Kinshi Rinji — Restaurant in Greater Strathcona

I came here with a few friends on a summer afternoon. The servers greeted us immediately and sat us down at a booth. When I took a look at the menu, I noticed that it was very long and there were many options, which was nice. My friends decided to get sushi while I ordered ramen.

My ramen was decent. The broth was slightly bland. Although there wasn't anything too special about the ramen, I enjoyed it overall. I was having a positive experience until the sushi rolls arrived. We began to eat and I noticed that the rice was soaked with vinegar. The vinegar taste was strong and made the rolls unappealing. When my friends and I talked about this to the server, her attitude seemed to drop immediately and she was quite defensive when we inquired about the rolls.

As it was difficult to eat vinegary sushi, my friend then asked for the rolls to be remade to give it another try. However, the new rolls were still soaked with vinegar and at this point, we simply did not want the dish anymore and would order something else. Upon hearing this request, the server was unhappy, rude, and simply stated, "The rolls are made that way. That's how sushi is made." I found this statement very condescending and unprofessional. Understanding that restaurants may make their food in different ways than other places, that is the main reason why we chose to try another dish...

I appreciated the friendly smiles when walking into the restaurant, as it felt welcoming, but I did not appreciate the poor service after bringing up the rolls and this made my first experience very poor. I don't expect to come back anytime soon, but maybe...

Searching for a sushi restaurant on Whyte Ave, Edmonton on Wednesday Dec 3, 2020. Lots of high praise for food & service especially the sushi. Sitting here now writing this review.

Today must have been an off day for service & food.

Our hostess/server greeted us right away but did she not want our business or doesn't believe their food was good?? Such a lackluster server. She, however, was really bubbly & engaging with the debit/credit machine to pay our bill.

Miso soup: uneventful. At least it wasn't watered down. Lots of seaweed & tofu..

Salmon sashimi: $$$ for average sized slices but fresh. The sushi chef needs a course in presentation.. 2 uncut romaine leaves doesn't make a dish presentable.

Rainbow roll: mushy sushi rice, skimpy fish covering rice roll and 3 slivers of avocado.

Tempura: only one large platter of vegetables & 3 shrimp available. Watch out...it's not tempura but greasy thick batter. I had to peel all the batter off to find 3 shrimp, 1 yam slice, 1 carrot slice and then the exposed items were soaking in grease. Was the server upset with my heaping pile of peeled off batter?

Maki Maki is a Japanese - Vietnamese restaurant known for its sushi & service. Well, not today. It's very expensive for sub-standard food. (Edo franchises are better). 2⭐s for a great glass of Coke with ice. Green tea tasted like it was a weak generic tea bag but it actually was steeped. $$$

Would recommend other restaurants along...

Honestly, it was one of my favorite places to go to, and I've invited many people there, but I will not be returning. Tonight we were the only table left, I ordered ramen and it had 0% salt which I would understand mistakes happen, but I had to ask for salt 4 times, and each time I was given a very small amount, and each time I had to get up to the counter to ask for it because the server was on the phone (again I understand, slow night, but we were litrally the only table, so looking up of your phone every few minutes should not be too much to ask for). Once we paid, we might have stayed a few minutes late, as we lost track of time but 10 minutes before closing we asked for the bill, and paid 2 or 3 minutes after, we went to the bathroom and the lights turned off, in both men and women's bathrooms we had to use flashlights to finish up, once again we were not there for a long time after closing it was very few minutes, and that was really disrespectful because we literally paid and the table was cleared we just had to use the bathroom before leaving (went at the same time, and our things were left on the table so to not waste time waiting for each other), so that was absolutely unnecessary to do. Service there was always great, and the food was great, but tonight is the last time that I or any of the people I recommend this place to will be returning there again. I hope the restaurant takes this criticism to update the...