anyway, I would def. recommend the yellow-tail. It was so yummy! I could eat it every day!
Then we got our sake sashimi. Presentation was lovely. The plating was done well and obviously I'm an expert on plating because I watch masterchef (lol jk). The sashimi itself was decent. Nice, cold, a good "bite," and buttery. Not the best I've had, but it was up there with the good ones. Then came the rainbow roll. This was the only roll we weren't too satisfied with. There wasn't a lot of avocado (only one piece out of 7 had avocado on top), and that fish didn't seem as fresh as the sake sashimi. We still ate it all, but all I could taste was the CA roll underneath. Lastly, the creamy shrimp tempura roll. Another word: BOMB. So good. The shrimp was fried to a light perfection. It wasn't overdone with too much batter. And the spicy tuna inside the roll was delish! This was my second favorite next to the yellowtail. I'd definitely recommend this one.
So yeah, 4 stars. A pretty pleasant experience with fabulous customer service from Jeanette. I hope to be back to try some other rolls, but definitely not the rainbow roll, unless they magically improve on it somehow. read more