Montgomery, AL — Kobe Jade Palace

Kobe Jade Palace 6050 Atlanta Hwy Montgomery, AL

334.270.3288  map

Alabama is not known for its sushi. But over the years, I have managed to find some gems in unlikely places. Unfortunately, Kobe Jade Palace is not one of them. Kobe is one of those restaurants that tries to do too many things at once. It has a Chinese, Korean and Sushi menu as well as Teppanaki.

I stopped in for lunch looking for some sashimi. The restaurant was not very crowded but it still took too long to get service. The menu had many choices both sushi and non-sushi items. I ordered a sushi-sashimi combo and a Bagel Roll (Kobe's version of a Philadelphia roll). It was a bad sign when I noticed that there was no sushi chef. The waitress was behind the bar making my sushi order. This could not be good.

When the sushi arrived my fears were realized. All of the nigiri were different sizes, even the two pieces of mackerel. The crab stick was huge in comparison to the rice. There was no sense of harmony to the pieces. The sashimi looked like it had been cut with a dull knife. The pieces were especially thin and arranged rather artlessly.

When I ate the nigiri, the fish kept falling off the rice. I guess that was OK because the rice balls were all different sizes anyway. The Bagel roll was no better, the pieces were cut unevenly and the scallions were sprinkled haphazardly over the rolls.

I would have given Kobe a 1 rating except the quality if the fish was pretty good. The fish tasted good, it was just prepared poorly.

Kobe Jade Palace: 2 rice bowls