Yonge & Sheppard
Sakura Korean Japanese Restaurant
(2 reviews)Sakura is located on Spring Garden Avenue, just off of Yonge Street, a few blocks north of Yonge and Sheppard. It’s in a pretty busy area with many other Sushi or Asian style restaurants nearby. Please read our conversational review, below.
416.227.2270
Review Date: May 8, 2012
So we received an email from a Sushi Toronto fan, Alisa, from a somewhat suspect .ru email account:
‘could you please review “Sakura” … 7 Spring Garden Avenue North York, ON M2N 3G1 thanx!’
How could we turn that request down?
Hehe… I *never* turn down anything from a “.ru” email address… nothing.
That’s for sure! So we decided to make the long trek out to the Yonge and Sheppard area. Walking from the subway station to Sakura I spotted a bunch of other sushi joints. Seems like this area is packed full of them!
Yep, little Spring Garden Avenue (and around the corner on Yonge as well) seems to be a fairly high concentrated sushi area. Can “Sakura Korean Japanese Restaurant” stand out among the competition? Your fearless Sushi Toronto team decided to find out.
As we walk in we’re greeted and seated immediately. The place is a bit of an old-school sushi restaurant look and feel – with plenty of seats available this Tuesday evening around 7pm.
Yeah the place looks like it’s been here for a while and could use a fresh coat of paint or something. Oh well, so we immediately were served some tea once we sat down and got a chance to look through the menu. Spotted the usual sushi pizza but this time, there was also the “Spicy Sushi Pizza”! That’s a first and a must order of course. In the end we went with Spicy Tuna Rolls, Spicy Sushi Pizza, Black Dragon Roll and their own named Sakura Roll which is another must buy as per Sushi Toronto review rules.
Some complimentary apps arrived quickly. No complaints here although a couple of them were likely supposed to be warm, and they weren’t.
Also, plates?… Crazy concept, I know – We had to ask for some. They arrived quickly but full of moisture.
The free apps were alright I guess. Nothing to complain about. I did notice you were wolfing them down though! Hungry? LOL
Freddie was a bit hungry, yes…I had a large can of Sapporo, which came with a glass, but had to open and pour it myself—small thing but when I see the effort made, I become a fan. Anyway, the dishes arrived quickly. First up was the Spicy Sushi Pizza. The look was fairly unique… And, yes, it was spicy. No complaints from me on this dish.
The Spicy Sushi Pizza was alright. A bit of a mess as tons of stuff was thrown on top and fell off trying to eat the pieces. They did have a decent “spice” to them. I would have liked the deep fried bed of rice part to be warmer though. Felt like it was sitting too long before they served it to us. Next out was the Black Dragon and Spicy Tuna rolls served in one plate.
The Spicy Tuna was definitely underwhelming – fairly bland and heavy on the rice.
The Black Dragon wasn’t much better, for me: “meh”.
Yeah not much taste to the spicy tuna rolls. Just a clump of spicy sauce with small bits of tuna. The Black Dragon roll was alright but nothing really stood out about it other than the fact we were debating if this was actually the Sakura Roll or not as we just couldn’t remember what the descriptions were. You know, it’s a nice touch when waiters/waitresses actually announce what the dishes are when they place them on the table. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen here.
True—I like that as well… You don’t even have to go into “Wow Sushi” detail, just announce what they are.
That left the Sakura roll. This one was fairly unique in look, and I didn’t mind it. It was “alright” – better than the other two.
Funny, in this case with the Sakura Roll, the waitress (a different one) actually did announce what the dish was to us. Agreed that it looked pretty cool, with some kind of deep fried sting bits draped over the top of the rolls. Tasted okay as well. Seems to be a general theme here.
Annnnnnd, BAM! The bill arrives without anyone asking us if we wanted anything else.
The place was basically, ummm, empty so I can see how they wanted to free up seats-yes, you read that correctly.
LOL. Yeah at that point, I started to get the feeling that they were rushing us out for some reason. Since it was my turn, I paid the bill and then headed to the washroom — To my surprise I found this right in the middle of the men’s washroom:
Not exactly what I was expecting to see in the Men’s Washroom. But looking back at the way things were going, maybe it’s par for the course at Sakura.
Interesting… Maybe that’s a value-add for customers: Do your laundry while you eat!
So, while you’re in the washroom the waitress goes into clean-mode… Meaning she takes the rest of your tea (hope you didn’t want that) AND the complimentary candies that she brought with the bill—huh?
Again, the feeling of “it’s time for you guys to leave” was there and swiping back the candies…wow. I guess her shift was about to end or something and wanted to close out our table ASAP and go home. Who knows but it leaves a bit of a sour taste to say the least. All in all was a mediocre experience. The food is average at best that is reflected by the cheaper prices. There’s so many other sushi options in that area that I am sure are much better restaurants in terms of food, experience and service. 5/10
Yeah, Sakura disappointed for sure. From the ‘meh’ food to the odd service. I’ll join your 5/10.
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I don’t know why you said such kind of things about Sakura.
The place is good, and the sushi is very decent, besides the owners, the lady and the gentleman are really nice, good and good people.
Very friendly and they help you to make your food taste better.
Excelent service, and very very friendly people.
Shame on your comments guys
Avoid going cheap quality sushi shitty services. Hate this place.
Hey! I like Sakura! You guys are too harsh about this restaurant. Very friendly and good service. And they also always play my favourite kpop songs there. hehe