Yonge Sushi

After a successful Costco trip (aren't they all?), we decided to celebrate with some AYCE sushi. Consulting the reviews led us to Yonge Sushi (Sunday dinner; 2 diners; $22.99 -- NOTE: 10% off if paying by cash).

TLDR: A cozy AYCE sushi place that serves great quality sushi (i.e. well above typical a la carte), but whose service is somewhat slow and inattentive. Recommended items - chicken katsu+skewers, sashimi, fish egg nigiri, tempura (esp. squash and sweet potato).

Highlights:

Pros -- Very fresh fish; thickly-cut (for AYCE) sashimi at right temp; perfect rice to filling/fish ratio; among the best tempura we've tasted anywhere (AYCE or not); great presentation; tuna sashimi (3 pcs per person).

Cons -- Sashimi and nigiri were slow to arrive; sushi rice is on the blend side (but fine on nigiri) and could be warmer on rolls; needed to ask for wasabi, soy sauce, water and napkins (and their refills); no spider roll (our favourite :( ...).

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We arrived around 4 pm on a Sunday. Free parking was easy to find in the surrounding neighbourhood, though you might have to walk 5-10 mins as they don't have parking. We were lucky to find a spot just around the corner (\o/).

The place was empty when we arrived, but the lone server seemed busy with takeout orders (there would be a line up for pick ups later). We were promptly seated and we submitted an order sheet immediately. Kitchen stuff arrived in quick succession..

- Chicken Katsu (recommended):  thin, crispy and, unlike most AYCEs', dry (not greasy) coating; VERY tender and juicy (seemed like a breast/thigh mix); ordered another.

- Chicken skewers (recommended w/o teriyaki sauce):  with a hint of salt and pepper - all that the succulent piece of chicken breast needed; ordered more.

- Tempura (highly recommended):  house batter not panko; thin layer of coating; VERY crispy and crunch w/o any bread-like parts - Sweet Potato: firm and sweet (excellent); Squash: tad less firm and sweet (nice variety); Eggplant/Zucchini: crunchy outside, very soft inside, little flavour otherwise.

- Beef short ribs (not pictured): less sweet than at most AYCE spots; otherwise ordinary; didn't order extra.

Having finished the above, 2 things were apparent: i) we haven't received any sushi; and ii) no one gave us any wasabi or soy sauce. I had to flag down the, seemingly overworked, waitress to get the latter. Then 5 minutes passed before we finally began to receive sushi..

- Note on rice: rice a bit bland; fine on nigiri, but not on maki; also served room temp rather than warm; inconsistent (temp/level of vinegar varied between 1st and 2nd orders noticeably).

- Salmon/Tuna maki (recommended): these maki at AYCE tend to be 90% rice with fish that's too warm, but this maki had the amount of rice we'd pick!  Didn't order more, but if you've avoided these elsewhere, try them here.

- Rolls: thin layer of rice mixed with sesame seeds (we disagreed about the seeds); quite presentable (our pics don't do them justice); plenty of fish/filling; right balance in filling (e.g. Alaska roll - primarily salmon with bit of avocado and masago for added flavour w/o overpowering the salmon); ordered many.

- Hand rolls (very recommended): near perfection; held together very nicely with excellent presentation; best AYCE hand rolls we've had (and among better ones among a la carte); ordered many.

The sashimi and nigiri took a while to arrive, so much so that I had to ask the server to confirm that they were still coming. They didn't disappoint when they finally did..

- Sashimi (recommended): cool but not cold/frozen; very fresh tasting; meaty/thick pieces -- Salmon: nice and lean; Red Snapper: actually tilapia (like most places in TO), chewy but refreshingly firm; Tuna: very fresh; Mackerel: partly cooked, very salty; Surf Clam: chewier than usual; Egg: fluffy and very sweet. Ordered many.

- Nigiri: excellent fish to rice ratio; fish were a bit too warm; didn't reorder (though would've if using lunch menu).

- Fish Egg Nigiri (highly recommended): 50% masago 50% rice as they should be; ordered many.

After a couple more orders we got some desert. Yonge Sushi only carries ice cream for desert (ginger, red bean, vanilla, green bean, mango). Ginger flavour was a fantastic way to end the meal: similar but less creamy than vanilla, with a hint of citrus; very refreshing. Ginger overshadowed red bean. Vanilla was vanilla.

The cost came to $46 and change with the cash discount. A great deal and will definitely be coming back!

After viewing the new Star Wars movie, my friend and I decided to gorge on an all you can eat sushi place.  The first one we went to had suspect reviews so we decided to walk 3 km to Yonge Sushi.  They have a special cash deal where you would get 10% off.  The dinner price tag is about $20.99 per person.  They have all the standard soups, appetizers, sushi, sashimi, rolls, special rolls, udon, rice, and other cooked items.  We ordered everything pretty much that we liked.  Overall, it was really tasty and prepared on the spot.  My favorites were the beef roll with green onions, white tuna sashimi, snow special roll, squid sushi, and spicy salmon sushi.  They also offer five different types of ice cream for dessert.  The ginger ice cream really stood out from the rest.  Highly recommend if you are in the area and love sushi.

I always come here with friends for lunch and I've never really gotten a chance to say how great this AYCE is. Although the restaurant is small, but they get quite a bit of business, so it usually gets busy during lunch hours. If you were to get off the subway to the location, you'd have to walk for about 5 mins to get to the place, so it's not that far!

Everytime I come here, I always forget to take a picture of what I ate. I just get so intrigued to eating the food instead! They serve your typical AYCE sushi, but what I like about it, is the fast service and somewhat of the quality of the food. They do handle it cleanly and haven't gotten me ill yet so that's a good thing.

Their price for AYCE is very cheap compared to others, but in quality, I'd say it's your average sushi. The place is small, that's why they can get your order pretty fast.

In my opinion, there are better AYCE that serve better quality for their price, but I guess since my friends and I like to save our money sometime, so we just decide to come here instead. Oh and my favourite item on their list would be the sushi pizza, they make it really crunchy and soft!!

Awesome sushi. Nice ambiance. Great service.