Ninki Sushi and Sake Lounge (Japanese)

Ninki Sushi and Sake Lounge is located in the underground PATH complex of Scotia Plaza at 40 King St W., just east of Bay with the nearest entrance on the north side of King. Ninki has a nice darker atmosphere with ambient and trance music, but hard-bench half booth tables inside. The decoration is quite good, from the blue lights beneath the barstools to the rather striking bas-relief wood design adorning one wall. There is also an seating area and another cash and refrigerator outside in the plaza for weekday lunch diners from the nearby offices. There were up to a dozen other diners present as well but most of them left and there were only about four for most of the dinner.

Ginger was not dyed pink, but was unnaturally and chemically sweet, tasting as though cyclamate had been added to the brine. Reusable chopsticks are used. Soy sauce in green lid dispensers masquerading as low-sodium was salty and getting old and had something added to it as well, something that reminded me of lime, but without the distinctive flavor... I think it was citric acid as a preservative. Whatever it was, it did not belong. Only one drink is included but can be draft beer or sake. The included Sapporo mini-beer was good at least… and it turned out I needed a drink or three and stiffer would have been better.

Miso soup was lackluster, dilute to the point there was barely any flavour at all. Green salad with wasabi house dressing was similarly boring and just okay, only limp lettuce and shredded carrot, and the dressing was bland and slightly watery. Chicken curry had a good sauce but the chicken strips were somewhat dry. Tonkatsu was very good in good sauce, freshly cooked and sauce tangy and interesting. Chicken teriyaki's sauce was initially OK but soon after a burnt aftertaste emerged that persisted. Sadly, even at this extreme price, there was no steak or beef teriyaki. At least the salmon sashimi was good, but not excellent, probably because of the sauce. White tuna was alright but not the freshest. Salmon carpaccio (torched) sashimi was quite good, torched enough to bring out the flavour but not too much. Another one of the high points: the wasabi seems to be the "real" thing rather than just being dyed horseradish as at just about everywhere else; the waiter indicated it was made from a powdered mix, which is possible as there are "real" wasabi powders like this.

The "wonton" soup tied AlMac's loukoumades as the worst thing I've ever experienced at any restaurant, AYCE or not: it was an actually half-rancid bowl of sludgy, greasy gunk with no discernible flavour other than its decay; I sent it back of course after the first spat-back spoonful. The waiter later attempted to explain that the soup was "pot ramen" and was supposed to be like this, but I wasn't buying it.

Tamago (egg) sushi had rather large portions, too much for one bite, but were good. "Crunchy roll" (salmon, avocado, white sauce, tempura crumble) was good but not superlative as the sauce was unsupportive. Green onion beef roll was good; teriyaki sauce was not burnt like the last dish. Kara age itself was good but the sauce was not, with flavours that did not work together; I found it somewhat biting, acrid and not enjoyable. Pork kakuni was good and the good and savoury sauce did not betray it, although it was a bit fatty. Yam tempura was alright but the dipping sauce was watery and lifeless, and the fried beef dumpling also became "meh" due to this sauce. Kanikama (aka surimi imitiation crab… honest labelling) sashimi was good. Tai (sea bream) sashimi was very good and fresh. Shrimp tempura was good, flaky and almost light but did have a bit of oil.

For dessert, there was only chocolate and green tea ice cream, but they were both uniquely soft-serve. The green tea was infused with ground tea leaves; they were both quite good.

Service was good, fast and friendly. Unfortunately, this and the other few good items were not even remotely close to saving Ninki Sushi (and Sake Lounge… can't forget that) from earning my lowest rating ever. In order to not sound unfair, I'll divulge one of my rating criteria: for overpricedness based on quality and offerings compared to other establishments, each $5 (or fraction thereof) overage loses one point. Ninki at $38.95 is overpriced by at least $17, but I will be fair and call it $15 due to the area.

Secondly, to charge this much more than establishments that deliver nearly-perfect food, and instead offer as many mediocre items, even starting with just the basics such as soy and tempura sauces, culminating in a rancid bowl of soup, is inexcusable. I've never had to send rotten food back before from all the places I've ever eaten, from $10.99 AYCE lunch at Bikkuri on College when it was open on up, and hope I never have to again. Note that Ninki is open Monday to Friday and the only day that the AYCE menu is offered is… Friday. It seems less like they are celebrating the weekend, but more like they are trying to get rid of the uneaten food so that it doesn't sit all weekend and have to be thrown out, simultaneously and cynically trying to cut their losses by vastly overcharging for the dregs. Ninki, were it reasonably priced, would have earned about a 6 - 6.5 due to this and the mediocrities, but I'll add back half a point because of the included beverage which can be a Sapporo beer (albeit a very small one) before chopping off three for the cost overage noted above.

I will summarize: Ninki is a food-court-quality place at best, and has absolutely no business offering an staggeringly overpriced at-best mediocre AYCE menu (which probably needed to be dusted off when I came in) and claiming it is super-high-end. Thank goodness it is only on Fridays, and the other patrons seemed to have had the sense to avoid it then. Please follow their example.

Rating: 3.5 - 4 / 10