Chef’s Studio Japan

This place was so good I wrote my Unilocal review on a note to save until I had Wifi to post it. (USA visitor here!)
My parents and I found this place while visiting downtown Canmore after a trip up to Banff National Park. It’s a total gem tucked away in downtown Canmore; it’s easy to miss it since it sits a little bit off the Main Street. If you find the free parking lot off Marra’s Way (6^th Ave) X Main Street (8^th Ave) behind Tin Box, the entrance is inside the lot there. Inside, the ambience has just the right amount of hustle and bustle without being too noisy. They play smooth jazz music in the background. We went on a Sunday evening for dinner, and it was just three tables at the time.
It seems like it’s run by a Japanese family, and their food is prepared according to food prep standards from Japan, according to a sign in their restaurant. The food is very artfully and thoughtfully prepared and presented, and their selection is diverse enough that you can find something you like, but not overwhelming to the point that it takes forever to decide what you want. There are a lot of options here that you wouldn’t normally find at another («lesser authentic») Japanese restaurant.
I ordered a tempura bento box and my parents got a roll plate for 2 and their Japanese hot tea. The miso soup was very delicious and the seaweed salad was alright as well; nothing to write home about but I do wish there was more! The roll plate came with edamame, which was freshly made, unlike many other restaurants which may pre-​make a huge batch that gets cold before serving. They were perfectly seasoned and cooked to just the right consistency: soft but with just enough crunch to give it a pleasing texture. The tea is Japanese green tea, flavorful but not overwhelming, a by sweet. With endless refills!
The bento box came with a California roll and an assortment of tempura: two pieces of shrimp, a skewer with two mushroom quarters on it, a slice of zucchini, potato, sweet potato, and red bell pepper. The tempura was light and crispy, and the sauce was light but flavorful. The bell pepper was sweet and all the vegetables were cooked to a perfect doneness. The California roll was superb. I have had a ton of rolls in my day, and this is probably the best California roll I have ever tasted. The avocado was perfectly ripe, sweet and soft, not too hard, which is a problem that I find with a lot of other California rolls. The sushi rice was sweet but didn’t overwhelm the rest of the flavors. I felt that their soy sauce was a tad bit too salty, but if I didn’t use too much it was still okay. In fact, it’s still quite good without any additional sauce, so I think that’s something to be praised. Try a bite without the sauce so you can taste all the subtle flavors.
The roll plate was also good. The rolls are relatively simple, but they utilize an impressive range of ingredients and sauces to give you good variety. I didn’t get to taste many rolls, since my parents finished it. So it was pretty much perfectly portioned for two.
Service is casual, with a lot of Japanese (and Canadian) hospitality. Don’t come in expecting a fast meal; the service and ambience is a more relaxed pace so you can take your time to enjoy the food. The kitchen and waitstaff work as a team, often thanking each other and acknowledging contributions. They are very helpful and while it may be a little difficult to communicate with some of the waitstaff, they are very patient and do their best to explain anything you may have questions about. It was someone’s birthday at another table, and they came out with a huge, beautifully constructed ice cream bowl with fried banana and three or four flavors of Japanese ice cream (including white sesame, black sesame, and green tea), topped with an ice cream cone and candles. The waitstaff sang happy birthday and the kitchen staff all came up front to wish the birthday girl a happy birthday. I don’t know if they ordered the bowl or if it was just a super-​generous gift, but everyone seemed very excited to make sure the birthday girl had a good time.
Would definitely come back again if we’re ever in the area.

I was feeling bad to gave a bad reviews. But after reading some of the reviews, and plus my personal experience, I can say this restaurant deserves all the bad reviews. It serves very slowly, the sashimi is not very fresh, size of the dish is very small but is very expensive compare to its size. Waitresses are friendly, but the food is not good at all.

This is my FAVOURITE sushi restaurant. I did not like sushi before I came here, but a couple years ago on a trip to Canmore, my boyfriend convinced me to give it another shot… I do not regret it! We’ve tried a variety of items off the menu but this summer, we fell in love with their salmon nigiri. Usually my boyfriend is the salmon-​lover and I’m a tuna-​lover but at Chefs’s Studio, the salmon reigns king for me. They stick these thin slices of lemon in between them and it just makes the salmon pop! Even better, and probably the best piece of sushi I’ve ever put in my mouth, is their smoked salmon nigiri. If I could eat this every week, I would die a happy person! I’m tempura fanatic wherever I go, but the stuff here is particularly good! I’m not sure how authentic it is, but the cheese tempura is sinfully delicious! Think fancy mozza sticks! Definitely make your way here if you like sushi and you’re in the prettiest town in Alberta!

Decent Japanese restaurant. Had salmon, toro, salmon roe sashimi, it was not freshest of the fish I had so if you are not picky it will be fine. It appears rolls are looking delicious and popular. Also had beef teriyaki, it was just average but it Appears to be stirred fried beef from a Chinese resultant and less of cut pieces or cubes of beef teriyaki that I had expecting. Sukiyaki was good, soup was good but the beef was a bit tough, it appears to be the same thinly sliced beef from teriyaki. I did give it four star until I saw the check, almost 100 dollars for two, this is definitely not that great of value overall.

⁵⁄₅ freshness
⁵⁄₅ presentation
³⁄₅ service (friendly but slow –ask for what you need like water and plates etc)
–make a reservation
–come before peak hour
–parking lot is free parking
–very fresh seafood yummy
Try the chirashi combo for $ 28 comes with miso soup and a good selection of fresh fish

Ate here while staying in Canmore to explore Banff national park. We ordered the sushi combo for two which came with miso soup, edamame and five different rolls. Also had the salmon sashimi. The sashimi was excellent and the presentation was very pretty. The sushi rolls all tasted very nice. For me the restaurant was too chilly, don’t know why places feel they need to set the aircon to 18C. Our waitress was very friendly but had to ask one too many times to get our order correctly.

It’s tourist season in Canmore/​Banff, and as a result Chef Studio was busier than usual. This Japanese restaurant is run by an ALL Japanese staff. This not only is good, but it has it’s disadvantages as well. The staff is polite and friendly enough, it’s just I find myself repeating almost everything I say. I do know however, that they have a better grasp of the English language than I do of the Japanese language.
I was there on Thursday evening for dinner and the service was very slow. Yes it was busy, but I did see at least 3 empty tables. We ordered everything from bento boxes to Sukiyaki hot pots. The bento boxes came with a California roll, a piece of Tamago (sweet omelet), rice with your choice of teriyaki chicken or beef and a salad. The tastes were all good. I also ordered a potato appetizer, that was essentially tempura battered potato wedges, that came with a siracha type dipping sauce. The tempura was nicely battered not to heavy, and was accompanied by a tempura/​ponzu sauce. I myself ordered the sukiyaki hot pot. It’s an iron type bowl/​pot, that has a broth made up with soya sauce, sugar and water. It’s placed over a candle to keep the broth and vegetables warm. In the sukiyaki broth is some glass noodles, shitake mushrooms, suey choy and green onions. You get about five slices of thinly sliced beef the size of a bacon strip to cook in the broth. (The beef that accompanies the dish is given to you raw on a side plate. It’s sorta like the beef you would get with Phở noodles, with rare beef.
In conclusion, I’d have to say that the food is pretty good. The service on this night however was lacking. I’ve been to this place quite a few times. The staff all seemed new. The only face that I recognized was a gentleman that was behind the sushi bar. He was usually in the «front of the house».
Another gripe I had, was the 20% gratuity that was automatically added because we were a group larger than 6. I wouldn’t have minded if the service warranted the 20%.
I had to ask for the bill, and ask to have sushi that was not eaten to be boxed up

Went here for a great experience since it promotes healthy authentic Japanese restaurant, totally disappointed! Service was slow, REAL slow, it was 9 pm and food came at 10 pm, when we confronted about it they said because the place was busy. If their terms of busy was only having 5 tables. With this price we can get a high class succulent fine cuisine Japanese food in Montréal! I mean its okay if the taste was spectacular, we only ordered hotpot and udon plate, which has the same broth and it wouldn’t take a year to serve us. The taste was bland and we could get it in any cheap Japanese restaurant. Not recommended at all!

Surprisingly good! I just moved to Canmore from the west coast and was not expecting to find any sort of good sushi near by. Luckily I happened upon this spot and decided to give it a go.
First off the service was great, very friendly and attentive without pressure to speed your decision making process. The menu was somewhat limited but all the items I had where fantastic.
Secondly the prices where reasonable. I’ll preface this by saying I haven’t found Canmore to be that expensive however having a nice dinner for two come in at just under $ 40 is a great price regardless of location.
Finally the food its self. As I mentioned the menu is somewhat limited, I had the Yam Roll, Dynamite Roll, and Miso Soup and found them all to be very good. The yam roll is certainly a cut above your standard yam and shiitake sushi, as it should be for $ 10, but the flavours all mixed very well and I found it to be a new personal favourite after a few bites. The presentation is fantastic as well.
The only negative I can really think of is that the ambiance was somewhat lacking. That said I really enjoyed the music and uniforms.

Slow. Unfriendly. Weird ambiance. Mediocre sushi.
I’ve had worse and I’ve definitely had better but this place is way overhyped. The server at the front door didn’t acknowledge me for at least 2 minutes, then told me to wait for him to finish imputing an order. Once seated, it took another 10 minutes for me to get any water. Overall, it took well over an hour to serve a single person at this restaurant.
I ordered the seaweed salad (mushy), white spicy tuna roll (ok but didn’t taste right; it was more of a smoky flavor), nigiri — red tuna, salmon and yellowtail (alright but should not take an hour). Nobody brought me my bill so I up and went to the cashier myself.
In addition to the slowness, this place just has a really depressing vibe. Nobody else in the restaurant seemed to be enjoying themselves, perhaps because their food was taking way too long. This may be the only game in town in Canmore but I’d save your sushi indulgence for a better restaurant.

If this is considered to be one of the best sushi joints in the area, I feel bad. The rice was overcooked to the point it was just a mushy substance. The fish was fresh, but for the price they are charging they put very tiny pieces of it inside of their rolls and way too much avocado and and other fillers. Shrimp in a shrimp tempura roll was almost dehydrated — so tiny. Considering the rolls were falling apart as soon as you would try to pick them up, I do not understand how this place has so many positive reviews. Maybe it was a really bad day for the restaurant, but they should be ashamed to serve overcooked rice and call themselves Chef’s Studio Japan. Two young girls working at the counter were looking at some pieces of paper while making sushi. They looked clueless and seemed to be learning «how to». The service was very good, the waitress was very attentive, but overall it was a huge disappointment — not worth driving from Banff.

I am really surprise to find such an authentic Japanese food in such a small town! I love their sukiyaki!

Very good! The salmon and tuna rolls were flavorful and the beef teriyaki was a unique flavor, very rich and sweet tasting. A bit expensive (lunch for 4 was $ 75). Surprised to find such a great place in Canmore.

Never had I imagined that I’d be eating one of the best sushi I have had in Alberta. But as they say, never say never.
I ordered a mixed sushi platter and sapporo. The beer was brought out promptly. Followed by miso soup that comes with the platter. The soup tasted good but was lukewarm.
The sushi was fantastic. Avocado rolls were nice however my favourite was the yam tempura roll. I will order an entire plate of just those the next time I am there.
The hostess/​server was very pleasant and engaging. My only let down was the cheque but I guess that’s the price you pay for being away from the ocean.

We were looking for a place for lunch in Canmore on our way back from skiing, and hadn’t been anywhere there before.
We walked in the café that has really good reviews on here. It looked pretty good, but was very crowded, and we didn’t’ feel like fighting for a table.
Walked around a bit, and then came across this place. We really like Japanese, and we had been eating bar-​style food all week at the ski resort, so this seemed like a great change.
We had an udon soup and a sushi combo, both were quite tasty, well presented, and the staff was friendly.
Looked like they had some good sushi specials for dinner too.
Worth a visit if you want some good Asian food in Canmore.

This place is just off Main Street with the entrance in the alley so it was a bit tricky to find, but totally worth it!
We ordered a selection of sushi and all if it was fresh and tasty. The service was excellent and the presentation of the food was very attractive.
It was a bit on the expensive side, and we were charged for pop refills. The only major complaint was that when we were paying, the tipping percent options were quite high at either 18, 20 and 25% which was a lot to tip on an already expensive meal in our opinion.
We would definitely recommended this place and would go back.

I can’t believe better sushi exists in a town like Canmore versus a bigger city like Edmonton. Husband and I spent a short weekend in Canmore and Banff a couple months ago, and came here once to eat-​in, and ordered take out the day after. The sushi here is so fresh, it is west-​coast quality. Service, while friendly, is unfortunately painfully slow. On our second visit getting take-​out, we ordered over the phone and were told it would be a 45 minute wait, but when we got to the restaurant we still ended up waiting an additional 30 minutes. Not cool. We had nothing to do but sit and wait. They didn’t offer us tea or water either (the restaurant wasn’t full either). The prices are okay, more or less the same for Alberta pricing when it comes to sushi. Yet, unlike many Alberta sushi joints, the freshness and quality of the fish make it well worth it. Would definitely come back the next time I’m in Banff/​Canmore.

We ate here once and got takeout another time on our recent stay in Canmore as we were in town to do some hiking in Banff. Who would have thought that you could get decent sushi in Canmore, AB, in the Rocky Mountains of all places. The service is friendly and the sushi is actually decent compared to most Edmonton sushi that I’ve had. It helps that the chefs are Japanese and they look like they take pride in the quality of their food and presentation. The only issue was that the food took a bit longer than usual to arrive but once it did, everything was delicious.
What got me was when we came back a second time, we were on our way back from Lake Louise enroute to Edmonton. We figured we would get takeout and eat in the car since it was going to be at least a 3.5 hour drive from Canmore. We put our order in from somewhere near the Town of Banff and they said it would be a 45 minute wait. That seems like a long time for a small order for two but fine. We showed up 15 minutes early and waited patiently. When the food was supposed to be ready, they then told us it would be an additional 20 minutes!!! Are you kidding me? Over an hour to make takeout sushi for two people? By that time I was starving after a long day of hiking. They could have made it right if they had given us something small to eat while they told us they require more time. However, not even an apology. To me, that’s unacceptable. It was Saturday night but the restaurant was just over half full.
The lesson is, good sushi in the Rockies but make sure you aren’t in a rush because the service is s l o w.

I’d actually rate this restaurant a 4.5. Service was courteous and traditionally Japanese. The sushi and sashimi were fresh and unique (using ingredients like red onion and perilla leaf). Delicious, reasonably priced and the feeling if the place is humble, peaceful and welcoming. We even left our thoughts in the chalkboard walls in the unisex bathrooms.

Incredibly for a Japanese sushi place in the middle of landlocked Southern Alberta, their sashimi was among the freshest I’ve had outside of Vancouver. I normally don’t eat raw shellfish, but on this occasion, decided to take a chance with the huge prawn in the middle of the large sashimi platter. It was delicious! Go figure. The rolled-​up raw squid was also delectable. Next time we’re in Canmore, we’ll dine here again.