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| - I was really excited to try Shokunin, but unfortunately I left feeling very disappointed and underwhelmed.
I tried a variety of their menu items: the beef tongue gyozas came in a set of 4 and were tiny. I didn't like the texture of it as it tasted mushy. Next up was the Unagi style market fish, and while it was decent, there was nothing special about it. The title of this dish is somewhat misleading as it was essentially a rice bowl topped with the market fish of the day (not actually Unagi), What was "Unagi" about it was that the rice bowl was mixed with Kabayaki sauce, which is typically known to accompany Unagi. Of course, I had to try a couple of their skewers seeing as this is Shokunin's specialty, so my friend and I decided on the chicken heart and chicken ass, something that is different and not commonly available at other places. The flavours in both skewers were delivered without debate and probably the highlight of the night. However, the portions were tiny with 3 small bites per skewer, with skewers priced between $2.5-$4 depending on what you order. Last thing we ordered was the ramen bowl. This was probably the worst ramen bowl I tasted in Calgary. The broth was super salty and did not have an appetizing flavour. The toppings were mediocre, with the pork being rather tough and the egg close to being hardboiled.
Service was ehh... We ordered at 9:30pm, half an hour before late night ramen was available. We asked our server if she could ring in our ramen order when available, and was told that we would need to remind her as she will forget. She didn't even put an effort in trying to remember but just straight up told us that she can't do her job?
While the space is hip and trendy, I found the volume in the restaurant to be too loud with music blasting at a level that you would normally hear at a bar. It made it very difficult to hear my friend who was just sitting across from me.
Unfortunately, I'm not so sure I will return. Shokunin has a premium price tag but lacks in quality. Hopefully this is all due to being newly opened and they'll be able to work out the kinks soon enough.
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