Yutaka in Parker

Yutaka located in Parker is one of the newest sushi places in the area. Now, since my father and I have been big fans of Junz (across the street from this place) I haven't really bothered to try this place out yet.

Yutaka, like many Japanese restaurants lends on a modern look with open ceiling, fun use of metal, art, and design. The tables are covered with white paper and accompanied by crayons, so that children (or us children at heart) can draw on the paper while waiting for food.

The sushi menu is versified with many speciality rolls and the normal menu has many soups, tempera, and already created platters of sushi and sashimi. However, you'll need to ask your waitress what is in some of the rolls because it's not always listed on their menu. Among the interesting items on the menu there is an imported soda with the name Reasume (spell?) that has a crystal ball in the middle of the drink-- a couple of the kids seating next to us order this and I have to try it out for myself the next time I'm over here.

We ordered Edamame and Miso soups to start the meal off. Edamame was well cooked (I know that probably doesn't mean much to most people, but I've actually been to place were the edamame is dry, unsalted, browning and gross overall). The Miso was good but not amazing. Granted the first Miso I've ever had was on the salty side and therefore, I always assume that this soup should be on the salty side because of this and maybe that's a poor assumption. However, Yutaka soup taste good but is seriously missing the salty taste.

We ordered five rolls: the standard California Roll, Alaskan Roll, River Roll, Wadsworth Roll, and the Volcano roll. Now with sushi you need to wait a little longer than with most foods I know, but with this place it took extra long to get our rolls. Granted it was early in the week and they only had two sushi chiefs and two waitresses. However, by the time we got our cold sushi (the CA, Alaskan, River, and Wadsworth) the sushi was already lukewarm. We didn't even get the Volcano until we finished all the others ones with another ten minute wait-- granted by the time we were full and we didn't know if we could even get the Volcano down. I might also mention that they use sesame seeds on most of their rolls (which I'm not a huge fan of but doesn't ruin the roll) and their Alaskan was more or less a California with just a piece of Salmon instead of crab. The River and Wadsworth were great and beautifully done. The Volcano was differently hot and with a sweet spiciness and cooked fish. After waiting for another 15 minutes they finally gave us the bill and our complimentary dessert: orange slices.

Let's review on the pros side- good unique rolls that are better grade sushi then most sushi places, fun atmosphere that has an add plus for children with the paper table clothes, a descent wine/drink list with new/imported items, fair price on most of the rolls (we did five rolls, edameme, and misco soup for under $50), and a healthy complimentary dessert.

Con side- service was poor and slow, sushi was served lukewarm, sushi didn't come out together and there was a long wait in between dishes, waitresses had strong accents and didn't understand English that well.

Overall, if you can afford to wait and don't mind it this place is worth a try.