KYOZON

I was invited to try this self-proclaimed hip New-Asian restaurant on Crescent. It was going to be big. Oh-so-big. I invited my boss, V, because a: she's super duper fun and b: she knows her sushi. Media was at 6 so as per our usualness (that's a word, I swear!), we got there at 5:55. Kyozon joins the Nacos Group family, including Weinstein and Gabinos and Newtown on Crescent (my fave is Atelier d'Argentine in Old MTL).

The place looked really big from the outside and even bigger when you enter. Holy bejesus!!! It was HUGE! You get in and there's a huge mother freakin bar on the first floor along with many tables. Then, on the second floor, you have the kitchen, in full view behind a window and the kaiten belt. I had never experienced 'the' belt so that was fun and new for me! 

There was a huge sky light which added a certain charm to it all. So in one word it was damn huge. Ok, two words.

Anyhoot, we got in and were nicely attacked by some waiters carrying drinks around: red or white wine, proscecco or their specialty drink for the evening, the Shojo Sour. We started off with the Shojo: Bombay Sapphire, Midori, lime, simple syrup, egg white and the kicker, 3 drops of sesame oil.

It was very tasty and special (and dangerously not tasting of alcohol) at first but after a couple drinks and burping sesame oil, it became less special... Let's just say that the next day, at my sushi restaurant, I did not want to hear anything about sesame oil (my chef made a lovely joke telling me he had switched the oil in the fryer for sesame oil). And just one whiff made me want to you know whhhhaaaat.

The ambiance was great, as it usually is at media gatherings where everything, including alcohol, is free. Abeille was spinning for most of the night and it was loud! We saw many-a-people making out and almost just getting right down to it at the bar.... twas quite hilarious!

And now, food!

We were two of the first people there so we went upstairs pretty quickly to see what all the fuss was about with that belt! Turns out... no fuss. We were sitting in an arm's length of food that we could pick out so that was cool but the food itself...

-Rice not too good and this is coming from someone who knows her sushi rice

-Fish on top a bit too fishy

-This literally tasted like nothing even if, as you can see, there ARE ingredients!

-This one was my favourite

-No rice

-Salmon and tuna tasted great

-Calamari in a cone

-Great taste and crunch

-BBQ type sauce fit really well

-Not too salty, great panko crust

Sorry about awful pic

-This spring roll was just awful Sushi Shop quality

-Fake crab meat with tobiko and a tiny piece of avocado dson't make a good quality roll

-First dish with lots of flavours

-Salmon well cooked and moist (oh how I hate that word but sometimes, you just gotta use it!)

-Lobster maki

-Was there really lobster in there?

-Pork bun

-Taste was there but the pork was way too fatty and the bun was slightly undercooked

-Looked good but tasted like nada :/

-This was a great papaya salad

-Good flavours

-Very refreshing

-Popcorn shrimp

-Again, loved the panko crust

-Juicy on the inside, crunchy on the outside and just a tad spicy... just what you want!

Bah, pink ginger... really? That is all.

OK, now, I can see it now: 'Marie, you're so tough, you're so harsh...' Well I feel it's my duty to tell y'all the truth!!! Also, when there are huge openings like this one, the capacity of the kitchen to deliver the good stuff is always limited and stuff starts going awry as the night progresses. I would like to go back and experience the real deal though. As the Nacos Group promo/marketing dude told me: 'Ce soir c'est pour faire le party mais il faut y retourner pour la vraie expérience!'.

And now, let's talk service! It was great!!! Nothing bad to say about it! Not one thing. They were all smiles and they were always there with a drink or passing food around when you needed it. The barmen and women were always there for you (just like Friends!) and we stayed that much longer because our bar dude told us that 'we were fun and we should stay'. Damn him!!!

OK, and now, the scores!!!

Food: 6

Service: 9

I definitely want to go back for the real experience. You'll see it's hard to keep this chick away from asian food!!!