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• ChrisH
  OK. Went to Shiku last night for dinner. In the spirit of full disclosure I am 50 years old and the idea of drinking multiple 12 dollar drinks with wierd names and even wierder ingredients does not appeal to my wife and I. That said, my family and I eat sushi at least once a week. When we go out with kids locally -we go to Sams in Ballard or Blue C in Fremont. Reasonable sushi and quick service. When it is just my wife and I, we go to Chiso in Fremont for higher end sushi and more variety (read: more expensive) We wandered our way through the Shiku menu looking for something that would cause us to change our sushi eating patterns. We had the pork (a bit too much fat for the price) , the cold noodles (small portion), some hand rolls (good) and some sushi (average quality and size). The food was generally good-We had one large house sake. Our bill for two was $55.00 and I left hungry. We will not go there as a family-too expensive-not kid friendly-and there was nothing new different or exciting on the menu that would cause us to go there instead of Chiso. Oh well-
  BTW-My perfect Japanese restauraunt/sushi bar is Kisaku at Greenlake.
• Doug Nichols
  I Went Saturday night, October 5th, the wait staff was completely unprepared for the number of people and they seem to be still sorting out their groove.
  
  Other than that the food was good, nicely prepared and well presented. The rolls were smaller than some places I have been, but I find that I usually get too much food.
  
  I had the hamachi, tuna, salmon and then I had the ninja roll and the rainbow roll. The ninja roll was double rolled and delicious! All of the fish was good, fresh and did the job for my sushi fix.
  
  The total for a beer and a club soda was 55 + tip.
  
  IT will be worth going back to see how the service shapes up once they figure out where they are going.
• jeremy
  I went to Shiku the last weekend and had the best sushi i have found in seattle. (and i eat alot of sushi). The sushi is priced just right. My favorite was the homeless roll and the ninja roll.
• patyh
  What exactly, is in a homeless roll?
• CaffinatorX
  one week later ( sat 11th) we went with a group of 9 and the food was GREAT. Service was a bit random, but this has been the case at every izakaya place we've ever been to (2 in vancouver and 1 downtown) so that's become expected. Very friendly and with everyone sharing, the excellent food was very resonably priced. We had the Bruce Lee roll, halibut cheeks, kobe beef, samauri roll, and a few others. Excellent excellent excellent.
• trizzle
  Not great. Ordered 4 things. Got a homeless roll by mistake (ordered the honey roll) so ended up with 5. Homeless roll was the best thing, and quite good. Eggplant croquet was bland. Beef thing was just boring. Tempura was standard. Honey roll was just ok. Won't be rushing back.
• marci
  By far the best sushi we've had in Seattle. My husband & I are sushi snobs and were very impressed by the quality of the fish. We had several small plates (can't remember which ones), a couple of rolls, a lot of sushi and several things of sake. The fish was extremely fresh and the rolls were great. The small plates were good, too, except they took up valuable tummy space for the sushi. We know that when you go to a nice sushi restaurant you're going to pay more than at Blue C, so the bill of $100 for the two of us was expected. This is our new favorite sushi spot in Seattle.
• AMS
  I love this place! I had several college friends in town a couple of weekends ago, and we had the best time at Shiku! It's a great place to go for dinner and drinks before hitting up some of the ballard bars. The sushi and drinks were unique. I'm allergic to shellfish, which most of the rolls on the menu contain, but the servers and chefs were more than happy to come up w/ some excellent shellfish free rolls for me...I would go here again in a second, and plan to very soon.
• TC Baer
  Shiku is awesome. Seattle can learn a few things from Shiku.
  
  First, while a traditional Japanese culinary art form, sushi does not need to be boring. Shiku takes care of this by adding some "spice" to the atmosphere and some zing to the drinks.
  
  Second, Shiku accomplishes the art of Umi, whilst avoiding the pitfalls of a noisy and dark Wasabi Bistro. It's not Nishino, but the sexy funky cool patrons are more inclined to be celebrating their 25th to 30th birthdays, not anniversaries.
  
  Third, Shiku provides another hip and sexy perspective to the Ballard Avenue corridor. As much as I like King's Hardware and some of the other spots on the strip... ...I've never seen bad things come out of hip places that draw in a higher spending crowd. Ballard should welcome this influx of spending in the tighter economy.
  
  Cheers to the owners of Shiku for bringing another perspective to Seattle/Ballard. We love you for it! ANd the drinks are good too!
• SUSHIORI
  Although I don't think this is the best sushi place, I'm glad to have Shiku in Ballard. There are few "Izakaya" items that are not available at any other Japanese restaurant at Shiku. Ume-Katsu, and Fried Stuffed Jalapeno are to die for. I dig them. I liked Goma Salad when I first had it but not for the 2nd time. They started to use plain iceberg lettuce instead of leafy greens. That made the salad "less tasty". Their rolls are not impressive as Umi's, and miso soup doesn't have enough miso paste in the broth. It looks like I'm criticizing a lot but this is a new restaurant. What I wrote here are few kinks that they can easily fix to improve their food.
• Disgusted
  We had a terrible experience at Shiku. An oil-herb mixture smothered the cuts of sashimi and no vinegar in the rice!!! The sushi chefs abandoned the sushi bar for 10 minutes and when they came back were complaining to everyone that they had worked a solid 4 hour shift - ???! When the manager asked how our food was and we complained about the absurdity of the fish, he then tried to convince us we were wrong! Bottom line - if you like real japanese food, don't go to Shiku, it will ruin your love for a sacred food.
• JoeFoto
  Shiku is great. They've got it all down. Ambience, Service, Good drink, Good Sushi. Isakaya was very interesting and glad to have it as a counterpoint to the Sushi.
  
  Go . You won't be disappointed... unless you're "disgusted" ;-)
• JD
  I don't recommend this place and wouldn't go here again. The sushi was overpriced, the portions were small and similar to a previous post, the staff didn't seem to be prepared to have a full house. In addition, there is no accessible parking (though this may not be an issue for the locals). Great decor, great vibe, but the negatives of the food (which is why you go to a suhi place to begin with) outweigh those positives. There are plenty of less expensive higher quality sushi joints in Seattle to enjoy.
• RickTanner
  The place is great with everything you could possibly want! Great service, good cuts and great tapas menu!! If you are boring, go up the street....please! Every time I go with a big party they accommodate promptly for a small busy joint and its guaranteed to be worth the wait!!
• MI
  I went there on Saturday night. We had a great time! The Puget Sound and Homeless Rolls were good. We had some sort of appetizer pork dish. It was great....didn't see how it landed on a sushi menu but still good.
• Mark
  in one word Inconsistent! I have been in there and had an incredible meal and then 3 nights later and just been left shaking my head. It seems that when the owner and his Uncle are there the food is good, but the times when they have not been there I left thinking I don't need to ever go back.
  
  Oh and
  
  
  
  Main Entry: snob
  Pronunciation: \ˈsnäb\
  Function: noun
  1British : cobbler
  2: one who blatantly imitates, fawningly admires, or vulgarly seeks association with those regarded as social superiors
  3 a: one who tends to rebuff, avoid, or ignore those regarded as inferior b: one who has an offensive air of superiority in matters of knowledge or taste
• balls
  This is the best sushi place I have been to! I went to Blue C sushi and was turned off by the whole idea of raw fish. It smelled awful and tasted even worse (at Blue C).
  
  Shiku changed my whole perspective on sushi. The fish is VERY fresh and is very welcoming to the pallet.
  The service was great too, I don't know why every body is bitching about that. My friend and I were being checked up on every 10 mins or so.
  I give it 2 thumbs up!
• Club Penguin Cheats
  The rolls were smaller than some places I have been, but I find that I usually get too much food. The ninja roll was double rolled and delicious! All of the fish was good, fresh and did the job for my sushi fix.
• ryanjm
  I had never been into sushi that much until I ate here. One of the nice bartenders recommended I try one of theirs , as they had some samples available. DELICIOUS! I eat there 2 times a week now and love sushi. The atmosphere has a modern , urban and warm feel to it makeing it very comfortable. The lighting halogen lighting is sometimes a little bright but very minor . The Bartenders and Staff are attentive, accomodating and very friendly. I Love SHIKU Sushi ! Thanks Shiku.