Mikado - Maple Shade, NJ: C+

Food: 7 Presentation: 3 Decor: 2 Service: 2
Total: 14 out of 25: C+

Mikado has turned into a local chain of Japanese restaurants. It has a reputation of having good sushi. Given so many top notch Japanese restaurants in South Jersey and Philadelphia, let's see if Mikado rates up there.

The restaurant is not in a great location next to the mall. Walking into the restaurant there are three sections. Directly in front is the sushi bar. I guess front in center gets your attention. But if I were bellied to the bar, the last place I'd want to be is right in the front next to the people waiting for a table. Horrible location.

To the left is a long, narrow section of booths and tables. It's not very attractive at all. To the right is a separate section with the teppanyaki grills. That was the nicest section. Unfortunately, we were in the tunnel.

I order a California roll and tuna roll. My one table mate ordered a platter of sashimi. My other table mate ordered some form of tempora. All the meals came with hot tea, miso soup, and a salad. We also ordered edamame, chicken yakatori, and some pan fried dumplings.

The tea was generic "asian" tea. The miso soup was also generic with bits of seaweed and tofu. The salad was again generic with that ever-so-popular asian ginger dressing which somehow is bright orange. I could get all this stuff at the mall food court. Oh, and the soup and salad came out together.

Next was the appetizers, oh, and the main courses together. The place was busy but hey not that busy. The table was jam packed with dishes. Insane.

The edamame was fine. Yakatori was fine. And the dumplings were actually pretty good. I could have eaten 10 of them.

My rolls were very good. Not great, but very good. It seems the new way to make many rolls is to finely slice the cucumber/radish so you get a loose bite but a good snap. Same here. The tuna rolls were probably a bit too tightly wrapped. But it was all fresh.

My friend's sashimi was excellent. He commented many times on how good it was. He's very critical of food so this was a great endorsement of their fish.

My other friend was doing most of the talking and we didn't talk about his food.

The check came quickly even though the restaurant was emptying for lunch with no one waiting. The service could have been worse by being extremely slow. This was the opposite and definitely not welcome.

Except for the sashimi, the food was average to good at best. Given I like Japanese food, just not all sushi/sashimi, I was not impressed with Mikado at all. If all you want is raw fish, Mikado is a very good place. But if you're looking for a more balanced restaurant, keep moving.