Roku

I dropped in here with hubby for lunch at 11:30am – we were greeted promptly and were seated at a table by the window.
Although we glanced briefly at the sandwich board that listed the daily specials, the lunch combos on the menu were a good deal ($ 14-​$ 16) for sushi/​sashimi/​izakaya with rice, miso soup and salad. As more customers came in (this place fills up quickly), we noticed that they were all ordering the lunch combos (served from 11:30am to 2:00pm).
Our server was pleasant, attentive, and very informative (I added «izumitai (=white fish)» to my vocabulary today).
Hubby ordered the Lunch Combo #1 and I ordered the Sushi Lunch.
Our miso soups were served piping hot. Mmmmm… comfort food for me!
The salads were dressed in light vinaigrette and not doused with Thousand Island/​Ranch dressing like most sushi restaurants.
My sushi was very generously portioned and the freshest I’ve tasted. Both tuna and salmon melted in my mouth and was served at the perfect temperature. The sushi chef uses fresh ingredients, right down to the shiso leaf (they don’t use plastic green leaves here) and the California roll (crab, avocado, fish stick) was carefully made. The presentation was impeccable.
The pickled ginger was pleasant to eat (not overly strong or pungent).
We will be back to try some of the selections that are rarely offered elsewhere (e.g. sea bream, blue fin tuna, grilled whole squid, Japanese whiting).

You get what you pay for!
A little more pricey than some, but completely worth it! My fave sushi stop in the city!

The food can be good, but, the staff give you the feeling that they can’t wait to go home. I called one evening, to book a reservation, and was told that, they weren’t sure if we could get in. It was 6:30 pm when I called and they were open until 9pm. We drove there only to find that they only had 3 tables with customers. We asked for a table by the window, since there wasn’t anyone sitting there. The waitress looked uncomfortable, and actually walked eratically around the room for twenty seconds or so. Just then, three ladies walked in. They announced that they had a reservation. The frantic waitress physically pushed us aside, picked up a reserved sign and placed it on the table we had just asked for. She then invited the ladies to the table. After a moment, she came back and offered us a table in a high traffic area, saying, «This ok?»
We left. Haven’t been back.

Too good to be true.
Server is always friendly.
First dining experience was served by owner’s son.
Fresh materials and the dishes were given extra care. Better dedication than other sushi restaurant which I call the fast food sushi chain. Here I won’t name them.
Was a bit pricy but we were all willing to spend the money on the good food.
They served us not just great food but also the spirit of Jan food

Decided to try this neighbourhood resto as I’ve heard so many great reviews. Service was attentive. Sushi was fantastic. Melt in your mouth salmon that was the right temperature. Cool but not cold or frozen in my mouth. Rice was perfectly fluffy without too much vinegar.
We tried the chicken karaage, tempura shrimp to start. Both were tasty, very crispy and lightly seasoned. A big bonus as I hate my food over salted.
I had red tuna, unagi (BBQ eel), hokkigai (surf clam) sushi and red tuna and salmon sashimi. So tender and perfect! Followed by spicy tuna roll and California roll. Good size portions for sure.
We will definitely return here again to try more items. The appies are extensive so I’m sure you could make a meal of it and they also have set menus for 2 or 3 people which takes the selection process out. Desserts look great so next time!
Round 2: Fried Oysters are crispy and light and had the spicy tuna roll which was deelish. Spice was in the meat and not due to the usual orange sauce on top. Black cod was perfection! Also shared a sashimi platter. Fish was fresh and served at the right temperature. Presentation was simple and beautiful. Can’t wait to try more items!!!

The best sushi in Calgary. My brothers and I eat here at least a couple time a week. Always for lunch, only once for dinner, but it doesn’t matter it’s always good. Staff is very friendly, the restaurant is always clean, the food shows the care and pride evident throughout this restaurant. Prices are very good as the he quality is better than any place I’ve dined for Japanese cuisine. My go to place.

I love this sushi restaurant! The sushi is very fresh and high quality. The servers are friendly and polite. The restaurant is spacious and opens.

There was a quite a nice variety of items on the menu to start off with, which is always great when it comes to sushi. I’d like to share that I had called ahead & enquired about vegetarian options. I was delighted that the chef had created an elegant, regular-​sized, roll for me in addition to the avocado & cucumber mini-​rolls, for which I was super impressed!
Although every plate brought out looked super delicious, I have to say that the most visually pleasing was the salmon & roe egg plate (see top image); The following were also ordered: miso soup; beef totaki; broccoli; veggie mix; both regular & fatty tuna, and salmon sashimi; soft shell crab roll; chicken combo; tofu salad; and a root veggie mix. There was so much delicious food.
All in all, it was a good experience. We give it a 4 out of 5. We will for sure be eating there again.

Such a calm environment, love the atmosphere here. Soft jazz music. I have found my new love. And his name is roku.
It was so cute cause they brought around a white board with their specials of the day, and their chopstick covers had little fish on them (perfect to take home for bookmarks).
It was an absolute delightful lunch. We both opted to get lunch combos. And of course the bf had to try out their salmon as well. The portion sizes were great. The plating was pretty to look at and eat as well. All the sashimi tasted very fresh. And the tuna was melt in your mouth yummy.
The miso soup was not overly salty and you could tell a distinct difference in their soup base. It tasted richly of fish/​dashi.
Food came out at an amazing time. We barley had to wait for any of it. The aki fry was delicious! I think i could’ve eaten another ten pieces of it if my appetite permitted.
Will visit here over and over again.

This place has some really quality Japanese food and a wonderfully wide menu selection, both in terms of cold dishes and hot dishes alike. You may find prices to be a wee bit on the higher side than some other places, but it’s definitely worth what you’re paying. The portions are great and the sushi always tastes fresh – consistency has not been an issue to me with this place. It’s really a treat to have a sushi joint out here in the ‘burbs that offers quality Japanese food. You won’t be disappointed by the sushi here, and the service is A-​OK to boot!

My favorite sushi restaurant in calgary. The fish is always super fresh and excellent quality. They also have specials everyday. Their lunch combos are a great deal. Be sure to make reservations because they’re very busy and usually packed.

My favourite sushi place in Calgary hands down. I was struggling to find a go to sushi place in Calgary ever since Wa’s closed, and was so happy to find Roku.
The sashimi here is amazing! Always super fresh and nice thick cuts. I like the udon here as well, and the special rolls are quite big. If you have room for dessert, I recommend the tempura banana with green tea ice cream. Soo good!
The service is also always great here. If you are going on a weekend, I recommend making reservations in advance because the restaurant is pretty small. I like that they didn’t try to cramp in as many seats as possible and there is lots of space in between tables.
I find that dinner can get pretty pricey as all sushi can in Calgary. If you are on a budget, I recommend going for lunch. They have some lunch specials that I find are great and cheaper. The sashimi lunch is my fav! :)

Roku has quickly become one of my favourite places to go for lunch. One thing I love is that the lunch menu has a large variety of dishes. It keeps you wanting to come back until you’ve tried them all.
The fish/​sushi dishes are surprisingly fresh for the price, and the fried dishes are lightly crisped and not too oily.
If the great food and atmosphere wasn’t enough, the staff and servers there are some of the friendly and attentive in the city.

Best sushi in Calgary. Not inexpensive, but worth it. Everything on menu is fresh and well prepared!

I have been there for few times, love this place!
Roku is owned by the previous owner of Zipang, so both of them have the similar style.
This Christmas, they offered All-​u-​can-​eat menu on Dec 30^th and 31^st. Each table had 90 min to enjoy the food. But the booking was very full, so the first round started at 5pm, and the second around started at 6:30pm. Therefore, even if you were late, u still had to leave on time. We found this was a bit rush, especially my friend had to feed her baby at the same time.
However, every time when my table placed an order, it only took few minutes; it was quick and awesome! The sushi (we love the yellowtail and tuna rolls so much!) and the hot dishes were good too!
About the service, they are always nice; but one of the staffs was just okay on Dec31st. We placed our first all-​u-​can-​eat order, so when half of the food came, we asked for the order list and wanna prepare for the next round; but she didn’t let us to have that and told us to wait until we finished the first round. And she was kinda pushy, hurry us to finish and leave. So we always got help from a nicer staff.

This time I came with my husband for dinner and had a mix of items off the menu and specials board. The specials, red tuna poke style, seared salmon belly sushi, and blue fin tuna sashimi were fresh and delicious, as was the kaki ponzu again. The rolls, however, were a bit disappointing… The 2 maki rolls, though fresh tasting, were in horrid shape! They looked like a person’s first attempt at making sushi! Given the Japanese are known for exquisite presentation, I was surprised to see they served it looking like that! The large rolls had way too much rice in proportion to the stuff inside… Once again, no complaints about the quality of the fish and whatnot inside. Lesson learned: order hot foods, sushi and sashimi, but no rolls.

Great sushi, great service and nice atmosphere. Didn’t have a reservation and even though they were busy, I was seated promptly. Food came quick and pricing was reasonable. Will be back again.

Fish aside, the rice is what makes good sushi. Sushi masters in training work on making rice for a year or something before they get to touch ANYTHING else (it might even be two… I don’t really have the facts in front of me) so it’s obviously important. I don’t eat fish but I can tell you Roku has the best sushi rice of anywhere I’ve eaten in Calgary. The downside for me is they have a more limited menu for fishless sushi than some of the other sushi places but they have the old standards and they are pretty good. I also can’t eat the miso which is also disappointing.
Moving away from sushi they have some interesting other dishes like eggplant with tamarind sauce. Different, good but I’m not sure what I think of the texture. Even still, it’s not something i’ve seen elsewhere and is something I can eat so there is props for that.
Much of the staff speak japanese and are patient and indulge hubs as he’s learning in preparation for an upcoming Japan trip. Luckily they speak english to me as I’m completely lost. :)
Lunch combos are a pretty good deal if you’re not a vegetarian… you can mix and match sushi and cooked food.
Overall nice restaurant but the bill gets big quickly it seems.

We went for dinner on a weekday and their restaurant was busy but with tables that are empty that are reserved. The restaurant itself is actually not small, but it looks like they are not too concerned about packing in as many tables as possible, which is not good for us as we were told that a 30-​minute wait would be needed before a table is free unless we want to sit at the sushi bar. Normally I don’t have a problem with that except I was with my daughter and falling from a tall chair is not an option. The server changed her mind after thinking things over and seated us at a table that has been reserved for sitting time just over an hour later. Knowing how quickly we go through a meal, we know that it wouldn’t be a problem. Besides, another table would become available before then anyway… which was the case.
As this was the first experience, we were not too adventurous in our selection. We ordered a Sushi Plate — Favorite, Tanuki Soba, and one of their dinner combo. The food was very good and no complaints there. I don’t know if it is an off day on service, but they never come around to fill up our tea and water. As for the ambiance, it can get loud in the restaurant but it didn’t bother us too much.
Parking was all taken in front of the restaurant but the large parking lot located at an adjacent site to the west provided sufficient parking. However, beware of all the stop signs at the end of every single aisle for all direction of travel! It was highly unnecessary and confused the heck out of me!
To sum up, I think Roku is a great addition to the NW and I will come back for sure to try out the rest of their menu items.

Excellent, fresh sashimi! We had their blue fin tuna and salmon sashimi. We also ordered the fiddlehead with their unique mayo sauce, a daily special. The other dishes we tried were the kaki fry (fried oysters), plain soba noodles (big bowl), 2 dinner specials — fried chicken and the tempura — both dinners came with 2 appetizers (kind of a smoked salmon & sliced mushrooms), miso soup, a bowl of rice and a sushi plate — california roll (3 pcs), tuna sushi, yellowtail sushi, salmon sushi and prawn sushi. Lot s of food but every items was done with such finesse! A true Japanese gem in the Royal Oak area.
Interesting piece of decoration in the middle of the restaurant — a large golden rock with vines. I asked the waitress what it was and she said it’s an anthill! I’m not sure what the significance of the ant hill is.
Great customer serivce!