Shinobi Sushi Bar & Grill — Restaurant in Salt Lake City

Long waits and dissapointing quality.

I am all about supporting local businesses which is why I gave Shinobi 3 chances to earn my support. I am sad to say that they failed all 3 times.

During my last and final visit for take out, I called in an order and drove to the location. I was told it would take 20 min for my order (3 rolls and tempura veggies). I arrived 22 min after I placed my order. I waited at the front seating area for ~5 min without being greeted. I walked over to the sushi bar area to seek some help, where I encountered the sushi chef who immediately swatted his arm at me to walk back to the front where there was no host. I told him "I have a pickup order" and he continued to swat his arm "YOU CAN'T BE HERE. GO UP FRONT!"

I contiued to wait up front for a few more minutes until the hostess came to ring up another guest, who walked in after I did. I paid and continued to wait another 10 minutes.

What I thought was going to be an easy pickup for dinner was a long waste of time. After I arrived home to eat my meal, the sushi rolls were grocery store quality at best and they averaged $12+ per roll.

The extended wait times and sub par quality were common denominators in my 3 visits (in person, take out, and take out). I do not appreciate wasted time. The location is convenient and close to home for me which is why I was excited for a local sushi spot. I will continue to drive further into town for my Japanese takeout meals.

Advice to management: Remove your "wait to be seated sign" and let people find their own spots. That way you won't have to swat at people.

Thank you Shinobi for the meals you made me. I sincerely wish you all the best...

We discovered Shinobi through a sponsored add on Instagram. After looking at Yelp and Google reviews we had high expectations and were excited to try it. We came in a few minutes after opening and were seated right away. The decor was fun and the restaurant was spacious.

We were deciding on hand rolls and asked the waitress what types of hand rolls they have and it didn't seem like she knew the menu. She had to ask her co-worker about the menu. We ended up getting the calamari for an appetizer. It tasted mostly of breading and could barely taste the calamari. The large sashimi platter was $45 and the fish tasted off.. it didn't taste fresh at all and was slimy and warm. The tuna had a film on it and the salmon left some slimy spots on the plate. We were struggling to finish it.

We picked 2 rolls, the Phoenix roll and the firecracker roll. The firecracker was doused in sauce and you can't taste any of the fish. The Phoenix roll was okay.

The service could use some improvement. Our waitress came over a little after we started eating to give us our checks.. we weren't halfway through eating our food. When we were ready to pay, she cleared our table and passed by several more times but didn't grab the check. It took over 15 minutes for her to grab it. When she did ring us up, she was standing at the counter talking to her co worker for another 5 minutes before bringing us our check to sign.

Overall, the ambiance of the restaurant was good, but the food wasn't. Our total ended up being $100 and it wasn't worth it. This was probably the most disappointing dining...

We live walking distance to the restaurant, so we thought we'd give it a try. The first time we went as a party of two, the wait for sushi was as long as any we've had at any sushi spot. The food, was hit and miss, but the service was decent... until the end of the meal when we were given (and paid) the wrong check. It took so long to fix the problem that we were late for a show we had tickets for.

We decided to give them one more shot with our family as a party of six. The veggie tempura came out first after about 15 minutes. The first of the sushi dishes came out 30 minutes later. Our slow eating 10-year-old of the group was done with his dinner before the rest of us started ours. The server did not explain or apologize for the wait until we finally complained, and made no attempt to make good on the disastrous wait time. We had to ask for soy sauce to be brought when the sushi finally arrived and one of the two containers was empty. (Did I mention that one of the cloth napkins they gave us at the beginning was soaking wet for some reason?) And even after we told our server we wouldn't be ordering anything else--we would surely have not received it before closing time--we had to interrupt a social chat among the staff to ask for our check. I'm sure we weren't a priority since their 20% gratuity was already included for our party of six.

Two stars because despite the egregious wait time and horrible appearance of the sushi rolls, the flavor was good.

I have no idea how they're rated so high by other reviewers. We will...