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| - I am shocked that I haven't reviewed Kinjo yet. This place is my go-to sushi venue in Calgary. It's unbelievably unpretentious, but also very high quality. No, you will not find some of the over-the-top extravagant creations found at, say, Bar Zipang. But what you will find is a venue that is full of fun, loud people having a great time. It's very reasonably priced, to boot. As long as you don't mind some elbow-to-elbow sushi-eating frenzy, you'll have a great time here.
I have been told by the staff that part of their quality strategy involves charging less for sushi. It sounds counter-intuitive, but he says that it allows them to turn more sushi over faster. As a result, they save costs on expensive additional refrigeration and can serve their customers fresher sushi, sooner. This is one thing I can say with certainty about Kinjo--that their sushi is always fresh. No matter what time of day you go or what day of the week, you won't have a gamey tuna sashimi. Every sushi place I have been to elsewhere has been guilty of this at some point.
I've been to Kinjo probably around 50-60 times now and can only say good things about it. The place is always packed, but as long as you come in a small group, you'll get in quickly and the food will come at you fast! I miss having Peter at the south location, threatening the men with his sushi knife if they don't adequately serenade their date, but the other guys have done a great job of picking up the slack.
Must have items: Volcano rolls, Spicy Salmon Crunch, giant squid legs (squid kara-age basically), and assorted sashimi. They also make a wicked sesame steak sauce. Stay off the boat if you can--the menu items are really interesting and worth spending your money on. Use the boat as filler or to grab the odd volcano roll.
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