Sushi Kotobuki

Been coming here for years, best sushi in Brisbane by such a significant margin.
Get an okonomiyaki stick.

The best Japanese food in town! And really friendly staff! I definitely recommend the crunch chicken sushi or the chicken karaagedon you won’t regret it!

We love Japanese food and for us, Sushi Kotobuki is our favourite in Brisbane.
Be warned, it’s busy… all of the time, and you do have to order before you can be seated so I would highly recommend making a booking in advance to secure a table. Conducting a roaring trade, tucked in behind a small collection of food businesses, there is always a queue out the door of people picking up take away and ordering to eat in. The food is fresh and flavoursome with a broad range of sushi, sushimi, noodle soups and curries. The fish is fresh and amazing, the food flavours are distinct and clean as you expect japanese food to be.
Having been a number of times and eaten from all over the menu I can honestly say I haven’t had a bad meal here. Add to the quality the fact the prices are seriously reasonable and it’s little wonder that this place is an institution.
Even with a booking do be prepared to line up to order, wait for your food and be aware this is not fine dining. You’ll be on plastic seats, eating with disposable chopsticks and have a choice of drinks from the soft drink fridge. When the food is so good though, this is the perfect place for a quick healthy meal whether you’re treking across town or lucky enough to have it as your local take away.
If you love Japanese food then Sushi Kotobuki is somewhere you need to have on your must eat list.

I love this place, the sushi is excellent, I usually take away but have dined in once and found the service fine. Takeaway orders are always quick if I forget to ring ahead.

The sushi quality is amongst the best in Brisbane (but that is not saying much). The service is average, no real complaints.
The one gripe is the prices, they should have more set meal options because a la carte got pricy very quickly. This is not a $ 40 for dinner type place but that is what I spent.

After a colleague talked this place up for weeks and weeks my work-​lunch-​crew decided we had to try this little hole-​in-​the-​wall Japanese place out.
One issue we ran into straight away was parking and access. Being situated on the corner of a one-​way-​street means if you miss a park you’re driving around the (huge) block. And street parking was in demand on this particular Friday afternoon.
The lines out the door were heartening, if somewhat unexpected at right on midday. We all immediately thought we were in for a treat with a loyal following like this.
We patiently waited while staff handed out laminated menus. It was hard to visualize some of the more exotic sushi dishes as there were no photos, but as we inched closer to the ordering desk we could see photos on the wall displaying some of the various choices.
I ordered the Kotobuki noodle dish, with the rest of our table selecting various curry’s and sushi options.
Tables inside and outside offer seating for a maximum of 4, save for one setting right at the entrance which accommodated our group of 5.
We were offered water upon sitting, and we’re pleasantly surprised at the quick military approach to serving the meals.
They came out staggered, but piping hot and full of flavour. I devoured my noodles and remarked on the thick, chewy, perfectly prepared ramen noodles. The flavour were fantastic and I couldn’t finish my bowl (this is not unusual for me).
Several of my colleagues ordered a plate of sushi as well as their bowl, and struggled to finish both.
Prices are very reasonable and dishes present excellent value for money.
I will be back to sample the entire menu, however it was suggested we should call ahead next time to save the lining up.

Kotobuki is a very unassuming, hole-​in-​the-​wall, Japanese restaurant that is good for consistently a-​ok food. Don’t take your out of town mom, your date, your prom party, your college advisor… etc. This is definitely the type of place you visit when you’re in your sweatpants, don’t feel like cooking, and either alone, or in the presence of casual friends/​partners. The sushi is cheap and good, the rice bowls are decently sized and fresh, and its clean.

You know what, if the sushi and sashimi here wasn’t so darn-​tooting good I’d probably be a lot less forgiving of the experience we had here last night. The line snaking out the door is also testament to the food.
We arrived at 6:45pm and waited close to an hour for a table. The wait itself was growing tiresome and there needs to be a better way to communicate to patrons that their request for a table is acknowledged and they’ll contact you. Heck, I’d be happy to carry a buzzer with me. Following our first time in the line (about 20mins) and requesting our table for four, we meander back to the line and were still wondering if we were remembered as asking for a table. Communication! The staff member was so apologetic and thankful when we were finally seated it’s hard to stay annoyed.
Between the four of us we managed to clutter our small table with made fresh to order sashimi (go the mixed sashimi plate for $ 12), hand rolls and nigiri (my favourite? the seared scallop nigiri) as well as the most comforting bowl of agadeshi tofu.
Like I said, people don’t line out the door of this East Brisbane institution (yep, I’m going there) for no reason. It’s affordable, fresh and delicious. I can’t speak of their noodle and rice dishes as I always order straight from the sashimi and sushi menu and tend to stick to the traditional menu items rather than their fusion sushis with cream cheese and such.
As Liz Y pointed out, do make your experience here at lot less stressful by calling in advance to reserve a table or calling your order ahead if you’re just wanting take-​away.

Best sushi in Brisbane! I have tried a lot of sushi but Kotobuki has to be the best. So many different styles and tastes and all fantastic, an adventure for your taste buds. Staff are friendly and helpful, although there can be on occasions a communication break down but they are always super fast at fixing any mistakes made.
If your’e going to order your lunch here for takeaway I would suggest phoning ahead first otherwise you could be sitting there for half an hour or more… it seems everyone in East Brisbane heads here for lunch, and so they should, it’s fantastic.
They don’t just make sushi, they also do other traditional japanese dishes such as noodles and rice and meat dishes. My favourite noodle dish is the Kotobuki noodle, juicy chicken with udon noodles and they’re special kotobuki sauce. Although I tend to order mine without the fish flakes, the dish looks alive when it comes out with the flakes all wiggling around in the steam.

Super fresh seafood used on the hand roll, an amazing chicken/​cabbage combo sushi called Crunch Chicken and the best darn under $ 10 bowl of chicken karaage curry udon soup in town! This was only my first visit. There will be more… many more… please note that seating is limited (we went on a weekday for lunch and it was crazy) so consider a takeaway option as this food is too good to not experience but the space is too limited to cater to many

I’ve never really explored East Brisbane much, but since I was near the cliffs in Kangaroo point, I decided that I would have dinner… somewhere. I didn’t know where, so once again, I used Urbanspoon, since it seems to be the foodie search engine here (rather than Unilocal,though Unilocal is rising!), and I found Kotobuki. Kotobuki is located near other casual open-​air restaurants in a mini «food court» — which wasn’t at all what I expected. What it did have is trinkets near the service counter, which I found cute and very Japanese, even though the chairs, tables, and dining ware were ordinary.
I got the tempura udon, though I did contemplate on getting a sushi roll for a while. The udon was nice and «Q» and the soup base wasn’t too salty (which tends to happen at restaurants), but I didn’t like the tempura that much. It wasn’t crispy at all by the time it got to me, which it should be at least by the time it reaches the table, and they were smaller-​looking pieces of veggies and shrimp. The takoyaki was also alright, but they did load a generous amount of condiments on top. The place isn’t expensive, so I don’t have much to complain about, but since this place is a bit out of the way for me, I personally would stick to Noodle & Donburi.

Please don’t have the same experience I had and make sure you book a table prior to coming here for dinner, and sometimes lunch for that matter.
We were in line for about 30 minutes, and starving by the time we got a table. The comfort level in this place is about 60% and because of the busy nature the staff weren’t as attentive as I thought they should have been.
The menu has japanese english on it, but we will forgive all of this because one bite into a sushi and the rest is gone. The sushi here is fresh, traditionally made and pretty damn impressive for the state of the place. The service pretty average, the waitstaff, not the best. I would drop a star if it weren’t for the quality of the sushi here. Top grade, a must try if you want to taste authentic japanese.
Tip: Try the crunch chicken fusion, pretty yummy!

Holy fish sticks Batman. Except there’s no fish sticks.
Yes, this place is as good as everyone says it is. Yes, quite a few people seem to know about it (even though it’s kinda tucked away) so there can be a line. But also, YAY, yes it’s quick, stupidly fresh and delicious.
Sushi Kotobuki is on the list of restaurants I blame for my inability to eat shopping centre sushi. Screw you guys because I love you so much.

Here’s my story.
I used to live in East Brisbane and this place was my induction to the Sushi. It’s because of this place I first got my taste of the Japanese dish. If I were ever out, I would insist in going to a Sushi restaurant. Unfortunately nothing ever could compare to a fresh roll from Kotobuki.
So I forgot every other sushi restaurant I tried and denied that any of them existed at all. I kept going back, several times a week even, to get my Kotobuki fix. I tried every roll on the menu at least ten times and became known there on a first name basis. The staff even knew my voice on the phone. Everything was perfect.
That was until one day I sat down to eat another take away from Kotobuki. I took a bite and realised I was over sushi. Since that day I’ve not been a fan.
Recently I was in the area and decided to go there. I couldn’t order a sushi so I got a katsu curry. It was delicious. Thank god I don’t live in East Brisbane anymore.

Wedged in behind a Subway on Lytton Rd you could be forgiven for missing a tiny little out of the way place like this, but I’m here to tell you that if you fancy yourself a lover of sushi, you;
a) Have been here already, or;
b) You need to drop that pre-​made stiff and tasteless roll of sushi you have in your hand right now and get down here.
If you want the full experience I suggest you grab a table and sit for a little while, food is much quicker than you’ll expect especially because they make it all completely fresh. Now as the token broke student Unilocaler I’m allowed to judge on the basis of price. You can get a plate of sushi here for $ 2. $ 2! Everyone thought they had been and gone right?! But no, here it still exists, hidden away for only those who know.
And now you do too. Grab a simply titled, «Big Chicken» or a «Ruby Roll» and let your tastebuds be the judge.