Big Catch Sushi Bar — Restaurant in Calgary

As a long time customer of Big Catch, they will always be my favourite place for sushi. Reading through the negative reviews made my heart sink; I have known the owners since their time at the market and have had many in-depth conversations with them.

Price: Be prepared to spend a little more here. Yes, the sushi isn’t $10/roll, however, for the amount, the flavour, and the quality; the price is fair. I have seen fast food sushi for a worse price. The owners work hard and they only have the one restaurant, they did up their prices a bit from when they worked at the market; but that is understandable as they now run a restaurant, and not just a market food stand. (Plus inflation is a huge change in prices. They need to insure they are making an income. In regards to paying extra for sauce, as a restaurant that is only working takeout and trying to maintain costs, it is reasonable and fair to charge.)

Taste: I have never been disappointed by the sushi. They range in flavour from sweet, savoury, to spicy. It’s always amazing flavour in your mouth. I honestly recommend not using soy sauce for the special rolls (ie. Autumn Harvest, Green Halo, Passion Sunrise, etc.) The rolls have so much flavour. I have seen many sushi restaurants (even in Calgary) that serve fruit or jalapeños on their sushi. The salmon and tuna are not bland, and they always just melt in your mouth. The new red rice was a surprising change, I personally loved it, it gave a different flavour to the sushi rather than the normal “sushi rice” that you are used to.

Presentation: Big Catch has always strived for presentation, when they were open for dine in, they had beautiful designs and plated sushi so beautifully. Now that they are only sticking to takeout, they are still preforming as well as they can. Sure, sometimes the sushi may fall apart during takeout and travel, or the special rolls make look a little bit different, but I have personally seen Big Catch present sushi the way they have it in photos.

Overall: If you are looking for a contemporary sushi bar that strives to serve its customers well, I highly recommend big catch. Through the closures and the changes they have had to adapt as well as they can. The owners are doing their best to stick to their traditional roots and produce quality sushi that you would see in Japan. So yes, be prepared to spend a little more; this isn’t some subpar sushi restaurant that pumps out sushi a mile a minute without caring. When you sit in the restaurant you can see the chefs handle it with care and try their hardest. The staff are so friendly and always up for a chat. (Yes, it’s hard to hear them recently because the stupid masks make it harder to understand someone.) I cannot wait to go back in person someday.

[Tonight we ordered and we were absolutely satisfied and loved the flavour, we don’t order every month, only on special occasions, but it’s...

What a nice surprise this place was. Excellent sushi quality. Better than many in town.

Prices here are great for the quality and considering the huge increases in the prices of everything in 2024 in general. For a group of 3 (2 adults and a child), we spent approx $250 for dinner with a sake and a yam panna cotta. Not cheap, but for reference, we've spent double before and left hungry at a restaurant downtown.

Here, we were full but not to the point of indigestion. Similar quality blue fin toro elsewhere in the city was $15 per piece. This place gives you 3 pieces for this same price.

If all sushi is the same to you or you can't tell what is good or not (i.e. supermarket cooler sushi tastes good to you) then save your money and go to the restaurants closer to Chinook.

The menu here is good. Some standard main fare and a good selection of special /unique items. The California roll, dynamite roll and miso soups were the least impressive. Everything else was wonderful. If it was not for my kiddo, I wouldn't have ordered the first 3 items. But, they were not bad at all and my kid loved them.

The tempura is exceptional. Crispy, not too mich batter and flavorful.

The shrimp and unagi nigiri were delicious and prepared perfectly, not mushy and also not dry nor smothered in sauce. 2 items created well above the average Calgarian Japanese restaurant standard. Oshi was well balanced, creative, and wonderfully smokey.

Plating was beautiful with natural items like pretty flower petals for spota of colour. Zero plastic items was also a plus.

This small restaurant is in a very basic strip mall with an underwhelming exterior. Inside it is decorated nicely in a lovely classic minimalistic design. I especially liked the very nice selection of pottery pieces used for table settings and decor accents.

Good place for a small family dinner, lunch with friends, or a casual date spot. Great food but not at all pretentious. Vibe is mellow and relaxed. Service is attentive and food preparation is perfectly timed.

I think if you want a truly romantic date night meal though, another place might be better unless they dim the lights for evening service. I feel it's a bit bright otherwise.

For eating out with a large group, I'd recommend calling in advance so they can move some tables and seats together.

Hopefully, this restaurant will stay around. It's a very good one. We'll make an effort to be back whenever we visit...

The food was good, and I think it is worth going, but I felt like the quality of the food was a bit inconsistent.

Yuzu Thyme Calimari: The outside batter was light and perfect, but the inside was overly oily and tasted of raw batter. Moreover, the sauce and seasonings that accompany the dish do nothing to improve the flavor. Overall a huge miss. I would never order this again because even if it were cooked properly, I don’t think this would be a successful dish.

Oshizushi: We ordered the Tokyo Smoke and another I can’t recall. Both kinds of Oshizushi has very nice complex flavor and texture. This was one of the highlights of the meal. I find most sushi restaurants try to add rolls that are carelessly stuffed with too many different ingredients, but both Oshizushi I ordered were wonderful. This is the main reason why I am willing to return and give this restaurant a recommendation.

Toro: I had asked if they served chutoro and they said that actually, their toro listed on the menu is chutoro. We ordered three pieces, and it was not worth it. It felt like lower quality than any other chutoro I’ve had in my life. The amount of marbling with practically non-existent.

Hotate Nigiri: This was a well-made piece, but we were surprised that this came out aburi style, I think this should have been properly indicated when ordering ala carte, but it was a great piece.

Saba Nigiri: This piece was also seared aburi style without asking and served with spring onion and grated radish in a (ponzu?) sauce. This piece was, after considering the other pieces flawlessly made in every aspect. I can’t speak enough about how well-made this was. Certainly the best saba I’ve had in Japan or anywhere and so much better crafted than everything else we ordered that it is difficult to believe that this came out of the same kitchen.

Dessert: we ordered a yam panna cotta. I felt like this was a very well-made. However, it is not a particularly sweet or strongly-flavored dessert by Western standards. I think a decent amount of their clientele will not like how subtle the flavors are here.

Since writing this review, I have revised my rating to a 5/5. My position stands that I do not like their Chutoro or the Yuzu Thyme Calimari, but all their other menu items have far exceeded my...