Sori scores

Ken Ro prepares to chop some sushi.

Independently owned sushi bar backed by decades of experience

by Blake Gillespie

published October 17th 2007

Located in Park Way Plaza on Monroe St, near Talmadge Road, Sori Sushi is a quaint sushi bar ideal for a peaceful Japanese meal.

Open for just over two weeks, Sori Sushi is owned by local sushi chef Kenny Ro and wife Sori Ro. The couple has lived in Toledo for five years while Kenny previously worked as a chef at Yoko Japanese Restaurant in Maumee. Kenny started his sushi serving in college as a part-time job to assist with tuition. Before long, he had dropped out to devote his hours to sushi, which led to 24 years of employment in cities such as, Miami, New York City, Salt Lake City, Anchorage, Alaska and Las Vegas.

He opened his own place with the intention of creating a cozy environment for a meal and to counteract the increasing prices in the sushi business. “It seems as though in other larger cities, the prices are much lower than here in Toledo,” Ro said. “I set my prices to match the larger cities."

The interior walls are a soothing dark tan color that compliment the olive green table settings. The paintings adorning the walls were done by Sori, who designed the entire restaurant.

Ro's extensive sushi bar offers shrimp, crab, salmon, octopus, eel, squid and several other variations of fish, raw or cooked. He recommends for first time sushi eaters to familiarize with the cooked items, such as shrimp or salmon, before getting adventurous. The thought of eating eel might seem unusual, but Ro’s cooked eel has a taste not far from chicken teriyaki.

Ro also suggests his specialty rolls such as the Yum Yum roll, which contains scallops, shrimp crab and fish rolled in a creamy sauce. He has even named a roll after his wife, which contains tuna, salmon, snapper, crab and spicy tuna ("It's Sori's favorite," says Ken).

In a month, he will have a liquor license to offer saki, Japanese beers and domestics to customers. “Sometimes people get a little saki in them and then they are really ready to try everything,” Ro joked.

Sori Sushi is located at 5236 Monroe St. Hours: (Lunch) Mon. - Fri.: 11:30 - 2:30 (Dinner) Mon. - Sat.: 4:30 - 9:30 p.m. (10:30 on Fri./Sat.). 419-720-7674.