KORI SUSHI – CLOSED

One of my favorite hobbies is finding new restaurants. I scour online review sites and social media looking for the next hidden gem. I’m not looking for newly opened restaurants, but rather ones with positive reviews that are new to me. The Hubby indulges and even encourages these adventures even as I fret over whether or not to trust online reviews. So far, I would estimate my success rate has been 50/50. Kori Sushi was one discovery that I would return to again.

Atmosphere: Kori was a quaint sushi shop, tucked in the corner of a strip mall near Bayview and Finch. The shop was hard to spot from the street, but easily visible once inside the parking lot. Decor was simple and the mom and pop shop was cozy.

Service: There was only one server working that night, but she took good care of us, was friendly and was constantly in motion. Since the shop was small, even with half the tables occupied, one server could manage. Our order arrived after a short wait and when I asked for extra ginger, our server brought over a small rice bowl filled to the brim, awesome.

Food: We kept our orders pretty simple that night and chose two Kori combos to split. One was the Kori Roll combo that came with dynamite, California and rainbow rolls ($16.99) and the other was the Sashimi Combo that came with 16 pieces of sashimi ($15.99). Both combos were served with a miso soup simple salad.

I quite enjoyed the rolls, that had a good rice to filling ratio, and weren’t too big for a single bite. These were satisfying and would be a good takeout option. As for the sashimi, I found the quality of the fish to be fresh, especially the butterfish which tasted very clean and crisp. The selection however, was limited. The 16 pieces turned out to be 4 each of salmon, tuna, butterfish and yellowtail. I may be spoiled by the chef’s selection of sushi restaurants downtown, so was disappointed with the basic options. I would have been happy with a menu option for fewer total pieces but more premium sashimi items (12 pieces but include scallop and unagi?).

Overall, Kori Sushi has a lot of promise and is a nice classic Japanese restaurant. There was also a variety of Korean dishes on the menu, a good option for families with members who don’t eat raw fish (ie. my dad).