This is my favourite Japanese restaurant in Markham. The quality of the raw fish is excellent. They have great selection and you can ask them to specially fly in specific items in advance. I've been here many times. The only thing is their appetizers are hit or miss. Their ramen is excellent too because it comes from Isshin downtown. If you have a large enough party you can request that they serve your sushi and sashimi on a 9 foot long board. Service has usually been great too. Friends and I booked the private room once where they created a unique set menu for us based on our budget, and that was a great experience.
I'm surprised with the bad reviews. I grew up in Japan and I thought the food at Kiu was pretty good and close to authentic. I have been there maybe 5-6 times and have had Ramen, various appetizers and sushi. I had no complains. I can only guess maybe people would like it more if they tweaked the food for Canadian audience??... I don't know... I wouldn't like it if they did so though. It might be pricier than other average Japanese-"ish" restaurants in the area but it is a beautiful restaurant. I personally do not mind to pay a bit more for a nice ambience.
Nadege Kelechian Vergura
+4
The food was very good. The service excellent. We had a friend with a seafood allergy and they were so good, ensure the food is safe for her to eat. Amazing!
The Makunouchi Box contained 8 chef sampler appetizers which was served in a traditional bento box. In our box that day — the selection changes seasonally — we had black cod, beef tataki, tuna jelly, sausage, mackerel, anchovies, tofu topped with some kind of bean, and ikura. It was absolutely a beautiful assortment of appetizers that you wouldn’t normally get to eat.
I would definitely recommend getting the Makunouchi Box since it was something so different from your ordinary Japanese eats. I had a great time trying each of the eight appetizers in the bento box!
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I like this restaurant!
I visited Kiu a couple of times for dinner.
I give +stars for its environment because it is very clean and spacious. I also like how there's a lot of windows, lots of light!
It said on the menu that the chef choice sashimi platter is imported from Tsukiji Market. (One of my fav sashimi go-to places in Japan!)
MANKUNOUCHI BOX (4/5)
Loved all the items in the bento box, minus one item, which was the tuna fish guts. It looked slimy and gooey and we didn't want to try it but I did anyways. Its flavour tasted like it was marinated in Korean-style spicy sauce / wasabi sauce and the texture was raw octopus-like, very chewy. I wouldn't eat it again hahaha
The fish roe was delicious :) Also, the saba!
STUFFED CHICKEN WING DUMPLING (4/5)
[deep fried chicken wings stuffed with minced wagyu beef, pork, shiso, water chestnuts, cabbage & chives]
This is always my go-to dish in Japanese izakayas. Loved it! I order this each time I visit Kiu. If there was more sauce that goes with it, it would make it a lot better!
PRESSED SUSHI (3/5)
[12 pc of 4 kinds of sushi / 3pc each]
I liked the torched salmon pressed sushi the most. There was beef, mackerel... etc. It would've been better if the pressed sushi could be held up by chopsticks, it kept falling apart :(
BLACK COD FISH (5/5)
Nothing can go wrong with cod fish. Love ittt
TAKOYAKI (3/5)
Nothing special, would've liked it more if they added more sauce on top.
KARAAGE (3.5/5)
The chicken wasn't dry - it was nice, crispy and hot :)
RAMEN
Overall, the ramen sets weren't that good. I'd recommend the sushi/sashimi here instead.
WHITE SESAME SHIO RAMEN (3/5)
The neat part about this ramen is that it comes a cute wooden tool that you can grind the sesame seeds with.
ASSARI LIGHT SHOYU RAMEN (2/5)
The broth is too light for my liking.
ROASTED GARLIC SHOYU RAMEN (3.5/5)
The most flavourful out of all the ramen sets I've tried.
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Got word of a new restaurant showing up in Markham from a colleague who lives around the Downtown Markham area. This area was just plain land but recently, there have been a lot of development with restaurants and a giant VIP Cineplex.
Atmosphere:
Kiu restaurant is a collaboration of Ramen Isshin's executive Chef and Owner Koji Zenimaru and Jason Matsubara. This restaurant is located on the 2nd floor of this giant cineplex mall. The restaurant is very large that can fit about 40-50 people. It's very trendy with many seating including regular walnut table tops, black leather chairs and booths along the window and bar seats by both the sashimi chef and noodle areas. The reception area is huge, and you're immediately greeted by very friendly staff. There were lots of staff constantly checking up on us to make sure we were okay...
Food: 4/5
Service: 4.5/5
Pricing: $15 and up
Food Comments:
Ramen Isshin is well recognized for their high quality to ramen noodles downtown. I'm just so glad they decided to make a location up north. The sushi bar and omakase options weren't available at lunch time. From their initial yelp reviews, the sushi quality isn't so good (still a soft opening) ...
Restaurant is good, food are excellent, tasty food, good portion. Love the place, will back to try different dishes.
I gave only 4 stars rating, the missed 1 star was from the receptionist.
We went there on Saturday without reservation. Although it's busy night, some forget, but fixed quickly. Waiter/waitress are polite and friendly.
Since we walk in, the receptionist sounds not like to looking seats for us. Although many seats available at sushi bar.
The lady might be a good receptionist in other places, but definitely not suitable for Japanese restaurant.
Beautiful upscale, clean, cozy Japanese restaurant next to Cineplex Theater on the second floor of the mall. Love the decor and ambience! Excellent food quality, and very polite and friendly customer service. Price is on the higher end but definitely worth it! Would love to go back and recommend to others!
This restaurant has received too many praises, which is indeed well deserved. so I just want to comment on the wine I ordered ~ Wednesday special. Because it was so delicious that I forgot its name. The bartender, 👉🏻I love she/he!😍 Unexpectedly, She/he made a cocktail like fruit afternoon tea, ☕️🍊🍑took a sip, and the picture immediately appeared in front of me: a ray of sunshine outside the window shone lazily on my face, the bright light danced on the table, the corners of your mouth were slightly raised, and your body couldn't help dancing with the light. This wine made me happy. So nice 🍹🧊🍹👍🏻⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🌹👏🏻
My first time here, they did not disappoint me at all. 2 sushi dishes, 1 appetizer and 1 sashimi portion are just enough for two people. Sashimi is fresh, good taste, and the decoration of the dish is also very impressive. I really like the beef tataki, which has beef, garlic, and pomegranate flavors. Reasonable price, not too expensive. In particular, the staff is friendly and gentle. Besides, the space is also very comfortable, clean, located on the 2nd floor of the mall. I will visit next time.
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I normally don't really like sashimi because I often find that the pieces I get are too fishy or not cut in an appetizing way, but i really enjoyed all of the dishes I ordered here. The service was also really attentive and accommodating for most of my time there. The only parts I didn't like were the lobster miso soup, the nori/laver with the takowasa, and this one drink I ordered – but that part was my fault for not reading. The lobster still had the meat inside its shell when the miso soup was served. Wasn't a fan of this because it wasn't that functional in a sense that it wasn't as easy to pull the meat out as it probably should've been. It's pretty, but lobster in general is expensive, so I look to get as much out of a meal as possible, and this particular dish was a bit complicated. The nori/laver with the takowasa: this tasted great, and it was the perfect temperature, but I wish they put a bit more sheets to match the portion! The drink was extremely sweet and reminded me of cough syrup. But that was my fault for not looking at the flavour profiles carefully. It's pretty pricey here, but it was a very satisfying meal and experience.
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Food 4.5/5
Price 4/5 for quality
Service 4.5/5
Kiu is a great spot for fresh sashimi. I didn't realize that Iishin Ramen is no longer apart of their restaurant so was a bit sad when I didn't see the ramen selection.
That being said, friendly staff, efficient and also food came in relatively good time.
Menu still offers a good variety from hot dishes to rolls to sashimi, udon and don.
Sashimi was fresh, well cut and offered a nice range of higher quality including toro, scallops to say a few. Didn't have that tainted seafood flavour, which is great and can tell its fresh. Good temperature on the cuts.
Udon broth was fragrant and not overly salted. Duck meat surprisingly was quite nice after the first chew but I didn't necessarily like the pairing of their duck with the udon soup. Tempura freshly battered and fried. Good crunch and texture with balanced seasoning.
Oshisushi was good but nothing too spectacular. Can have less mayo and more flavour forward in this sense. My favourite would be the toro with truffle.
Karaage was nice as chicken was juicy and good coating on the outside. Right meat to batter ratio, fresh oil used to try.
Salmon carpaccio was nice with the yuzu citrus shining through. Onions gave it another dimension in flavour and texture. Best was the fish roe providing a good salty umami to the salmon.
Good quality food. Had a sampling of things. Notably, the Otoro nigiri was good at $10/pc, but I've had better elsewhere. The chicken karaage was solid! Perfectly seasoned and cooked! Yummy! Lastly the tonkatsu ramen broth was nice and rich. A good choice!
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