Maiko Sushi Restaurant
#119 – 877 Goldstream Ave.
Langford, B.C.
(250) 995-8432

It may be easy for someone from my generation to confuse the former Maiko Gardens with Maiko Sushi but apart from Maiko Gardens having served Japanese cuisine, there is little they have in common.

Mariko, owner of Maiko Sushi (now former owner, she just sold the restaurant) has a keen eye for creating decent decor and should seriously consider her future as an interior decorator. Her sense of style is pleasing to the eye from the Japanese influenced displays in her business right down to the brightly furnished and vibrant washroom.  But in this current day and age Maiko still has some growing to do before they could eve match what locals remember so fondly of the name’s predecessor.

I tested the waters with a simple order of ramen noodles. It’s a test that couldn’t go wrong or so I thought. The restaurant has been in business for at least a year, how hard could it be?

It was mid-evening, I was hungry and the restaurant was scarcely populated but yet it took several minutes before I was served the complimentary green tea. And when I sipped it, it came off as lukewarm. This was corrected promptly. Nine minutes after I made my order a big bowl of hot ramen noodles was placed before me. That’s odd, I could’ve sworn basic ramen comes with seaweed. Oh well, I’m sure it’ll be good. The taste of the miso was evident but I think the cook forgot to remind the noodles because they were overcooked.

Kuma Noodle in my opinion still has the best bowl of ramen in town. And after this experience it only leaves me with a craving to return to the heavily populated Asian neighbourhood of Gordon Head. No business like Kuma can survive if they couldn’t deliver the goods. Fooling white lower class UK descended Canadians like myself might be easy, but fooling someone like Ed Sum, who’s used to eating similar cuisine seven days a week, not so much.

1 out of 5 Blokes