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El's Japanese Fusion
Categories: Restaurants Sushi Bars Restaurants Japanese Sushi Bars, Japanese [Edit]
2008 33 Ave SWSte 17
Calgary, AB T2T 1Z4
(403) 217-6796
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- No
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Delivery:
- No
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
13 reviews for El's Japanese Fusion
13 reviews in English
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Review from Milo D.
Calgary, AB
9/3/2011
Small. Unimpressive in every way except for the food and that's what matters. Loves...
Bad tea cups, boring decor, funny setup, parking okay, pretty girl, excellent food. -
Review from Vicki L.
Calgary, AB
3/8/2011
I LOVE El's!
The place is tiny, seating only about 12 or so guests and the service is somewhat slow but the food is excellent and the pricing is reasonable. Occasionally they will be unexpectedly closed.
The simple solution to all of the above is to make a reservation and plan to take your time enjoying your food and company. The alternative is to order take out.
When perusing the menu, the prices may seem on the high side; that is, until you see the truly huge portions they serve. If you read Katie's review, she says that "everything was amazing and HUGE. Even though El's is fairly pricey, you do get what you pay for. The bill ended up being about $20/per person, plus tax and tip."
Katie also says, "the House rolls were huge - at ten pieces they took up the entire plate. Everything was beautifully and excellently presented and I was definitely impressed with the food. We did have to take some with us and I had a little food baby."
I agree with all she says except the "pricey" part. In my mind, an excellent dinner that leaves me absolutely full PLUS take home for $20 per person is more than reasonable.
Mike puts in effort to have your dinner arrive at your table presented as gorgeous, mouth-watering art. He excels.
Again. Make a reservation. Make it an experience.Listed in: Restaurants
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Review from Julianna C.
Calgary, AB
12/8/2010
I've had sushi all over Calgary, and El's fits in a snug catagory between the 'pay-through-the-nose' of Globefish & Towa and the 'fast food' of your mall foodcourt sushi. I say this because inside El's, it's more toward the foodcourt end. The actual sushi though, is top notch.
Some creative rolls here too (ie the Mexican Roll) along with the steadfast traditionals.
There are only a few tables, so coming at an off-time would be recommended.Listed in: Raw Fish List
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Review from Katie C.
Calgary, AB
11/20/2009 3 photos
Based on the reviews from all these yelpers and general goodwill, I decided to drag my friends down to El's sushi. I was under the impression that it was quality, creative cheap sushi. Well, two out of three descriptors ain't bad.
We walked in, and the bar and the other three tables were full. Luckily we squeezed into a table at the back. We glanced at the menus and seriously freaked out at the prices. It isn't that they are awfully overpriced, but I had come to the conclusion that they were cheap! Not so - El's is firmly in the middle to expensive range of sushi.
My friend got the house rolls and some miso soup, and me and my other friend split the chirashi sushi (sashimi on a bed of rice), the appetizer tempura, and we each ordered rolls and she got miso. I have this issue where I'm always afraid I won't get enough sushi, that I just won't feel full. I definitely have issues pacing myself. Our food came pretty quickly, and everything was amazing and HUGE. Even though El's is fairly pricey, you do get what you pay for. The bill ended up being about $20/per person, plus tax and tip.
Despite our total over-order, we still managed to scarf down a ton of our food. My friend's California rolls were succulent and delicious, the House rolls were huge - at ten pieces they took up the entire plate. Everything was beautifully and excellently presented and I was definitely impressed with the food. We did have to take some with us, and I had a little food baby. I will be back to check out the impressive list of rolls.
Everything was good except for the mediocre service. The server was very friendly, but there was only one of her. She was fairly slow at refilling drinks and bringing out food. Considering there are only five tables, it did get a little frustrating trying to catch her attention. -
Review from Linda C.
I really REALLY wanted to like you El =(
Food ok... service needs improvement.
1) Service! - poor waiter dude.... he was all alone and was super frantic - y'know you can be frantic on the inside, but if you're dealing with customers and being around customers, you should be cool as a cucumber on the outside! Otherwise, it affects people's dining experience. PLEASE you need to hire at least one more staff!!!! Long wait for food... but that's cuz (of staff again) but also that all the rolls and sushi you order come out on ONE plate... so basically sushi chef only handles one order at a time and only serves one table at a time. If they served some food to each table then all tables would be eating, instead of only one table and the rest waiting for their order.
2) Food, water, green tea - So... had water first... and it tasted like plastic... ewww... so we ordered green tea - which came at the end of our meal... but yes we gave the waiter some slack b/c he was all alone.... again poor waiter dude! I feel for you. Started w/ Agedashi tofu, interesting different presentation and it tasted ok. Sushi Rolls were not bad either, we also got the toro sashimi plater - 7 pieces $15. Some thought it was ok... I thought it was not that great - could tell it was frozen... but anyways. After dinner, 2 of us had stomach aches....
and my stomach is still gurgly....
Overall, I thought it was pricey for the whole experience. I may come back and give them a 2nd chance. Next time, i would order salmon sashimi (that looked good on another table) and again more rolls! -
Review from Jollean C.
Vancouver, BC
10/22/2009 1 photo
A retelling of a lunch arranged by my somewhat Secret Admirer (yes, really!).
He adores me and wanted me to have some personal time with my sister, visiting from Vancouver...so he said, experience my very favourite restaurant, a lunchtime forae into wonderful tastes and aesthetics. Try the Age Dashi and the Blue Dragon Roll and perhaps the Tempura Green Tea Ice Cream. Well, who am I to deny the requests of a secret admirer who is kindly treating us?!!
So to El's we went, a plain, small but comfortable lil spot where I chatted with super-friendly owner Mike who has been a sushi chef for twentysome years. How sweet to name El's for his daughter Elisha. We liked our 50's reminiscent silver tea cups! The avocado & eel Dragon Roll was because my Secret Admirer shares a love of avocado with me and it was honestly divine, tasty & the dribbled sauces ensured you needed no soy. El's Maki (shrimp & scallop) was interesting but too thinly sliced and hard to eat. However, the Age Dashi Tofu (a fave of both my sister and I), was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. This is tempura-style tofu in nice, big, generous, beautifully, lightly fried pieces. I kid you not...we were astounded. Even guys, who normally have a hate on for tofu, would like this. In fact, we liked it so much we ordered a second round! No wonder my admirer recommended it!
Finishing off with the Japanese version of Mexican fried ice cream was the Tempura-battered Green Tea Ice Cream. It was so different and fun, though I wished the batter had a sweeter edge to temper the not-so-sweet ice cream. But it's totally worth the experience!
We delighted in our sisterly conversation and our happy mouths & pleased eyes. Mike takes great care in his menu (tons of rolls to choose from!!!) and the quality is exemplified by his love of what he does.
And so my somewhat Secret Admirer delighted in our enjoyment. And maybe someday, I'll get to meet him....and maybe at El's. ;o) -
Review from Willman L.
Calgary, AB
12/21/2009
Having tried both Globefish (sad excuse for a Izakaya) and El's, I'd have to say I doubt I would ever go back to Globefish if I was ever in the area. It's not that Globefish was bad (it's pretty decent for what they do), it's just that El's is that much better in terms of value and quality.
They are small and I have read reports of bad service but luckily when we went the service was decent. It's not knock you off your socks service like in NY or Vegas but passable for Calgary. But if you can look past the service and indulge in all the unique offerings they have there you'll be more than happy. The only problem, too much choice! There was stuff that other tables ordered that looked really good but we were so full and happy from what we ordered that it's definitely warrants a second visit to try other menu offerings.
They also do a Omakase which judging from how creative the chefs are, might be very tempting on a special occasion. -
Review from JP D.
Calgary, AB
2/22/2010
Great place for sushi in the SW of the city. El's Japanese Fusion offers some of the best sushi I have ever tasted, having been to sushi-centric places such as SF, LA, Vancouver NY and Japan, I can confidently say that dollar/quality ratio here is among the best.
The presentation is nice and the selection is very impressive.
The down sides are the interior, which is pretty bland and the hours are a bit odd as well.
As noted by vanessa t., service has gotten better, and I can longer count service as a down side of El's. Great place overall, would recommend over Globefish -
Review from Kevin J.
Calgary, AB
6/17/2009
I heard about the hype and the reputation El's had for having some of the best sushi, that Calgary has to offer. This is very true. As fast as I could, I gathered up a group of my sushi-goer friends and we venture in to the Marda Loop Area. El's is tiny, no wait it's not tiny, it's microscopic - four tables to be exact. As soon as everyone was seated and beverages were served, we were ready to order. I happen to notice some flakes of what I hope was Lemon in my water. I sure hope it was Lemon.
We went all out ordering 11 different maki's including the Blue and White Dragons, Crispy Maki and the Popcorn Maki. The wait was long, but judging from the size of the order, it was understandable, but still pretty damn long. However, as soon as the food arrived at our table, it was definitely worth the wait. The Popcorn Maki was delicious. It had the right amount of spice and the right amount of crispiness. Even Poseidon wouldn't be able to resist devouring those little shrimps to satisfy his hunger. After the sushi was finished, we attempted to order the infamous Tempura Green Tea Ice Cream that everyone seems to be talking about. Unfortunately, our order took so long that they closed the kitchen as soon as they were finished. Lame.
At the end of the day, El's is amazing and their sushi is some sort of God-like creation that brings a peaceful zen to all of those who consume it. They even have the courtesy of placing Lemon flakes in your water. I sure hope those were Lemon flakes. -
Review from Nyssa R.
3/14/2010
The food there is definitely way above average, so maybe it would be a good place to go for take-out. Eating in at this place was a horrible experience though. I booked a table for 4 a week in advance for 7:30, arrived at 7:25 and was informed that the table was given to someone else and we should expect to wait 20+ minutes for a table. It was a birthday so that was embarrassing.
They ended up putting two tables together (different heights and one was square, one was round). We ended up being seated around 7:45 so it was disappointing but not that horrible. We waited 15 minutes before being seen by a waitress, placed our order. The waitresses were fairly courteous but they could tell we were having a horrible experience and chose to ignore it.
The sashimi was good, a bit small and they didn't give us any salmon although it was supposed to be included according to the menu. No mention of this by the waitress though. 45 minutes after the order was placed, they informed us that they were out of salmon and 2/5 rolls we ordered wouldn't be made. There were only 2 tables at this point so it seemed kind of weird they just found out there was no salmon, although they obviously had neglected it on our sashimi order. We ordered something else, and asked the waitress what they gave us instead of salmon on the sashimi platter, she went to talk to the chef and they had an extremely loud argument yelling in the back.
We waited a while after our food was done, but no bill, so I went up and paid. No discount or anything. It was an absolutely atrocious experience dining out and wouldn't recommend it for service and location... but the food was extremely good (but slow) so take-out would be the only way I would ever go back. -
Review from Brett F.
Calgary, AB
3/27/2011 1 Check-in Here
Thanks to all the yelpers that have wrote the reviews my finance and I just went. The place is small and we were worried that it was full and we had read about the service but the service ended up the being great the food was great to as well as huge portions looking forward to my next visit
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Review from John M.
Calgary, AB
4/19/2009 1 Check-in Here
I just had lunch today at El's and that made for my fourth visit and I must say that this place moves from strength to strength. It seemed like an odd decision for them to open across the street from the hugely popular Globefish, but wise to the extent that El's can (and does) get spillover business. But it deserves to be a first choice (or at least an equal) in comparison with Globefish. El has a menu comprising a shocking 70 rolls and so far I've only sampled four, and have been coming back to two tried and true: an amazing avocado roll containing, and enrobed with, an ENTIRE avocado, and a "spicy tataki maki" with raw tuna inside, seared outside and spicy-sweet sauce all over- so good. But today I finally tried nigiri and fell in love with two gorgeous succulent pieces of unagi- at the best price in town ($2.50 currrently)- and they were not tiny. Rice is perfect too- and what great sunny service. I love this place! But I admit I have to sample more of the menu.
EDITED- I'm revising this place up to 5 stars after a few more visits; in fact El's is becoming an obsession for me as I try more things on the menu and the originality, creativity, quality and value become more apparent. It's leapfrogged past others to become my favourite sushi in Calgary- not bad for a place with a Korean chef! :-) -
Review from vanessa t.
Calgary, AB
1/21/2009 5 photos
This place opened up not too long ago and is SUPER small. We went on new years eve at around 7, but there weren't any line ups (but I would still make a reservation just in case).
They had takoyaki there! So we gave it a try. David liked it, I was iffey about it.
Some of them were a little cold and then some were really hot, I burnt my tongue cause I didn't think it was going to be hot =[ at first, the sauce tasted like it was oyster sauce
The restaurant has at least 30 different rolls! Some of them were quite unique. We ordered 4 different rolls cause we were expecting them to be quite small.
We were right, when the rolls came, it was really small but the taste was HUGE
The rice was held together very good and yet it's not stiff or anything!
If you like avocado, the caterpillar maki is amazing, it's so creamy!
Some of the cobra maki is really fishy because it's BBQ salmon AND salmon skin.
The spicy sauce wasn't really spicy, i like Sushi Kai's spicy sauce on the spicy tuna more. El's spicy sauce is more sweet than spicy.
We loved the El's special maki, there were a lot of flavour in this roll, highly recommended
We were going to try the tempera green tea ice cream, but they don't do that anymore. They only have green tea ice cream left.
The place is really small, so with only one waitress, you would think it's plenty enough, but she's soooo slow with everything. She doesn't clean the tables off fast enough or refill glasses fast enough
SOMETIMES she comes off as a little rude or pushy, but SOMETIMES she's really nice.
I would definity go back, highly recommended!!!
price wise(the more $, the more expensive): $$
food quality(1 is the lowest, 5 is the highest): 4
services wise(1 is the lowest, 5 is the highest): 2
EDIT: David and I went shortly after our first visit. The food there was still amazing, the service there got extremely better (still the same girl).
price wise(the more $, the more expensive): $$
food quality(1 is the lowest, 5 is the highest): 4
services wise(1 is the lowest, 5 is the highest): 4
