Part of a series about independent restaurants and stores in the Northwest Ohio area.

KotoBuki in Sylvania, Ohio is one of several Japanese food/sushi places within just a few miles on Monroe Street.  Nestled among a variety of shops in the same plaza, KotoBuki houses a beautiful dine-in area and a friendly atmosphere.

The restaurant has a very good reputation in Toledo and has been featured in local media several times.  The restaurant currently has a 4 1/2 star rating on Google restaurant reviews and is one of the highest-recommended Japanese restaurants in Toledo.

Food & Beverages

KotoBuki has a wide range of food available, from unique and standard sushi rolls to Korean and Japanese traditional cuisine.  One item of note that sets KotoBuki apart from other area sushi places is that, if requested, a diner may enjoy a cup of green tea to accompany his or her meal for free.  One of my closest friends, who in fact brought me to KotoBuki in the first place, loves to have green tea with her sushi, so this works out wonderfully for her.

Many specialty rolls at KotoBuki can also be found at other restaurants, such as the Joe roll or the Ninja roll, but the restaurant also has several unique rolls as well including the Toledo roll and the Harry Potter roll, neither of which I’ve seen (in the exact incarnation) as I have at KotoBuki.

My personal favorite at KotoBuki is the Joe roll, simply because of the way the KotoBuki chefs make it.  I have tried some of the other specialty rolls as well and have never felt unsatisfied with the way it was made or the taste.  The fish at KotoBuki is fresh and the presentation is very pretty.

There are other dishes available as well, such as chirashi and Korean chirashi.  Chirashi is a dish of sashimi (sliced raw fish) on top of a bed of rice, unlike nigiri-zushi, which is a slice of raw fish on a pat of rice.  There are also hot dishes, like tempura and soba, and hot appetizers like gyoza (dumplings) and calamari.

Critic’s Conclusion

I personally would recommend KotoBuki as a place to enjoy sushi or traditional Korean and Japanese meals with family members or close friends.  The atmosphere is friendly, the restaurant itself is beautiful, and the wide variety of foods available on the menu make it an excellent place for evening meals.

While there, I’d definitely recommend trying out the traditional dishes over the sushi.  Not that there’s anything “wrong” or sub-par about the sushi – it’s quite delicious – but the traditional offerings are what really set KotoBuki apart from other Japanese-style restaurants in the area.  It also makes KotoBuki a great place to have dinner with friends who don’t do the raw fish thing when everyone else in the group loves sushi.

You can learn more about KotoBuki and check out the menu at the KotoBuki website.

Have you been to KotoBuki?  What do you like about the restaurant?