We’ve been talking about trying out Hiro for a long time now. I walk past it pretty much every day, living in the King East area. The online reviews always seem to be really mixed on this sushi establishment. The die-hard fans on one end, praising the sushi quality, and on the other end, those who warn to stay away due to the service. Then our new friend Gregg shot us a comment and an email urging us to visit Hiro and report back. I guess that was the push we needed, so we met up at Hiro on a Tuesday evening at 5:30 after work.

Hehe… Yeah, pretty weak. The inside of Hiro is really nothing to write home about. People don’t come to Hiro for the atmosphere. Actually, how would we know: We were seated in the narrow corridor that is the front of the restaurant, even though, I believe, there were some non-reserved tables available further in. Anyway, service started off well. The green tea and Asahi beer arrived promptly and our waitress poured the beer into the glass at the table — a nice touch.

Indeed. Our waitress left the table in search of an answer to what you would think would be an easy question to respond to. She consulted with another waitress a few feet away from us - in what I assume was Japanese. The discussion went on for at least a minute (literally). True, they could have been talking about anything other than the question at hand (actually, I think I’m convinced of this) but regardless she returned and stated that, yes, we had ordered enough for two to dine.

The nigiri was definitely a step above anything I’ve had in our now fairly extensive Sushi Toronto tour. Just the selection of fish itself was above what we usually experience. Taste-wise it’s the best I’ve had - hands down. Definitely of high quality.

The rolls were a different story however. Huge (I almost want to us all caps, but I’ll refrain) disappointment. Even the ‘how can you screw that up’ spicy tuna rolls weren’t good. I found the tempura rolls were a bit better, but not by much. A definite lack of flavour and too much rice. The rolls that accompanied the nigiri platter were even worse. One in particular was simply uneatable.

Yes… Very much so. We perused the menu quickly again but then just decided to go with what was good from round one - the nigiri plate. We ordered another. By this time, the restaurant was getting a bit more busy and some of those reserved tables were being filled. What it also meant was we weren’t going to be satisfying that hunger any time soon.

… annnnd this is about when our server decided to forget about us. Sure she couldn’t control the speed of the food (our second nigiri platter too forever to arrive, by the way) but just in general we were forgotten about — despite this being a really tiny place. Refill offers? Nope. I spent the rest of the meal rationing the remaining beer I had. Thing is, it wasn’t only us. A table right next to ours was filled by three guys who looked like they were business partners. One of them resorted to flailing his arms to get the attention of the waitress. This happened more than once. The Hiro dining experience just took a turn for the worst.

You’re right… It was as if they knew exactly what was happening but had no intent to improve on it at all. Odd. So, the second sushi plate was a bit different make up than the first, but it was pretty much as good. The rolls on the side were absolutely awful, however. All that’s left is to try to flag down a waitress and get the bill.

…. survey says $39! Thus our meal comes to just over $115 - almost double what we normally spend on a night of sushi. Thing is, I was still hungry after this. So, if getting the bill wasn’t hard enough (we actually had to ask for it twice, by the way), actually getting them to take my Mastercard became another chore. Yep, I had to resort to taking it to them as we were more than ready to get out of there.

Totally… Other online reviews bitch about the service and now we know that’s totally valid. Sooo, if you’re Hiro, why not get people in there that care about the service and then you become a huge draw, no? I mean, why have your restaurant sit empty at 5:30pm on a Tuesday when it could be full with happy, well served, customers. Then again, the maki is a mess, too. Sorry, not good. Sure, the nigiri was incredible but I need to be treated properly when I go out to eat — especially if you’re going to charge a premium and still leave me hungry. I found a thread that states that Hiro doesn’t let the waitresses keep their tips. If that’s the case, that may partly explain the horrendous service. People may say ‘you have to sit at the bar…’ — sooo, if I sit at the tables, poor service is acceptable? I’ll never eat at Hiro Sushi again: 3/10.

Indeed… For our entire meal, except for the last few minutes, we were the only ones at Etsu. The restaurant is quite nice inside. It’s fairly modern with art on the wall and what is likely CBC Radio playing on the stereo. The waitress was dressed in traditional Japanese wear. Outside it’s nicely landscaped with bushes and flowers. Visually, Etsu earns full marks. They’ve really done a nice job to make it a very comfortable place to enjoy sushi. Outside, among the landscaping, there are a few patio seats to enjoy if you don’t mind being too cramped.

Hehe… Maybe there’s a Baldwin Street wi-fi network! Who knows, the but sushi chefs on Baldwin are definitely ‘online’. Let’s hope they’re not looking up ‘How to prepare sushi‘. So, we decided to order the sushi pizza (of course!), a dish of spicy rolls (various) and a dish of nigiri with a few rolls added in.

How could I forget the Etsu Roll!… Actually I wish I could (more on that in a bit). The sushi pizza was decent. Not bad at all. Next up was the nigiri dish, from what I recall. It wasn’t awful but not great either.

True, the spicy rolls are usually a staple we can depend on. Not at Etsu. Agreed on the ‘too much rice’ comment. They simply were not good. We rarely leave sushi uneaten — especially not spicy rolls — but this time we did. The worst spicy rolls the Sushi Toronto team has ever endured, I would say. The Etsu rolls I didn’t like at all either. I can’t describe it, really, but they didn’t taste like anything. Not impressed. The dish you put your name on you want to make something special. I’m not sure what Etsu was thinking on this one.

There was one shining moment, food wise: After our meal we were treated to complimentary ice cream and watermelon. Both were good. A nice way to get the taste of those nasty spicy rolls out of my mouth.

… and indeed I did — with Blackberry in hand so I could snap some pix of the beautiful Etsu washroom, complete with Scope! I did not, however, test out the, as you call it, futuristic toilet. It looks like I may have needed to read the manual first.





So, Etsu gets full marks for ‘look’ of the restaurant itself. Bonus marks for the bathroom amenities! The service is great and the ‘add ons’ like the free dessert are most welcome, as well. What happened with the sushi, however? Aside from the sushi pizza, I didn’t like much else. Sorry, Etsu: 3.5/10.

We decided to meet up at 5:30 on a Tuesday afternoon for sushi on Baldwin Street. We’re slowly venturing off the Yonge Street sushi strip, which is likely a good thing. As I made my way there on foot, I noticed there were a few other sushi restaurants on Baldwin. Possibly future reviews for Sushi Toronto.

Hmmm… only one there at supper time - on a nice day. Makes you wonder. All of that was put to rest, however, once I looked over at the wall and noticed a 2006 (yep, keeping it current!) ‘Most Memorable Meal Award’ as per Where Magazine readers… Oh, wait, it actually said ‘2006 Nominee’ - umm…

True,… we’ll let this photo below attempt to describe it.

The complimentary edamame was there before I even arrived… although I didn’t partake, as usual. My Corona order was quick and came with the sushi-style lemon. Then we had a look at the menu.

Yep, the ‘Sashimi & Sushi - Small (28 pieces for 2 people)’ runs $26.95. It’s actually one of the ‘Love Boat’ combinations, so, umm, perfect for us. The Fujiyama Special Roll runs $9.95 and the sushi pizza $6.95. Other possible menu options include the Skydome Roll, the CN Tower Roll, and the Boston Roll. I suppose it is difficult to come up with names when there are a zillion rolls to name. First up came the soup and salad. I can’t complain about the salad. It was decent.

True, has the sushi pizza become dessert? The sushi was decent for sure. I’ve had better, but it was decent. I love when they put the wasabi right on/in/whatever the sushi. The sashimi could have been better, I thought. Not bad, but not great. The Fujiyama Special Roll arrived and was decent as well.

I was surprised by that actually. I figured on a nice day Baldwin would be hopping! I guess not. In fairness to Fujiyama, the other restaurants on the strip didn’t seem that busy either. What else? Oh, the sushi pizza wasn’t great in my books. It was too crispy for my liking. Also the toppings seemed a bit much. It definitely did not look like a healthy dish! The service was good. It seemed she forgot the sushi pizza in the initial order, but no biggie. Orange wedges accompanied the bill. Oh, I should mention there’s a small patio out front for those of you wanting to catch some rays while you eat. I’m giving Fujiyama a 7/10. ‘Yet another’, indeed.

Ooooh, Good investigative work! Sushi Toronto may someday be responsible for Toronto’s sushi restaurant washroom cleanup!… Or so one can hope. As for the computer, let’s just hope it wasn’t smut he was viewing…

Yes, we’re slowly getting further from Yonge Street. As I walked along Adelaide from the east side I went by some our past reviews from the Adelaide stretch: Nami, Ninki and Fune. Some better than others! Anyway, this day was all about YUZU – which we figured may be a nice place based on their sleek Web site.

True… I loved the atmosphere at YUZU. A very modern-style dining area with matching music to boot. It’s classy yet casual – if that makes any sense. I started off with a draft of Sapporo, and then we perused the menu.

Yep, we dialed up the ‘Sushi Deluxe’ ($31- “Chef’s selection, 12 pieces of nigiri, 6 pieces of maki roll”) and the YUZU Maki ($17 – “Avocado, tobiko, shrimp tempura, salmon, spicy scallop, seared at table”). We try to make a point to order the restaurant-own-speciality-maki at any place that offers it, so the YUZU Maki had to be ordered!

… and good thing she did, as you got so giddy when she brought it to that other table. I had a hunch if we didn’t get one you were going to say ‘I’d like to order One Of Those Over There’… Oh, the salad was nice! Usually I’m not an appetizer fan, but I enjoyed the salad. The YUZU Maki looked really nice. Can’t go wrong with a flaming presentation – ummmmm. It was very tasty. I’m not sure about $17 tasty, but it was a nice dish.

Agreed, the Sushi Deluxe platter did look impressive. It tasted just as good, as well. A really nice mix of sushi. The spicy rolls didn’t disappoint either.

True, those rolls were very good. You can’t go wrong with the Sushi Deluxe plate. Out sushi review wouldn’t be complete without talking about something non-food related. Namely, that couple a few tables down from us. How does that guy get a girl like that? She was out of his league, according to this half of the Sushi Toronto team.

… or, in this case, the Bordens (yeah, I had to look it up). Maybe Bieber sings about the Bordens – no idea… I’m giving YUZU a 9.5/10: Great atmosphere, great service, great good, great presentation, a really unique dish – presentation wise especially… Yeah, that $17 price tag is a bit much but just don’t order that dish then! YUZU is YUM.

Yes, the sushi pizza. Pretty much the only consistent thing we eat at each Toronto sushi establishment we visit. So, I walked into NAMI and was expecting it to be a little more high end than it was. The booths, however, look quite nice. They were all reserved, however. Service was prompt and I ordered up a ‘large’ Sapporo.

We ordered the Sushi Spring Roll, Sushi Appetizer, Sushi Pizza (of course!), Spicy Tuna Rolls, and Spicy Scallop Rolls.

I totally agree. If NAMI is where the sushi pizza was ‘invented’ then it’s the other sushi restaurants that have furthered it to make it a worthy dish. I wouldn’t order the sushi pizza here again. For some reason I thought the Sushi Appetizer would have been bigger but I guess I was wrong. The sushi was decent – no qualms there. The little cucumber rolls that came with it I didn’t even bother with. They should put two decent rolls in there instead of three cucumber rolls. I suppose that’s standard, though.

Yeah, agreed on the lack of selection in terms of sizes. There weren’t really any combo type options available. Agreed also on the spicy tuna and spicy scallop rolls – they were decent—and spicy! (sounds weird that I would say that but we’ve been to other sushi restaurants where the spicy rolls aren’t really spicy?!). The final item, then, is the Sushi Spring Roll. It was ‘alright’ – not amazing, but not bad. Service was quick and courteous – can’t complain there.

Yeah, it has that ‘Spring Rolls’ (restaurant) feel—Everyone eats on top of each other there as well. Well, NAMI seems to be named quite often as one of the better sushi restaurants in Toronto – and the outside gives that aura. The prices do as well. But does the sushi stand up to all of this? I’ll say no. If you’re going to pay more you expect more, and NAMI doesn’t have anything ‘more’ in my opinion. There’s really nothing special about it. Is the inside that much better? I’ve been to better. Is the service that much better? Not really. Is the selection better? No. Is the food that much better? Definitely not. I’ll end my rant by giving NAMI a 6/10.

True, it was dead – but it picked up over the next hour or so. Service was prompt and friendly. We ordered the spicy salmon sushi pizza, spicy tuna rolls, the Rainbow Roll (california roll topped with tuna, salmon, avocado and red snapper), the Caterpillar Roll (barbequed eel and avocado wrapped with thinly sliced avocado and topped with spicy mayonnaise) and…

Can I declare Ichiban Sushi House’s spicy salmon sushi pizza the worst sushi pizza in Toronto?… I guess not, until we review every sushi restaurant in the city. However, this one was definitely the worst I’ve had so far. I didn’t even want the rest of the pieces that were sitting there. As you said, definitely too crunchy. Yikes. Not a good start.

True, presentation was decent, but at the end of the day (errr, meal) it’s all about taste. Too bad the Ichiban Sushi House didn’t deliver on that. Ok, the Caterpillar roll was actually quite good (I’ll give them that) but the others were not great at all. Spicy tuna roll: ‘meh’; Rainbow roll: ‘ok’; Fire Mountain roll: I didn’t taste anything there—even the texture I didn’t like.

They brought over some cantaloupe for dessert to finish it off. I’m a fan of free fruit. Despite that I’m going to have to give Ichiban Sushi House at Front and Wellington a not-so-big 4 out of 10. That’s even lower than ‘yet another Toronto sushi restaurant’, I believe. Head up and over a few blocks to Sakura Ichiban at Adelaide and Jarvis for a good sushi experience. Oh, and what’s with the height of the benches along the wall being so much higher than that of the chairs? So, if you sit along the wall on the bench you’re literally a foot higher than those in the chairs – and too high for the table. Weird.

Hehe… That’s the kind of tip you won’t get from Yelp or Chowhound! If you’ve used this strategic technique at Ichiban Sushi House, please comment below…

Solo Sushi Bekkan is quite tiny, but the tiny ones are usually the best ones, I find. It’s not a place you would notice walking down Yonge Street, even though it’s only a few doors from Toronto’s main strip. I’m thinking it holds maybe 15 people at the most.

Indeed… always a good sign. I ordered up a Sapporo while we perused the menu.

On the take out menu it says ‘Real Food for Real People’ which seems to me to be very much a non-sushi type saying, but anyway… My Sapporo beer arrived in a Asahi glass – which the waiter even commented on (edit: and the mug was frosted — I love that!). Oh, and I liked how he even placed our cloth napkins for us. I’ve never experienced that at a sushi place before. So far it was all class.

… and that includes that tiny little bar across the one wall. Wild. Ok, to the food itself. Everything was super fresh. It came out in stages (unlike most places we go to). We would finish one dish and then the next would come out. So, if you want variety all at once this isn’t the place. My only real issue was the rice. It seemed to fall apart from the fish quite easily making a total mess of my soy sauce dish.

Hehe… hmmm… Guess I set myself up for that one. So, yes, the food was quite good, the service excellent, and I really enjoyed the small/personal environment. Our server/owner/whomever even seemed to like that I was taking photos of everything and brought over something they store in the glass cabinet for me to photograph. Apparently it’s a customer favourite! Near the end of our meal we overheard (it’s kind of hard not too in this place) our server being quite animated when talking with another table. Something about ‘All You Can Eat’ sushi places…

Ah, ok. Makes sense. This place is pretty much the opposite of an ‘All You Can Eat’ place anyway (and, yes, that’s a good thing). After our last dish we waited for a bit and we were then served complimentary dessert. I didn’t really care for it but it’s free so what the heck. The total bill before tax was $58.50. That includes a $10 beer. Sixty-six and change after tax. I was totally stuffed once it was over.

I’ll join you with the nine. The rice was a bit messy but the freshness and service were impeccable. I also liked how he basically encouraged me to take more photos. Ditto for his disdain for low-quality sushi! You can tell they really care here – both with the food and the service. Skip the Yonge Street sushi strip north of College Street and come up a block or two to Grosvenor and Yonge instead. You won’t be disappointed.

Our meetup was for 6:30 on a Tuesday night. I arrived and was given a friendly greeting as soon as I walked in. I had the option of sitting at the sushi bar or the tables in the other room. I opted for the latter. The waitress arrived promptly and offered to take my coat which I took advantage of. My drink order arrived right away along with a hot towel. It wasn’t too busy but the tables that were occupied seemed to be by those working in the Financial District nearby.

Hehe… Wasn’t feeling it – as hard as that is to believe. They seemed to have an extensive wine list, however. We opted to split two dishes. The salmon sushi pizza (of course!) and a mixed plate ($55) of sashimi, maki and nigiri.

I could have used a few more rolls, but can’t really complain too much. The rolls were quite good – as was the sashimi, but the real winner of this dish for me was the nigiri. Super fresh and with the wasabi in between the rice and fish. I don’t recall which one, but one of them was super spicy – of which I’m a fan. This was definitely some of the best sushi I’ve eaten. If I was to get this dish again, I’d likely stick with the nigiri and the rolls, but that’s just my personal preference.

The sashimi was good – for sure. There was fish that we don’t usually see at most sushi restaurants we go to. I forgot about the sushi pizza! It wasn’t anything special in my view. Agreed – seemed to be super crispy. I’ve had better.

Yep, service was superb and the sushi was super fresh: 9.5/10.

‘Plan A’ was to hit up Ninki in Scotia Plaza but my fellow reviewer decided to sit himself down at the Adelaide location. No worries, though, as my guess is this one is more for those wanting a casual sushi experience anyway. I could be wrong. Also, this one is open on weekends, I believe, where the Scotia Plaza location is not.

I made my way from Scotia Plaza to Ninki on Alelaide. It’s actually pretty much across the street from the Adelaide entrance, so not much of a walk required. The banner out front screams that they are now open on Sundays – and that Saturday and Sunday dinner is all you can eat. We were there on a Tuesday, however, so it was a la carte for us. Our waitress was quick to offer us something to drink. I went with a ‘large’ Asahi, although it seemed like a regular sized bottle to me.

In addition to the sushi/maki tray, spicy tuna rolls and sushi pizza we also chose the Green Dragon Roll as our ‘specialty’ roll. Everything arrived at our table crazy fast, forcing some ‘heat lamp’ jokes by the Sushi Toronto review team. Guess we shouldn’t complain about fast service!

Turns out you had ever right to be. I’ll start with the sushi pizza. Actually, the sushi pizza I enjoyed, although I noticed it was covered in their special sauce that seemed to be used on other menu items as well. The sushi tray was far from fresh and the Green Dragon roll was nothing special. I think my biggest disappointment was the spicy tuna roll. The sauce on top looked pretty much like cheese whiz and the fish to rice ratio was way out of whack (as in too much rice).

Wow… nice. We were still a bit hungry so risked one more roll: The Hamachi roll (which is super good at Ichiriki on Bloor East). At Ninki Sushi? Not so much. Was there even any fish in it? I tasted and saw only rice.

Hehe… Next time you go to Ninki, order the rice! So, what was good at Ninki Sushi? The service was prompt; the restaurant setting was alright; the sushi pizza was decent… What wasn’t: Pretty much everything we ate, minus the sushi pizza. Let’s just say it wasn’t the first sushi experience of 2010 I was looking for. Quite the opposite. Not impressed. Sorry Ninki, but you get 3/10 from me.