I love sushi. I love it a lot. So when I was asked if I wanted to go to AI with some coworkers for lunch, I jumped at the chance. Like most other restaurants in the Springs, its located in a strip mall. It is just north of Garden of the Gods, on Centennial.

The place was nice, the menu looked good. I ordered some sushi rolls, and I thought everything was going well. Then the waitress arrived with three bowls of miso soup. Three. There were four of us. Uh oh. I watched in shocked horror as she gave everyone a bowl of soup except me. Then I sat there and watched everyone eat their soup.

This clip from Sesame Street sums up how I felt:

Yes, the crab was me. I was crabby because I didn't get any miso soup! I've been to dozens of sushi restaurants, and I've never not been given a bowl of soup when I ordered sushi! Apparently at this place you need to order a bento box to get soup, as my colleagues did. Just ordering twenty dollars worth of sushi isn't enough to warrant getting some soup.

Ok, now that I've gotten that off my chest, I have to say the sushi was awesome. The first thing I noticed of course was the beautiful presentation. One of my rolls was arranged into a star shape, with the other two rolls on each side. It looked so good, I wanted to take a picture. So I did.

After the initial no soup shock wore off, I settled into my meal. Again, the sushi tasted great. I got a spicy yellowtail roll, which was much spicier than most sushi places make them (I approve), a spider roll, one of my all time favorites, and an E.T. roll, which is apparently an AI invention. Basically, the E.T. roll is a california roll with unagi and tuna on the outside. It was really good. I've had better spider rolls before, but the other two were absolutely top notch.

I was a little disappointed with the size of the rolls. Each rolls was divided into 5 pieces. Most places do six or sometimes even eight. The cost for each roll was pretty average for sushi, perhaps a little on the high side, but the smaller portions definitely makes it less of a value. After eating three rolls for lunch, I was still hungry. Lucky for me, not everyone at the table ate all their food, so I was able to bum some extra rolls and a few pieces of shrimp (all of which tasted great, thanks guys!)

This place is pretty close to work, and I'm sure I'll be back. The sushi chefs are top notch, but the place is pretty pricey, and of course there is the soup issue. Overall, I would call this a "decent" experience.