Located on the Inner Harbor, Edo Sushi has a second-floor, panoramic full-window view of Baltimore’s central iconic landmark. The Harbour itself is home to warships, water taxis, street performers, and the Baltimore Aquarium. In the ring of land that forms the harbor, there are shops as well as many restaurants. Most are chains, and some are better than others. Edo Sushi is one such chain (though I believe it is limited to Maryland), and that is where I had dinner on Otakon Friday*.
The first impression always lasts, and I witnessed a few slip-ups. First, I tried to enter the restaurant via the stairs facing the harbor. Apparently all the doors on that side of Edo are locked, and I had to cut through another restaurant to get into the walkway that led to Edo. When I stepped inside and told the hostess about my booking, she flatly stated that they took no reservations on Otakon weekend. Although I understand why they should and did do that, I called one month prior to Otakon to ask about reservations, and I was told that it was fine and was booked. I called the week before Otakon and was reassured that my dinner time was set. Despite this failure in communication, they had open tables and my friend and I were seated promptly. Service continued to be shabby, with two separate waitresses asking us for drinks orders. Said drinks took their sweet time in arriving.
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There was no real décor, per se. I vaguely remember some Japanese art, but the most Japanese thing about the restaurant were the sushi chef coats that the male wait staff wore (or it may have been the chefs, pulling double duty?). The chopsticks were run of the mill, and the soy sauce was straight from the Kikoman bottle. The menu was quite large, offering many surf and turf options, in additional to traditional sushi shop fare. As my friend could only stay a short while, I passed on starters and ordered three sushi rolls. As I enjoy trying the ‘locale specials’, I ordered the Chesapeake Roll (Lump crabmeat, fried oyster & cucumber with special sauce), as well as an Eel roll and a Yellowtail roll. And of course I got a couple of fish egg nigiri with quail egg on top. They’re so squishy and tasty!
The rolls came in two separate orders, and the most obvious issue with them was the size. They were massive! Each roll had to be two inches in diameter. When I tried to pick up a section, I saw that the probable cause for its ginormity was because the roll was not packed at all. Nearly every other roll fell apart, no matter how gently I tried to lift it. They literally barely fit in my mouth, so most had to be eaten in parts. For the Chesapeake, this was fine, as the fried oyster nested inside was the best part. I would recommend that anyone going to Edo just get an order or two of them and forgo the sushi. The crabmeat/rice mush left from the roll was then my second bite. The rice itself had little flavor, and the wasabi was not very spicy. The eel and yellowtail rolls tasted fine, but they, too were just very difficult to eat.
I found no fault with my nigiri. It looks like the simple rolls may be fine to order as well.
In summary, I would not return to this chain. Although the fried oysters were great, and I bet they do a mean crab cake, there are other seafood establishments in the Harbor that I’d rather try.
If you had a different impression of Edo Sushi, or know of a better place in Baltimore let me know!
I’ll be posting more reviews in the coming weeks, as Groupon has been quite kind to me. Half price sushi is extra tasty!
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*To be honest, I mistook Edo to be KonaGrill, a wonderful restaurant with good noodles and a dark, classy ambiance. (It, too, is a chain and national to boot.)
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