The One Japanese Restaurant

I love this place.
Though I have to admit, there’s only one thing I’ll get here: kiwi rolls. (I haven’t tried anything else) Kiwi, avocado, and unagi with kiwi on top? Super awesome. Service can be slow, but it’s worth the wait and if you get to know the waiters/​chefs, they can be very friendly.

It was after 10pm on a Friday night and I was craving sushi and Sapporo. Hi Nippon was closed, so we were looking for something similar. «The One» is open until midnight — so we went to check it out. It was practically deserted, though it was late. They were playing really cheesy Japanese music, which after awhile, despite the authenticity, grated on my ears.
We ordered the «Yummy roll», which was decent. The kebabs were tiny and not particularly satisfying. And the nigiri sushi we ordered had very thin little pieces of fish — hardly what you expect for nigiri.
Service was OK, nice enough — though not particularly attentive. This place could be pretty awesome, but it needs some energy for that size of place, and to up the food quality and quantity. Wouldn’t go back again.

If you name your restaurant «THE ONE», you better as hell be able to back it up with an insane atmosphere or kick-​ass food.
Not even close Neo.
You are not «The One»!
You know that slightly iffy feeling after eating cheap sushi? Well, this wasn’t iffy but it was slightly.
The chicken kebab item lacked flavour and sustenance and I am seriously questioning my decision now as I type «kebab» in a sushi review? WTF? The rolls were OK, but they didn’t have any umpf to them. Kinda bland for such cool sounding names and ingredients.
It’s a shame. I wanted to love this place. It is a wicked set up inside, kinda cave-​y.
I would say they are more like «The Two»

I’d really like to give The One 4.5 stars, but that wasn’t an option. They have all the regular sushi dishes and some great specialty dishes. If you like it hot, try the Spicy Sashimi — yum! The food is great and the portions are larger than at other sushi places I’ve been to. They have a full bar and an extensive cocktail menu, which is great for me because I Iike a Cosmo with my spicy tuna. There’s plenty of seating and a nice bar if you are just going in for a drink.

This is one of our favourite neighbourhood restaurants — a wide variety of dishes (with the chicken karaage in particular being a standout) that are all good, yummy and good value. We’ve been 4 times so far and every time it’s been excellent. The bar is quite good and their sake selection is excellent.

Food and service wise, this «new» restaurant which takes the place of Saiz-​z, teeters between a 2 and a 4 star.
Well meaning creative rolls with papaya, tuna and avocado combos make your mouth water just thinking of the explosions of flavour. Unfortunately the unripened papaya has more of the consistency of a pear and the same flavour profile of a California roll. Meh. But the rice consistency was dead on both on the roll and in the nigiri. They score a point for delicious wild salmon nigiri too.
The chicken robata with green onion was puny sized on the stick and lacked the aforementioned onion. Where the miso soup may have lacked tofu pieces it made up for it tenfold with taste! But the star of the show was the Agedashi Tofu: savory and sweet sauce and crisp shell were all spot on. It’s a shame though that instead of individual pieces the tofu came as a slab that we had to force our way through with our chopsticks.
The complimentary tea had flavour notes of warm water rather than tea which prompted me to order a very tasty Plum Wine… perhaps next time they’ll skimp on the ice and splurge on the glass a little more!
But what really struck a chord most about this space (and which will likely prompt any return I may make in the future) was the space itself. Staircases, private rooms, nooks, crannies… a mezzanine dining area and what’s this? A grand piano… oh dear, I’m breaking into Billy Joel sing-​song:
«Sing us a song, you’re the piano man/​Sing us a song tonight/​Well, we’re all in the mood for a melody/​And you’ve got us feelin’ alright/​Now john at the bar is a friend of mine/​He gets me my drinks for freeAnd he’s quick with a joke or to light up your smoke/​But there’s someplace that he’d rather be»