This past Monday, I met three friends for lunch at Ozeki (Spall and Enterprise) for some Japanese food. Normally none of us would have chosen Ozeki and we had originally intended to try Yamato (97 and 33, beside the Asian Market), but discovered that it is closed Mondays. By the time we found out, we had already got into the mindset that we’d be having Sushi, so the next closest place we could think of was Ozeki.

One issue I have with Ozeki is parking, especially at lunch. They share a lot with Baxter’s and iQuest fitness, both of which are also very busy at lunchtime. The small lot coupled with noon being a high traffic time for all three businesses can make finding parking very inconvenient. I lucked out and got the last spot, but a couple of my friends were confronted with a minor hike (though it was probably a good idea considering how much they were about to eat).

My favourite aspect of Ozeki is the staff. They are extremely friendly and usually very attentive, without being intrusive. I find this especially true of the guys behind the bar who are making the sushi. If you find yourself at Ozeki by yourself or with one other person I would highly recommend sitting at the bar.

We were greeted in the usual cheerful Ozeki manner and whisked away to a booth in the back of the restaurant. Ozeki does feature some regular tables, but is comprised mainly of Japanese style booths where you remove your shoes and sit on a carpeted bench around the table. Many of these booths have sliding doors to give you privacy should you be looking for a more intimate meal. Some people don’t like these booths (especially people with mobility issues, as they can be hard to get into), but I really enjoy them. I’ve never been to a restaurant in Japan, so I don’t know how authentic they are, but they certainly feel authentic to me.

Ozeki’s décor isn’t bad, but it is a little dated. New carpeting on the floor and in the booths would work wonders for the place, but overall it’s not bad. Because of all the enclosed bamboo booths, the restaurant can feel somewhat small and even a little claustrophobic, but I think that also adds to the authentic Tokyo sushi house feel. I’ve never been to Ozeki for dinner, but I would expect that the lower light levels at night would add to that feeling and improve the ambience dramatically.

We all started with Miso soup, which isn’t a favourite of mine, but it was cold and rainy outside, so I needed it to help me warm up. The Miso at Ozeki was very good, at least very good for Miso soup and would definitely order it again if it was cold or rainy.

Two of my friends ordered “lunch boxes”, which provide a lot of food for $10-12 (depending on what you want). I can’t comment on what most of their food was like, but I did try some teriyaki chicken, which was pretty good.

My other friends and I split an assortment of sushi and sashimi. My California Roll and Spicy Tuna Roll were very good, but I wish I could say the same about my Yam Roll. The yam was obviously undercooked, which made eating it a lot less pleasurable than I would have liked. The sashimi was good, but not great. I have found that the salmon at Ozeki usually tastes a little like chemicals, but was pleasantly surprised to find that it didn’t this time. That being said, I’ve had much better salmon and tuna sashimi at other establishments in town.

Overall it was a pretty good meal, but Ozeki is never my first choice for Japanese and this experience won’t change that. The dollar value for what you get is pretty standard amongst Japanese restaurants. I find that if you get a lunch box or combo, you get a very good deal, but if you’re ordering sushi a la carte, it can get expensive very quickly.

Ambience: 3/5

Taste: 3/5

Value: 3/5

Overall: 3/5

On a side note, there are a lot of great culinary happenings  in the next week that I will be able to fill you in on.