Kaori Japanese Restaurant

Tonight I had the chance to try out Kaori Japanese Restaurant.  It was my first time there and I had the opportunity to share my first time experience with my wife and a couple of friends.  Again, we brought out little one and our friends brought their 1 year old as well.

We had made reservations at the restaurant however when we got there we were still told to wait for ten minutes.  The restaurant was fairly clean, quite large and the decor was nice.  One thing I did notice for this evening was that they were a little short staff and the place was packed.

We brought in the stroller and were given a private room.  There was plenty of space for the stroller and a high chair for our friend's baby.  Tonight we decided to try the medium Sushi, Sashimi and Roll party tray.  We also did a side order of Blue Ocean Roll, Kaori Special Roll, Uni and Beef Terayaki.

The night started with with some appetizers which included spicy tofu slices, spicy baby bok choy, cucumber tempura, miso soup and salad.  The appetizers were fairly good, no complaints here.

Appetizer

Next came the entrees and they all came at once.  The boat, the beef, uni and both rolls all came at the same time.  I tried the Kaori Special Roll.  It consisted of rice paper, lettuce, radish, carrot, avocado, cucumber, shrimp tempura, crab meat and spicy tuna.  I have to admit although the taste felt like a Vietnamese spring roll, it was pretty tasty and the texture although contrasted was quite nice.  We followed up with the Blue Ocean Roll.  This consisted of tuna, salmon, cucumber, and seaweed salad topped with tobiko.  Personally it tasted bland.  I am not too sure if it was because I had the Kaori Special Roll first which may have stolen some of the taste but I certainly didn't get a WOW factor when eating this roll. 

Kaori Special Roll and Blue Ocean Roll

The Uni was next and it was pretty good.  Not exactly the greatest Uni I have ever tasted but it was I would say above average.  The beef teriyaki was average for the evening.  Although it was pinkish in the center it was a little bit chewy as if it was slightly over cooked.  The final thing we had was the platter tray.  It consisted of various sushis and sashimis including salmon, tuna, butterfish and spicy salmon sushi.  I have to admit I wasn't too crazy about the boat.  I asked my wife after dinner to see whether this bitter taste I was eating was for real or was it my imagination.  My wife said she thought the sashimi was a little bitter tonight.  I am not too sure if it was because of the food we ate earlier in the night that may have altered our tastes.  I t was hard to put my finger on it.  It wasn't as if the fish wasn't fresh but it just had a bit of a bitter taste to it.

Sashimi and Sushi Party Tray

Uni

Beef Teriyaki

Dinner was concluded with sliced oranges.  They were Sunkists and they were sweet.  The tab was approximately $128 for 4 people.  In conclusion, I would be willing to give it a second try.  It certainly wasn't the worse and their unique rolls certainly gives rise to a second chance.  If the sashimi was slightly "colder" and not as bitter, I think it certainly deserve full marks.  Overall it was an alright experience.  I would rate it a 3.25 out of 5.

Kaori Japanese Restaurant
30 High Tech Road
Richmond Hill, Ontario

905-707-8858