So, I do believe it was around the month of May, that I had driven by a new building on Macleod Trail in South Calgary, where I noticed what would become a new restaurant! Yay!! Out of curiosity and of course, my sheer love for sushi, I went home to locate their contact number online. Upon contacting them, I was informed they would not be open, until the month of August. I crossed my fingers, and hoped it would be well worth the wait!
On several occasions, I almost ended up dining there. However, it did not occur until one lovely Sunday evening, after a day filled with Scrapbooking. Dawn & I, our morning had started out with some dim sum in Chinatown, at the Regency Palace in Dragon City Mall. My sister & my two, almost three year old nephew, joined us. Least to say, young children are very busy! Good thing my niece, Charlotte wasn’t there, as it would’ve been more difficult to keep track of them both.
Okay, apologies for becoming side tracked. Anyway, after a long & productive afternoon Scrapbooking, Dawn & I, naturally decided sushi for dinner at this new Sho Sushi Bar & Kitchen, would be a great idea. We arrived at the restaurant, about 7pm. It wasn’t super busy, but yet it wasn’t dead either. Good sign. Upon being seated, I noticed the hostess was rummaging under the front counter. To my surprise, her hands resurfaced with a long dish, separated into three sections, filled with snacks, for while we look through their menu. I thought that was a good idea, different, as I had never experienced this at any other sushi restaurant. The dish was filled with a pickled cabbage mixture, which was slightly spicy, pieces of lightly salted dried seaweed, and a mix of seasoned peanuts with little dried fish. I loved the dried seaweed, didn’t mind the peanut/dried fish mixture, but did not care for the pickled cabbage. It reminded me of the Korean Kimchi, to which I am not a huge fan. Also upon being seated, the hostess called out a Japanese greeting to the sushi chefs, and they replied to her with the same. Just don’t ask me, what it meant, ha! But at least it sounded very upbeat and friendly. I had also noticed, once we were seated, the hostess called the greeting out again, for the next guests, but she never got a reply from the sushi chefs. I am presuming, they were either too busy to reply, or simply did not hear her. Oh well…
Now, onwards to what I thought about the sushi. First off, I was not very impressed with the menu. It was quite contemporary, and nothing like the traditional sushi menu, I am used to. There seemed to be few items I recognized, including the fact, they did not have my favorite fish, which is the Saba. (mackerel) *sigh* They did have some different variety of rolls, which sounded interested. One of those, I decided to try, and was called: Gold mountain, or something to that effect. I am so terrible with names! Ha!! The reason to why I decided to order this particular roll, is because the outside rice is rolled in this crackly textured rice, which resembled tiny balls. Inside the roll, consisted of mushroom and advocado, topped with spicy tuna and gold masago. It tasted good, except the crackly rice kept on getting stuck in my teeth, and tasted a tad sweet. I did not favour that, but the rest of the roll was good. Because of the crackly rice, and even though it looked pretty, I would not order this roll again. I also ordered a tuna sashimi, which was excellent. Quite fresh. Then just a Nigiri sushi in both the scallop and salmon. The scallops were very small, but tasted good. The salmon was mediocre. I’ve had better. But we have noticed as of lates, that the tuna has been tasting better than the salmon. Interesting! Dawn wasn’t in the mood for rolls, and so she also ordered a tuna sashimi, her favorite chopped scallops, and the salmon roe, battle ship style. She enjoyed the tuna sashimi the best. We did not order anything else, as nothing else had appealed to us.
The service was good. Our server was attentive enough, to fill our water glasses, and was available when we had questions about the menu. But other than that, he pretty much left us to enjoy our meal.
Since the building is so tall, the washrooms are located upstairs. Upon visiting the washroom, I noticed there was a bar/lounge up there as well. Seemed more low key, than the restaurant atmosphere downstairs. More quiet. I can see that area, either being used for couples on dates, or more private/group events, like birthday parties, etc.
I did notice, the restaurant was very clean. Some other customers has ordered dished on a hot plate. We smelt the fuel from that, which wasn’t very appetizing. But thank goodness, we had already finished dining. Upon finishing our meal, we were offered the dessert menu, & served frozen grapes on a stick. We passed on dessert and ate our grapes instead.
All in all, my dining experience in this restaurant was alright. Nothing spectacular, but nothing terrible either. If anything, I think their location serves them well, as they are located right close to Chinook Shopping Mall, and on a busy street. They do have competition across the street though, with Kinjo Floating Sushi Bar. So, we shall see how well they do. They have only been open for a couple of weeks after all. I am not sure whether I’d visit again, but it wasn’t that terrible, that I wouldn’t. If you are in meighbourhood, try Sho out, and let us know what you think! It definitely was a different, not conventional or traditional sushi restaurant. And if that is what you are looking for, then it might become one of your favorite sushi hang outs. Another note, prices were fairly reasonable. My portion of the bill came to $25.00, including the tip. Not bad at all! And yet another side note, this restaurant seems great and affordable for lunch-goers, in the surrounding area. But for night time dining, you be the judge.
Sho Sushi Bar & Kitchen
7212 Macleod Trail South
Calgary, AB
Ph: (403) 252-5199
Happy Sushi Belly 