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
