Mikado Japanese Restaurant

415 Elizabeth Street,
Burlington, Ontario
(905) 333-4718

Type of cuisine:  Japanese / Korean
Date of Review:  October, 2009

Overall Quality Ranking:  Okay

Cost:  Moderate
Gluten-Free Menu Options:  Very restricted
Gluten Free Diner Comfort ranking: Cautiously Comfortable

Description:  Sushi is an attractive gluten-free cuisine, but it does have its limits.  Soy sauce, except for the rare restaurant using the more expensive wheat-free tamari, is out.  So is tempura, fake crab (found in rolls), tempura bits (tucked into some rolls), teriyaki anything, some miso, and most marinades.  Therefore, you count on the very basics to be available:  rice, sushi, and a couple of rolls.  When a restaurant has trouble with these, it is a little frustrating.  And when one of the owners sits at your table repeatedly and points to the quality of her food, yet seems oddly uninformed about her actual ingredients, you are left a little uncertain.  This restaurant only ranks as cautiously comfortable for celiacs because I ate almost nothing that was not comprised of a single ingredient.

The good?  To start, the edamame was fine.  The tempura was reported as being light and good.  The fish was fresh enough, if a little cold.  The actual fish selection was quite restricted, however, even for the large shared Love Boat.  It is certainly better to have fresh than a variety of not fresh fish, but there is a point at which your interest will wane.

The not so good?  After boasting about her home made fruit dressing for the salad, our owner/host could not seem to list a single ingredient and ultimately advised a completely plain salad.  When I went to order the sushi and sashimi plate, which included one roll, I was talked down to the sashimi plate.  Again, our host was either uninformed or uninterested when it came to the nature of the vinegar in the sushi rice.  (Rarely, a wheat containing version of mirin may be employed.)  She thus quickly recommended steamed rice.  Frankly, once you have lost faith in the restaurant staff, the only comfortable thing to do is play it completely safe.

Dessert was the typical green tea ice cream, although we were pointedly told this was class 'A' ice cream, and not the lesser B or C.   Similarly, it was made clear that all the teas were a very high quality.

This leads us to service.  All in the party agreed the owners were too friendly.  I enjoy an engaging waiter,  proprietor, or chef, but repeated claims on the fine quality of the food (which I shall judge myself, thank you), the mojo-enhancing properties of the tea (amusing once, but not thrice), and another less than savory story I shall spare the reader--well, all this goes quite beyond the pale.

In sum, you might try this restaurant if you are not gluten restricted.  But you might be advised to fill all the seats at your table.