Kyoto Sushi Restaurant

We came here with a Groupon and ate like kings.

We tried three of their specialty rolls: the spicy snowball (on their appetizers menu), the creamy, and the dynamite. The dynamite roll stole the show. I also enjoyed their sweet potato roll while my boyfriend noshed on a California and New York.

They're BYOB, which is always great. There's a $5 corkage fee, but it's hard to beat a BYOB discount sushi spot in Lincoln Park.

Our server was extremely friendly, and the entire staff was wonderful.

It's a bit dark inside, since it's (slightly) subterranean, but it's still a fun atmosphere for groups or dates.

This is the spouse's favorite sushi spot.  Or, to be more precise, this is where they make the spouse's favorite sushi roll.  He really, really likes their Creamy Roll, which is crab and shrimp tempura wrapped in avocado instead of nori and then given tempura crust.   At $17, it is the priciest roll that they offer, but he thinks that it is worth it, so who am I to quibble.

The place works for me as well.   I like that they offer several veggie maki rolls to choose from, including a couple of larger, more complex rolls.  Kappa maki will always remain my favorite (Yummy, yummy cucumber.  Yes, I'm odd, I know. ), but it's nice to be able to try some new things.      

Their veggie gyoza are pretty good, and come with a nice dipping sauce,  but I though the goma ae was a little bit lacking on the sesame.  Not bad, but I doubt I will order it again.  

I didn't notice much ginger in the ginger crème brulee, which was a crushing disappointment after the buildup it received from the waitress.  But in my world, even bad crème brulee is still pretty good , so I had no problems  scrapping the dish clean.

Personally I don't like sushi... so why go to a sushi restaurant you ask, well my wife likes it and I can usually find something else on the menu that sounds good. This is the 2nd time we'd been to Kyoto and seeing as how it was so good the last time we were there we were expecting more of the same, but instead we got a stoned waitress/kitchen staff who were so slow that it took almost an hour for a plate of Chicken Teriyaki to come out. By the time it did come out the rest of the group had already eaten the 4 sushi rolls that had made it's way to the table.

Now I don't care if you smoke weed, but don't do it at work. It was obvious to everyone at our table that the waitress was high, and the overwhelming smell of pot didn't help either. She kept blaming it on the kitchen being backed up, but I really think she just forgot to put in our kitchen order when she put the sushi order in... maybe I'm wrong and maybe it was just a busy night for the kitchen, but that's still no excuse for reeking of pot.

I'm not sure if we'll be back again after this visit, which is a shame because the food is actually really good, but the lack of service can make the best food taste like crap.