Ki-isu Restaurant - Yaletown

Long break from writing, but I am back and hopefully can keep this a regular thing. Just to warn you some of these pictures aren't the greatest but I hope to get better ones on our next visit. 

This is a combined review as we have visited this place twice in the past two weeks. On our first visit, Ki-isu was not our first choice. We had originally planned to dine at Hapa Izakaya in Yaletown because we had a gift card and I had never been. Not knowing how busy it was going to be, we didn't make a reservation, BIG MISTAKE! The place was hoppin' and we had to wait for a table. At this point we were really hungry so we figured we will just go back another day. Now we were hopelessly hungry and had no idea where to eat. So walking back towards our car, we pass Ki-isu. We figured what the hey... it had pretty good reviews on urbanspoon. 

I was a bit hesitant as we were in Yaletown and in my head it I thought it was going to be pricey. We sat down and when I opened the menu, it was more expensive than where I usually dine but I was starting to get desperate for food. I decided on the Dinner Box B selection which included the following: Gomae, Karaage, Choice of Chicken or Beef Teriyaki on rice, Appetizer Sashimi,  Tuna, Salmon and Prawn sushi, a Salmon Roll, and to top it off a Miso Soup.

Appetizer Sashimi and Gomae

Chicken Teriyaki on Rice, Salmon Roll, Salmon, Tuna and Ebi Sushi, Chicken Karaage

For $15.95 (August 2014) this was a good deal. On paper it sounded expensive but I got a lot of stuff. The sashimi was good and not chewy, I especially liked the tuna as it had a nice flavor to it, no fishyness here. The chicken teriyaki was good as well, and the chicken appeared to have had its skin removed which was a plus for PIC. Gomae was alright, would have liked more sauce on it but it was ok. Karaage was pretty good, a bit salty due to the sauce. The salmon roll had a decent amount of salmon in it compared to others I have seen.

Ki-isu style Spider Roll

PIC decided on the Ki-isu style Spider roll which comprised of Soft Shell Crab, Asparagus, Lettuce, Avocado, Mayo with Tobiko wrapped by Soy bean Paper. Again being plain and boring, I was a bit hesitant on trying this because of the Yellow Soy Bean Paper. It did contain Asparagus which I love but thought was weird to be in sushi. Nevertheless she offered me some and was I glad she did, the soft shell crab was quite crisp which I love, and at $9.25 (August 2014) it seemed like a good deal as it was 10 pcs of decent sized slices. Also they were not stingy on the Tobiko. 

Takoyaki

We also decided to share an order of Takoyaki. We thought it was good, it was drizzled with mayo and Tonkatsu sauce. It was well cooked and the octopus was not chewy. It was $4.00 (August 2014) for 5 pcs. We felt it was good enough to get a 2nd serving LOL!

The bill from our first visit.

On our second visit, we decided to order the Spider Roll again, but we wanted to sample some other stuff on their menu. Up first was PIC's Toro Stack that we saw someone order last time.

Toro Stack

The Toro Stack is made up of Black brown rice, toro, green onion, nori, quail egg, garlic, avocado with a drizzle of unagi Sauce. This was quite good, with the mix of black and brown rice providing a good base flavour underneath the creamy avocado and smooth toro. The unagi sauce added a sweetness to the taste of each bite. Price was $11.95 (August 2014)

Dragon Roll

I ordered a Dragon roll as I was craving some unagi. I was a bit let down but this choice because it appeared that only two pieces of this roll had unagi slices on top of them. Two of the other pieces had salmon on top, and two had avocado. It was alright as a roll but at $10.95 (August 2014) I think I could have ordered an unagi roll at $4.75 and had a better experience. This is 3 times the price of a regular California roll and nowhere is this close in value to what you get at Samurai Sushi on Davie for their dragon roll. I was quite disappointed.

Note: On our second visit, we had ordered the Dragon roll and Spider roll with brown rice. There was a charge of $.50 extra on the Dragon roll and $1.00 extra for the Spider roll. We were told this was due to the spider roll being larger than the normal rolls.

All in all it was good but I was disappointed in the Dragon Roll as it seemed they took a basic California roll and added a few things and charged 3 times the price, and it being nowhere close in size to the similarly priced Spider Roll. Also it would have been nice to know that the charge for brown rice was double for the Spider Roll ahead of time.

Score: 7.5/10

Kawawa - My parents review of a gathering gone bad

Now I must disclose that I did not eat there tonight and that my parents asked me to write a review about this restaurant since they are not very good with computers yet are so adamant that I write this because of their poor experience. I have eaten a couple of times at Kawawa myself however it is at the bottom of my list when it comes to AYCE sushi, so I myself can attest to how lacking the quality of food is here plus the service is something you would compare to what you would receive if you were being served by your worst enemy. As a family we always go to our regular haunt of Kingsway Sushi anytime we go for AYCE. Sure the food is not of the highest quality however for an AYCE japanese restaurant it is one of the better ones around.

So here is what my parents gave to me to write. They were with a large group for a gathering. My parents were invited by my mom's co-worker. They were seated together as the other tables were already full. They had mentioned that the restaurant was quite busy, but they did comment on how they didn't understand why? More on this later. Now at Kawawa, you have to write your order down on an order form, much like Tomokazu on Broadway. My parents tell me that when they got their order in, they were then moved to join another table from their group to make a table of 8 (joining a table of 6). A server or a manager (Kelvin) comes over to them and says something like you have ordered too much for the amount of people. I have to cut the order because this is too much food for you. Now I know my parents, they cannot order too much food. My family which includes me and my brother who are two bigger guys who can eat, have never been told at Kingsway Sushi that you order too much food. My parents were in SHOCK that this person would come over and say they ordered too much food for how many people they are. My mom in fact does not eat sushi and is the type to order a bowl of rice, and my father does not eat many raw items, which are usually the bigger ticket items during the dinner menu at these places and I would understand if they limit those items. Once the food came, there were many dishes missing, instead of cutting the portion size they cut out certain items completely. Upon asking where the missing dishes were, they were told that they must first finish the food they brought them, only then will they receive the other items. Now at this point I'm pretty pissed as my mom recaps it for me, as a part time food blogger I don't understand why a place that is supposed to be in the business of AYCE how they can do this plus do it during dinner time where they charge more money for things my parents don't even eat. They also complained that the quality of food was quite lacking compared to Kingsway Sushi (The only place my parents can compare to).

My dad said in Filipino "I don't understand why this place was packed, the food wasn't good, everything was lacking quality, even the mango pudding had no taste and was hard like they put flour in it." I explained "maybe it was for fathers day".

I have eaten here before, twice. Not by choice, but other people's decisions. With what my parents have told me tonight about their experience. I don't think I'll ever go back.