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| - It's not easy to excel as a high-volume sushi venue in downtown Calgary. As such, I do understand when prices have to be higher and corners need to be cut. So my review is made with this in mind.
The first thing you notice about Koto is it is quite large with many tables for a sushi venue. The kitchen at the back is open, yet the viewing area is quite small. Having been here twice now, I can say there are some minor inconsistencies with the fish quality. So I'll address that first.
The tuna sashimi and scallops were excellent on one visit, truly top notch. And mediocre to even bad on the next. This indicates to me that there may be a freshness or food count/ordering issue. In general, the rolls are quite good though admittedly they use simply too much rice to the extent that you feel full quite quickly, and it's not from the fish.
Volcano rolls were good, though some of the other mainstream rolls were mediocre, having a non-favourable fish ingredient to non fish ingredient ratio (if that makes any sense!). When you combine this notion with the price, it seems a bit overpriced in general. Dynamite's were a bit chintzy, my friends remarked that the california rolls had imitation crab, and the special rolls, while somewhat large, are disappointing considering the price - in both composition and quality.
Service was "cold", though very prompt, with the food coming out quickly--always a good thing when you have meetings to get to in the afternoon.
In the end I would still recommend this place simply due to its location. If you've got a major craving, it will satisfy. As far as north-end downtown, it's better than Hiro in terms of quality, and about on par if not slightly worse than Sakana (and obviously much better than the food court). Atmosphere in Sakana is a little more laid back and fun, if that is important to you.
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