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| - I agonized a lot over my star rating for this review. There is no doubt in my mind that Kabuto has the best fish quality of any sushi place I've tried in Las Vegas. Kabuto also has the most interesting selection of fish as far as authentic Japanese sushi of any sushi place I've tried in Las Vegas. And the decor of this place is just lovely - it's like being back in Japan. The bottom line is if I'm in Vegas and I want good authentic sushi, Kabuto is where I go. Gosh, I'm raving on and on about this place - so why four stars and not five?
I try to review restaurants based on what the restaurants are. I'm not going to complain about how pricy a gourmet multi-course extravaganza at a *** Michelin restaurant is, just as I'm not going to complain about the somewhat lacking service at a fast food joint or Strip tourist trap. This is where the problem with Kabuto lies; they make themselves out to be an edomae sushi restaurant. When I judge them on that basis, that is where they lose one star.
The first problem is that when ordering one of the set menus, all the sushi is pre-sliced as soon as the order is placed. Then, each individual sushi is made and presented. This is a huge no-no for edomae style; the fish should only be sliced during the process of making each piece of sushi. Of course, this issue can be avoided by ordering a la carte - but nevertheless, it just shouldn't be what's done at an edomae sushi joint.
The second problem is the huge temperature control problem on the rice. This has been a problem on each of my many visits here; it's almost as if they don't even try to make the rice temperature consistent. When the rice is delivered from the kitchen, it is very warm, and of course that makes the sushi quite warm. After a while, it cools down, and then it better resembles "normal" sushi, but during a meal at Kabuto I will typically experience a whole gradient of temperatures - sometimes more than once. This absolutely should not happen; the rice temperature should be consistent. Anyone who has ever gone to an edomae place knows this. Heck, even anyone who has watched Jiro and never eaten sushi before knows this.
And to be clear, this is not a warm rice vs room temp rice issue. (I actually have never had a warm rice edomae experience, not even in the dozens of edomae place I've tried in Japan, but I once read an article suggesting that as many as 10% of Japanese edomae sushi chefs subscribe to the warm rice practice. But again, that's not the issue, since the problem at Kabuto is that the rice temp varies considerably.)
Anyway - if you love sushi, you will probably enjoy Kabuto, so go and enjoy it. Just be aware of these shortcomings as far as Kabuto's execution, which IMO definitely warrant a one-star deduction.
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