Ottawa Foodies

Just a heads up - Sushi Kan has opened a second location at Innes at Blair, where the Denny's used to be.

Also, they recently changed their menu. Some items were removed and new things added (shrimp nigiri under weekend dinner special). The servers were still confused about it a few weeks back, because the numbers on the items changed. It caused a bit of confusion, but we sorted it out in the end.

They also charge for ice cream ($1 for 2 scoops) and the pop is no longer by the can, it's fountain drinks.

The food: Good. Or at least, so-so. Pay for what you get. Standard sushi restaurant fare.

The service: Blech. We came here a few months back with about 12 friends on a quiet Thursday night for dinner to celebrate a baby (hurray fish!) and a birthday. It took them fifteen minutes to seat us. Even though they were empty. What the heck!?

They continuously mixed up which table ordered what.

They insisted that a three year old pay full price for child (I think their child rate starts at age 5), even though she didn't really eat that much (sadly, she had left with the rest of her family and so, we were stuck arguing with the waiter/manager). They also wanted to charge for the newborns (under six months) together as one child...because you know, two 6 month old kids can eat the same as one three year old...right.

Anyway, there are a tonne of wonderful sushi places in Ottawa which don't have the awful service. Sure, they may not be fine dining, and that is not what I expect (New User 1140), especially not at $25 a head. What I do expect, is that the wait staff be courteous, know what is going on, apologize for mistakes, and don't charge me for people in my party who do not eat anything that doesn't come from their mothers' breasts.

Oh, also, this is not one of those "try it, if you don't like it restaurants": As defoo said, if you don't like it, you have to pay full price for the order. What is more, is if you don't order a lot at once, you're stuck waiting for twenty minutes per order. If you order too much, you're forced to eat it, or to hide it in your teapot, purse, bathroom.

What they are doing "right", is swindling their customers out of money by overcharging children/youth, and by not telling them the rules of the road. I really how that the third SushiKan fails, and that this restaurant falls flat on its behind.

I must say, looking at all these reveiws of a resturaunt that I frequent often is blowing my mind. These are people are the type of people that go to an all inclusive vacation on last minute rates expecting 5 star accomadations and Lobster and Steak for dinner, and 15 year old scotch! When they don't get that they struggle to say alot about good things. However stand back if they can be a critic! Here comes the bad.

Lastly if you want a dinning experiance, go to Hy's and bring a couple of Brown Notes! If you want lightning servie go to McDonald's or Pizza Pizza.

Now for my review.

As for value and food! Both are of very good at Sushi Kan. Some things are awsome some things are not. (I can say this about every resturaunt) Like I say to my 8 year old. Try it if you don't like it, you don't need to eat it. In this enviorment it is a perfect enviorment to do just that. You want to experiance Sushi, go do it. The people who run it are very much encouraging for you to do just that. Be sure to tell them if it is your first time there or not. They will share all kinds of information with you.

The drink prices are very reasonable. Lg size soda or Ice tea just a $1.00.

The shrimp tempra, california rolls, calamari, salmon, tuna, flying fish eggs, are amongst my favorite things.

A suggestion to improve your service time and get quicker service. What I do seeing how I frequent there often. I have my initial order pretty much preplanned and the moment I sit down I write it down and get it in. Giving me more time to mull over more possible selections.

In final speaking with the staff, appearently they open Sushi Kanata 2 years ago, All you can Sushi Kan 1 year ago, and now their third location is on Innes is Opening Shortly. They must be doing something right.

Go in with lower expectations and let your self be amazaed with all the Sushi Kan experiance.

P.S Bring one Red Note and expect to get change! For a party of two. Good Deal! Thanks Sushi Kan, see you again and often.

My family visited the restaurant when it first started in business, the raw fish that they served were not fresh at all (some even started to turn gray!)

Today (June 19 2008), my uncle and I went to try out Sushi Kan again by an recommendation of a friend who claimed that the restaurant had improved a lot. When we arrived, I was impressed by the high volume of people that were eating there.

After we set down, the waitress then spent around 5 seconds to explain to me how the item quantity in each sections on the menu differed. For example, each order of shrimp tempura had 2 tempuras, each order Roll sushi contained 6 pieces, each order of nigiri sushi contains 1-piece, and so on. I was quickly confused and wasn't paying much attention to the waitress because of the noisy background. At first I thought all of that "ordering instruction" would be on the menu anyway, because, really, which restaurant would expect a customer to remember all that information in a 5 sec explanation given by the server. After the waitress left, I took a good look at the menu and stunted by the fact that I could not find anything she said in there.

Anyways, we started ordering food by writing them down on a piece of paper. We started with an order of the shrimp tempura, few pieces of nigiri sushi. The sushi rice was hard, and the shrimp tempura was obviously not freshly made and was not even warm when served. After 30 - 40 minutes, we asked for the bill. At the moment, we were greeted with 18-pieces of spicy white tuna sushis. At first we thought it was a mistake because we only made 3 order of the spicy white tuna sushi (which from my understanding, each order should contain 1 piece only). Then the waitress rudely explained that each order actually had 6-pieces. At first, I tried to cancel half of the 18 pieces by reasoning with her that I made an honest mistake. She then went on telling us that we had to either finish all 18 pieces or pay for everything that we cannot finish and, in our case, it would be 9 dollars ($1 for 2 pieces). Paying an extra $9 for a $13 lunch was clearly not worth it, so we were pretty much forced to finish all the pieces that we didn't mean to order. After we struggled to finish everything, we paid (even left tips despite the rudeness we received from the waitress) and left the restaurant. As we walked out to the door, we could hear a few servers laughing behind our back.

Really, I don't believe the restaurant should rely on the servers to pass us the information by the word of mouth. They should either print the information on the menu. If they can't fit that into the menu for some ridiculous reason, they should at the very least put a sign on table. I don't think we were the first group who were troubled by the confusing ordering information. Or perhaps the restaurant purposely left that important piece of info out of the menu in the hope that customer would fall for it and end up paying more.

Kate, that's totally it with Sushi Kan. You can only figure out what's good if you order it. It's totally hit and miss. Thanks for the feedback on the sushi pizza as I've been wanting to try it. Guess I won't now!

I ate here for my birthday last Saturday. Although I had made a reservation, we found ourselves waiting at the door for about 15 minutes before they even greeted us, then another 5 or so before we were seated. Once we were seated, however, the food came reasonably fast. We were able to order two rounds in less than an hour. Because we were a larger party (10), we weren't really sure if we got items we hadn't ordered though. None the less, it was all eaten.

The food is so-so, nothing really to write home about. There were some foods that everyone agreed on, including the steak teriyaki, the udon noodle bowls, the calamari, and a couple of rolls (yummy yummy roll being one).

There were also some things that were a huge miss, like the salmon teriyaki, the ramen noodle bowls, and the ICE CREAM! Freezer burn to boot, don't go near it. I also though the sushi pizza wasn't very good, it was overfried and tasted like it was left out for an hour before serving...yuck

This is definitely a case of you get what you pay for. At 23$ a person on a saturday night, it's a pretty good deal for the selection. I can't say I won't go back, but I will know what to stay away from next time.

We went for dinner at Sushi Kan on Friday night. It wasn't overly busy, but the service was really quick. When I say quick, I mean that we handed in our sheet with our orders and the sushi started to arrive in under 5 minutes.

It was definitely one of our better experiences there.

I had the worst sushi I've ever had here , ever ! but also some of the best and at a reasonable price ? It's a mixed review for Sushi Kan.

Don't expect fine dining at Sushi Kan, but if you want a big feed of sushi at a reasonable price, then this is the place for you.

The food is so-so...maybe a little better than what you could buy at the Superstore, but there's LOTS of it and a good variety too. Like Nanook says, you can try all kinds of new sushi dishes here and not worry about spending too much or getting stuck with something you don't like.

The decor is" hospital cafeteria' meets "enter the dragon." Comfortable enough, but nothing fancy.

The service is hit and miss. The servers tend to treat your order like 'suggestions' of what to bring you and don't always get you everything you ask for. On my first visit they just plain stopped serving us in the middle of the meal. It was like they decided we'd had enough. We asked for the bill and left.

I was there for the third or fourth time last night and the service was considerably better and much faster, but we were still semi-abandoned about half-way through the meal and had to nab someone to get a drink refill.

Keep your expectations low and you won't be disappointed.

I've eaten at Sushi Kan for the last time!! I have now eaten here for lunch 5 times, and each time the service gets worse. Today was the last straw when our orders were given to the large group at the table behind us. I had to leave to make it back to work for a meeting, so I wasn't able to re-order what I had already ordered... but I still had to pay the full amount after consuming only miso soup, one tempura shrimp, and about 6 pieces of sushi (I was there for an hour at this point). The food is okay, but not good enough to make up for the service. I totally agree with Nanook's assessment of the service, and it just seems to get worse with each visit. I know this site is all about the food - but for me, the service is part of culinary experience and if the service is really bad, it doesn't matter if the food it good. Maybe if the food was exceptional, it would be worth tolerating the shoddy service, but it isn't. Good value for the money maybe (if you actually get your order), but remember, your time is worth something too.

I find mackerel hard to stomach at the best of times. But the last time we were there (after Christmas) people in our group ordered it and didn't finish it.

The salmon sashimi is amazing here. The white tuna is good. But you must avoid the mackerel at all costs. Most disgusting thing i've ever put in my mouth. In contrast the salmon is so delicious and melts in your mouth.

Also avoid the salmon teriyaki at all cost. Disgusting.

Last time I was here (at Christmastime) I decided to order a bunch of different items to see how they were. We had a huge group, so I figured someone would eat it.

The calamari was wonderful. Not too rubbery, not overfried. The calamari was deep-fried. Easily some of the best I've had. It was a pleasant surprise.

On my last visit I ordered the Dragon roll (white and red) and quite liked the change to the baked roll. I also recommend the spicy crispy salmon and the Yummy Yummy roll.

Thought this place was great! It may not be the real Japanese Sushi, but it'll do for the price they ask for. Have been back here maybe 4 times in the last month. Thought lunches are better than dinner.