Sushi Totoro

I had to choose an AYCE place because I had to try to top my brother who brings my parents to AYCE places all the time in Vegas. Well long story short, I was not impressed despite of the high reviews.
The atmosphere of the place is pretty quiet. It wasn’t crowded, but it def had its share of people. The side seating is a bit cramped, but workable. Whereas the back is much more spacious.
So it’s $ 14.99 for AYCE lunch and don’t forget the $ 2.50 for hot tea. Is it worth it for sushi? Sure. For the AYCE you get handed a sheet with appetizers, entrees, nigiri rolls, and rolls.
Appetizers: we just got the miso soup (mediocre), edamame (just boiled and handed out), agedashi tofu (cold to taste and just battered and fried), and baked mussel (comes out hot and drenched in sauce)
Entrees: chicken teriyaki (small frozen chicken patty thawed and drenched in sauce from what it tasted and looked like) and chicken katsu (nothing special, just a small piece of frozen chicken breaded and fried and sliced into small pieces). We also ordered the beef teriyaki, but that never showed.
Nigiri: such small pieces. Think 1.5″ X1″ with a small piece of sashimi and a huge block of rice. Disappointed. It didn’t taste all that fresh.
Rolls: here is what you should get. Each roll comes with about 6 – 8 pieces and each piece is approximately the size of a quarter. So it gets pretty filling because of course there is rice in every piece. I have to say we ordered almost every roll. They end up kind of looking the same. Always a sliver of avocado and some kind of fish/​crab meat. But super filling.
Service. They were here and there. They were relatively quick. They were also kind so that’s always nice. Never felt rushed.
I’d definitely come back just for the rolls, but skip the entrée.

Being new to the area I was searching for a new sushi place. My roommate raved about this place, and finally we took the 45 min drive out for the $ 25 all you can eat sushi. The monkey brain appetizer is just a must order, as are the fried stuffed jalapeños. I have tried multiple rolls and have never been disappointed, but I typically stick to Nigiri — the seared albacore comes with a nice tatami sauce, the yellowtail is always fresh and light, and the super white tuna (escolar???) just falls apart in your mouth. The sushi would be amazing even without such a bargain for all you can eat, but come HUNGRY and order a little at a time because they charge you for anything you don’t finish!

I like sushi and was excited about a new all you can eat sushi place near our neighborhood. Unfortunately it was a major disappointment. First, the food was well below average for what we paid. I make attempt to make sushi at home and my own stuff tasted better than what we were served. Rice was warm. It was probably hot when they rolled it as the rest of the items in the rolls ended up luke warm as well.
Second is the sticker shock of the price. $ 25 for dinner and $ 14 for lunch is high even for all you can eat. I would rather go to Hiro about 10 minutes down the road where the prices are $ 15 for dinner and $ 9 for lunch. I was willing to give it a shot once because it was newer and we love sushi. They either need to greatly increase their quality to go along with the price or lower their price to match the quality.
We won’t be back and won’t encourage others to go either. I believe the amount they charge for the quality will be their undoing.

Great service, great prices and just a great experience all around. I’ve been here twice and just wish I knew about it sooner. All the chefs behind the sushi bar are quick and extremely friendly. I don’t write many reviews but I had to take the time to give this place credit for making me a returning customer.

My husband and I landed later than expected in Denver after a short trip starving. Unilocal led us to a neighborhood gem sushi bar that stayed opened until 10. We arrived at 9:30 and it looked like most everything was being packed up but they were happy to have us. We ordered the boyfriend roll, an Alaskan roll and 225 roll. The 225 was my favorite, the shrimp tempura was not over fried and the flavors played well with each other. The restaurant also gave us a complimentary 2 piece sushi sample to start, which was delightful. The food arrived soon after we ordered. It was like have two sushi chefs to ourselves! We were out of there twenty minutes later, satisfied and happy.

AYCE sushi in our hood! So I have to compare to Sushi Katsu on Havana BC that’s our go to for AYCE sushi… With that said it is a completely different atmosphere. S-​Katsu is bustling (sometimes line out the door) and the atmosphere is almost entertaining with tables too close together, waitresses running around and sushi chefs hollering in Japanese/​Spanish. This however is not that. Super quiet and laid back atmosphere with absolutely no wait to get in. Same price I believe for both places for lunch and dinner AYCE $ 15 for lunch and $ 25 for dinner. Same concept at both places where you order from what’s on the paper menu and you have 3 pages of additional rolls to choose from on the regular menu. In have to say that S-​Katsu has more app and side items than S-​Totoro but the roll selection is pretty comparable. S-​Totoro might actually have more selection of specialty rolls and they have a few with soft shell crab and I didn’t remember that at S-​Katsu. Nice wait staff, food was good, we are full and would come back because it’s right down the street from our house. S-​Katsu has the edge though because of the atmosphere and awesome service.
Side note that was an initial turn off was the hostess had really bad halitosis… So bad that everyone at our table noticed it and we overheard another table talking about it. I feel bad putting this on here but it was pretty extreme.

As a long-​time patron of Sushi Train, which is owned by the same people, I was delighted to try this new place out. As a self-​professed animé nerd with a great fondness for the works of Miyazaki, I was of course very excited to check out a new local business with what I assumed would be the same type of quality I was used to from Sushi Train.
Well, they kind of missed the mark here. A few Totoro prints dotted the place, but otherwise it was pretty uninspired décor-​wise. The sushi chefs were, however, quick to keep up with the orders and the food was decent for all you can eat.
Essentially the menu is the same as ST, with few exceptions. We tried a few rolls we had ordered at their sister location and several pieces of nigiri. The fish was pretty dry and the rice was soggy, not at all like what I have come to expect at their other location.
But what made the whole experience borderline unappealing was the wait staff. The young lady who was waiting (less than three) tables obviously didn’t care and was more interested in chatting up the chefs at the bar.
Long after we were clearly done, we waited for our check, looking over to where she was busy chatting with the other employees several times and attempting to flag her down. The service at ST has never been failed to be less than excellent so this was really disappointing.
Really hope they can hit their stride with upping the ante at this place in terms of both quality of food and service, because they already have a successful business in Sushi Train that they know how to make work. I’ll give them a few more months to hit their stride and check back in later!

I would give 10 stars if I could. So much awesome about this place.
First off, the ambience — Anyone who has seen the iconic Studio Ghibli flick will recognize the name of the restaurant, and it’s not limited to just the sign outside. The fluffy creature features on every available surface inside, from murals to chopstick packets, and there are also a number of cute wall scrolls and beautifully framed images from the film. Definitely a treat for anyone who likes Totoro.
The place is well-​lit, clean, and quiet. The staff was helpful and attentive — we didn’t have to wait for drink refills, and they roll out your sushi and appetizer orders as they’re ready so we didn’t wait long to start eating (and keep eating) once we’d ordered.
Probably my biggest point in favor of their setup, though, is everything you get for the $ 15 (lunch) or $ 25 (dinner) you spend. Unlike a lot of other places, they make all their rolls available for all-​you-​can-​eat, including the often-​pricey specialty ones. In addition to that, all the APPETIZERS are also included — and they are some fantastic appetizers! We ate the standard miso soup and edamame, but also indulged in some tempura-​fried jalapeño poppers, crab and avocado bites, and probably the second-​best egg rolls I’ve ever had. All included in the price. Needless to say, if you can put away a fair amount of sushi and apps (I can) you’ll get more than your money’s worth out of the price.
Absolutely will be going here as often as I can afford it.

Love this place with 4 star rating for AYCE. Sushi Totoro has great service, appetizer comes out pretty quickly followed by rest of the meal.
I definitely prefer over Sushi Katsua or other AYCE nearby.
It’s spacious, clean and friendly and priced competely.

Another all-​you-​can-​eat sushi for $ 24.99 (dinner price) in Aurora? and they have Totoro décor? Of course I had to visit. The décor is nicely done with Totoro hanging out with you while you eat your sushi. They even have Totoro on their chopstick wrapper. However, I think it is still a work in progress. Our server was very attentive and answered any questions we had about the menu.
They started off with a complimentary appetizer with deep fried avocado and crab, It was light and very good for a starter. We ended up ordering the ramen (just to try it since I have been on the hunt for a nearby ramen place) miso soup, seaweed salad, cucumber salad, spicy and non spicy scallop (spicy scallop has a dollop of siracha), tuna, white tuna, super white tuna, fish roe, country roll, rainbow roll, and totoro roll. I was very impressed by their scallops, they were very smooth with a hint of sweetness and overall tasted very good. Otherwise I really liked the tuna, totoro roll and rainbow roll. The other stuff I can’t really bring myself to order again.
This isn’t a horrible place considering it was all you can eat, and I think I would come back to try some of their other specialty rolls. If you’re itching for really good overall nigiri or sashemi, I don’t know that I could recommend this place for that though.

One word: Awesome.
I literally ate the food here to fast to take pictures of it. When I come back again I will gain self control and have some pictures of this delicious food. It looked so good and tasted so incredible but…
If you go in for the standard sushi fair you will probably be disappointed. My recommendation is to go for the all you can eat to get a sampling of everything that interests you. The Nuggets specialty roll was dope. It was like a drug that I literally couldn’t get enough of. The fried jalapeños, mushroom balls, Futo rolls, and New York rolls were also delicious buy less addictive. They also have a decent drink selection here so try out the Karatamba dry saki they have.
On the flip side, the place was pretty empty so I don’t think it would be a great first date spot. This seems like a good spot to chill with friends, family, and just large groups in general. Some of the nigiri I had like the plain shrimp roll weren’t great. The meat on them was dry like it had been sitting out on a counter all day. Keep in mind these terrible rolls consisted of ¹⁄₁₆^th of my actual meal so it didn’t affect the overall score much. Pro tip: Stick to the specialty rolls for flavor and sit near the bar. Food comes faster that way and those chiefs just might serve as your wingmen in a pitch.

We walked in expecting to get a few rolls, some miso and maybe a drink. We ended up getting all you can eat sushi with some awesome rolls and tons of nigri. The menu with all of the beautiful pictures, got us. They sucked us in and said, you must eat me! Or at least, that is how I felt. The server was awesome. Very upbeat, asked questions, suggested different things on the menu. He was super helpful. We ordered a bit too much, but were able to scarf it down to avoid the cost of leftover pieces. The menu has a ton of special rolls that are included on the all you can eat menu. Great sushi, not the best nigri, but amazing rolls. I will definitely be back and I will be hungry!

We had an awesome server, Ginny. She was very pleasant in many ways! Attentive and happy looking unlike the other server that was around. She didn’t look pissed or anything ahaha just not as chippery.
The ambiance is still in the works it seems but I think if the restaurant gets filled a little more, it would look much better. The Totoro art is soooooooooooooo adorable, but once again, seems like a big empty space in the back that makes it seem incomplete.
The food was mediocre. I wouldn’t say it is better than Sushi Katsu. The set up of their hot green tea is great! Their apps were okay… the dynamite was terrible. Imagine a bowl of mayo, barely any seafood, with some sriracha and baked. My boyfriend was fishing for the seafood and could barely find any and the ones he found were as small as ants. I saw the table next to us keep ordering gyoza so that must have been decent. The udon at Sushi Katsu is more temperature hot, which I prefer but would be willing to try it here again. The sushi was ok. The sushi rice seemed accurate but some of their sashimi pieces were cut in a very unappetizing manner and with varying levels of thickness. Some were so thin and poorly cut, it didn’t look appetizing enough for me to even want to try and consume it.
Might return to try their bentos maybe since it’s so close to my boyfriend’s place.

Pretty good nigiri and sashimi… the Monkey Brains were delicious. They have an all you can eat for $ 24.95, my only problem is I can’t eat that much to make it worth my while. The other little catch is that they charge you .50 for every piece you don’t eat.
As of yet, I’m still on my quest for the best sushi in the Denver Metro.

I love the store layout and decoration. The staff are all very friendly and they are all Japanese, which seem to be a good thing for a sushi place (and the Chefs are all really cute xD) I forgot my wallet there and later realize and the staff kept it for me with everything still intact, so great staff.
All the non sushi food items food were delicious, but one noticeable thing is that their nigiri are so much smaller than other sushi place. It cute and bit size, but I feel like the favor isn’t as good as other place I been, but it not horrible. The only thing I have problem with is that any nigiri with the word «spicy» in it name, their just put sriracha on it! and not actually use other spice. I think that the only downside, but definitely will comeback again, just will avoid the «spicy» stuff.
I went there and they are offering «Monkey brain» as part of their promotion and that was one of their best dish would definitely recommend.

Was excited to find a restaurant designed with one of my favorite Miyazaki films. They have a couple of murals on the wall which are cute and fun to see. The menu, menu items, decorations, and even the chopstick casing had Totoro themes.
Went there for the all you can eat sushi and they have quite a big selection of sushi, nigiri, and appetizers to make the price worth it.
As for the food, I was a little disappointed. The miso soup was lacking flavor. They put an odd lemony sauce on a few of the sushi’s and nigiri that wasn’t too appetizing. We received a complimentary «monkey brain» appetizer which was pretty good! The fish wasn’t as good as I’ve found else where in Denver. Even other all you can sushi places near by, would be considered better quality than this one. After not being too impressed with the items I got, I sadly didn’t go and try the Totoro sushi roll.
The novelty of the restaurant was fun enough to go once, even if the food isn’t that great. They were oddly playing sports on the tv on the restaurant. It’s understandable, but just an odd choice for a themed restaurant.
I probably won’t be returning, but happy that I went and tried it out.

All you can eat sushi… you dare challenge me… I accept. $ 24.95 for a sushi dinner, with a great selection of nigiri, this excites me. They have all the nigiri you would expect, and a variety of rolls that kept the meal interesting. The Totoro roll was exquisite, of course with deep fried spicy tuna, yellowtail, and salmon, how can you go wrong? The seafood dynamite was… well dynamite. This, plus an awesome beer selection made for a fantastic experience.
The restaurant itself was pristine. The artwork on the walls adds to the fun environment, and the service was alarmingly pleasant and prompt. I am accustomed to waiting for some time between ordering sushi, and it being delivered (sorry Sushi Katsu), but speed and efficiency seem to be of the utmost importance here… or was it the customer service? Either way, they excel in both areas. The wait staff was on the prowl for anyone without food and drink on the table at all times, and was quick to offer suggestions as to what was best on the menu. I will be back, often.

If you recognize any of the sushi chefs or the owner there, then you are absolutely correct. This is the second location coming off the heels of Sushi Train. I came here on a whim last Saturday. Funny thing is, there is another sushi restaurant across the street from here. You can probably find the review somewhere in my list of reviews. Let’s get back to Sushi Tortoro. The dining area is warm and inviting. Bathrooms are clean and smell wonderful.
The sushi bar doesn’t feel as cozy as Sushi Train. However, the functionality and quickness of service will give you that warm fuzzy feeling. If you sit in the first 3 seats of the sushi bar, you will catch the breeze each time the door opens and cross your fingers no one farts on their way in.
Salad dressing is wonderful. Miso soup could use a bit more miso next time. Even the udon is ok. The sushi chefs here are on point and professional. You too can talk to them. I’ll have to get used to a couple new guys. Waitstaff seemed a bit rushed as if they were understaffed. Overall, a welcomed addition in the neighborhood and looking forward to making this the GO TO spot for sushi in this part of town!

Love it! This place is sugoi and I’m not just saying that because Totoro is one of my favorite animé characters, EVER!
The food speaks for itself. I suggest going with the all you can eat deal at $ 25 a person. Even though the nigiri is small, you can eat all you want for one low price. You also get a complimentary Monkey Brains appetizer which is absolutely delicious.
My friend and I both did AYCE and ordered the following x 2:
Ramen
Chicken teriyaki
Nigiri: Shiro maguro, maguro, ono, tamago, tako, scallop, seared tuna
Gyoza
Xmas roll — tempura shrimp, cucumber topped with tuna, tai, avocado, tobiko
Totoro roll — deep fried spicy tuna, yellowtail, salmon, cucumber
Beef Lover’s roll — beef teriyaki, jalapeño, cream cheese, deep fried
Shrimp tempura roll
Oishi! The fish tasted fresh and came out in good time. I didn’t care much for the ramen broth, but the noodles were done perfectly. The gyoza and chicken teriyaki both had really good flavor. I wish I had room in my stomach to order mochi ice cream, but we barely finished what we ordered. They charge $ 0.50 for each left over piece including rice, so make sure you only order what you can finish.
The service was excellent and very friendly. They do offer a big selection of other specialty rolls that I’d love to try on my next visit. I loved the Totoro décor and they even had his face on the chopstick wrapper!

Great little spot with a friendly staff and a cute Mascot Totoro from an Animated Movie from the 80’s. (Yes you really need to start marketing with T-​Shirts customers can purchase… too cute!).
I did the $ 24.95 all you can eat dinner and while some of the unagi/​fish on the nigiri was small, they had a great selection of apps, entrees, and during dinner you can add their Special Rolls to the all you can eat.
A great selection of interesting rolls (Crunchy Scallop yum!, and the other roll (which I can’t remember the name had tempura red snapper, shitake mushrooms, topped with unagi).
I am excited for this place since I think it had better quality and not all of the crowds of Sushi Katsu, plus so close to home.
While I am a big Sashimi girl (not a big rice eater), I will definitely come here when I am craving rolls.