Ottawa Foodies

Had takeout from Genji tonight. The man on the phone gave me good takeout service, read back my order to confirm everything. We had miso soup, and the: spider roll, sweet potato roll, spicy tuna roll, teriyaki chicken roll and tumpura shrimp roll.

All of these rolls were excellent. I can't really think of anything that I could critique here... the miso soup was just alright, nothing mindblowing. The standout roll for me was the spider roll. The crab was very meaty and excellently crisp. Also, the spicy salmon roll was delicious, they did NOT skimp on the salmon in this roll which I definitely noticed. The price was a little higher than my usual sushi takeout (SushiGo!), but the quality made up for it. Recommended.

Note: Atmosphere was very nice inside, since I ordered takeout I didn't get a chance to gauge the service from the waiters, but the man at the cash was very nice.

New User 1164...chill out and recognize that a lot of the bad reviews are older, and that people have a right to their opinion. so, really, before you go blasting your mouth off--which i believe were your words--bear in mind that just because you ate there once, does not meant that it is a tremendous experience for everyone. instead, tell us: why was it a tremendous experience for you.

top of the class food can still be awful if its poorly prepared.

Hey people,

I've been to Genji when they first open. If you ask them they will even show you the actuall packages for the food. They are using top of the class food.

One of you said that it was terrible for the Price. Unfortunately for you, they have been reviewed by numurous fancy high class society and they cater to extremely large events. They have a 9.2/10 average by over 19 000 customer since they open.

Before you blast off your mouth check your faqs. It's always more pleasant.

Just to echo what Antifillers is saying below, I too find Genji to be inconsistent. I still haven't been disappointed but I order my favourites and they seem to be coming out quite different. Has there been a recent change in management and/or chefs?

My first experience with Genji has been a positive one.

We picked up three different maki (cucumber, BBQ eel, and rainbow) for takeout on Friday night, and it was ready for pickup in roughly the amount of time that it took for me to walk there from our place.

Delicious, fresh flavours, well-seasoned rice. The only negatives I can think of were that the cucumber rolls didn't stick together so well, and they only gave us one set of chopsticks because the guy figured I was eating alone that night ;)

The price is a bit steep ($25 for our eighteen rolls), but it's about the same price as I'd pay if I went to Suisha Gardens.

We loved Genji for the last couple of years. But the last two to three times we were there, a few of our all-time favourite items were quite disappointing.

Now we have to search for our new favourite Japanese restaurant in town. Any suggestions?

Went to Genji tonight with high hopes, but was pretty disapointed. Have not had alot of sushi around ottawa, but was not pleased with what we got for the price. Ive had better around town for sure. I wont go to far into detail other than the fact that the service was cold, food was average and the bill was alot!

I've been on an "eating out" kick lately, so last night I stopped in to Genji for some takeout. I had the dynamite roll and a spicy salmon roll, each of which was equally delicious. It's a quick, relatively inexpensive way to get my sushi fix without having to sit in a restaurant and wait.

Also a little late in posting this review. I went for dinner to Genji with the girls last Tuesday October 16th.
I have been here once for lunch over a year ago and have been dying to go back based on the reviews on this site.
First of all, loved the dividers. When I went there weren't any and you felt very exposed. This is much better.
The service this time was just as good as when I went for lunch. Polite, efficient and professional.

Because of various allergies and food dislikes, we each got our own sushi instead of sharing.

I started with the gyoza (dumplings). I ate these everyday when I was in Japan and could not get enough of them. These were very good.

I ordered three types of sushi (x 6 rolls) so 18 pieces. It was way too much and I had to bring 6 home with me but that's ok because I brought them for lunch the next day :)

My three choices were:
1. M10 Tempura - tempura fried tiger shrimp, cucumber and lettuce, with Genji sauce
2. M26 Spicy Tuna Tempura - tuna roll with Genji sauce, lightly tempura fried
3. M27 Spider Roll - crispy chesapeake soft shell crab, asparagus and Genji sauce

All three rolls were delicious and the presentation was beautiful.
I loved how the tuna roll was tempura on the outside - the whole roll. It made it slightly crispy and easier to bite.
I have wanted to try soft shell crab ever since I saw Curtis make it on Take Home Chef and it was really delicious. Weird to eat the shell at first but just a mental block :)

My bill for the gyoza, three types of rolls and two glasses of Pinot Grigio was $65 including tax and tip.

I was very impressed with Genji and will go back again soon I hope!

Got takeout from Genji tonight. Spicy tuna maki, sweet potato maki (thanks to Ashley's recommendation!), and shake (salmon) nigiri. Everything was WONDERFUL. I was surprised that I got such fabulous quality in a plastic takeout container! Definitely will be back here. Although unlike some others I did not notice that much difference from Wasabi - maybe the service was a little friendlier (from my very limited contact with such).

My elder son just returned home from his party tonight and brought me a box of sushi from Genji. This was a nice treat to mom! I ate one piece and my husband ate 2 pieces before I remember to take this photo. Yum!

Hmm,

Genji so far is the most consitent sushi place I've been to in Ottawa. It's fresh and the flavours are pretty close to the real deal. The rice can be a bit vineagary sometimes though.

Sushi is definitely Genji's strength although the Unagi on Rice and the Tempural Udon is quite good. Opt for the buck wheat noodles if you want the extra earthiness of the wheat.

A tip I got from a Japanese friend is to check if the sushi rice is soft. Most Japanese places will take extra care to ensure this and non Japanese usually do not. He's been right everytime so far in this and more often than not softer rice has led to better quality in overall preparation.

my test for sushi is to order Toro, then Uni, but when they don't have fresh tai.... I start to wonder...

The night I was there they only had Maguro, Himachi and Saki.... By the way, Salmon is a recent western phenom for sushi as in teppanyaki....

the sushi chef/cooks are chinese.... sorry I wouldn't try fugoo here....

on the positive side this is a great value restaurant for the price of what you get in terms of their package dinners, miso soup is good, hot stuff not bad... but fish is not good... I had their seared tuna, which sucked....

presentation great, service great, prices great... but not raw fish... or even slightly cooked fish... think the fish is just not fresh enough....something to do with the chefs....

We were supposed to have either tekka (tuna) or shake (salmon) maki from Set Dinner A. But they allowed us to substitute Sweet Potato maki for their menu's maki (sweet potato maki is my favourite).

The photo was a bit blurry since I forgot to use the macro funtion from my camera.

Finally got to try Genji on Friday. I ordered the 14 piece sushi plate. I wanted to try the sweet potato maki, which wasn't offered on this plate, but they cheerfully substituted it for a few of the fish ones instead. I was glad they did, because I really enjoyed it (Good call, Ashley!) but I have to say that 14 pieces is a LOT of sushi and I ended up having to have 5 pieces packaged for me to bring home. Everything was fresh and nicely presented, and what I could see of the open kitchen in front of the sushi bar looked clean enough for my ailing grandma to have surgery in. Service was friendly and efficient...the salad course did puzzle me though...was I supposed to eat it with chopsticks?...with my hands? I asked for a fork, and was brought one right away. Also the lettuce and other vegetables were cut very small with a gigantic tomato wedge sitting on top.
One of the cooks chatted with me about his experiments putting fruit into sushi. The philadephia roll with strawberries sounded more like dessert than dinner, but I have to say that the 5 berry sauce works well with the sweet potato maki. I liked all of the nigiri except for one that had a texture I didn't enjoy...I think it was squid. This was actually my first time ordering sushi in a restaurant. I make vegetarian sushi for my daughter sometimes, and I've had it prepared for me by the chef at work and gotten it as takeout. I'll definitely go back but I think I'll order a smaller dinner next time!

After having so many rich meals during the Christmas holidays and knowing that we are going to have New Year Brunch Buffet the next day, I really want someting light and healthy on New Year Eve. Here is the refreshing Canadian maki with lots of goodies (e.g., lobster, advocado, Boston lettuce).

I think this is my best food photo I have taken. (I think mine is better than the one posted at their website.)

Anyway, the sushi pizza there was pretty tasty. But have to agree with Mark that it is quite rich and is best to share with someone.

NB. I finally got the technique to take a good picture with blurry background. Just set your Aperture to the lowest number your camera allows (e.g., f/2.8) along with zoom len.

More sushi picture. Sweet potato maki and spicy tuna maki. I orderd with Set Dinner A. So yummy. Worth every penny. Next time I will take more pictures.

Ordered their sushi party tray for take-out (sorry! the picture is not very clear) Fresh and delicious sushi and nigiri! Highly recommended.

...and I love their green tea crême brulée as well!

This is the shrimp & vegetable tempura (part of Set Dinner A). Two shrimps, one slice of sweet potato, one slice of zucchini and one slice of eggplant. Very cripy batter! However, after the sweet potato sushi and this dish of tempura, my stomach was already full at this point.

The vegetable tempura here was among the better I've had. The batter was really light and crispy, the vegetables were great; all around thoroughly tasty. It came with a good whack of enoki mushrooms, which turn out to be delicious tempura-ed. Notably un-greasy. I was very happy to find it still quite crisp and, well, tasty when I was nearing the end of the plate and it wasn't quite so hot.

Not the cheapest, at about $16, but that was a full dinner with rice, salad, and soup, too. I wish they had a little appetizer plate, but, then, their salad and soups were excellent -- genuine appetizers, nothing like the big plates of heavy blah found under "appetizers" on a lot of menus these days.

The most succulent and moist shrimp tempura I've had. Not quite as flavourful as some (e.g. Takara) but so juicy I didn't mind.

Here is the shake (i.e., salmon) sashimi my friend had.

I recommend that you sit at the sushi bar so that you can talk to the sushi chef. This is part of the fun.

Try their fried banana with ice cream (aka FBI). Very yummy dessert. Suggest that you ask for Lichee Ice cream instead of vanilla.

This is the Salmon Teriyaki from their Set Dinner A. By the time I had this dish, I was very full that I didn't enjoy this dish that much any more. (I should have brought my husband!)

NB. My colleague also told me that she had no room to eat her chicken teriyaki. So, we asked the server to put her chicken teriyaki for me to take home and it became my son's after dinner snack!

Excellent Nabeyaki Udon here as well. Make sure you don't burn your tongue. It is very hot (temperature hot)!!!!

Excellent soba here -- good flavour and texture, served in a broth with just the right amount of saltiness.

I found the edamame here to be good, but those loving lots of salt may be disappointed: it was served relatively plain, salted minimally. (Consider it edamame for the hypertensive!) A good-sized portion, enough for two, is $3.95 -- very reasonable.

Tried their lunch special (curry pork with rice). Very delicious. Finished my lunch within an hour and my tummy felt great!

NB: Photo by Genji upon my request. Thanks!

Yaki-Tori was one of the food items from Set Dinner A. Yummy food! (Too bad that the photo was over-exposed.)