Asoyama

My husband and I had dinner at Asoyama after he had mentioned that the restaurant got «really good ratings». After walking in I noticed that the restaurant décor was beautiful. We ended up sitting in the middle section enclosed by a wooden fence. There were beautiful scrolls hanging from the ceiling. Apparently, the scrolls obstructed the servers view of us because after taking our order and serving our food she disappeared and never came back. There were maybe 6 other people in the restaurant at the time. My husband waited patiently for a drink refill, and when she never came, we both waited patiently for her to ask if we would like our bill. We ended up getting up and waiting by the hostess area for someone to take notice that we wanted to pay and leave.
I would give this restaurant and even lower rating, however, the food was so good it deserved a higher one. I had the Gake tempura (oysters), a kamikaze roll and a red dragon roll. The rolls were tasty, and had the right amount of spice for my liking. My husband and I both noted the large sized pieces, we could have easily had two rolls each and been satisfied. The oysters were crispy and tasty and the presentation was lovely.
Aside from the lack of service, the food was amazing and well-​priced for what you get. I would probably give this restaurant another shot. Mostly because I can’t stop thinking about the Gake tempura.

Very disappointed in this place. Great interior, decent food, but TERRIBLE customer service.
The interior and atmosphere are excellent. Wonderful patio, nice décor. Perfect for romantic dinner or large groups. Mind you, all that was there during the previous occupant — Shogun Restaurant.
The first thing that stood out as a sore thumb was the menu. It looked like a middle school student’s project — a Word document full of low quality, pixelated pictures taken with a phone camera. Are owners too cheap to print real menus?
I would give this place 3 stars, but the owner managed to make our dining experience awful. While eating, one of the people in our group found a large, pointy piece of fish scale in his roll. We mentioned it to the waitress, who apologized and quickly fetched the owner — older Korean lady. She as well apologized, but than attempted to downplay the incident by uttering the phrase: «It is still a part of the fish, so it’s OK». The hell? What’s next, a fish tail roll or see urchin needle sashimi? In the end she didn’t even take the offending roll off the bill or offered a complimentary item. I’d expect that kind of service at a cheap all-​you-​can-​eat family diner, but not an upscale restaurant with high prices.
Food selection was decent, but pretty much the same stuff you can find anywhere else. Nothing stood out as new or original. Presentation was good, but quality of ingredients average, but that’s consistent with 90% of sushi restaurants in Winnipeg. Price was on the higher end of the scale, definitely not a good value for money.
Conclusion: I’m not going back, who knows what other «parts of the fish» will end up in my food, and disappointed to see a nice place like that ran like a street food stall.

Asoyama has taken over the former location of «Shogan.» I think Shogan closed in late Fall 2009. Anyhow, the interior has been revamped a bit and is well decorated and pretty. There’s traditional seating on the left side but mostly it’s all regular table sitting.
I’d say the pricing for most items are on par with most sushi places. Although the 9 pc sashimi runs a tad higher than other places — most of the choices are $ 17.95 to $ 19.95. Most maki rolls are $ 5.95 to $ 7.95 and the house rolls $ 6.95 to $ 17.95.
The salmon nigiri was rich, fatty and delicious at $ 4.95 for 2 pieces. The nigiri was also a bit larger than usual.
The Kamikaze Roll ($ 6.95) is essentially a spicy chopped scallop roll sprinkled with tempura flakes and dotted with sriracha. Good roll — no complaints here.
The Bakudan Maki ($ 5.95) with tuna, salmon, chili sauce and tempura flakes sprinkled on the roll. It looked and tasted like the tuna and salmon were tossed in mayo and chili sauce which made for a richer bakudan than I am use to.
The Caterpillar Roll ($ 11.95) BBQ eel, avocado, cucumber, yamagobo and sesame was good and had a slight sweetness to it. But I’m, not sure if I’d order it again as there wasn’t much eel to this roll.
Also, somehow I also received an additional roll that I didn’t order, it was the chopped scallop roll ($ 5.95) there was scallop, tobiko, mayor and cucumber. Another delicious «bonus» roll. There were big chunks of scallop that were tender and delicious.
Overall, I liked the sushi here. The sushi rice was balanced as there’s nothing worse than soggy rice. The staff are nice and friendly. The only complaint I’d have is that they seem to be a tad heavy on the mayo but otherwise it’s pretty good.