Koto Japanese Steakhouse at Carousel Mall: A Guru Review

To be honest, I’ve been wanting to try Koto Japanese Steakhouse since the first one opened on Erie Boulevard. As a sushi addict there are only a few places I enjoy in Syracuse so I was banking on Koto to help me out. Known for a huge menu of unique sushi rolls, classics and a surprising amount of Japanese cuisine including full hibachi, I was pretty excited to eat there two nights ago, albeit at Carousel Mall. “Why not?” I thought, as mouth-watering aromas wafted into the mall food court (that’s probably a first).

We had just gotten out of the movie Safe House (go ahead and save your $10) and I was particularly starving on this particular evening (though that’s nothing new). The thought of my awaiting giant boat of delicious salmon, tuna, more salmon and shrimp tempura roll all topped with tobiko slowly becoming a potential reality, we went in Koto and sat down.

Almost as soon as we got to the bar I had a distinct feeling that I should turn around and opt for Tokyo Seoul instead. Just glancing at Koto’s website will tell you about their “unique ambiance”. I’ll give them that alright, assuming by “unique ambiance” they mean brighter than your local 7-11 with shiny tile floors out of a car dealership. I expected a chill but modern interior where you could relax but instead, what I got was blindness. Maybe it was being fresh out of a dark movie theater but jeez, somebody turn down the lights! Whatever, I was there for the food. Continuing on into the back room it felt nothing like a restaurant. You can’t tell if you’re there to eat or haggle on a used car. It just doesn’t have a dining ambiance. When it comes to Japanese restaurants what I want is a comfortable experience out of the spotlight (literally) with good friends and hot sake. Tokyo Seoul offers this, Kyoko’s offers this and Ichiban does too–Koto simply doesn’t. The unsettling, hyper lit interior didn’t turn me away but definitely turned me off.

Service was absolutely fine so there’s no reason to expand on that. Once I sat at our oddly placed table (sorry, the interior was really distracting me) I opened up the impressive menu, which is absolutely huge and set up perfectly to convince you to go all out on your order. That is until you look at the Nigiri sushi prices. As I said, I was there for sushi only–not hibachi. Look at the separate sushi menu and you’ll see the standard hand rolls, Nigiri and special Koto rolls. Being a minimalist with my sushi I always order several pieces of Nigiri. Prices were comparable to higher-end ‘Cuse sushi establishments–$3.00 to $3.50. Reasonable. Then I read the fine print. Koto gives you ONE piece per order when it is always two pieces at every sushi joint I’ve ever been to. This means that three pieces of salmon Nigiri sushi with rice costs $9! I seriously almost chugged my Asahi and left. I don’t care what anyone says, these prices are crazy–and not just for Syracuse. Tokyo Seoul, even with it’s ever present bank-breaking potential, gives you double that for about the same money.

After that I noticed a “sushi entree” section and went for the Spicy Trio for $16. What’s with the sudden reasonable prices? I’m glad I didn’t get ripped off by ordering of the actual sushi menu. Spicy Trio comes with spicy salmon roll, spicy tuna roll and spicy yellowtail roll. That’s eighteen pieces of sushi! I had to go with this but asked that they make each spicy roll a “spicy crunchy roll” (add tempura) and top the whole thing with flying fish roe (aka tobiko). As I said in my Tokyo Seoul review, I love spicy crunchy salmon roll. My dad was with me and not being a fan of sushi, went with Thai fried rice. My three sushi rolls came out on a long plate, looking less fresh than I hoped. The Thai fried rice looked good. The server failed to identify any of my three rolls and tasting them did no help to elucidate the mystery. I tried one of each and to be honest they could have all been salmon and most likely were. The sushi I’m used to actually has vastly different flavors fish to fish but this stuff was one thing–salty! I’m not gonna lie to you, I ate every last piece. What it lacked in authenticity and flavor it almost made up for by being junk food. Junk food sushi, though “drunk sushi” might be a better term. The kind you eat because it’s there, it’s technically sushi and it’s salty. Unfortunately, that’s not what I’m looking for or what I’d ever–in a million years–call Guru Approved. I asked my dad if he like his Thai fried rice. “It’s edible,” was all I heard. One bite revealed it to be absolutely flavorless. I didn’t see anything “Thai” about it. Also, I can almost guarantee the vegetables weren’t fresh–lima beans, peas, carrots, etc. Hardly worth the already cheap price of $10.

Not Guru Approved.

Disclaimer: This review is for the Carousel Mall location only. I will provide a separate review of the Erie Boulevard location. Also this review mainly covers sushi, hibachi did look pretty promising but if the fried rice ingredients are poor, I’m not about to drop $21 on steak hibachi and neither should you.

Koto Japanese Steakhouse at Carousel Mall food court

© 2012, Michael Rotella. All rights reserved.