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Categories: Sushi Bars, Japanese, Ethnic Food, Grocery [Edit]
Neighborhood: Porter SquarePorter (Red)
Nothing great the rolls are terrible. the sushi OK kind of low grade sushi. but for the price your not getting ripped off..rather spend more money and get better sushi elsewhere.
Quick, yes. Convenient location, yes. Cheap, yes. Good food? Iiiiiiiiiiiiidddunnnoooooaboutttthatt. Am I the only one that doesn't want their sushi too cheap? It's kind of like cheap steak. Do you really want a $5 steak? I don't know. I've had Kotobukiya's sushi. It's okay but I wouldn't go out of my way to use the amount of exclamation marks I see up and down this page. It doesn't always look its freshest either. Dare I say head to the neighboring Shaw's for a quick fix?
PS - MAD props to the girl that works the register. Chica wears like 4 inch heels. Who does that at a restaurant that doesn't involve dollars down your pants?
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This place is cheap and quick, and the rolls are pretty tasty. Oh, except that special "plum roll" I ordered once, which, OKAY, I get it, was a bad idea.
I dig the crispy eel rolls for sure though, and the inari was like a little sushi dessert. For quick lunchtime sushi, this place gets props.
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The good: very cheap, convenient location.
The bad: comes with skimpy portions of actual fish and I am doubtful of the overall quality. I think you are adventurous to go for the sashimi; at least the rolls mask a lot of the fish taste (and therefore any quality issues).
I'd say the good and bad cancel each other out, resulting in 3 stars.
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This is currently my favorite place to get sushi. Its not the best sushi but it is the best for its price, and better than some of the more expensive places I have been. It is quite close to home and I go there about once every 2 months or so. (I go out every other week if that so I go there about 25% of the time.) I would say if you live near porter and love sushi this is the place for you. If your far from porter you could check it out but there is probably something comparable near you.
Oh my god, they have frozen steam buns. There's a restaurant in Austin that makes veggie curry buns and since I'm not that good of a cook, I've been going without any type of steam bun for the past nine months. Lo and behold, Kotobukiya's frozen food section is massive for such a small store, and it includes microwavable pork and chicken curry steam buns (but no veggie).
I recently decided to use a Japanese cookbook I'd bought from the Barnes and Noble 2 dollar book section, and this store has provided me with packages of bonito flakes for when I'm feeling optimistic, and pre-made miso soup packets for when I'm feeling lazy. Two thumbs up.
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This Japanese grocery store in Porter Square has snatched my Asian-grocery-store-love away from Super 88 in Allston. It's smaller but much cuter, cleaner, and has (in my opinion) a better selection of food. They have a snack section that's fun to search through, a nice fish counter, lots of tasty rice seasonings, sauces, sushi ingredients, etc. I find something new to try every time I shop here.
Kotobukiya also operates a no-frills sushi bar across the hall in the Porter Exchange, which is the best-quality-for-the-price sushi I've had in Boston. Most of the hand rolls are $1-$2, and standard maki rolls are all around $3. It's usually busy with the Lesley crowd, and rightly so.
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I've been coming here for a long time now for my obscure japanese food needs. They have the best pricing I've seen on import goods. They also have great fish for making sushi including my favorite, broiled eel. They're also one of the few places I can still find large quantities of milk tea. I highly recommend checking it out if you're ever in the porter area. Also, check out their sushi bar. It's cheap AND good!
I've been to this place a few times since I've moved to Porter Square and have been pleasantly surprised every time. The sushi is pretty good, and it's insanely cheap. I didn't realize how cheap it was until I went to other sushi places in Boston. My boyfriend and I got five sushi rolls for 17 bucks... That's unheard of!! The service is quick too.
Once again, Yelpers never let me down! After a quick search of "cheap sushi" in the greater Boston area, yelp directed me to this wonderful establishment.
It took a little while to find because I'm terrible with directions and I had no idea that Kotobukiya Market was actually a shared space with a college. By the time I found it, I'd worked up quite an appetite.
2 rolls (spicy tuna and salmon & avocado), 2 piece of sashimi, and a miso soup put me back $10.46 including tax. Not bad at all! In fact, pretty friggin impressive. I swore I heard the hallelujah chorus when my lovely waitress placed the bill in front of me. Incredible!! Just remember, this is a CASH ONLY business.
If you're looking for cheap sushi, I guarantee this is as good as it's going to get.
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I like cheap, relatively good quality sushi. This place doesn't burn a hole in my wallet like other sushi restaurants do. There isn't any ambience and it isn't the best sushi I have had, but at least I can get my sushi cravings satisfied so I don't spend $20+ at a more expensive sushi place.
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I recommend their salmon skin rolls.
And a smart way to check out fish-freshness would be to know when the kotobukiya market puts out fresh sashimi for the take-home.
It's a decent little place, and nice to stop by for a quick snack or a light dinner.
Beauty of it is the ability to order many things without pushing the envelope on the price; very very nice.
If only this place opened late for a midnight snack.
The best cheap sushi place around. 2nd best is probably whole foods, if you get it custom made to order, but I'm sure it's quite variable.
Kotobukiya is also an excellent take-out option.
I am not sure what the relation to Shino Express is anymore. I am pretty sure they were the same operations years ago, but I heard they are now Snappy Sushi and have brown rice. I have tried the new Snappy in Davis, it's good, but it's very "heavy".
Regardless, Kotobukiya still stands as a modest consistent sushi bar without serious competition in their price category.
Kotobukiya is pronounced in a Japanese fashion. One consonant plus one vowel equals one syllable here. Try it.
I love this place! It was the closest Asian grocery store to where I used to live. I loved trying the random pre-packaged snacks and custard bread right next to the checkout. I couldn't read some of the packages, so I just picked random ones that looked good. They also had a great selection of frozen foods and instant noodles. Bad location (for me)...it was upstairs from the Bally's Total Fitness I used to work out. I couldn't help but stop here sometimes after a long work out, thus undoing the good I just did!
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Great little stand alone sushi bar in the middle of the "Little Tokyo" that is the porter exchange. Generally really great fish here, but I have gotten some sub-standard pieces occasionally. Generally a great place to grab some quick sushi.
I'm from Hawaii (which is the land of Japanese imports) and this place reminded me of home! I found everything I never knew that I needed.
Here is the assortment of things I bought:
Miso
Curry
Container of sea urchin (10 pieces for what 3 cost in a sushi bar)
Angelo Pietro Salad dressing (actually from Hawaii)
Cute ceramic bowl
Asian jelly cups
Udon
And one of everything else.
This place gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling inside!
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Picture it: It's 3pm on a Saturday. It's a bit rainy out, maybe overcast. You're in Somerville, maybe Cambridge. You're dressed like a schlub, but you only threw on some clothes to grab a cup of coffee--it's a miracle you're dressed at all. You don't really feel like hauling butt over the river for some sushi, but you have a hankering. I mean a HANKERING.
What do you do? What DO you do?
Well, you go to the Kotobukiya sushi bar in Porter, of course. It's quick. It's easy. It's cheap. It's good. Talk about no frills sushi, this is it. It satisfies hunger, or just the craving for a piece of inari. No, don't think you'll get any type of crunchy roll here--it's the simple stuff, but it's good. Good for a snack, good for lunch, good for dinner--but get there early if you're going for dinner, because there's a finite amount of seats at that tiny bar.
Bottom line: Need to quench your sushi fix? Try the Kotobukiya sushi bar.
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Brilliance in a bar.
There was a time when everyone I knew was all about "bluefin" (pre renovations) and I always had to drag people over from waiting in que for hours --- to have mediocre sushi. But this review is not about them.. its about Kotobukiya.
The usual waitstaff is a brother and sister team, little hip middle class asian kids, who aren't terribly chatty, or terribly observant, but they get the job done.. unless there in only one of them... and its too much for them to handle (its the take-out that gets time consuming.) Don't be shy... flag them down if you need something.
The sushi-chefs are fabulous guys who never really speak at all, but have been there forever. The younger guy's rolls are more misshapen on the ends... but hell... its all going to the same, place, right?
The sushi, while some folks mention that it made them ill, I have in my 3+ years of eating there regularly (sometimes more than once a week) I have never gotten sick. And I have enjoyed every single meal.
Though you won't find things like uber-racecar-dragon-dork-maki. You will find fish, and rice, wrapped in seaweed. The one thing that you WILL find is the best tempura flakes in Boston. I don't know what they do to their tempura, but in every single crispy roll in this fair city, they have always fallen so short in comparison to the awesome crispiness of the crispy roll here. (just write "crispy" in the right margin next to your choice - I recommend the philly and the eel avocado crispified)
This is also a "bar" its not a place to study, or bring a date, or often even a friend. You go here when you are flying solo, and need some unagi (cooked eel -- the gateway sushi, for the perfect uninitiated)
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Kotobukiya is a great place to pick up Japanese staples. In addition to all kinds of ramen, udon and frozen yakidons, they sell onigiri made in the store as well as a large selection of sushi grade fish (from uni right up to chu-toro.)
If I'm in Porter I generally can't resist running in to grab some onigiri for tomorrow's breakfast and some Men's Pocky if I need a chocolate fix.
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This place gets the job done. By job, I mean curing my desire to get onigiri, calpico concentrate, and Japanese bakery goods. But it doesn't come too cheap. A three pack of pre-cooked white rice (yes, I'm THAT lazy, okay?) will cost you nearly $6 when I could get it in LA for $3.50 or so. But this is probably the only place in the Boston metro area that has this wide a selection of Japanese grocery goods. They even have Japanese videos, magazines, and beauty products, making it the quintessential albeit tiny Japanese market. Besides, the food they sell here is actually legit--it takes a lot of willpower for me to not start eating while on the T going home.
the best cheap sushi ever.
yes, the rolls are small and they're not very generous with the sushi/sashimi pieces, but its 99 cents each and like $2.50 for a 6 piece tuna roll so you get what you pay for. the quality is good; nothing amazing but all in all, an excellent place to get some solid, cheap sushi!
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This is definitely is a fast food sushi type of place. But I don't care, this place is awesome! Cheapest sushi in the city IMO. Minimal seating, so you are better off just getting it to go and sitting somewhere else. Sashimi/Nigiri ranges from .99-1.99. Rolled sushi from 2.99-5.99. I mean who can beat that price? Yes, it's not the highest qualirty, but it's certainly better than getting your fast food from McDonalds! If I lived closer I would probably come here a lot more often.
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Wow-- for the price and the location, you would probably never guess that some of the best sushi around is right here...
My absolute favorite thing to do after a workout downstairs at Bally's is to pop up here for a yummy and healthy lunch/ dinner. The ingredients are always super fresh. Great sashimi, maki, seaweed salad, and miso, plus daily specials. I usually spend about $10 and leave very satisfied. I know, right?!
Oishii!
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01/30/2008
I'm here far too often. But damn it's good-- and cheap.
My diet has become primarily Asian ever since…
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I thought I'd try a few nigiri yesterday afternoon as a snack - 2 pieces salmon, one piece tuna. Not bad not bad. Not the most amazing melt in your mouth sushi you'll ever have, but at the price of mostly 99 cents/piece, heck yea! The salmon was good (in season right now, i think) while the tuna, altho not quite tender enough for my taste, was good enough. Definitely a go for those occasional sushi cravings when you don't feel like pouring out your wallet.
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I think this place is the best Japanese grocery store in Boston area. Wide selection of grocery, videos, books and other general needs like cosmetic stuff to silverware.
The part that I like the most is that they offer fairly extensive selection of fish for sashimi. This is the place you can do your last minute fish shopping if you forget to go to "Sea to you" in advance.
Having large space is definitely advantageous to other Japanese grocery store such as Cherry Mart on Newbury. If Cherry Mart holds just as big space as this, they would be just as good as Kotobukiya.
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01/10/2008
This place is for low budget sushi outing. You pay what you get. Price of sushi/sashimi is… Read more »
So cheap that it makes up for the complete and total lack of ambiance and/or customer service.
The fish is extremely fresh and they have some decently creative rolls considering the price point. The miso soup and seaweed salad are standard but good.
If you come during prime dinnertime hours, it can be difficult to get a seat, particularly if you are not flying solo. However, they can pack up an order to go in about two and a half minutes, no joke, even when it's busy.
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If I'm leaving the Porter T-station and need food quickly, this is where I stop. For delicious sweet rolls filled with red bean paste!
Mmmm.
And pretty much whatever other delicious Japanese carbs I could ever desire. This is a really wonderful store to have in the neighborhood.
I'm obsessed with this place. From their magazines (I love the variety of Japanese fashion mags) to their yummy drinks.... and their beauty products, snacks --- Japanese candies&cookies = LOVE -- and their fresh groceries (veggies, tofu, baked goods, sushigrade seafood, yummy hotpot meats) I LOVE IT ALL!!! ANNND everything is so freaking cute in the store, I always end up with more things than I intended to go in for when I come here.
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04/07/2007
The sushi is SO good! Just hop on a seat and order away! YUM YUM!
Best decent low-budget sushi around. Not fancy, not superb, but entirely delicious for what it is. I also really like the canned tea they have here, for some strange reason. If you're choosing between here and Bluefin, just come here if you can.. its cheaper and exactly the same quality. Good luck getting a seat, though... if you're bringing a date here, maybe you should plan on ordering to-go and having a sushi picnic.
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My husband and I wanted to try out a sushi bar in the area so we went to yelp (believe it or not) and read all of these good reviews and decided to try it for a quick bite to eat. We usually have our sushi nigiri style (no rolls, just fish and rice) and it was great! And better yet, only 1 buck a piece for salmon!! We left full and only spent about 20 bucks total! Definitely great place for the money you are paying.
Good cheap fish. Nothing fancy or super, but there is the appeal of ordering fast, fresh sushi at a tiny dumpy counter. I had heard a lot about this little place so went myself one day when the cravings were getting bad. I had eight nigiri, two maki rolls and ginger ale for $15 and was stuffed. The very next day I dragged my friend back there for lunch. The crispy spicy salmon roll is glorious.
Edit: I've decided this place is four stars if you're alone, three if you're with anyone else. The value and convenience is great for solo diners but when my bf and I got a large order the quality didn't compare to what we've had elsewhere. Fish was fresh but raggedly cut, unagi was drab and they forgot to make our inari until we reminded them at the end of the meal. OTOH, the lady next to me ordered the most delightful little plate for one and it was cute as all get out.
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Nice little Japanese store. They have the essentials. And if you know what you are looking for, great place to get supplies for your Japanese style feast.
Prices look fair too.
Oh Kotobukiya Inc., how I love you. In fact, this should really be a love-hate relationship, since I love you for all that you offer but hate how you drain my bank account with all of your tempting goodness.
I have to agree with Ligaya T. on the note about the packaging - I have always appreciated how cute and clever the packaging of Japanese products is, from the ingenious aforementioned Pocky stick box to the little lemon-headed baby on the Kewpie mayonnaise clever squeezy bottle. Which brings me to my next point. The goods.
Oh yes, these goods are good indeed. For those of you who know what these things are, you'll probably know why I heart them so. For those of you who don't, you need to get yourself there pronto. Mochi ice cream, soft little Daifuku, Okonomi sauce, Japanese mix, Nori strips (dried seaweed), Kewpie mayonnaise (best mayo ever!), Pocky sticks (Pocky is better than Mikado to all you Europeans out there!), Yakult (an acquired taste but I'm addicted), great soya sauce, teriyaki sauce, little jellies, frozen shumai, gyoza, edamame, fish cakes, tofu and other delicious treats, curry sauce, fresh fish and meats, wasabi, miso soup, dried and fresh shitake mushrooms, fried rice seasonings, lychee juice with grass jelly cubes, oh this list could go on for so, so long.
They even have Pocari Sweat (come on, are you appealed by a drink called Sweat?), which I grew to dislike through my teenage summers in Taiwan because I hated their TV commercials so much. One thing that keeps drawing me back is their teeny bakery basket. Those unbelievably soft breads are like heaven in my mouth, and I've been known to barge into the mart, fill an entire basket full of every last one of their French-style Japanese sweet roll with chocolate paste and buy their entire daily stock. I'm almost scared to write about how good they are in this review, since when I was a kid I'd fight my siblings for those chocolate bread delights and the scrumptious 'hot cross buns' - now it's the other Kotobukiya Inc. clients I'll have to fend off for my fix. Take them away from me and you'll see tears in my eyes.
It is fortunate that Japanese food leans towards the simple, healthier side, since otherwise this place could make me really fat one day. Too many of those bakery goods and I may end up fat anyway, but at least I'll be fat and happy. Yum.
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What a store! Like most grocery stores, its not good to go in here hungry. Lots of things to impulse buy. They have an ENTIRE ramen aisle, candies, fresh fish and meats, frozen meals, dumplings, prepackaged udon, "beauty" products(including BREAST cream) and of course...a bootleg VHS section. No trip to a grocery for me is really complete until I've picked up a good bootleg porn.
Unfortunately, I couldn't understand the writing and without jacket covers I'm clueless. So I couldn't partake in any of the purchases for fear of picking up a "What I Like About Coy Fish" documentary instead.
I indeed picked up some udon($1.99!!! ^____^) and a 10 pack of koala chocolate candies. Sweet. There are also some offputting objects in the store like octopus tentacles and Kewpie mayonaise that is not for the faint/hungover hearted.
Lots and lots of silly candies with fun packaging, perfect as a "thought" for a friend. Who cares if it tastes good, it looks cute! Also lots of Japanese magazines of the anime persuasian if you want to tune into the latest adventures of Sailor Moon n'all that jazz.
I know you could just go to a Super 88, but this is definitely a spot worth checking out if you happen to be in the Exchange.
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My housemate must hate this place for what it does to our cabinets, brightly colored boxes spilling out every time you open one. I love it here. Dodging folks in the narrow aisles, browsing the shelves of unfamiliar products, giggling at the amusing translations of usage and ingredients ("sweet man sauce").
You'll quickly notice that the Japanese are the masters of packaging, everything is stylish and compact. Just look at the ingenuity of a simple Pocky stick box. I get my fix here, but am a bit miffed that they stopped carrying the Men's version (bittersweet choco).
Other goodies include: miso paste, onigiri (salmon is good), yummy frozen edamame, shumai, fish cake, burdock (cuz I know you use that every day), silken tofu, ceramic ware, milk tea, MILD SEVENS and various bath products. The only downside is you'll be paying import prices.
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OK, I miss onigiri and daifuku as much as the next girl, but...try Reliable Market in Union Square. More choice, lower cost.
You might get a seat right away if you are by yourself, otherwise prepare to wait. It is decent sushi at a LOW price. Nothing remarcable. Just good cheap eats if your in the mood for sushi. No frills attached.
Isn't a "wow" experience, but does everything need to be?
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I wanted to like this place but we ran into some snags:
* The kind of service that is chilly enough that you're afraid you're going to starve (something sorta like: "That's an awesome dress you're wearing! ...Could I have a menu, by the way?"). Not a huge deal - it's just a sushi bar.
* We were a little grossed out by our water glasses, which got us off on the wrong foot.
* We liked the rolls. Nothing out the ordinary, but good. Given the price, roughly in line with my couple dozen sushi eating experiences.
* Took a gander on sea urchin nigiri, which I don't think either one of us had had before. Unfortunately, it was boobie-trapped with shell (wrapped inside the seaweed!), which nearly broke my lovely dining's companion's pearly whites.
* We felt a little weird afterwards.
I may try it again... but maybe not. Sometimes you and an eatery want to like each other but it doesn't work out... though I'm not convinced this place wanted to like me.
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Anything and everything you want Japanese. My friends say that the curry powders here are the best; you can also find fresh fish chunks for sushi and what not. Also: various brands of shrimp chips, pocky, spicy crunchy pea chips, and other fun snacks. Thin beef slices for Shabu Shabu.
The only demerit is that you must pay up the wazoo for all these things. For example, the shrimp chips cost only $0.75 less than a bag twice the size found at Super 88. In other words you gotta shop around and look around, and perhaps find other similar durables elsewhere.
Shelves and general environs are super clean.
There's so much fun stuff here. I love it :)
