Dojo Restaurant and Sushi Bar

Great atmosphere and service, I had the rice tofu bowl it was awesome got some extra spice and sweet sauces to mix in and I loved it. Also tried my wife’s noodle dish it was Delicious the price for two dishes were $ 19.00

We decided to try somewhere new and go here for a birthday dinner and it was a complete catastrophe! Where to start…
Service was horrendous, despite us being 1 of 3 tables on a Tuesday night.
The majority of the rolls were messed up. Several people told the waiters that they had allergies, yet they did not remove anything. The fish was only mediocre quality, plenty of better places downtown to go to (if you love sushi, you will quickly find out that this place isn’t authentic. More of a hip venue that serves Americanized sushi). They also made duplicate rolls and refused to remove them off of the bill.
When the time came to pay, we discovered that the ‘separate tabs’ they had done for us were all wrong. There ended up being extra things leftover and they refused to remove them, even though they were the result of them messing up the tabs.
And the final kicker to ruin the night… We thought we had settled the bill, but then one of the servers came over and YELLED at the birthday girl for everyone not paying (she wasn’t even paying for the dinner). Who yells at someone on their birthday?
Extremely rude service and sub-​par food. Thank you for ruining a birthday girl’s birthday and almost bringing her to tears. You can definitely be sure no one at the party is ever going to come back and they are going to tell everyone they know about how you ruined someone’s special day.

For ramen and sushi, this place takes the cake. Hands down my favorite little Japanese spot in town. The interior is cozy and trendy, the staff is extremely attentive and the food beyond compare.
My favorite entrée is the Tokyo ramen with ½ pork belly and ½ pork shoulder. Braised to perfection! I’ve also tried the Kyushu ramen and loved it. Perfect portions.
Haven’t tried a roll I didn’t like here but my favorites are definitely the Lava-​Lava roll (best spicy roll I’ve had in SLC) and the Friends with Benefits roll. The fish is always fresh and the ingredients are creative in the best way. I would recommend this place to anyone!

A little more attention to detail would serve this place well. The atmosphere is nice, but giant TVs distract. The rolls are «innovative», but a little too much the same (count how many times ‘spicy’ or ‘habanero’ are on the menu) and the quality of the ingredients is short of great (which I think contributes more to the sameness in taste of the rolls). The ramen, however was excellent.
If it were just for food the rating would be a 3 or 3.5. But now we get to the service. Only one waiter for a Saturday night. Could be a fluke, something came up, etc. But then the waiter got something in our order wrong and seemed to just give up on us after that. But not before doing my biggest waiter pet peeve: defending himself to us for why he got it wrong, which of course includes claiming we never told him our request before. Uggggh. If you are someone who can’t entertain the possibility that you got it wrong, or if you think it wasn’t you and you can’t let it be, find a job other than customer service. In this case, we made our request directly not once, but twice while ordering. He was just not paying attention.
As more people trickled in our friend got more and more stressed, marching from one end of the restaurant to the other with blinders on so as not to have to take any requests. I get that it was a tough situation, but unfortunately this is a person in the wrong line of work, which let a tricky situation get downright bad.

I went here with intentions on eating the ramen since so many people have great reviews about it. I had the Tokyo ramen with ½ pork shoulder and ½ pork belly. It was good, really good. I would still say though out of all the ramen i have had in SLC Plum alley was my favorite.
I also ordered the lemongrass calamari and it was ok, nothing to call home about. The sauces with them were very tasty.
The staff here is just right. Our server was awesome and very attentaive. I will be coming back to Dojo to try other items on their menu.

Can you say «Brrrrrr»? If I wanted to experience the cold, I would have sat outside!
Below freezing indoor temperatures aside, their pork belly ramen was fantastic! Definitely helped to heat up the customersicles sitting inside the chilly restaurant. The broth was one of the better ones I’ve had. Noodles weren’t too thick or thin and had a pleasantly chewy consistency. And the pork belly was generous and SO SO DELICIOUS. They were sliced very thinly, which is something I prefer to the typical awkwardly thick slabs of pork that usually come with ramen at other places, and they gave you a lot of slices.
Sushi menu was not very intuitive as they really only listed out a few of their sushi combos and then had a line of fine print at the bottom saying traditional nigiri/​sashimi available upon request. Say what? What sushi restaurant does not list out the types of fish that they have?

Ugh, if you are looking for sushi, this is not sushi. This is trendy sushi inspired something, but not Japanese. They do not serve miso soup anymore because it is not Gluten-​free. And the reviews saying that this place is cheap for sushi… Not accurate. If I go for lunch on a Tuesday and see dinner prices, I’m not impressed. $ 14 rolls is not cheap sushi.
Restaurant is very cold. Tables and chairs are very short with overly erect back rests (even in booths); extremely uncomfortable. Don’t come here with a party of more than 4, it will very awkward. The layout of this place feels more like a club than a restaurant, it doesn’t quite work. The restaurant was pretty much empty when we came, and it took a very long time for our orders to come out, so I would imagine with a crowd food wait times would get ridiculous.
Pork gyoza was standard. Sushi menu was extremely limited. You have to specially request maki or sashimi. Salmon ceviche is good with strong red onion and lemon flavors. Japanese clear soup is a dark broth with onion and mushroom, it was good. Sumo roll, salmon crunch roll, both simple and okay. The old battle ax roll and Pete’s dragon roll, both were great, lots of flavor, but smaller than I would have expected for pricey specialty rolls.
Overall okay. I won’t be back, because as a sushi joint this place leaves a lot to be desired, and there looks to be no shortage of options in SLC.

Excellent sushi. Very creative rolls. Intimate atmosphere. Have eaten her over 10 times. Always excellent friendly service. They have some unusual roll combinations like citrus and habanero sauce and wagyu beef as well as interesting cocktails like the Kung Fu grip. Recommend highly.

After many more visits, I must update my review. Four stars is not enough for my darling Dojo.
While I feel no sushi is greater than that served at my beloved Takashi, Dojo comes close. The sushi roll menu is full of wonderful, unique, and creative flavor combinations. Rolls often bore me; they never do here. But the fish stands up on its own as well. All the nigiri I’ve ordered here has been a delight.
I still love the ramen. Reviews show me it can be a divisive thing, but it has never failed me. The noodles are tasty, the broth is full of flavor, and there’s pork belly. Need I say more?
The wine and sake list covers all bases, and they offer a lot of creative cocktails. The prices are reasonable for what you get, and I always get great service (undoubtedly because I make reservations on Opentable and ask for awesomeness. They’re deliverin’).
The only thing that makes me sad about Dojo is that whenever I go in for dinner (even on the weekends), this place is never more than half full. You should be coming here, people, and not only because you don’t want me to be sad.

I should have wrote this review awhile back. I can’t remember much about the rolls to write about them but I do remember the ramen.
I do remember the noodles being over cooked and too soft. I do like the idea of adding pork shoulder/​pork belly to ramen instead of chashu. It gave the ramen a whole different flavor compared to the normal which isn’t a bad thing at all. It added some fatness to each bite.
I shall add more to the review if I go back.

I was looking for a good place in Utah for ramen and turned to Unilocal to find this place. Apparently this place supposedly had some of the best ramen in Utah. I’m from California and love going to ramen shops. My friend who went with me here lived in Japan for quite a few years and was also craving ramen.
Sad to say that the ramen here did not live up to our standards. The noodles were fine. The flavor of the broth itself was very light. And the amount of meat in the bowl was a very small amount.
I probably would not come back here for ramen, but the sushi ordered was good.

I went to Dojo for the second time last night. We ordered the Battle Roll, the sliders, and tempura shrimp. Between three of us, we still had food to take home! The Battle Roll was fantastic… very zesty with strong cilantro and lime flavors. It’s not like any other roll I’ve tried! My roommate didn’t like it, citing the overpowering lime. So if you’re not a citrus fan, don’t try the Battle Roll!
The service we received deserves six stars! I wish I knew the name of our server, but regardless, he and the rest of the staff were fantastic. They were on our drink refills before my glass was empty (true service, in my opinion) and literally the entire staff was concerned with our meal and enjoyment.
I would come back here, even if the food was terrible, simply because of the service. I cannot stress enough how pleasantly surprised I was to find this gem in SLC. Oishii desune!!!

Someone was pretty lazy to wash all the dishes, so ended up trying out Dojo for some ramen.
Totally worth it! we had X sushi first. It was pretty good but the most expensive one. I really love my pork belly ramen especially the pork belly. I cannot describe it to you. You just have to try it yourself! My boyfriend had pork shoulder kimich ramen. It was pretty good but we both believe pork belly is the best!
The fried banana with ice cream dessert definitely ended our meal perfectly. Servers were really nice too.
Maybe someone should not wash the dishes all the time… hehe…
I heard it is extremely busy on the weekend. Expected. But we went on the weekday night, so it wasn’t fairly calm.

Super Ramen, and brilliant rolls— They offered to split the ramen bowl up into 2 for us. Was perfectly presented with the egg in nori, kamoboko, and the pork belly slices all portioned halfway.
We got kawabunga roll, which had Wagyu beef, avocado, and albacore, fried yam crunches, thin slice jalapeño on top, truffle oil. DMF was a perfect hamachi, maguro, salmon, avocado, tempura roll with amazing sweet-​spicymayo. Also tried the spicy x which was a more standard tempura roll. I also asked for a double avocado roll from the standard maki roll menu, expecting the small basic roll style with thinner composition but received full length, extra large rolls. ¹⁰⁄₁₀
For sake we had peachy haze, purple haze, and a stop light which had sampler of purple haze, green apple sake, and a Hawaiian pineapple tasting one. We also ordered a chocolate mochi ice cream plate despite being incredibly full. It was 3 mochi icecreams, each cut in half, accented with a chocolate syrup and orange slice decoratively. It was a really nice way to finish off.
The entire experience was just as promised amusingly at the start of their menu. Exactly the escape we needed, and on top of that a surprise of superior sushi to the numerous other high end and kitchen style places I have tried in SLC. Absolute pleasure. The music was very cool, a set of downtempo, very chill electronic. We were also the only ones in there for my wife’s day after valentine’s birthday. So impressed

Dojo has been on my radar for some time but nobody in my household seems to have the love for asian inspired foods like I do, so it’s been on the back burner.
We were lured into Dojo one fateful Thursday by the sandwich board advertising fruit-​flavored shots, watermelon mojitos and other drink specials. Well, I suppose they aren’t really specials, but they made it seem that way so we were sold. It was hot out, and these beverages sounded refreshing so we popped in. We also had a chicken skewer from the dgrill outside. It was AMAZING. Apparently they do this little patio party every Thursday before and after the Twilight concerts. Good to know.
Dojo is chic and cozy and reminds me a lot of a smaller version of a lounge-​y Vegas restaurant. I half expect this to transform into a posh nightclub after midnight.
Despite the nice décor and creative menu items, they played some seriously weird movies on the flat-​screens. My boyfriend said it was Drunken something. All I know is that it had Jackie Chan in it and a lady who could scream someone to death.
I loved Dojo and I can’t wait to come back for a full meal. The menu looks creative and is just what SLC needed.

So, here it is, my review of Dojo. When it comes to Japanese Food, I would consider myself a snob as having lived in Japan, the bar has set pretty high.
I found out about Dojo via Twitter (they reached out to me and was able to carry on a conversation (1 Star for using social media well.))
I had heard so many things about the «Real Ramen» that Dojo had to offer. Again, I am a HUGE Japanese food snob, so I thought I’d put it to the test.
I had the White Dragon Roll (just trust me and order this one,) and the Pork Belly Ramen.
Let me just say that this Ramen is legit… some of the best I have EVER had. The combination of the pork, a simple helping of green onions, a little Kamaboko (little pink slices of fish cake,) bean sprouts & seaweed all swimming in the traditional delish ramen broth make this a menu item to not miss. Oh, did I mention the egg in it?
Really pleased with my experience at Dojo. I’ve already recommended it to people and will continue to do so… and I will go back.

I think that Dojo is trying a lot of interesting stuff with flavors in their sushi rolls and I admire that. In fact, I even enjoyed the two rolls I had — the White Dragon and the Hawaiian Roll.
The White Dragon is made with tempura yam, seaweed salad, cilantro and avocado inside, topped with albacore, onion ponzu and white truffle oil. The truffle isn’t overwhelming and the flavors balance perfectly in this one. However, it is a roll that might be divisive due to the textures and flavors. I would only recommend ordering it if you like all the ingredients mentioned above.
The Hawaiian Roll was actually my favorite. Made with tuna, jalapeño, pineapple, cucumber and sprouts it was simple and less spicy than I’d hoped for, but still very good. The pineapple was fresh and the flavor just popped in your mouth.
We did order the pork belly ramen and I have to say I was slightly disappointed that everyone had raved about this particular dish. The broth did have good flavors, but the pork belly itself not so much. I’ve eaten a lot of pork belly in my time and this was definitely in the lower levels of flavor. It didn’t taste bad per se, more like it didn’t taste at all. It was quite bland which was surprising.
Service was friendly and prices seemed reasonable to me, but I live in a land of outrageous prices so I’m not sure I’m the best barometer of that.

Dojo means a place to study martial arts in Japanese, which I find it funny to see it as a restaurant name. Maybe my expectations were too high because this place did not feel like its living up to the hypes. The place has some interesting ambience, first walked in was told they cannot let us sit down without reservation despite seeing the dining room half emptied. Next, we waited 20 minutes watching a 70−80s Chinese drama series on the TVs, and then we were seated at the hard-​to-​get-​in tables (even waitress had a hard time serving food on our table).
We ordered along the recommended suggestions and some of my favorites: the Dojo ramen, chu-​toro nigiri, wagyu beef, and strawberry mochi dessert. The pork belly ramen felt somewhat flawed, the soup broth was very flavorful, but the noodles and pork were very bland for some reasons (perhaps they were not cooked in the soup broth), which I did not taste any of the flavors found in the soup broth.
The chu-​toro was fresh, but a little too chewy with poor texture due to poor slicing, and they had use sauce to make up the difference. Wagyu beef sashimi was ok, I did not like the onion fish eggs topping, the veggies underneath also ruins the overall taste, and the outer edge was slightly cooked. The best part of the meal was probably the strawberry mochi dessert, as they were very delicious and tasted very homemade-​like.
Service was quite slow, our waitress missed one item we ordered then took forever to bring desserts out. Perhaps it was a busy night, but they were kind enough to put the dessert on the house. Aside from the disappointments, I am still willing to return to Dojo and try different things, probably at a less busy time…

Thank you, Unilocalers! I never would have found this place on my own. Tucked right next to the Homestead Suites near Pioneer Park, this gem of a restaurant has a full sushi bar serving everything from sashimi to creative rolls. In addition, they have a mix of main plates, including wagyu beef sashimi.
AND THEY HAVE RAMEN!!! Please excuse the gratuitous use of caps, but their ramen is worth it. It’s more «simple» than others I’ve had– with only the noodles, your choice of pork belly or shoulder, and a few other fixings. And the broth is perfect– not too salty, but rich, flavorful, and perfectly balancing the rest of the bowl. I would also highly suggest the pork belly in the ramen. It was most likely the most delicious pork belly I’ve EVER had. Richly fatty but with a good amount of actual pork, cooked in some magical way that made me devour almost the entire bowl before remembering that I was supposed to be sharing with my husband.
They also have a decent sake selection and creative cocktails. Along with the little «lounge» area they have, this place would be great fun for a night out. For us, on a Tuesday night, it was pretty empty. As such, the service was terrific. It doesn’t hurt that they employ at least one really good lookin’ Asian man… just cuz I’m married doesn’t mean I’m blind!
I’m sad I live so far away, but I will be back…

Dojo has the mojo.
Forget the long-​winded review full of useful details. Here’s the short version:
Go there, trust the chefs, love the food.
It’s not the foo-​foo (but also delicious) adventure that is Takashi, though you can get overly ornate rolls if that’s your thing. Dojo has a lot of awesome fish. Sashimi and nigiri rule. Service kicks ass; they’ll even let an Ogden refugee in out of the cold 15 min before they actually open and give him sake.
Plus, pork belly ramen. Extra plus, stellar appetizers.
Just awesome.