This was my first time here – I met a couple friends on a Thursday night. It’s nice that it’s in a shopping centre so there’s lots of parking. It seems to be a super busy place, but they’re organized and they have lots of staff! There’s a take out desk where you can quickly pick up your order to go, and there’s a host to greet you when you check in for a table. They don’t take reservations so if it’s really busy you may need to wait a bit.
I quickly looked around the restaurant for my friends and didn’t see them so I was seated at a table in the middle of the restaurant. I ordered a beer and received 4 small free sushi samples… only to figure out one of my friends was seated in a booth on the other end of the restaurant and I just didn’t see her! The host was really good about relocating me and my stuff and transferring my order. If possible, I recommend getting a booth on either side of the restaurant, simply because the centre of the restaurant, which is closer to the kitchen, was quite loud and busy.
The three of us love to eat – we ordered a LOT of food. The server even suggested we order just one less dish… and he was very accurate – by the time we were completely stuffed we had about the equivalent of one roll left. The food was all pretty good. Not the best sushi I’ve had, but it was fresh and flavourful. There was a roll that had squid inside – the longer it was left on the plate, the chewier the squid got. The calamari dish with sauce on top was super yummy. I found the mango roll too sweet, and I typically enjoy them, but not this time. The long green beans were awesome – I recommend them as a healthy side. We had so many different kinds of sushi and rolls I can’t even remember what they all were, and I can’t find a menu online to figure it out. My favourites were the rolls with the red sauce on top (pictured below), the cajun shrimp sushi, and the calamari dish.
Kids and female customers get their choice of Pocky sticks (men don’t get them)… kind of cute, but kind of hokey at the same time. I remember this from the MacLeod Trail location as well. I think it’s a neat idea for kids for sure.
There were three birthdays when we were there – I’m not into all the singing and banging so I found it rather annoying. There were probably 10 employees all gathered around to sing and clap at each birthday table (kind of reminded me of what happens at Red Robin). Remind me not to go here for my birthday…. One of the customers was even lucky enough to have the leader of the singing group call her sexy – he said she had a sexy smile and sexy hair, and a bunch of other sexy stuff. Honestly, I’m as forthright as they come, and I was kind of shocked at how the server was talking to the customer… a little awkward! But, whatever floats your boat…
I’m a little happy and a little sad that Kinjo is coming to Coventry Hills. There’s a new shopping area just off Highway 2 on Country Hills Way. There are a lot of fast food joints in the complex – Mary Brown’s, Subway, McDonalds, Starbucks, and there’s a Vietnamese noodle house and a nail salon. I think Kinjo will be a good addition to the area because there’s only one other good sushi place that I know of… but I really wish we could get a restaurant that can make good steak and burgers and some flatbread pizza – something like The Keg or Earls or Joey’s would be welcomed!
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