Midori Japanese Cafe

Fresh, friendly, and a great spot for down to earth sushi!

I’m giving it 3 stars because it’s not the most enchanting venue, but the sushi was very yum. A nicer selection of wines and beverages would be great. Ultimately a casual or take-​out joint kind of place. I came here on a date and I don’t think it was particularly conducive to romance: P

It was a tight space but cozy. I ordered a vegetable jap-​chae ($ 11) and the wait time was around 20 minutes. It came with a side of miso soup, but the actual dish came with less jap-​chae than expected. The dish was split into half white rice, half jap-​chae, which was not advertised in the menu. Was a bit dissapointed that I paid for jap-​chae and got more rice than the actual dish. Service was friendly, and they had no problem splitting the bill between friends.

It’s tiny, and the exterior looks a bit tired, but their combo dinner with two small skewers of chicken, miso soup, mixed green salad, seaweed salad, four pieces of nigiri, and four California rolls made a satisfying early evening meal for me on a Friday evening right after work. They do take reservations by phone, so if you want a table, make sure to phone ahead, else you’ll have to sit at the sushi bar.

Lovely place to have lunch or dinner. I am a fan of their Kimchi Rolls.

This place is ok… Is not the worst sushi I have had in town, but is not the best either… I would say if you are walking by. Or close to the area and don’t want to go far, is ok to go there, But if you really want a good sushi; you should go somewhere else…

We had decided to get take-​out as we didn’t feel like spending time in a restaurant. We ordered the Combo, an extra order of tempura (assorted) and two pieces of creamy scallop. The take out menu which we had from months past said it would be about $ 50. We ordered and they said it would be 30 minutes.
We arrived about 35 minutes later and the food still wasn’t ready so we had a seat. Immediately the lady puts a sign saying their CC/​interac machine was not working so it was cash only. OK, so we went for a walk, came back and our food was ready. It came out to $ 60. When looking at the new menu the prices had gone up. Oh well… it happens.
The miso soup was well. miso soup. I think I’ve never successfully been able to tell any kind of miso soup apart. The salad was nice and fresh with a ponzu /​soy sauce type dressing that was delish.
Our sushi was just OK. I’ve had much much better for the same price. It wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t amazing. The rolls were the right size. The rice was a bit overcooked in my opinion. I’m not sure if it was a matter of it being in a take-​out container, but our rice kept falling apart.
I’d be willing to go back just to see if they could do better.

Gyoza was excellent, very thin Japanese-​style as it should be (too often places use the much thicker Chinese-​dumpling style).
Sushi was above average for Calgary; the hamachi and eel were excellent, and the negi toro was also tasty. Salmon and cucumber was average, but then a cucumber can never really knock your socks off. Unless you actually pick up a whole cucumber and hit somebody in the foot. But I don’t know why you’d do that.
Service on a Saturday in mid-​afternoon was well-​paced. Not too rushed but not too slow.

Midori was our go-​to place for years. They had bad dishes (negi toro made from cheap cuts, and instant ramen), but also some great rolls (anything with the spicy mayo sauce). Everything was a reasonable price. I also appreciated the noodle dishes and Korean food that added a little variety to the menu.
It seems there are new owners now, and while the quality of the fish has improved, the sauces have not — where is my beloved spicy mayo? The prices have also increased dramatically.
I almost want to give this place 4 stars because it’s still better than the many mediocre sushi joints in the SW, but it’s not what it used to be.

This is a Korean-​owned place making Japanese food, and I feel that we have been positively ripped-​off. I don’t care how great some of their première items are, if you can’t stand behind all of the dishes you are featuring you should not be serving them– and if you do serve it, you should simply not deserve a good review.
The damage:
$ 10 for what is literally, a bowl of instant noodles you can pick up at T&T for 0.50 plus frozen vegetables and four pity-​skewers of yam, shrimp and overcooked chicken. Horrendous. I could have made a better package (because I would have bought a better tasting package. They probably picked the Curry Doll Noodle brand) in 3 minutes. It took them 20 to bring it out. For $ 10 I’d expect at least the decency to throw in a second bag, but they obviously only put one tiny 50 cent bag in.
$ 13 for obviously frozen packaged udon with the same frozen vegetables and a few pieces of grilled protein. How hard is it to make udon and add store-​bought soup base and toss in some vegetables? Another 3 minute dish that took forever, and tasted like it only took 30 seconds to make. Also, extremely tiny. Clearly it was just a bag.
$ 7 for brown rice with toasted seaweed and spinach. Except they didn’t have spinach, and didn’t even have the courtesy to tell us — so here’s a small bowl of random packaged Korean seaweed that probably was $ 1 for an entire package that could have been used in 20 plates of this.
There are loads of better Japanese places; yes even in Calgary, you don’t have to run to Vancouver. The reviews horribly mislead us to waste $ 35 here, and I’m inclined most of the reviewers here have never really tried any good Japanese food to know any better.
I’d feel bad because the service is actually decently nice, if tragically slow.

The spicy salmon role is delicious! It has plenty of spicy sauce for all eight pieces. The service is very friendly, but the food takes a while to get out of the kitchen. Unfortunately, despite rhyming our order back to our waitress, we ended up with only one order of ramen instead of two and it was missing the dumplings. However, it was the server’s first day and mistakes happen.

You would think after my recent quest for the Sushi Samba badge that I would be sushi-​d out for a while. Well, that is not so! A trip to Midori is always a way to put a smile on my face!
Midori is my favourite «hidden gem» place for sushi in all of Calgary. It is a family-​run, small restaurant that just does it well. The sushi is reasonably priced (sushi is always an expensive date!) and we are always served with a smile. Neither the décor nor the sushi is fancy, it is just a really comfortable place to go for some really tasty food.
The restaurant has all of 5 tables plus a few seats at the bar and there are even a few outdoor seats for those warm summer days. Despite that, there is never a long wait. Take out is a popular option as well.
I highly recommend the green tea, yam tempura rolls and spicy salmon rolls. Just thinking about those makes my mouth water… in fact, I might just have to make a trip there today…
–
L

I actually enjoy Midori. It’s quite small, but it doesn’t discount the food. It’s fairly busy during peak times, but considering its so close to where I live, I don’t mind taking it to go. The staff is super friendly and the sushi is always fresh! They have original rolls which is mucho importante to me because I don’t like getting just «salmon rolls». I always like trying something new and love how they have pictures posted on the walls that leave me drooling over which roll to try. Haha.
Another great feature is that they are open throughout the day. It’s not one of those 2 – 3 hour stints till you wait till the dinner rush! Greatly appreciated by those who have inconsistent meal times. Anyways, although Midori doesn’t look particularly visually appetizing on the exterior, the food is great!

I haven’t been here in awhile and went back for dinner tonight.
The food was awesome and I found everything to be fairly priced.
Try the firecracker roll it’s delish!

I like you and your crunchy rolls midori, you don’t measly shove a tiny bit of tempura shrimp inside a roll and call it crunchy. Instead, you shovel a whack of fried tempura bits over a sushi roll. That gives me an idea that the next time I buy sushi on the go, I’ll crunch up some shrimp flavored chips and roll my California rolls around it.
I also liked the savory gyozas you whipped up. But for the price I paid for seaweed salad means I should get a bowl full of seaweeds, not half filled with generic salads. Oh well I needed room for sushi anyways.
It sort of took forever to pay though. But our wait wasn’t as bad as the 30 minute wait you put an obnoxious hipster couple through. For that I’m actually rewarding you with one star.
Prices are fair. Location is prime. You’re all right Midori, you’re a pass in my books.

Synopsis: was looking for ramen, but this other place closed at 2:30pm. Looked for alternatives on Unilocal — this placed turned up.
Spicy tuna roll = 4
Ramen w/​pot stickers = 2
Tempura udon = 3.
When I think of ramen, I think of a shoyu or pork broth with made-​from-​scratch (I think I’m spoiled) noodles. What was had here was in the neighborhood of Top Ramen and major disappointment. At least my son’s tempura udon was done right.

This restaurant can be hard to spot as it’s a small café but judging from the number of people that constantly came in, I could tell it’s a favourite amongst people. Inside there just a few booths and seating by the counter and we were lucky to snag the booth right by the door around noon. The waitress came by with menus and it took some time for our tea to arrive.
Since I wasn’t very hungry, I ordered the teriyaki chicken rice and miso soup to share with a colleague. My other colleagues ordered the sushi, with chicken or beef, rice, and salad. The food took a little long to arrive so it’s not ideal if you want a quick lunch. I like the rice and decent number of pieces of chicken. The sauce wasn’t overwhelming and just enough tang to give it good taste.
Our meals all came to about $ 14 including tea. I would certainly come here for take out if there were no seats for eating in or I didn’t have time to wait as it was about an hour we were in the restaurant. Next to try is the sushi!

I used to work a block down, and Midori was my favorite place to go when I wanted to treat myself to sushi for lunch. As I discovered last night, they don’t take reservations, but they’ve got an excellent patio for Puppy Watching™. That alone deserves a star or two :).
Minus half a point, because I ordered an «Avocado and Spinach Goma Salad» and there was no spinach to be had. It was tasty though, and I love the hell out of Avocado, so I didn’t send it back. Minus another half, because I was out of tea and the service was slow so I only got a glass of water at the very end of my meal. Aside from those two things; the food was all wonderful, and I really enjoyed the Yam Tempura and the Avocado and Yam Tempura roll…
(Can you tell I tend to be one track minded at sushi restaurants? Put yams, avocados and deep fried things in front of me and I’ll be in love with your restaurant in a hot minute.)
Really glad we were able to enjoy sushi and sunshine (and PUPPIES!) before the crazy hailstorm last night! Bonus points for the free impromptu ~ A Very Loud Man Talks On His Cellphone ~ show that took place behind us.

When the sushi craving hits me and my boyfriend like Jaws slamming into the bottom of your glass boat, we call up Midori.
When we were first acquainted with this little treat, we kept trying to eat in at the restaurant and I was amazed at how many people came in to pick up their order while I was still waiting for my tea to reach the table.
For Midori’s service is slow, so phone ahead, place your winning order: ours includes miso soup, all vegetable tempura, tuna and salmon sashimi combo and 2 yam flake rolls (one each) and stride on in 20 –30 minutes later and waving your method of payment, while trying not to cringe at the waitress taking 5 – 10 minutes to get the drink orders on her tray.
But I forgive your slow table service Midori, because I have learned to beat the system. Your food is delicious, though your debit/​credit machine reminds me of trying to connect to the internet back in 96.

Had a favorable experience at Midori. Found it a very cozy little restaurant with a nice 17^th Ave urban vibe. Enjoyed the convenience of having a variety of sushi sets to make ordering quick and easy, such as the couple sets.
This place is really fast. The order was ready in about 5 minutes even though the restaurant was full and there was only one server and one chief. Interesting!
They also have a small Korean section on the menu that needs to be sampled, an intriguing reason to come back next time.
In my opinion, it isn’t the best place in Calgary for sushi. However, it certainly is satisfying and rather close to me. On a sushi craving day when I’m feeling lazy to travel elsewhere, it would be the right fit.