Restaurant Review: Haru Sushi and Grill

I like order, schedules and lists. I’ve found that I am a very organized person and will have planned things out to the ninth degree in everything I do. It could be work, dinners with friends and even outings with family. It’s very nice knowing what my calendar looks like and what my free time is for the upcoming weeks. However, sometimes things spring up on you and that’s just life. One of those curve balls occurred the other week when we looked at our groceries and decided that we just did not want to eat anything that was inside our fridge. I know, shocker, but food is a big deal to me. Luckily for me, there was a new sushi restaurant that just opened by our place and it didn’t take much convincing at that point to eat anything but what we were staring at. So off to Haru Sushi we go.

Atmosphere: A contemporary and tranquil space due to the usage of calming colors and keeping the dining area nice and open. Great for small groups and families.

Price Range: Mid $10s

Food: Since we arrived without me getting a chance to look at the menu online first (which is what I always do). I’ve realized that it was quite the menu to peruse. Luckily for me, we always have certain go-to dishes when we eat at a sushi restaurant. Although there was a dish that did jump out at me when I was reading the menu and that was the BBQ Squid and I’m glad I decided to go with it.



When the dish arrived, the squid came on a hot plate with a bubbling sweet teriyaki sauce on the bottom and drizzle with spicy mayo. The aromas were amazing. I couldn’t wait to dig in and lucky for me, it tasted just as good as it smelled. The combo of the sweet and spicy sauce went very well with the squid which was a bit chewy, but nicely flavoured. I could have eaten nothing but that the whole night, but our sushi quickly came to the table shortly afterwards.

We stuck with the Spicy Tuna Roll – a must whenever we eat sushi. Each section of the roll came with a good amount of spicy mayo. I found I didn’t even need to dip my roll in to the soy sauce. It was good just the way it was. Another thing we noted was how perfectly uniform the rolls were. Each with just the right amount of rice surrounding the tuna and none of the rice were falling apart when we picked it up, very impressive indeed.



The fish was fresh tasting and we both definitely noticed that when our order of the Favorite Sushi Combo arrived. It’s a sushi platter made up of 6 nigri sushi (Tuna, Salmon and Ebi aka Shrimp) and a Tuna Maki Roll. Each piece of the nigri sushi had just the right amount of rice and wasabi. A lot of restaurants no longer put wasabi in the nigri sushi so this was refreshing.

To end we had an order of the Stampede Roll, which is a Haru special roll made up of salmon, avocado and cucumber wrapped with tuna, red tuna, avocado & mango. They say you eat with your eyes first and this was definitely the case with this roll. The different combination of colors on this roll made it look really appetizing (not to mention the amazing uniformity of the rice to filling ratio as well). The balsamic reduction drizzled on top was a nice added touch. Again the light acidity from the balsamic made the use of the soy dipping sauce almost obsolete.



My Picks: BBQ Squid, Stampede Roll

Overall: The food at Haru definitely makes me to come back (if not for anything but that squid) so I may sample more of their semi fusion sushi menu. Especially the appetizers, with mouthwatering sounding items like Chili Prawns and Grilled Scallops. Plus the proximity of it to our house makes it that much more inviting. Who knew that sometimes not planning is the greatest plan of all!

Haru Sushi and Grill
150, 35 Mckenzie Towne Ave SE
Calgary, AB
(403) 457-5880
Website: www.myharu.ca