Chloe Drain

Review of Kiku Japanese Restaurant

Kiku itself is hard to find- and perhaps rightfull...

Kiku itself is hard to find- and perhaps rightfully so. Located in a purgatory-like mall facade, once found it stands out from its drab surroundings with its extremely authentic looking Japanese decoration. The inside, however, is a mixed bag. The decoration and architecture says authentic Japanese restaurant, yet the dim and plain lighting says dreary office building. No matter the ambience, however, the food ranges from average to disappointing.

I ordered the spider roll and chicken teriyaki. The chicken teriyaki itself was satisfactory. Nothing to write home about, but it had a decent portion of meat with a smattering of veggies, and included a bowl of lukewarm miso soup and a bowl of mostly cooked steamed rice (it's certainly not pleasant finding uncooked rice grains in the bowl- or worse, in your teeth). The spider roll, however, was a total rip off. For 14$ one gets 6 pieces of sushi, four of which contained almost no crab and two contained large chunks of crab. Hopefully not their finest work.

Overall an overpriced and underwhelming experience, without even the great view the chain restaurants across the street have of the river. Don't go unless you're desperate.