Ninja Japanese & Korean Cuisine

There are a variety of gluten-free options clearly marked on the menu, including the miso soup. The staff is friendly and our waitress was well-informed. Both takeout and dine-in options are available. Our takeout order was ready in just 15 minutes and was delicious.

NINJA certainly has a great name – very catchy and stylized in all CAPS as some Japanese names tend to be, like, say, KENTA or TAKA. I remember saying to myself, as I spied this place from my seat at Blue Fin, “I must check that place out!” I eventually did get around visiting NINJA for lunch. And, I have to say, besides the catchy name, there really isn’t very much that is “NINJA” about this place. The space is large and dimly lit; there are various fishing and Japanese novelties strewn about – I guess to remind you that you’re in a Japanese/Korean fusion restaurant because, without them, this place looks like almost any other “modern” eatery with the ceiling displaying some piping and what have you.The menu at NINJA is surprisingly standard. There wasn’t much that I noticed to help this place stand out against the competition directly across the street. For my lunch, I ordered the prawn tempura to start. It was OK – certainly no worst or better than mall tempura. It was a bit oily and many of the prawns were over-battered. I also ordered one of NINJA’s specialty lobster rolls. Here’s what I liked about it: the lobster was perfectly cooked and plentiful; I didn’t have to dig around and search for the lobster – it was staring me right in the face. Beautiful! What didn’t I like? The presentation was very sloppy (see pictures). While the roll itself was tasty, its appearance left much to be desired and, as I’ve written elsewhere, the development and creation of sushi is very much an art form – it is as much art as it is food and there are a lot of places that understand that clearly: My Name is Sushi, Bistro Sakana, Tojo’s and, to a lesser degree, even Blue Fin. Unfortunately, NINJA completely misses the boat here and the result is amateur hour. Even more sinful, however, was the poor construction of the roll. As soon as I picked it up, it started falling apart. The roll was not packed tightly enough and that’s a shame.Terrace, like many Northern communities, has limited options when it comes to sushi. There are only two real choices: NINJA and Blue Fin (well, three. . .if you count Safeway, but I don’t). For my money, I think I will stick with Blue Fin because they have clear signature items that set them apart; the rolls are packed correctly; and they’re presented much more elegantly than NINJA. Besides the name, NINJA is a fairly generic sushi/Korean eatery.FOOD: 2.5/5SERVICE: 3/5VALUE: 2.5/5RECOMMENDATION: If you want good sushi, go to Blue Fin. They appear much more focused and the quality of what they put out reflects that.

Nicely decorated restaurant. We had gyozas, miso, bulgogi and sushi and all tasted great. Friendly service from staff as well.

Was there for lunch. The food was good, the tempura nice and crispy, the rice in the sushi rolls wasn't over or under cooked. The menu assortment were fairly typical for this style of restaurant, IMO the food was better than average for a mid priced restaurant such as this. The ambiance and finishing/materials inside were cool, they didn't cheap out on that. I didn't use the bathroom so can't comment on its cleanliness, but the restaurant itself was clean and organized. Will definitely eat there again next time I'm in Terrace.

I first visited Ninja last summer and shortly after they opened and while it wasn't a horrible experience, I think they were still working out some kinks. This time I had no complaints about it. Service was friendly, efficient and the food tasted pretty fresh and came exactly as we ordered. I've heard the Korean dishes are good too, but I've only tried their Japanese. Definitely will try them in the future.