Kotobuki Sushi

I headed out to Kotobuki for lunch on Friday. The place looked like a mess. They had one lady working there, who I assumed was the owner. She told us that everyone was sick, and she was the only one working there. She was obviously frazzled and looked busy. She forgot many things as she was the only one to cook and take orders.
So, I didn’t get to try any of their bento boxes, sushis, yakinikus and so on. I only got to try what she was able to cook at that time which were katsu curry and omurice. I forgot what else she mentioned. It didn’t matter because the menu was so limited.
Anyway, the katsu curry tasted okay. The rice and the curry sauce were lukewarm. The curry tasted like it came out of the instant, boil-​a-​curry packet from the Japanese grocery store. The katsu was decent. It was the only bright part of the meal.
The omurice looked messy and sloppily done. The omlette didn’t hold its shape and had a hole in it. So the presentation was less than average. It didn’t taste too bad though. They used Patak’s sausages in the rice and that made it taste pretty good. I liked it.
Obviously, I need to eat more of the stuff to accurately judge them. Since they use sausages from Patak, it seems like they do care about the quality of their food. So maybe I did catch them on an off day. However, for now, they get 3 stars.

I’ll break this review up in 2 sections.
For those wanting yakisoba or the okanomiyaki during the weekday will be dissapointed as they apparently only serve that on the weekends (not sure if available for lunch). Therefore, I cannot comment how those 2 entrees taste but perhaps one day I’ll get a chance. We opted to get our meal to go which consisted of some Spicy Tuna rolls, a Shrimp Tempura roll, and Katsudon. My wife liked the Shrimp Tempura roll and the Spicy Tuna roll was good/​fresh, however lacking the spicy component. The katsudon was good and appropriately priced and portioned.
Here’s the not so good part of the review. They have a buffet during the weekend during lunch and we were a little dissapointed. We passed on Nori Nori to go here for the buffet based on curiosity and lower price point. Let’s just say, we should have went to Nori Nori instead. I took a quick look at the buffet selection and opted to go the ala carte route while my wife decided she wanted to brave the buffet instead. Unlike most buffet lines, the food is not placed under any sneeze guards or heat lamps. The selection is rather limited to which had california rolls, maybe a couple of veggie rolls, calamari, fried chicken, pasta salad, potato/​veggie croquette, some meat selections that I cannot remember what they were, tamago, gyoza, and then on the side is rice and miso soup. One thing that stuck out to us was the fried chicken was COLD. My wife was pretty unispired to pig out in the buffet. I went ala carte with katsu curry and some spicy tuna rolls. Spicy tuna rolls were fine and the katsu curry was ok. Fast forward later on the evening, HOURS after we ate here. My wife tells me her stomach is acting funky so long story short, it manifests into her making a deposit in the toilet from both directions. The buffet was no longer in her body, thats for sure. She was hurting pretty bad but nothing a few more trips to the can and pepto couldn’t handle. I think its safe to say my wife will never opt for the buffet option here again. Whether or not she’ll eat ala carte is to be seen but I would not blame her for be apprehensive. I was safe from the bathroom projectile session, i guess, because my food was «fresh» and not sitting out without proper temperature management. I hate to have to write up a negative review on this place as I think our experience prior was positive and that the place could use the business. Just skip the buffet in my opinion and go ala carte bento/​sushi/​bowls.

Kotobuki café is a little spot tucked into a strip mall next to a used bookstore. It doesn’t look like much inside, the tables and chairs for dine in look more like an afterthought than anything else. They have two menus, a menu listing their bento and sushi boxes, and a another menu, which has a few more sushi combos and a la carte items.
The smallest size bento box comes with the main entrée, some rice, and noodles and vegetables underneath the entrée. The sushi combo I tried came with miso soup and tea.
I tried the pork cutlet bento box, which is absolutely delicious. The sushi a la carte and combo selection was pretty basic, but everything I tried was fresh and nicely prepared.
This is my new favorite lunch place!

Finally a place I can get some REAL BENTO! I had the Salmon Shioyaki Large Bento, it was excellent.