So, lots of people ask me what my favorite type of cuisine is, and I usually stick to the stereotypes. I'm a stocky Italian boy, and I like Italian boy food. Pasta, pizza, and classical French fare littered my childhood, and I like to think that I'm pretty well-versed in my Mediterranean foods. I cook a mean pasta, and have made everything from spaghetti and meatballs with homemade pasta down to Kraft mac and cheese. That being said, when I go out to restaurants I tend to hold these foods to the closest scrutiny; one step off from Mama, and I'm not enjoying myself. So that's why my favorite food to get out is non-Chinese eastern cuisine. I like everything from Korean to Vietnamese, Middle Eastern to Indian, but I especially love the simplicity and clean flavor of Japanese Sushi. I grew up in Traverse City. Until I moved to Ann Arbor, I had little to no access to good sushi (with one exception, which I'll have to justify with a full piece), and I was overwhelmed when I came down here to Ann Arbor. However it disappointed me when nothing really blew me away like my experiences out in Florida and Denver.
Enter Miki.
I'd known about this place for a few years, and from what I'd heard, they were expensive and trendy, not quite what I look for in a sushi place, but recently my brother was in town and we were feeling sushi lunch. This place is serious. My brother has lived in Chicago for almost as long as I've been alive, and worked for Lettuce Entertain You as a manager of multiple restaurants for a number of years before saying "screw it" and opening his own Jimmy Johns-killer on the DePaul campus. He has a sommelier license and he has eaten at some of the best sushi restaurants in the midwest (go figure, the taste runs in the family). He and I sought it out in Florida and had the best sushi either of us had experienced then, and here we were, walking into a place that looked on the outside like a trendy restaurant.
The striking style is impressive, over an immaculate sushi bar and intensely clean feel. This is a very important criteria for me when I'm ordering raw food, and it showed that the chefs care about what they put out and what image they project to the customer. I had their "Chef Special," a $17 lunch plate featuring whatever they want to give away at the time, and my brother had a $16 sushi plate. Both came with soup and salad. To note, their Miso isn't overpowering, and actually had a flavor to it, while the salad is about the same as any other salad at any sushi restaurant, with that orange vinaigrette that seems to be a staple at every Japanese-American restaurant.
My brother and I knew immediately that the value was impressive. He had 7 pieces of fish, all large, and all of impressive freshness. My dish came with a squid ink rice dish, a hand roll with salmon, three types of sashimi (largest I've ever had), and chirashi tuna. Every bite was better than the last, and the service was awesome, letting us stay past their lunch shut-down. Our server told us apparently it was within the last year that the management changed, and I say it changed for the better.
I was scared going back with a friend about a month later, because sometimes you have a good experience and talk something up and it sucks. I was pleased to see that not only did it not suck, it was a ton better than the last time I went. This friend of mine went back three times that week, taking other friends there. If that doesn't say something about a restaurant's quality, I don't know what does.
The only big fault was on the drink menu. The cocktails suck. Like mislabeled, cheap liquor suck. But sushi for me is a hot sake/cold sake/Japanese beer food, which they have in droves.
So, if you're looking for a trendy-looking place to woo your lovely lady on an anniversary or just have some extra cash to throw around, this place seriously rocks.
4.5/5 Quality
5/5 Value
-C
*Editor's Note: This restaurant review I've had in my yelp box for awhile, laying unpublished. This is about as high as I'm going for the sake of price range in this review series. The only places more expensive off the top of my head in this town are The Chop House and The Gandy Dancer, and I won't say never, but it's not likely, outside of restaurant week.
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