A 5-star review indicates a restaurant is "As good as it gets!" and I think Ginko qualifies -- A sushi restaurant in Cleveland can't get any better than this.
Start with the decor as you walk down a flight from street level below Dante's and enter a small room dominated by the sushi bar. The funky colored tiles, padded bar seat and Japanese TV shows or movies playing on the TV monitor. There also used to be an old Centipede arcade game but it was on its last legs (get it?) and when we showed up Thursday it was gone.
Then there's the drink menu -- full of sakes, beers and an interesting range of cocktails. For instance, I had a drink in which midori was the main ingredient -- something you aren't going to see at a BW3.
And then comes the sushi -- the menu has a great range of fresh fish that are perfectly cut by Chef Taishi Noma and his team with the appropriate dab of wasabi, Japanese relish, etc. But here's what puts Ginko over the top for a fish lover like me -- they always have a long list of fish specials not on the menu (or any other menu around here). On Thursday, I was able to try Grouper as sushi for the first time.
Alas, I can't make this a weekly trip as there is a price to be paid for top-notch chefs and top-notch ingredients. Jeannene and I had a total of 12 pieces of nigiri sushi and two cocktails and the price to be paid that night came to $86 before tip.