Ika Sushi — Restaurant in Midvale

WOW WOW WOW is all I have to say! (Just kidding, I have a lot more than that as I always do, hahaha).

In a singular visit, this has easily become one of my favorite sushi places in the Salt Lake valley. I have been wanting to try Ika sushi for a while now and finally had the opportunity to do so last week. From the outside, it is very unassuming and tucked away within the Riverwalk Shopping Center. The interior of the restaurant is not huge, so while my friends and I were over the course of our for dinner, it filled fairly quickly. I have visited multiple restaurants that were in this specific storefront location that haven't stayed (a poke place, teriyaki, and more), and I HOPE so badly that Ika thrives here because the quality of their sushi was exceptional.

One of my friends ordered the Brussel Sprouts which I had the opportunity to try a bite of. To be honest, my first instinct in a sushi place would not be to order Brussel sprouts, but I am so glad my friend did! They are cooked in a citrus white miso sauce and that flavor of the sauce absolutely transforms this dish! Very flavorful!

Moving to the sushi, I ordered some Hamachi nigiri and based on my research from other reviews, I really wanted to try out the Twist & Shout roll. When I tell you that the Hamachi nigiri had one of the best quality pieces of raw fish I have ever had, I mean it! Beyond the flavor alone, biting into this piece of Hamachi and through to the rice was like slicing through a soft stick of butter - the texture was perfect! I was almost shocked. To continue to on to the Twist & Shout roll, I cannot express enough that this roll is a MUST try. If you are like me and love a good spicy sushi roll, and this one has the perfect balance of spice. With the chili oil and fresh jalapenos, you have such a nice level of heat that balances so well with the rest of the roll. Also, the addition of the garlic chips adds a nice crunch to each bite without it taking away from the overall texture of the sushi.

To end my review, I ask one thing from people who live in this area - please help Ika do well and visit! It is so refreshing to find restaurants in this area that aren't part of a chain, and I want it to succeed so I can keep coming here and not have to go downtown for...

My wife and I tried Ika Sushi for dinner for the first time, today. We ordered the Nasu Miso appetizer, and the Omakase Set Sushi and Ika Chirashi.

The Nasu Miso Appetizer is described as, “Japanese eggplant, w/citrus white miso sauce”. The eggplant appeared to be regular Italian eggplant, instead of softer-skinned Japanese eggplant. Although the skin on the eggplant was a bit tough, the meat of the eggplant was tender and delicious.

The Omakase Set Sushi is described as, “10 pcs of Chef's special nigiris & hand roll”. Each piece of nigiri sushi was dressed with a light nikiri sauce and/or garnished with a condiment like shiso or salty plum. The rice was a tad under seasoned, but the texture was good. Each piece was delicious.

For the hand roll, my wife chose a spider roll. The spider roll is a whole, tempura-fried, soft shell crab wrapped in seaweed with rice, cucumber, tobiko and avocado. It was substantial and delicious.

The Ika Chirashi is described as, “10 pcs, sashimi, shrimp, tamago & ikura on top of sushi rice”. The rice was a tad under seasoned, but the texture was good. However, it was sprinkled with a green powdered furikake seasoning. Some of the fish was dressed with a light nikiri sauce and/or garnished with a condiment.

Everything we tried was quite good. For the first time since I’ve been in Utah, I finally got to enjoy sushi that wasn’t just plain, undressed and ungarnished fish, and was more like the sushi that we’ve enjoyed in Japan. I’m already looking forward to returning to try the Uni Noodle, which is described as, "Special rich uni cream sauce w/ fresh...

Went here after reading about how they make the effort to elevate the rice they use in the sushi. I mentioned that to the server who had no clue and just said she thought the rice was fine. That's what we had. Fine rice. I didn't notice the seasoning being special, and the rice on the nigiri we had was as compressed as most standard places places do it. Way too much. The concept of the rice kernels being separate at all was not there. Other reviews mentioned the authenticity of the sushi, I just mention it was not to the caliber of the sushi we had at an outlet mall sushi shop near Mt Fuji. In other words, standard, nothing special sushi at a mall. The specialty sushi restaurants in Tokyo, Kyoto and elsewhere, were better. Don't know how that matches being "authentic" or not. That's a term that gets thrown around a lot. I can only give my experience of eating sushi in Japan. It was very different here. Now that's out of the way, we had an excellent meal. We started with the kumamoto oysters. The mignonette with the oysters was excellent. The deep fried soft sheel lobster with ponzu was excellent. The uni shooter with raw quail egg on top was nice. I don't know if I'd get it again, though. The miso soup was above average. The markup on the bottles of sake is more than fair. We finished up with a selection of nigiri. All was good. I won't elaborate beyond having a couple pictures.

If I lived near here, I'd be back, but it's not better than my local place I go to near my house, so...