Review: Ikura Sushi Japanese Rest.

[Sting]

I went to this new AYCE Japanese sushi place. It just opened last monday so right now until the end of this week. They have 15% off for the grand opening. I tried the place with skepticism because nobody was in the place when I came in for dinner last nite. The place wasn't too small but not too big. It was nicely organized and have nice decor. Not as flashy was Wasabi but very nice nonetheless. But I didn't come for the decor, I came for the food. I have tried numerous AYCE restaurant and I must say that this place was very very good. The quality of the salmon sashimi was excellent and most important. The slice of salmon was cut just right. Bite portion. It wasn't too big or too thin. The buttermilk fish almost melted in my mouth, it was soo tender. The hot food item was very good as well. The shrimp tempura has just enough batter that you actually taste the shrimp and not the batter. They have excellent beef ribs and the Beef skewers was so tender. It was so good.

I had a talk with the owner of the restaurant because it wasn't very busy. He used to work at another AYCE restaurant and I won't mention the name of the other place because this is his place. He learned to make sushi by reading tons of books and practicing his trade. I was very impressed. His number goal was to have the freshest ingredient and high quality. He knows that his prices are similar to most of the AYCE rest. so he knew that what will make people come back to his rest. was his freshness and quality of his food. He was a very humble person and cares very much of his customers. The service is also fast and quick.

I recommend people that loves AYCE to give this place a try and let me know what you think of this new place.

Ikura Sushi Japanese Restaurant
3280 Midland Avenue
Unit 15
Scarborough, ON
M1V 4W8
416-640-0888

Prices are 10.99 for lunch mon-thurs. 17.99 for dinner mon-thurs.
I don't remember the price for lunch on fri-sun but i think itz 12.99 or 13.99 but for dinner on fri-sun itz 19.99. Like I said, the price is very similar to other AYCE rest.

Itz located in the place just north of finch and midland. It is on the west side of midland. Its where the Korean BBQ restaurant is located.

I am in no way affiliated with this restaurant but I just want to give a new place a bit of a boost. I really enjoyed the food there and I would definitely go back.

Thank you for reading this LONG review. :)

[JlF]

Since Japanese AYCE starts to appear I refuse to go to BuffetKing, Mandarin or any other similar kind of Western-Chinese like Buffets anymore because the quality in general is not that great (AYCE, what do you expect???).
I'd rather spend similar amount of money to eat in other Chinese restaurants instead as I prefer quality over quantity.

Let me first explain the COST as one of my primary reason towards Jap. AYCE.
In weekdays, most of the Jap. AYCE are charging for $17.99.
Talk about non-AYCE rest., many Korean owned Jap. rest. are charging their bento box dinners for $14.99 in average, with some exceptions such as "Kinda" on Woodbine (south of HWY7) having higher price (but larger quantity in bento box with 3 tempura shrimps).
So to eat in a Jap. AYCE restaurant, you are not really paying a lot more.
And don't forget you can always find some 10% off coupons in their ads from the chinese newspapers!

Don't get me wrong, I go to many non-AYCE rest. to eat with my gf.
For example in Kinda, I usually order one bento box, with one order of sushi rolls, and that's pretty much enough for me and my gf (my gf of course eats significantly less than I do).
And I also have their VIP cards for another 10% off, so that's quite cheap compared to eating AYCE with my gf (I paid for my gf too, of course).
But the thing is, if I eat with another big guy too, then that's going to be $18.99 for a bento box to each of us. So why not go to Jap. AYCE instead?

I am looking forward to try out the food in that new place.
I am sure they can do a good job during their grand openings, but usually (and mostly), not many of them are able to maintain their service and food quality when the place is getting more busy.

I still remember that there's a Jap. AYCE at Slvd Star Blvd. that I usually go. Their sushi and sashimi are really fresh, the freshness is similar to some food my gf just made at home and put into my mouth!
I am really susprirsed that during my last visit (I promise, last time ever), the sushi rolls are filled with much more rice than before.
Even with my complaints, they are still making out the same thing.
Their place is small and I guess they are not able to keep up the profit and decide to do it this way.
And it's really a sad and dumb thing to do IMHO.

Forgive my long and unorganized opinions towards Jap. AYCE.
Thanks OP for the deal and will definitely go and try out this week.

[trueno92]

I went to this new AYCE Japanese sushi place.

buttermilk fish almost melted in my mouth


BUTTERMILK?! gahhhh.... wtf! fish or pancakes?

[Sting]

BUTTERMILK?! gahhhh.... wtf! fish or pancakes?


heheh ... I don't quite remember what kind of fish it was .. It was white and thats all I can remember. But I would really enjoy to read a review by you trueno cuz I have read the reviews you have made at other AYCE places. Hope to hear your review of this place.

[iNFiNiTe]

AYCE japanese restaurants just dont work... japanese food isnt about stuffing yourself to death...

these AYCEs overall taste horrible... the stale fish, bleh...

[trueno92]

heheh ... I don't quite remember what kind of fish it was .. It was white and thats all I can remember. But I would really enjoy to read a review by you trueno cuz I have read the reviews you have made at other AYCE places. Hope to hear your review of this place.


Heh, thanks man. Your review was really good, includes all the important stuff. Its good enough that i'll try to visit on your recommendation!

Buttermilk is used in other stuff (baking..) but i guess this is butterfish.

I think this place is called 'ikura' right? do they actually serve ikura there? (large fish eggs)

[ferkel]

my goodness.. so many choices now.. the one at Denison & Kennedy just opened this week also.. It's called Akina Japanese along with the one on Steeles & Old Kennedy.

[JlF]

I think the buttermilk fish that the OP mentionned is white tuna?

[ricky13579]

i agree to infinite..you get what you pay for.
Nice Japanese food is a kind of art, and you won't see it in AYCE shops...

[CSR]

Interesting, will check it out.

[JlF]

Went to Ikura for dinner after struggling on roads for over an hour.

The salmon and white tuna sashimi:
They are extremely fresh and size are cutted perfectly for the mouth as the OP mentionned.
They also give 4 pieces of raw scallops and "oil gold fish" (dunno what's the english name) for me and my gf to try.

Chicken (souvlaki style) and beef ribs:
Both of them are cooked right to the level having no blood or red inside.
I do like it because it's more healthy but YMMV as some ppl like the chicken pan fried to be crispy outside and the beef ribs with grilled taste.
Most restaurants are in hurry to over cook the outside and leaving all red inside the meat.
The sauce for the chicken is not like teriyaki but more like the one for the poutine, can anyone confirm that since my gf cannot taste it???

Soft Crab, salmon skin sushi rolls:
Soft Crab sushi rolls have 4 big pieces in 1 order with actually quite a lot of crab meat inside where I've gone to many restaurants that only put a lot of batter inside the rolls.
Salmon skin sushi rolls are real crispy!
It however does not have any taste because the rolls only have the salmon skin and cucumber inside.

Shrimp tempura:
The shrimps are in good sizes and the batter is real crispy!
I am sure the batter is not the best I've eaten before, but it's real crispy!
It's actually the first AYCE Jap. that I enjoy eating their tempuras.
The waitress also kindly asked and gave 2 deep fried tiger shrimps for us to try.

Deep fried ice-cream:
It's not actually deep fried into the oil with batter like some of the restaurants did.
Just so there are some powders on the ice-cream.
I guess can't complain much for the dessert.

I did enjoy other stuff too like salad shrimp sushi, and overall, really fresh and hopefully they can keep up the quality when it's getting more busy.

My gf and I arrive there at 7pm and it is only until 8:15pm that there are 3 more tables being "occupied".

I am sure I will go there once more next week.

[JlF]

Originally Posted by keanefan
Sounds good!

Did the restaurant owner put up a big sign outside the restaurant?

Big sign: "Grand Opening- 15% OFF" will attract customers. Or "Now Open- 15% OFF".

The store does have a sign saying 15% off.

As for the salmon skin rolls, I am sure you can request to add some avocado into it. I am looking forward next week to go and try other kinds of sushi rolls!

[pothia]

Somebody please reply to this cause I haven't been to any AYCE sushi place: Are ANY of these AYCE restaurants have TUNA sushi/sashimi?

I repeat, TUNA!

[JlF]

Originally Posted by pothia
Somebody please reply to this cause I haven't been to any AYCE sushi place: Are ANY of these AYCE restaurants have TUNA sushi/sashimi?

I repeat, TUNA!
Most of the AYCE restaurants provide white tuna sashimi/sushi.
I have never seen any one of them providing red tuna for AYCE.

[pothia]

Damn thats toooooo baddddd!

[trueno92]

trueno92 review: Ikura Sushi
thanks to 'Sting' for his review

Consistency. With the summer starting to wind down, All You Can Eat sushi restaurants are starting to ramp up for the winter seasons and showing now signs of letting up. As I had said it before, AYCE sushi appears to be all the rage propping up on almost every corner of Markham. With the sudden popularity, prices for lunches and dinner look to be about the same no matter where it is you go. Quality, can be impressively great or disappointingly poor. Some sushi houses are even both at the same time and because of this, anyone seasoned in the art of good sushi will know that consistency is the key to a return visit.

With prices all around the same and this sudden surplus of sushi houses, consistency is a key ingredient to being one of 3 deciding factors in selecting a place to dine, others being quality and of course, service.

http://img373.imageshack.us/img373/4375/nec1086medium7uq.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Enter Ikura – Sushi. Tucked into a corner at the Scarborough Village Mall (green canopy plaza) a pinch North of Finch and Midland beholds one of the newer sushi ayce’s in the Markham area. How do they fare? Read on.

Stepping thru a smaller lobby you are greeted with a large dining area, Eggshell walls framed nicely with ash-black trim lend a zen-inspired modern feel and is accented with Japanese novelties lending a subtle reminder to where you are dining. Certainly roomy enough and SUMO-sized, I don’t think you would be crashing into anyone when it would be full. Overall a pleasant look that isn’t too off the wall such as Sake, the last ‘new’ place that I had reviewed.

http://img373.imageshack.us/img373/9246/nec1085medium6ts.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

I was promptly handed a menu that is just shy of 200 items. It was quite a lot to take in as I only sample my favourite items usually on my reviews, but nevertheless the menu is complete and offers a solid selection at lunch and boasts over 200 items at dinner. The usual drinks are included. The Sashimi roster is solid with no less than 7 players, salmon, redsnapper, butterfish etc. If shellfish is your thing they also have torigai as well as hokkigai. Rolls and hand rolls are clearly listed and again no stone seems to be left unturned as the menu has the familiar Spider roll to the complacent California roll and futo maki. I was slightly disappointed to not see a list of special items that would be ONLY host to this restaurant such as house special rolls, or creative sushi (no Ikura sushi!?!? [large fish eggs] ), but overall the bases are loaded when it comes to those staple favourites that are more popular.

http://img373.imageshack.us/img373/2815/nec1084medium9by.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

It was to my surprise that I had recognized a familiar face working feverishly behind the sushi bar (I managed to startle him when i pointed my phone his way). With his previous restaurant well seeded in my upper shelf of the best Sushi AYCE’s in Toronto, my expectations were immediately raised knowing that his experience was behind the dishes presented.

My orders came quickly with hot dishes being first to appear and sushi quickly there after. For the hot dishes as a whole, yakitori skewers of chicken and beef were well done with the meat tender and cooked thru. Tempura, which seems to be unusually difficult for some restaurants, were crisp, light and had a clean taste. Beef onion rolls were well seasoned and overall all the cooked dishes aren’t overly popular with me in general (I am there to enjoy sushi) but everything that I had ordered was well done.

http://img373.imageshack.us/img373/9159/nec1081medium3fz.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

The sushi had joined our table partway thru the cooked food appearance, and its presentation was well noted. I was immediately taken by the size of each nigiri sushi. As you can see by the pictures, each piece is crafted perfectly in form and size. Not huge slabs like some other places that kill you with rice. It is no surprise that the taste is equally as good as its presentation and its done right with the rice seasoned being a bit sweet and a bit sour – hints of a pinch of sugar and a tablespoon of vinegar.

http://img373.imageshack.us/img373/9862/nec1083medium2qs.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

The rolls were also a reflection of seasoned experience. As you can see by the pictures, generous ingredients used, soft-shell crab is fresh and not overly salty without too much mayonnaise, tempura shrimp, avocado and unagi eel are all perfectly matched to create fine rolls that my friends had agreed were some of the best they had enjoyed.

http://img373.imageshack.us/img373/1054/nec1079medium4ie.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Sashimi here was again, no surprise. Perfectly cut slices and freshness that melts in your mouth. No ice, no limp, soggy slices. Excellent color and choice cut of fish.

Hand rolls were no disappointment biting crisply and cleanly and had their choice ingredient running thru to the end of the cone. Again, size matters, and the hand rolls were appropriately matched, not being overly large and monstrous-like challenges at some places.

Dessert presents ice-cream and a much less common ‘fried’ variation where the ice-cream ‘ball’ is first rolled in Japanese breadcrumbs. Again, can’t get much wrong with ice-cream, and its brought out promptly. Banana tempura on the other hand is far more complicated and I have all too often had SOGGY banana tempura. This was thankfully not the case @ Ikura where each slice was crisp to the bite - all the way through. Jello has also managed to find itself on the dessert menu with lychee as my flavour of choice.

Service has been turned up a notch to the point of perfection-like execution. With the restaurant not too busy, none of our dishes were missed, nor were there any mixups. Nothing was forgotten and nothing more was added. The waitresses were never at a loss in trying to help explain a kind of roll or help you with trying to select something you may like. Not like other places that threaten you for your seat, we were encouraged to take our time and even had our plates refreshed to new ones midway through our feast. Our tea cups were always kept full and the wait-staff attentiveness was a sure contrast to other places that seem to be nothing but narrow-visioned robots. They have been trained, not tossed out into the ocean without a life-jacket.

http://img373.imageshack.us/img373/4830/nec1087medium7nu.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
*15% off discount will end soon, so take advantage of it while you can*

The food overall was presented in a conservative-flair that in its subtleness had managed to raise my eyebrow in its polish. There was none of the clashing colors in the decorum nor the haste in service. The menu kicks out solid dishes with nothing too unusual and overall is on-par with the better sushi ayce’s in Markham. However, the differentiating factor here is that each dish is perfectly done CONSISTANTLY every time. Now this may had just been my visit there, and I’m sure not every visit would leave the same level of distinction, but I was simply impressed that Ikura keeps it SIMPLE. No ridiculous gimmicky rolls, no hybrid salad sushi or other non-forseen sushi-inspired experiments, just items that are done and consistently done well without any exceptions.

The art of sushi is zen in an edible form and Ikura raises that to perfection in AYCE style.


Questions/comments, weclome.

[elty]

well, I dont think he can do everything by him alone. So I guess his staff inside the kitchen is pretty well train as well?

[trueno92]

well, I dont think he can do everything by him alone. So I guess his staff inside the kitchen is pretty well train as well?

Its totally a one-man-show.


haha ok

From my visit, they seem to have a pretty good handle on how each dish should be prepared and their attention to detail is reflected in the final product.

[bell02fantasy]

Its totally a one-man-show.


haha ok

From my visit, they seem to have a pretty good handle on how each dish should be prepared and their attention to detail is reflected in the final product.


Is ther sashimi at lunch as well.. or just at dinner as most ayce?

Planning on going on wednesday, will the coupon still be good?

[trueno92]

Is ther sashimi at lunch as well.. or just at dinner as most ayce?

Planning on going on wednesday, will the coupon still be good?

coupon? It should still be vaild as their 15% off. Unfortunately sashimi is not available at lunch, but mention that you read the review this on redflagdeals website and they may try to do something special for ya.

[ferkel]

Its in Scarborough, not Markham :)

[espeed]

out of curiosity, is AYCE Chinese or Japanese owned?

[trueno92]

hah yes, scarborough, my mistake, but its in the general 'all asian part of toronto' within 10 mins of pacific mall, may as well, call it chinatown north.

chinese owned & operated.

[Sting]

Thanks for the review. You made it WAY better review than I can ever make. I am planning on going tonite with my friend for dinner. I think you will notice the chef/owner is a bit familiar. He used to wrk at another AYCE rest. that I wouldn't mentioned the name. This is his rest. after all ... I notice that a couple of RFD'ers have gone by to try them out. I am really happy that you guys did. I told the owner previously that I have tried numerous AYCE and his quality was top notch. Things that he made was quite good and very tasty. Not too big and not too small. He really cares about his customers. If you really want some sashami for lunch. He will provide you with the selection but you have to pay for dinner prices. He mentioned that all the ingredients are already there so it doesn't take him much wrk to prepare sashimi for lunch if you order it. He was very flexible in what you want to eat and what time. I think he mention that he can have lunch there until 4 I think ... you have to talk to him about that.

I would like to personally thank Trueno for his review. His was way better than mine will ever be. And just for the review, I am going back tonite ... heheh ... hey trueno ... how about a RFD nite out of that place .... that would be interesting and nice ... something to ponder about guys ..

Good luck and enjoy :)

[bell02fantasy]

Went to Ikura for dinner after struggling on roads for over an hour.

The salmon and white tuna sashimi:
They are extremely fresh and size are cutted perfectly for the mouth as the OP mentionned.
They also give 4 pieces of raw scallops and "oil gold fish" (dunno what's the english name) for me and my gf to try.

Chicken (souvlaki style) and beef ribs:
Both of them are cooked right to the level having no blood or red inside.
I do like it because it's more healthy but YMMV as some ppl like the chicken pan fried to be crispy outside and the beef ribs with grilled taste.
Most restaurants are in hurry to over cook the outside and leaving all red inside the meat.
The sauce for the chicken is not like teriyaki but more like the one for the poutine, can anyone confirm that since my gf cannot taste it???

Soft Crab, salmon skin sushi rolls:
Soft Crab sushi rolls have 4 big pieces in 1 order with actually quite a lot of crab meat inside where I've gone to many restaurants that only put a lot of batter inside the rolls.
Salmon skin sushi rolls are real crispy!
It however does not have any taste because the rolls only have the salmon skin and cucumber inside.

Shrimp tempura:
The shrimps are in good sizes and the batter is real crispy!
I am sure the batter is not the best I've eaten before, but it's real crispy!
It's actually the first AYCE Jap. that I enjoy eating their tempuras.
The waitress also kindly asked and gave 2 deep fried tiger shrimps for us to try.

Deep fried ice-cream:
It's not actually deep fried into the oil with batter like some of the restaurants did.
Just so there are some powders on the ice-cream.
I guess can't complain much for the dessert.

I did enjoy other stuff too like salad shrimp sushi, and overall, really fresh and hopefully they can keep up the quality when it's getting more busy.

My gf and I arrive there at 7pm and it is only until 8:15pm that there are 3 more tables being "occupied".

I am sure I will go there once more next week.


Ok, am going for lunch on wednesday....WHAT IS THE BEST AYCE LUNCH RESTAURANT OUT THERE?????????//

PLEASE let me know and I will try out on wednesday
Is it yangs
son7
kilken
wasabi
mdj
tokyo t

or this place

[trueno92]

Sting,
can you ask the sushi chef to add avocado to the salmon skin roll?

or make onion tempura, squid tempura, fish tempura

thanks

I believe Red Snapper fish tempura is on the menu, and so is squid. Onion I am not sure, but I don't see requesting it being a problem.

Say you read the review on redflag and the chef will certainly try to fulfill your change requests - within reason, of course.

[trueno92]

Ok, am going for lunch on wednesday....WHAT IS THE BEST AYCE LUNCH RESTAURANT OUT THERE?????????//

PLEASE let me know and I will try out on wednesday
Is it yangs
son7
kilken
wasabi
mdj
tokyo t

or this place

It really depends what you are looking for. Wasabi looks nice, but the food is meh, however they do offer salmon sashimi @ lunch, although the slices can be somewhat weird at times.
Tokyo/Yangs are crossed off my list just because the food there isn't that great.
MDJ/SON7 would be good HOWEVER,
with Ikura offering high quality + 15% off, i think its your best bet. mention RFD as well.

[bell02fantasy]

It really depends what you are looking for. Wasabi looks nice, but the food is meh, however they do offer salmon sashimi @ lunch, although the slices can be somewhat weird at times.
Tokyo/Yangs are crossed off my list just because the food there isn't that great.
MDJ/SON7 would be good HOWEVER,
with Ikura offering high quality + 15% off, i think its your best bet. mention RFD as well.


I will mention RFD and thanks!!! GREAt Review as usual!!

[littleangelvl]

I wonder after the 15% grand opening promo, if they would consider offering coupons to RFD for 10% off...

Does anyone know when the 15% grand opening special will end? I'm guessing it'll end when September rolls along..

Is the 10% tips already added?

[bell02fantasy]

I wonder after the 15% grand opening promo, if they would consider offering coupons to RFD for 10% off...

Does anyone know when the 15% grand opening special will end? I'm guessing it'll end when September rolls along..

Is the 10% tips already added?


so where did the chef used to work??? just tell!! there is no harm

[Sting]

I wonder after the 15% grand opening promo, if they would consider offering coupons to RFD for 10% off...

Does anyone know when the 15% grand opening special will end? I'm guessing it'll end when September rolls along..

Is the 10% tips already added?

The 15% was there because he just opened the place ... When the week that I went ... he said that he will have it for two weeks ... He offered me a discount that I didn't take because I felt that I would be taking advantage of him since he just opened .. maybe in the future I will take him up on his offer ... I think the 10% was included but I'm not too sure ...

[Sting]

so where did the chef used to work??? just tell!! there is no harm

I would tell but I don't think itz fair for his restaurant. He might be compared to the food quality where he used to wrk .. I think his quality is better ... If you see him and have frequent some other AYCE .. you will recognize him immediately .. Thats how I recognize him and got to talk to him .. NIce guy .. should have ask for his name .. but my chinese stinks ...

[elty]

I think I am not going. This place will surely be RFDed on the weekends.

[Suresh]

Well I will definitely take my girl there who claims to be the miss know it all sushi afficionado. Quite a claim for someone who was born here, and has parents from pakistan. :lol:

Anyway, going there Friday!

[N1_EVO]

Hey,

I been there twice and all the foods were very good and up to par...If you want classy and fancy, it would not be here plus, I would definitely go again especially with the discount grand opening special..Heck, I work so close by. I recommend parking across the street into the next where theres a Scotiabank and a 168 Bubble Tea shop since the parking is so F*&@! there..

[trueno92]

Well I will definitely take my girl there who claims to be the miss know it all sushi afficionado. Quite a claim for someone who was born here, and has parents from pakistan. :lol:

Anyway, going there Friday!

Hey Suresh, good to see you takin in the sushi. Mention reading the review on Redflagdeals and the chef may try to work in a little extra sumthin-sumthin, no garuntees but he is keen to redflagdeal-referred appitites.

go NOW.

Look at the pics. The resto is EMPTY.

The man has invested his money into resto. Needs customers.

15% off limited time off. maybe one more week.


agreed. the realistic part about redflagdeals is that it won't make a restaurant blow up overnight, this thread along with the others is just to raise awareness of the BETTER sushi ayce and separate them from the one that are lacking.

as Keanefan had correctly pointed out, there is plenty of square-footage to go around - don't let all the thread-hype deter you.

[elty]

Actually i think RFD blow up that AYCE lobster overnite....

but anyways, what selection of sashimi is there?

[JlF]

Originally Posted by littleangelvl
Is the 10% tips already added?

The 10% tips will be added to the bill.

I really enjoy eating there on last friday with my gf.
Allow me to say one more time that their sashimi are real fresh!
If they can keep up this kind of quality and service, I will keep on going once a week even with regular price.

[JlF]

Ate lunch there today with my sis from 12:40pm - 2:30pm.
All I can say is that I am still feeling a bit hungry but my sis was in a hurry to work so I have to leave...

Last friday dinner time there was 2 ppl at the sushi bar (one of them is the boss) and 2 waitress (one of them is the boss' daugther).
Today, only 1 ppl at the sushi bar, boss came out to help and only her daugther as the waitress.

First round of order, 2 salads are missed, and the waiting time is significantly longer.
Before I had the chance to order for the second round, 2 ppl came in showing a print out to the boss (probably trueno92's review?).
The boss then paid special attention to the 2 ppl sitting beside me
For every 10 mins, he asked if everything is okay, and even helped to make some hand rolls for them.
When I asked to order something, he gave me some papers and pen to write by myself, and he took orders for those 2 ppl instead.
I wrote the order and gave to the boss.
Unfortunately the chef at the back mixed up the table numbers, gave my hot food items to those 2 ppl and so I needed to wait again for the 2nd round of order.
In the 2nd round of order, I asked for 4 shrimp tempuras without any vegetables, and it turned out to be 2 shrimp tempuras with 3 pieces of vegetables.
For the 3rd round, I just picked something quick so that my sis and I can fill up for a bit more and so can leave asap.
And Nonethless my sis was late to work...

Allow me to explain myself a bit.
I always speak and specify my orders clearly everytime I've been to AYCE Jap.
My weight is "only" 140 pounds and I don't think it's too difficult to get me full either.

The boss' daugther explained to me that the other waitress is sick, so 1 ppl lacking and she is too busy handling all the tables.
It was too difficult for 2 ppl (1 waitress + 1 boss) to handle 6 tables, what if tonite all 17 tables are full and I wonder how many people will they let down?

I really understand how difficult it is to keep a business running well as I also have a family business.
Last friday it was a very enjoyable night in terms of service and food quality but no wonder because that's the only table they need to serve!
Today one waitress lacking and with a bit more customers (6 tables) it was a mess...

I guess it will be a while for me to go back there again.

[JlF]

Originally Posted by keanefan
your sister could have left and you stay behind to eat more.

It's true that AYCE can be stressful or disappointing. go to a regular restaurant and pay more but you'll have a more enjoyable meal.

for ayce- it's better when there are not many people
I drive my sis from richmond hilll to scar. to eat, then drive all the way back for her to work. :|
I usually eat lunch with her at Gal Sushi, lunch box for $9.95 each and I paid $25 for everything including tax and tips.
I took her to this AYCE to try for the freshness I mentionned before and also for the price too ($24 total including tax and tips).
I've been some AYCE places with enough people to handle all the tables efficiently, so I don't think it's too difficult to serve 6 out of 17 tables well.
Now definitely I will give my money to somewhere else...

[elty]

Just went there........

Sashimi is very fresh. They taste great esepcially the salmon.

The rice in the sushi is pretty small, which is good. (the rice on those are probably 1/3 as much on the sushi from T&T) The "flower love sushi" is not as good as SO7, but it is also has fish egg that help it a bit. The soft crab roll I have is alright, not as much crab as the pic by Trento but still quite a bit. Other roll taste alright.

The tempura taste very good, especially the squid one. You also get a peice of free Tiger shrimp tempura.

The gold mushroom seafood soup has no seafood, but it has a strong taste of fish. Seems it is not some powdered soup.

Cooked food taste good too, except the mussel which is only average.

Deep fried ice cream is a bit different compared to other AYCE. I don't know if it is good or not, but definitely it is not bad.

I think it is better than So7 oevrall, and the 15% off now makes it a hot deal.

The waitresses are better than average. They are probably noob as they aren't quite fast, but altitude seems good enough. Don't really speak Cantonese, but English seems to be on par.

[gilboman]

i went last night as well. Sashimi was frest and cut nicely and none of the weird sizes you get a MDJ or So7 sometimes. The rolls were alrite, not bad but not particularly good either, better than So7 of recent months.

cooked food was a little above average.

the fried ice cream was same as So7 IMO but a bit better done here in terms of more of the crunchy stuff was actually covering the cone.

and pop is canned ones too.

with the 15%off it is a good deal since the quality is on par with So7. but nothing really impressive overall that would entice me to drive there from R.Hill to eat jap AYCE when there are MDJ, Aji San and So7 that are closer.

and i think i am really getting tired of AYCE jap food :lol: the quality is really starting to bug me and from now on i'll prolly stick with a la carte places.

[iNFiNiTe]

and i think i am really getting tired of AYCE jap food :lol: the quality is really starting to bug me and from now on i'll prolly stick with a la carte places.

I agree, I can't understand why some people want to pig out on japanese food... eating too much of fish isnt exactly healthy...

like everything else (except staples PM, lol), you get what you pay for, and AYCE eateries simply cannot compete with good a la carte places when it comes to quality of the menu...

[littlefish]

I went last night with friends and there were goods and bads...

The Sashimi were great! except one piece of salmon i got a tiny bone swallowed. Nigiri Sushi were good, but the rolls were pretty plain I'd say, we ordered a couple different rollsi believe , and they must lost some orders. we only got the dragon roll and spider roll, and each came like 10 pieces. (4 of us) understandable for the dragon roll, but the spider roll totally didint have that much soft crab, felt like half a crab were stuffed to make a 10 piece roll. The sushi rice was alright but the roll rice tasted mushy and plain, much worse than the korean rice i cook at home, felt like leftover rice! and for the missed roll orders we never asked again and were glad they forgot it. We didnt even dare to try any other rolls/maki stuff.

Tempura was excellent and we even asked for vege tempura! Fried Scallops were good!

there is the new opening special for AYCE dinner you guys probably dont know which is written in Chinese on the window, 1, tiger shrimp deep fried, was delicious. 2. scallop sashimi, was ok. 3. yellowtail sashimi, didnt taste that good.

The sushi pizza we asked had the rice cake about half inch thick and tasted ok.

and I asked about the cucumber rolled one in Trueno's picture and they say its on the a-la-carte menu only :P

oh and last round i asked specificaly 5 piece of salmon and 2 pieces of butter fish sashimi and it came with 10 salmon and 8 butterfish, tho i was glad to stuff more fish but i was really really full already!

and I planned to go there with my roommates for saturday, and now i think i'll ggoto Maison du Japon instead, and later on will stick to a-la-carte for a while.

note 7pm is probably not a good time, cause i noticed the guy from Trueno's picture appeared behind the sushi bar when we were almost going to leave...bad timing i guess :( and it was almost empty except 2 other tables... at 7

[trueno92]

I went last night with friends and there were goods and bads...

note 7pm is probably not a good time, cause i noticed the guy from Trueno's picture appeared behind the sushi bar when we were almost going to leave...bad timing i guess :( and it was almost empty except 2 other tables... at 7


That was a great review littlefish. The key to this restaurant or any restaurant is to keep people coming back. If everyone goes once, then its a good, but to return means the place has something of value and thats always better.

The order mixups will definately have to be addressed and its good you raised that here.

On any occasion I had visited, it was not super busy because they had opened recently. The owners will be made aware of this as my experience should be the same as any body elses.

[ElvaSoShexai]

i just went there for lunch today... i dunno if i went on a bad day or what... the biggest thing that bothered me was the service... the orders came soooooooooo SSSLLLOOOWWW... i went during my lunch break from work... arrived around 12:20... left @ 2pm and i only got to order 3 rounds + 1 dessert round... some things even when we ordered twice came near the end... most of the sushi items came near the very end. they possibly had some training chef doing the cooking?

the tempura, it's good it was lightly fried... but had a bit too much batter.. the rolls... some good some bad... spider rolls didn't have enough crab... banana tempura was good as well.

when we asked for bill they gave us the change to someone else's when we didn't even pay yet (hah so they're paying us to eat there now?) but then we gave it back and got our real bill..

i didn't see the chef from trueno's review... so i'm assuming that they don't have as good chefs during lunch.

overall... with the 15% off.. i would go back...

o. btw... one thing that was bad was the menu... it was too big to put anywhere!

[revert]

went there last night with 10 of my friends, sashimi was good, i liked their tempura. and fried ice cream was ok
cute waitress tho

i know the review sucks but thats all i can think of

[trueno92]

i know the review sucks but thats all i can think of

haha thats cool, no one is expecting 500words.. :P

just wondering, when your party went, was it busy, and how was the service?

I think everyone agrees that busy = poor service, and this place is on its 3rd week, so i'd like to know how that went.

[revert]

haha thats cool, no one is expecting 500words.. :P

just wondering, when your party went, was it busy, and how was the service?

I think everyone agrees that busy = poor service, and this place is on its 3rd week, so i'd like to know how that went.

i went last time at 8oclock, wasn't busy at all. service was good considering we bombarded the waitress (lisa is what i think her name is) with orders for the first round. for the second round i just wrote all of our orders on a napkin and gave it her.
funny story about the waitress she kept telling my friend (girl) that she was cute everytime she ordered something and she never asked anyone else for orders she kept asking me and she made me finish my ice cream (flirting or just nice service?) lol who knows

[mushrooms]

so which is better..SO7 or this place?

i used SO7 because i personally think its the best out there in terms of ayce japanese food..

i haven't been to this new place yet..

[raven0013]

Ikura Sushi is better than sushi on 7. The eating environment is much more comforting than SO7 and the raw/cooked foods are a couple notches higher when it comes to taste. The service is a lot better too and everyone there is friendly.

SO7 offers a wide variety of foods raw and cooked. The food is better than a lot of other sushi restaurants but the service isnt that great and the food preparation has gotten very slow.

Try Ikura, the restaurant, for yourself and then you can decide if im lying or not.

I am in no way affiliated with Ikura or any other sushi restaurants. I just enjoy eating everywhere to try new places.

[elty]

I will say Ikura is better. Just dont go there during weekends as those waitress seems to be very noobish.

anyone know how late timll it open?

[gilboman]

i'll say ikura is better than So7 in sashimi, cooked foods and comfort. rolls are a tie.

the order mixups prolly will be less freqent once the waitress work there longer.

the service while evidently noobish, was very nice. the girl with orange hair was nice too.. although i think her chinese is maybe not as strong as would be required since she mixed up a lot of orders and english seemed to be better understood.

but she wrote the orders down in chinese :confused:

[bell02fantasy]

haha thats cool, no one is expecting 500words.. :P

just wondering, when your party went, was it busy, and how was the service?

I think everyone agrees that busy = poor service, and this place is on its 3rd week, so i'd like to know how that went.


Hi Trueno
I went for lunch on the 24th. I recognized the man from your photo's.
From my POV, I think this restuarant is great. The soups, rolls, fish, etc were tremendous. I can't honestly think of a negative from the food perspective!

My only suggestion...the service was a bit slow! I am not sure if it was because of the orders or she was just too busy serving! I know it was lunch and I recall only 1 girl serving the tables (there was about 6-8 tables in use).
But the girl was very knowledgeable as I only asked for small portions, etc.
The people beside us ordered enough sushi to fill a boat, and then could not finish it!

I will definitely go back 15% off or not.

[bell02fantasy]

what happened to the leftover sushi?

what is the ordering system at Ikura? Do you specify the number of pieces of sushi and cooked foods? For example- the tempura. Do you specify you want a certain number of shrimp tempura? Or if you don't specify- do you get 2 pieces on a plate?

thanks.

They threw it out and I believe they left extra $$. It was almost like they asked for 2 pieces of every kind of sushi cause it was a pretty big boat for 2 people.
As for ordering it is the same as any other AYCE, they base it on how many people at the table, and if it was something exceptional or I knew we could handle it I would ask for extra.
Other times when I didn't know what it was, I asked how big the portion was and went from there.

Hope this helps!@

[jubez]

can you just order shrimp tempura by itself or does it come with the vegetables? most AYCE include the vegetables so I can't really order more than 2 pieces of tempura... if anyone can let me know thatd be great, thanks!

[trueno92]

can you just order shrimp tempura by itself or does it come with the vegetables? most AYCE include the vegetables so I can't really order more than 2 pieces of tempura... if anyone can let me know thatd be great, thanks!

shrimp can be done by itself!

[jubez]

shrimp can be done by itself!

sweet thanks!

[ferkel]

is the grand opening discount still available? specifically this coming long weekend? :) can someone check if they go this week, thanks!

[GunnerX]

After my wife saw this place on Sunday she had a craving so we had to go speicially with the 15% off. So we went yesterday for dinner and here's my lazy review.

We arrived at Ikura around 7pm and the place was deserted. There were 2 tables taken with 2 people on each. We sat right by the window and after 20 minutes a party of 5 who reserved sat on the table beside us. I don't know why they bothered reserving as the place was still empty. :D

Since we were the third table there we had great service in the beginning. It kinda sucked in the end but more on that later. The waitress came and asked us if we wanted to start out with a soup and also asked if we wanted pop. They include Iced Tea unlike other places which charge extra. I got a can of coke and my wife got the Iced Tea. We both had the miso soup which was good, nothing exceptional.

The waitress also mentioned several free items as a grand opening special. With our Sashimi order they included Tuna and Scallops which were not listed in the all you can eat menu. The salmon and butterfish sashimi were cut the right size and not really big like most places. They also included coconut covered prawn on a skewer which were deep friend and very tasty. This was another opening special.

Everything else was quite good and the portions were not too big. We ordered mostly rolls which didn't have too much rice. We had Spicy Dragon Roll, Seaweed and Shrimp roll, Golden Dragon roll, King Dragon Roll, Rainbow Roll and Spider Roll. All of the rolls other than the Spider were only available for dinner which is why I we ordered them.

We also ordered the Shrimp Tempura with Eggplant and salmon tempura. The salmon tempura was quite small which was perfect for me since I was getting full at that time. The tempura was properly battered and quite tasty. We also ordered the Green Onion Beef Roll and Baby Mushroom Beef Roll. That's all I can remember. Both of us were quite full and we did not want to overdo it like we have done on several occasions.

For dessert, I ordered Green Tea and Red Bean ice cream. My wife ordered the same but "fried". I also ordered the banana tempura. I have to say that both of us loved the Red Bean. I have never tasted Red Bean this good in any other restaurant. My wife had to order another scoop which we shared. The banana tempura also tasted better than the Son7 one and even my wife liked it. She didn't like the Son7 that much.

The reason why our service declined was because of this white lady that came in. She was very very picky and acted like she was the only customer in the whole restaurant. She asked about every single item in the menu but she did not like anything raw. She ordered the enoki mushroom soup and returned it because she didn't like the taste. She basically talked to a waitress for the entire time she was there wanting descriptions of everything. I think the owner got mad and walked over to the waitress and told her not to bother as service to other tables was left to the two other people. Other than that service was excellent.

I highly recommend this place based on our experience yesterday. I will definitely go back. However, this place has very limited seating so once it gets busy there will be lots of waiting. Thanks to the previous reviews here also, it's another reason why we went. I told my wife that the place recieved good reviews from RFD. :D

[zzricezz]

hey GunnerX, I think i might have seen you there.. I was there around the same time as you :).. My gf and I was sitted near the door.

We thought the service was excellent, they were quick and always offer a helping hand in helping us decide what to try.. There was a few things on there that a lot of other places doesn't have.. for the price, I think i would go there again over other places.

[Sting]

I'm glad that so many RFD'ers have found this little gem of a place like I did ... I have been back there a few times now and the quality is still top notch ...

Any RFD nite possibility ??? ;)

[kevin_]

Quick Review:

Food was great. Very nice people. Service was slow at first, but it was b/c it became really busy all of a sudden on a Tuesday night w/ only 1 waitress (usually places are dead are they not?). I believe the people inside the kitchen had to come out to help out as well.

Once it started to get a little late and it wasn't as busy, service was great! Again, food was great, definately will be back there again.

[GunnerX]

hey GunnerX, I think i might have seen you there.. I was there around the same time as you :).. My gf and I was sitted near the door.

We thought the service was excellent, they were quick and always offer a helping hand in helping us decide what to try.. There was a few things on there that a lot of other places doesn't have.. for the price, I think i would go there again over other places.

Really? Cool! The only couple I saw there was near the washroom door and the girl had a pink top on. I was facing out the window so couldn't really see what was going on behind me. :D

[BladeX]

haha lucky i came on RFD to check out this thread, i was just gonna try out AKINA since its new but I guess might give this a place to try since all the good reviews.

Akina the one on denision n kennedy seems busy tho, when i looked thru the window it was packed

[tkshum]

This is one of the best AYCA Japanese place I tried. I think it is better than SO7 which I tried last month.

[Aaron]

I typically don’t get involved in forums, but rather just accidentally stumble across them out of amusement and laugh from afar at angry people arguing over obscure things. I learned quickly in the last few days that this RFD place is pretty popular and after tonight’s experience, I couldn’t resist. After multiple failed attempts at making up for missing my friend’s birthday party back in June, we finally both found the time to get together tonight. She had suggested going to a new AYCE (thought it was a health club at first… the things we abbreviate tsk tsk). She felt the need to convince me to go, so she led me to this link to see some pictures. (Nice pictures man). I agreed to go of course, and after wasting a paragraph of web space, I will begin to tell you how much I enjoyed the experience.

Birthday girl instructed me to be there at 6:30 PM so we could eat there for longer and get our bang-for-our-buck so to speak. As we were eating there (with two of our other friends) much of the conversation revolved around the hardcore history of the sushi chef, and to my surprise, I actually know the waitress (publicly known now as “Lisa/Daughter of the Sushi chef” in this forum). The poor girl works from 11am to 11pm every day and just tonight there were two more new waiters she doesn’t know joining the Ikura team. It seems in three weeks she went from not knowing how to speak Chinese (according to the posts here) to now taking orders in Chinese on her note pad. Learning Chinese ain’t no walk in the park fellas.

The four of us ate straight up until 11 PM without knowing it. Sitting for 4h30mins eating raw fish in retrospect should really make anyone feel pretty disgusted, but to my surprise, I’m actually aching to go back. It’s quite refreshing to see a new restaurant with such return-value. I’m sure I’m not alone when I head out for lunch and I find myself taking 30 minutes just decide where to go. It’s a very happy thing to have an extra choice to consider now from my usual 2 or 3 no-brainers I rely on. Ikura opening in that location is a smart move and it appears there are already people going back to the place multiple times since its 3 weeks of opening business. It’s all been said before, but in all honesty, for the price you’re paying and the quality of the food, this place will be here to stay. All you haters making digs at the service, give it time. The place is new and the people are trying. I went tonight and one of my friends deliberately made very specific and obscure orders at random for nearly five hours and they only forgot one thing. Tonight was full house for nearly 3 hours and we still got fast service and very presentable looking food during the heat.

This place is a deal. If you know some bottomless friends, give them a moment to shine. Simply put, this place is the talk of the town. Go now and at least know what the fuss is about.


Note: The waitress tonight had apparently been keeping an eye on this forum and denies that her hair is at all orange and insists that her hair is red. She wanted to make that clear with us, so here it is.

[xIcewind]

"Note: The waitress tonight had apparently been keeping an eye on this forum and denies that her hair is at all orange and insists that her hair is red. She wanted to make that clear with us, so here it is."

XD hahahaha. Pics?

And glad you enjoyed it. Will be pestering my parents about taking me there this weekend.

[GunnerX]

Note: The waitress tonight had apparently been keeping an eye on this forum and denies that her hair is at all orange and insists that her hair is red. She wanted to make that clear with us, so here it is.

Hahahaha, just to let her know, I think she's quite cute. :D Too bad I went there with my wife. :D Wow, she didn't know chinese until 3 weeks ago? That's quite impressive! She talked to me in Cantonese and I just stared at her like a deer caught in headlights because I look Chinese but I'm actually Filipino. Thank goodness my wife speaks Cantonese and she responded for me.

When the waitress was talking to the annoying white lady I was quite impressed at how good her english was. I thought that was her second language. I guess I was wrong. :D

[wushumasterku]

where exactly is this place??

[GunnerX]

The place is called Scarboro Village Mall I believe.

[wushumasterku]

it's about 1 or 2 blocks north of Midland & Finch. You see the sign for a Chinese Hotpot restaurant as you drive by the plaza/strip mall.

thanks keanefan

[GateGuardian]

Had a chance to check this place out on Wednesday night. The food was excellent and would definitely go back again.

[kilarney]

The food was exquisite :)

Going there again for Long weekend. :D

[zzricezz]

Really? Cool! The only couple I saw there was near the washroom door and the girl had a pink top on. I was facing out the window so couldn't really see what was going on behind me. :D

hehe yea.. that was us.. you had your family there right?

[GunnerX]

hehe yea.. that was us.. you had your family there right?

Nope, just me and the wife but for some reason they sat a table of 5 beside us when there were plenty of empty seats. :D

[ChinpokoMon]

It seems in three weeks she went from not knowing how to speak Chinese (according to the posts here) to now taking orders in Chinese on her note pad. Learning Chinese ain’t no walk in the park fellas.

That's pretty amazing.......from the way she spoke Cantonese, I thought she was from HK!

[Raggie]

I'm thinking of trying Ikura tomorrow (Sunday) for lunch. Is this a good time and what are the prices? Will they have sashimi at this time?

[xIcewind]

How busy is this place for lunches [these days]?

I.E. Are there lineups?

[trueno92]

no line ups as of yet, and for keanefan, dinner just offers more sashimi + other seafoodish kinds of entrees. If fish isn't your fancy, go for the japanese-inspired dishes at lunch.

[xIcewind]

Also, I'm sure this has been asked before, but um, what are the times for lunch and dinner? >.<

Sorry to be of a nuisance.

[xIcewind]

We [my dad and I] arrived at Ikura at six, pretty much exactly. Very nice interior design, and I don't think the pictures posted before do justice to the warm feel one gets sitting there. There was another party beside us in there, and gradually it filled up to about half full. I can't imagine how the restaurant would be completely full - it was rather hard for the waitress' to walk between tables as it is.

This being my second AYCE, I can't say much about the ratings over other restaurants, though I feel that the food was very well done and skillfully presented.

There are enough posts about the above a few pages back, so I'll just go with what I felt was lacking. Our first four shrimp tempura was exceedingly good - even if I don't normally like shrimp, I felt obliged to order another four to satiate my craving for the crispy batter. The second batch though was poorly done - some had no batter for a good inch or so, and others were so oily that it wasn't crispy anymore, but sogged with oil. Honest. I could mush the batter with my chopstick, and that turned me off of the rest of the shrimp.

Also, our orders were messed up twice - we recieved stuff we didn't order, and we had to re-order some. There was only one other table in there besides us, so I didn't see how they could mess that up.

Also the pretty waitress that you guys were talking about [hey, she does have *red* hair.] was walking around with a bowl of salad since apparently they mistook an order. Ah well, being the gentleman that I am, we accepted it since she looked a bit distressed.

It wasn't too bad.

Aside from the qualms of misorders, and that one shrimp tempura, I can say that I enjoyed the food. I'm not too sure about going back, but I'm willing to give it another chance. I suppose the batter [har har] gave me a strike. I'm 0-1 now.

[Iron Chef Ajax]

I typically don’t get involved in forums, but rather just accidentally stumble across them out of amusement and laugh from afar at angry people arguing over obscure things. I learned quickly in the last few days that this RFD place is pretty popular and after tonight’s experience, I couldn’t resist. After multiple failed attempts at making up for missing my friend’s birthday party back in June, we finally both found the time to get together tonight. She had suggested going to a new AYCE (thought it was a health club at first… the things we abbreviate tsk tsk). She felt the need to convince me to go, so she led me to this link to see some pictures. (Nice pictures man). I agreed to go of course, and after wasting a paragraph of web space, I will begin to tell you how much I enjoyed the experience.

Birthday girl instructed me to be there at 6:30 PM so we could eat there for longer and get our bang-for-our-buck so to speak. As we were eating there (with two of our other friends) much of the conversation revolved around the hardcore history of the sushi chef, and to my surprise, I actually know the waitress (publicly known now as “Lisa/Daughter of the Sushi chef” in this forum). The poor girl works from 11am to 11pm every day and just tonight there were two more new waiters she doesn’t know joining the Ikura team. It seems in three weeks she went from not knowing how to speak Chinese (according to the posts here) to now taking orders in Chinese on her note pad. Learning Chinese ain’t no walk in the park fellas.

The four of us ate straight up until 11 PM without knowing it. Sitting for 4h30mins eating raw fish in retrospect should really make anyone feel pretty disgusted, but to my surprise, I’m actually aching to go back. It’s quite refreshing to see a new restaurant with such return-value. I’m sure I’m not alone when I head out for lunch and I find myself taking 30 minutes just decide where to go. It’s a very happy thing to have an extra choice to consider now from my usual 2 or 3 no-brainers I rely on. Ikura opening in that location is a smart move and it appears there are already people going back to the place multiple times since its 3 weeks of opening business. It’s all been said before, but in all honesty, for the price you’re paying and the quality of the food, this place will be here to stay. All you haters making digs at the service, give it time. The place is new and the people are trying. I went tonight and one of my friends deliberately made very specific and obscure orders at random for nearly five hours and they only forgot one thing. Tonight was full house for nearly 3 hours and we still got fast service and very presentable looking food during the heat.

This place is a deal. If you know some bottomless friends, give them a moment to shine. Simply put, this place is the talk of the town. Go now and at least know what the fuss is about.


Note: The waitress tonight had apparently been keeping an eye on this forum and denies that her hair is at all orange and insists that her hair is red. She wanted to make that clear with us, so here it is.

Did you ask Lisa out?

[rdx]

Service: Excellent, especially the young RED-highlighted-hair waitress

Decor: similar to Sushi on &, I think they are related or friends (see SO7's flower basket there)

Selection: Same as others (no Salmon sashimi on lunch buffet)

Price: Similar to others (except now is 15% off for promotion), no todler's price. Wasabi charges only $2 lunch for children 4 years old or under

Quality: It is ok, rice for sushi is too big, and the rice is too soft.

Location: In an old Scarborough plaza

Comments: Worth to give it a try during the promotion time especially if you live in that area as most others are located in North of Steele.

[tkddad]

I went there with my wife and 2 boys for lunch last
Saturday. We were there at about noon and the
place was almost full. There were 4 waiter/waiteress
with 2 sushi chefs plus the boss working so the wait
for food was quite reasonable. Service was excellent
as the red haired waitress explained to us as soon as
we sat down how to go about ordering for the hot
food, drinks and stuff. It is worth noting that there
is now a 1.5 hours limit. It is more than enough time
as far as I am concerned.

Since my boys do not eat fish/seafood, they stick to
mostly chicken, steak and beef ribs. I would say all the
meat/hot items were excellent. Nicely cooked, not
charred and overly cooked. The dragon roll and spider
roll were quite good. The sushi was ok. The rice was
nicely sized but a bit tough I found. The tempura was
excellent, as is my favourite dish at Japanese AYCE,
fried salmon bellies. The fried banana and fried green tea ice
cream were good too.

Overall, with the 15% off, it's excellent value. The
dinning room is much more comfortable than Son7
and there is no waiting in line for hours as in Yangs.

Since we live in Ottawa and only go to T.O. on long
weekends, we don't get to sample Japanese AYCE that
often. For thanksgiving weekend, maybe we will try
out Wasabi.

[Aaron]

[/COLOR]

Did you ask Lisa out?

Lol, no. I had met her back in high school and seen little of her for a few years. We're just friends. Why, are you interested? :) I don't know for sure but she was going out with another friend of mine from high school if I remember correctly. But lets try to keep out of her personal life and stick with the sushi in here. :)

[rdx]

Yes, I agree, the food at Ikura is just so so. Nothing special. They might have a hard time to survive with the low spending power in that area. I can notice the customers there look "different" than those I see above Steeles.

I am going to try out the New AYCE Japan Fusion as well. I heard they offer salmon sashimi for lunch as well to compete with Wasabi nearby.



Ikura is so-so/average. The people are nice. The hours are 11 am to 11 pm. They are not so strict about leaving behind uneaten food.

I went on the weekend, arrived around 4 pm. I thought that maybe they would be tell me to come back around 6 pm. But they said yes, I could eat. There were other people eating. So looks like this restaurant is always open for business, compared to other restaurants who close and take a break after lunch and before dinner.

If you don't eat raw fish, you are better off going at lunch (cheaper price).

-Seafood soup was not worth ordering.
-Don't bother ordering unagi yaki rice. It's a medium size plate of fried rice with lots of onions and small pieces of unagi. Makes you full.
-The maki rolls make you full so try not to order so many.
-Udon are thick, fat noodles. Takes long to chew and makes you full so maybe you don't want to order that at AYCE.
-Beef rolls with mushroom was not good for me.
-Beef roll with green onion was better.
-The mixed seaweed salad is good but the portion is generous and 2 (or 3) people can share this dish.
-octopus ball and fried scallops were good.
-you have to specify how many pieces of cooked food you want (how many tempura, skewers, etc).
-the waitress takes your order but you can ask if you can write down the numbers yourself.
-if you don't like raw fish, you can put the raw fish in hot miso soup and the fish will cook in the hot soup.

The cooked foods are better at Japan Fusion (tempura, beef ribs, etc).

New AYCE Japan Fusion (Akidama Sushi??) restaurant next to Tim Horton's & RBC bank.

4771 Steeles Ave E, near Silver Star
Scarborough, Ontario
416-823-8933

Since Japan Fusion is more a convenient location for me, I will go there if I have a craving for tempura. Their tempura is excellent.

If I have a craving for good BBQ eel, kani salad, miso soup with clam, etc I will go to the Japanese-run, Hama Japanese Restaurant.

Hama Japanese Restaurant (a la carte, not AYCE)
905-415-8976
4372 Steeles Avenue East (near Kennedy)
Markham, ON

OUTSIDE Market Village, near the back entrances of Market Village. Look for Satay Ria Restaurant sign - Hama is nearby, outside the mall, facing the parking lot.[/QUOTE]

[Raggie]

I had lunch at Ikura yesterday. At the beginning service was fine. But then a large family of about 10 or so came in and service got really slow after that because all the waiters and cooks were serving this family.

I liked the butterfish and spicy salmon sushi. They got one of our orders wrong and the servings were really miniscule. For dessert, they only had ice cream and banana tempura. We ordered both but when they brought out the banana they only gave us one skinny slice each.

I thought the restaurant was just okay. I would only go back because the lunch price was cheap - $10.99.

[N1_EVO]

So far I went there twice @ dinner time. Gonna have to try @ lunch, hope they still have the 15% off when I go this week.. :)

[Blue7thGen]

i went there for lunch on saturday with my family...

service was good, friendly wait staff (everyone was nice not just the red haired girl)... food orders weren't mixed up but we had a few missed items.. a reminder to the wait staff and they did follow up right away (we were sitting next to the sushi bar)

food like everyone else has mentioned was so-so but personally i liked Son7's hot food a bit more... the grilled makerel was too dry almost seemed like it was grilled before hand and regrilled to warm it back up. rice for the sushi was good the first round that we ordered, the 2nd round it was warm and kept falling apart. tempura is very good... unagi rice had half a bowl of rice with a small piece of unagi... other places have about 1/4 of the bowl filled with rice only... the seafood udon was ok noodles are good (personally i like chewy udon better than soggy ones)

with 15% off its a good deal i wouldnt mind going again

[shadowfighta]

They still have the 15% off deal??

[revert]

i went there for lunch on saturday with my family...

service was good, friendly wait staff (everyone was nice not just the red haired girl)... food orders weren't mixed up but we had a few missed items.. a reminder to the wait staff and they did follow up right away (we were sitting next to the sushi bar)


red haired girl was very nice to us, she was cute too ;)

[shadowfighta]

Went there tonight. It was alright I guess. We had a new waiter and his english wasn't that great so everytime i told him an item I wanted he would have to look on the chinese menu. They missed a lot of the items we ordered too but the food was pretty good. I would probably go there again if the service improved. I'm sure it's normally better than it was tonight.

ps. my friend found a hair in his ice cream!

[shutterbug]

Went with a friend Thursday night and I have to echo everyone else lately. It's alright but nothing great and definitely not better than Sushi on 7 in terms of taste. I found the egg custard with seafood to be bland, spicy salmon sushi pizza wasn't spicy, rice on salmon sushi was too sticky almost like a rice dough ball. Had a spicy tuna handroll and it was simply two slices of fish with spicy sauce. I prefer the normal style where it's chopped up (even better with tempura bits). Only one item was missed during our orders and they brought it after we reminded them. One annoying thing is they only give you 1 piece each unless you request more. ie. if you order shrimp tempura they only give you 1 piece for each person, that's it nothing else. It was like that for everything. I guess it's to minimize food wastage but a little silly. The 15% discount and bonus extras (fried tiger shrimp, scallop and tuna sashimi) made the experience more palatable but I didn't find it worth a repeat; I'll be going back to So7.

[BladeX]

[QUOTE=shutterbug]One annoying thing is they only give you 1 piece each unless you request more. ie. if you order shrimp tempura they only give you 1 piece for each person, that's it nothing else. [QUOTE]

isnt this is how most places are like, tempura usually you get 4 in 1 order or 1 each.

[IceMan77]

[QUOTE=shutterbug]One annoying thing is they only give you 1 piece each unless you request more. ie. if you order shrimp tempura they only give you 1 piece for each person, that's it nothing else. [QUOTE]

isnt this is how most places are like, tempura usually you get 4 in 1 order or 1 each.

I find that totally acceptable... some ppl are just way too picky...

[dtam9999]

Everybody has read about the quality of the food, so this review is going to discuss our experience with the service provided.

Entered the restaurant at 7:45 with my fiance. Waiter pointed to a table and we sat down. We waited 10 minutes for our menus and place settings (we had to ask).

1st round: The sashmi was nicely presented and average in freshness, although they gave us more than we ordered. They missed 3/6 orders. We brought up the missing items to the waitress and she quickly brought us 2/3 items missed.

2nd round: No problems... received everything we ordered.

3rd round: No problems.

There was a couple of times during our meal when we had to wait for tea. It would have been better if they just left us a teapot.

Upon paying the bill, I gave them my Mastercard. The waitress returned informing me that they would charge an additional 5%... then I wanted to pay by Interac (direct payment), however, she asked the boss, and he said that they would still charge the 5% on Interac. I understand the credit card, but I don't remember any business that would charge for Direct Payment.

Overall, I felt my dining experience was fine, including the service, except for the payment. A few things to note... 15% off the meal price (ending soon?), 10% mandatory tip (charged on bill), and bring CASH.

[jennadee]

Is anyone planning to go to Ikura this Friday or Saturday? If so, be sure to let me know and maybe we can split deep fried ice cream ;)P I'm up for the adventure of putting names to faces and enjoying new company.

[revert]

Is anyone planning to go to Ikura this Friday or Saturday? If so, be sure to let me know and maybe we can split deep fried ice cream ;)P I'm up for the adventure of putting names to faces and enjoying new company.

might be heading down for lunch on saturday ;)

[Sting]

Went to Ikura tonight ... Dinner was excellent .. The quality was still as good as ever ... Was more businer tonight but the staff was more expierence so the service was better ... The best was the owner gave me some 10% card off to give to friends .. that was really cool ... gives me more incentive to go back ... heheh

[Punky Hunky]

For those who sill want to try or go back again, they are running a 20% off promotion this week. Apparently it's in the chinese newspaper. I called and asked if they still had the 15% off and the guy told me it's 20% off this week.

[iris1026]

Which chinese newspaper is this?

[GunnerX]

Which chinese newspaper is this?

You mean Sing Tao Daily is not the only one???

[Punky Hunky]

I don't know which newspaper. The guy on the phone said to me, you didn't see it in the chinese newspaper. That's all I'm going with. Also I drove by yesterday and saw the number 20 but unfortunately I don't read chinese so no idea what it said.

[Sting]

I went there for lunch a couple of days ago ... too much sashimi for dinner is not too good either ...

The food was excellent. The enoki mushroom with beef was so good .. cook through and so tender .. The beef skewers was tender and very juicy ...

they still have the promotions going for 20% during dinner and I think itz like 15% for lunch ... I really enjoy this place and I hope you guys enjoyed it like me and support it ..

I no way told by the owner to say this but I endorse them cuz I believe they believe in quality and they really care about their customers ...
Hope to see you fellow RfD'ers out there ..

[lasallejai]

Is the 20% off still going at this place for dinner?? I would like to try it out this weekend. Thanks!

[Homer88]

Is the 20% off still going at this place for dinner?? I would like to try it out this weekend. Thanks!
Nope.. called in today. 15% now

[springroll]

Went last night, food was good (sashima was fresh, that's all I really cared about anyways), red-hair waitress was nice and attentive (cute girl to boot, we asked if she likes working there, she hestitated and we just laughed. Didn't know she is the daughter of the chef until I read through this whole thread today), waiter was ok (English needs work), my friend didn't care for the fried ice cream (since it wasn't really fried at all). We got tuna sashima and it wasn't even on the menu! Waiter said the chef put in a few slices just for us (personally, I think it was a slow night last night, and they had all these tuna they had to get rid of)

15% off was nice too.

[Homer88]

I swear, this is the best AYCE i've ever been to in my life. Just went there today... the owner (I think?) was extremely nice and explained everything to us thoroughly and completely. Orders came quickly. Most importantly, we stayed from 9 to 11:15 which was a huge plus for us because we were a huge group and therfore we talked for a long time. Only complaint is the hand roll, which was a bit too chewy and almost impossible to eat it in 2 bites without trying hard. Will DEFINATELY go back

[lasallejai]

Just went there tonight with family, and was quite disappointed. I guess I had read too many good things about this place making my expectation too high. Comparing to Akiyama and S07 this place lags behind a little bit. Service was excellent, but the cooked food were only average overall even though a few did get my full attention with second's . Fortunately the raw things were good. Well, I guess I shall stick to Akiyama from now on until another better one surfaces. :D

[Homer88]

Dinner is now 12.99 at Ikura... (+2 for Friday/Weekends) Oh my...
And you also get teh 10% off

[xIcewind]

$13 Dinner?

Oh my, indeed.....

[silvermist99]

I went to pacific mall today, saw a big banner by sake & it said $12.99 dinner too!.. are they all lowering ? :o

[Homer88]

I went to pacific mall today, saw a big banner by sake & it said $12.99 dinner too!.. are they all lowering ? :o
Must be a price war, just like the chinese newspapers. Hopefully they don't all end up closing from the price war.. :(

[tkddad]

Dinner is now 12.99 at Ikura... (+2 for Friday/Weekends) Oh my...
And you also get teh 10% off

I told my sister about the $12.99 dinner at Ikura and
she went to try it. The $12.99 price is misleading.
For $12.99, you only get what's on the lunch menu
and Salmon Sashimi. To get the other dinner items,
you need to pay $5 on top of that.

[Kakashi]

Does anyone know if Sake is charging in a similiar way? i.e. $12.99 is the price for a smaller menu

[toronto223]

i have been sake last night, they have a big menu which includes everything as a regular dinner menu. they have 6 different sashimi: salmon,hokkigai, saba, kanikama, tai, even ika( most auce does's have it.)
quality of the food is pretty good. waitresses are very nice. i will go again this friday.

[trueno92]

CUSTOMERS WIN.

http://zork.net/~nick/densha-otoko.png
toot-toot

[Homer88]

CUSTOMERS WIN.

http://zork.net/~nick/densha-otoko.png
toot-toot
haha, that guy's friggin hilarious

[jimbomedia]

good place for the price

two thumbs up from me!

[Homer88]

http://img393.imageshack.us/img393/2937/dsc007338hh.jpg
Heres a menu from Ikura... sorry its so blurry and in chinese. The owner was staring at me when I took out my phone and pointed it at the menu... haha.

[coreanbbq]

mmmmmmmm.....

is lunch for this place 10.99 on fridays or just mon-thurs?

[Ogata]

mmmmmmmm.....

is lunch for this place 10.99 on fridays or just mon-thurs?

Lunch is still 9.99 with 10 $ off right now. I just went there today and man you guys are perverts.. lol I went there today and yes I saw the daughter...infact she went to my HS and was in i think my math class..I don't remember been too long...well all I can say about this is the service is alright but if you don't know cantonese that well, I suggest you don't go because the waiters xept for that one that you guys considered that she was cute and u harrassed her or something..haha..yea shes like probably the only native english speaker there. I asked the guy waiter for some Don Katsu, and he was like waht? Then I tell them the number and he looks at the chinese side of the menu and then says it in chinese to me..I mean even SO7 waiters know what I'm talking about...thats bad rep for them on that. Other than that, the food was alright.

[trueno92]

Ikura's menus have been switched up and there is a new pricing structure introduced.

Its cheaper, the food is just as good as before and the service has smoothened out nicely.

oh yah, and there is RED MAGURO TUNA on the AYCE DINNER MENU!!!!!

10% discounts extended as well.

pics tonite.

[Iron Chef Ajax]

Wonder if you could order from dinner menu @ lunch and pay extra?

[trueno92]

Wonder if you could order from dinner menu @ lunch and pay extra?

you certainly can. I forgot the prices but it didn't break $20 and i went on a weekend. Weekdays is $2 cheaper and 10% off.. Maguro included.

[silvermist99]

Ikura's menus have been switched up and there is a new pricing structure introduced.

Its cheaper, the food is just as good as before and the service has smoothened out nicely.

oh yah, and there is RED MAGURO TUNA on the AYCE DINNER MENU!!!!!

10% discounts extended as well.

pics tonite.
I called them it is 12.99 tonight! im going there instead of sake.. is it 10% off on top of that? :o will post back how it is

[trueno92]

I called them it is 12.99 tonight! im going there instead of sake.. is it 10% off on top of that? :o will post back how it is

yep its $12.99 BUT, i believe for the option that includes maguro its an extra $5..

yep, sounds about right, now that i think about it....

http://img390.imageshack.us/img390/2633/v90302409zn.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img390.imageshack.us/img390/160/v90302411uq.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img390.imageshack.us/img390/9111/v90302446xu.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
^^ double flavor icecream ball haha :cheesygri

[IceMan77]

Ikura's menus have been switched up and there is a new pricing structure introduced.

Its cheaper, the food is just as good as before and the service has smoothened out nicely.

oh yah, and there is RED MAGURO TUNA on the AYCE DINNER MENU!!!!!

10% discounts extended as well.

pics tonite.

I want the west coast white maguro :P

[trueno92]

I want the west coast white maguro :P

Talking about the "white tuna" they have everywhere here or the real-deal shiro maguro abacore stuff? heh

[IceMan77]

Talking about the "white tuna" they have everywhere here or the real-deal shiro maguro abacore stuff? heh

I'm not talking about that white nonsense that they have everywhere here. I'm talking about the west-coast (albacore??) tuna where the fish actually melts in your mouth.

[trueno92]

I'm not talking about that white nonsense that they have everywhere here. I'm talking about the west-coast (albacore??) tuna where the fish actually melts in your mouth.

yep.. don't expect to see that in AYCE anytime soon.

the red maguro is getting a bit more common in the fish mongers market now with the ayce trend taking off, so enjoy this while you can!

http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/1019/freshtuna6mo.jpg (http://imageshack.us)]
whacha lookin at fool?! ¥¥¥¥¥¥ BLING BLING¥¥¥¥¥¥

[IceMan77]

I wouldn't mind paying for albacore toro if you can find it in the GTA. Do you know of any a-la-carte sushi places that sell it?

In vancouver, albacore is the cheapest sushi you can get, they have it in all the AYCE buffets.

[trueno92]

Just a heads up that maguro has been pulled from the menu....... >:(


call ahead, it may be there by the weekend.... depends on the supplier..

[Punky Hunky]

Another Heads up! Apparently the 10% off has been stopped. Can anyone confirm?

[Sting]

Another Heads up! Apparently the 10% off has been stopped. Can anyone confirm?

Call them and find out ..

[crabby1997]

I told my sister about the $12.99 dinner at Ikura and
she went to try it. The $12.99 price is misleading.
For $12.99, you only get what's on the lunch menu
and Salmon Sashimi. To get the other dinner items,
you need to pay $5 on top of that.

Wow, luckily you said it here, I was about to go try it too tommorow. Hehe, Sake still remains to be the most worthwhile AYCE for its price. I mean seriously, one regular sashimi combo at any typical restaurant cost more than $12.99 :cheesygri

[panoli]

This place is absolutely terrible. I find the owner being selective as to which stock of fish to give which clients. If you are not in a group or Asian i am confident you get old stock he wants to get rid of. I went there 2 weeks ago for a buffet and the food was just terrible. Salmon seemed 2 days old with a foul smell. The shrimp tempura roll was hard as a rock and the tempura inside was smelly or old. THe spicy salmon sushi was so soft and thready that i just passed on it.

I gave them the benefit of doubt and went back there yesterday just for the price factor. The place was packed to my surprise (maybe being friday and the cheap price) I ordered pick up and when i got home i threw the whole lot out as i was sure he gave me bad fish. Just a note the sashimi that was seen on the other customers plates was fresh and mine was not.

Absolutely terrible !!

its establishments like these that will make Ontario force sushi places one day to freeze the sashimi before selling. Too many low quality joints popping up to catch on a wave of sushi buffets

good place for the price

two thumbs up from me!

[BlueEL]

I wasnt impressed with Ikura when I went there last month, I probably will not go back. The service was great. But had bad experience with the food, the sashimi was warm, way too much rice on the sushi even after we told them to put less. And they seem to use sour cucumber on most of the sushi.


This place is absolutely terrible. I find the owner being selective as to which stock of fish to give which clients. If you are not in a group or Asian i am confident you get old stock he wants to get rid of. I went there 2 weeks ago for a buffet and the food was just terrible. Salmon seemed 2 days old with a foul smell. The shrimp tempura roll was hard as a rock and the tempura inside was smelly or old. THe spicy salmon sushi was so soft and thready that i just passed on it.

I gave them the benefit of doubt and went back there yesterday just for the price factor. The place was packed to my surprise (maybe being friday and the cheap price) I ordered pick up and when i got home i threw the whole lot out as i was sure he gave me bad fish. Just a note the sashimi that was seen on the other customers plates was fresh and mine was not.

Absolutely terrible !!

its establishments like these that will make Ontario force sushi places one day to freeze the sashimi before selling. Too many low quality joints popping up to catch on a wave of sushi buffets

[Iron Chef Ajax]

How can you SEE if the sashimi is fresh on the other customers plates?

But yes, ayce/buffets are not good for people who want high quality food.

If the sashimi smells fishy - don't eat it!

[Tsukagi]

hey, anybody know if Sake is still at $12.99????

[IceBreaker]

where is Sake?

[IceMan77]

where is Sake?

Everybody knows where Sakes is!!!

You might know it by it's previous name, Dropzone. LOL

[rdx]

Right beside Pacific Mall's entrance

[yjxiao]

this place is terrible, I went twice, once after a raptors game last week, and then this weekend when i picked up my mom from the airport.

We ordered some snapper and surfclam, and both times, they didn't bring as many portions as we ordered. And on you second and progressive orders, they would bring less and less portions.

It's not an AYCE place if they restrict your portions!

I will not goto thisplace anymore.

[Anessa]

The lack of parking is another reason why I dislike Ikura.

[sky888]

went there last time, food seems average~~

[tkshum]

Sounds like this place is going downhill. Probably won't go back again.

[panoli]

about this place after what it seemed some positive rigged posts from some probably knowing the owner

went there last time, food seems average~~

[trueno92]

about this place after what it seemed some positive rigged posts from some probably knowing the owner

this place was good, but with restaurants, they change day to day and i'll be the first to say that the consistancy i mentioned in the review WAS that, when it opened for about a couple months.

i am sure ppl will agree that on their, good days, they are exceptional, on their average days.. with the competition out there now, they are below average..

[Iron Chef Ajax]

this place was good, but with restaurants, they change day to day and i'll be the first to say that the consistancy i mentioned in the review WAS that, when it opened for about a couple months.

i am sure ppl will agree that on their, good days, they are exceptional, on their average days.. with the competition out there now, they are below average..
Huh .. What are you saying Trueno90 - Weren't you the one that gave excellent review of this place? I have been and the food vs price is good as any AYCE. Would like to see them do away with the 1.99 surcharge on designated items.
If you wan't sashimi the best place is Akiyama - included in their price.

[trueno92]

Huh .. What are you saying Trueno90 - Weren't you the one that gave excellent review of this place? I have been and the food vs price is good as any AYCE. Would like to see them do away with the 1.99 surcharge on designated items.
If you wan't sashimi the best place is Akiyama - included in their price.


I did indeed give them an excellent review, mind you this was some time ago - after they had opened.

I have revisited Ikura a few times recently and I think they are still a cut above most ayce in the toronto area, but in markham, I think the quality of the food was better previously, however the service has improved considerably.

I am just a bit dissapointed that with the new menus and pricing scale, that they really didn't bother to offer any special items that would distance themselves from the other AYCE houses.


Sake seems to be pretty good as for $12.99 dinner on weekdays that include decent sashimi.

[Sting]

I don't know the owner of the restaurant when he opened it. I still go there and I enjoyed it still ... If people find it bad, then by all means, go to another establishment. Please don't assume if you don't know the facts.

I know that people are really excited at Sake's. I have been there and I have given my view of this place. If people find it better as well, so be it. I don't have any vested interest in Ikura. I enjoyed them when they first opened and I still do. If the food is bad, then it up to individual taste. Many people here have complained about it and I have never defended or responded on what people say about Ikura.

[Sting]

about this place after what it seemed some positive rigged posts from some probably knowing the owner

Don't assume if you don't know .. if you don't like the place, then don't go back by all means.

[ZxExN]

Okay heres my review. Went there on a Friday night, it was pretty busy actually. Waitress and owner kept messing up the orders. Had to repeat like 2-3 times for some of the orders. It was pretty expensive. 14.99 + $5 if I wanted some dinner item. Food was so so. I didn't try everything but I would say it's average. I was certainly disappointed from all the good things I've heard about the place for sure. Girl wasn't even hot. /sigh

[hOrnizuka]

i'll give it a try tm. Hopefully the food will be good and the waitress is cute as well. :lol:

[jrm904]

i was just there last night and i must say i was pretty pleased with the food and service.. it is indeed 12.99 dinner with an option to add $5 to get more food but i didnt think it was really worth it.. the turn around time for food was really good.. waited maybe 2 minutes max for the first round to start comin.. sashmi first followed by maki rolls then handrolls then the cooked teppanyaki and fried stuff.. service was excellent as the waitress kept on coming along asking me and my friend if we needed anythin more and was quick to explain what the differences are between the various sushies

price was very good as i have eaten dinner AYCE at tokyo teppanyaki, tenichi and umi sushi.. bang for the buck, this place wins hands down.. thats prolly just me tho because outside of salmon i dont really go for much sashimi but ill order it on rice. lol. is that a strange thing? even with the $5 add on its still cheaper than most AYCE sushi places for dinner.. if i recall correctly tenichi was somewhere between 21.99-23.99 and umi sushi and tokyo teppanyaki were both 19.99

i will definately go back to this place. two thumbs up!

[bell02fantasy]

I did indeed give them an excellent review, mind you this was some time ago - after they had opened.

I have revisited Ikura a few times recently and I think they are still a cut above most ayce in the toronto area, but in markham, I think the quality of the food was better previously, however the service has improved considerably.

I am just a bit dissapointed that with the new menus and pricing scale, that they really didn't bother to offer any special items that would distance themselves from the other AYCE houses.


Sake seems to be pretty good as for $12.99 dinner on weekdays that include decent sashimi.

Has anyone been here lately...I might try again tomorrow night!
does anyone know what time it opens on Saturday nights

[Homer88]

Props to Ikura for making this beautiful dish for my birthday, even though it was very filling, hahaha.

http://img119.imageshack.us/img119/9743/dsc016038vf.jpg

[icy_krystalz]

Has anyone been here lately?
The posts from before were so great.. then the last few pages went for a dive. :|

Still worth going?

[CSR]

Any discount of b-day?

[salvador]

I guess I can revive this Ikura AYCE thread

Me and my gf went there at around 10:00pm last night and this is what I came across.

1st Order

Salmon Sashimi = Did not look fresh at all. Upon tasting, it just didn't sit right with me nor with my girlfriend. The texture seemed to be a bit too mushy and not the right consistency. I gave it a quick smell just to check if it was rancid, it didn't smell bad but this was definately one of the most horrible salmon sashimi's i have ever tasted

White Tuna (they call it "Butterfish") = The white tuna itself was ok. Much better than the salmon sashimi. It didn't quite have that buttery after taste that white tuna is known for but it was ok, i'd say mediocre. What really ruined it for me was the rice that came with it. HORRIBLE quality of rice. I mean, it was like mush. Best way to describe it is congee type of rice. Small grains and mushy consistency.

Spider, Dynamite, Tempura Roll = Absolutely horrible is all i can say. Probably the worst quality maki rolls i have tasted in at AYCE restaurant. Hell i would say even worse than grocery store sushi. The rice to seafood portion was ridiculous. There was an incredibly thick thick layer of rice around the seafood. And as I mentioned before, the rice quality was not good. The spider crab and tempura inside the roll was relatively bland.

Unagi Rice Bowl = Wow, i have never seen smaller portions handed to me before. I mean this whole dish was in a regular sized rice bowl and it was half filled with rice, then there's a little dinky piece of eel that was smothered with bbq sauce. IT was just nasty.

Enoki Soup = Extremely fishy taste. Plain nasty, did not even have a second taste.

Beef Fried Rice = My gf ordered this and it was horrible. One thing that i absolutely cannot take in fried rice is cabbage pieces. This one had a lot of them and it was soaked in bbq sauce. It was like "sauce rice" more like fried rice.

Needless to say we didn't go for seconds. It was one of the most dissapointing AYCE experiences me and my gf have ever had. The bill came up to $40 including tips. Let me just say that i'm quite an avid japapense sushi restaurant goer. Some of the places I've been too:

Akina
Sake
Sushi Island
Haruba
Umi sushi
That sushi place in the 2nd floor of pacific mall, can't recall the name
countless more around steeles/midland area and downtown

I went to Ikura mainly because of the 1st page of this thread where someone testified how exquisite the place is. With all those pictures, how can anyone resist? My preference for AYCE would probably be sushi island or akina. Ikura is the WORST i have been to.

[bell02fantasy]

I guess I can revive this Ikura AYCE thread

Me and my gf went there at around 10:00pm last night and this is what I came across.

1st Order

Salmon Sashimi = Did not look fresh at all. Upon tasting, it just didn't sit right with me nor with my girlfriend. The texture seemed to be a bit too mushy and not the right consistency. I gave it a quick smell just to check if it was rancid, it didn't smell bad but this was definately one of the most horrible salmon sashimi's i have ever tasted

White Tuna (they call it "Butterfish") = The white tuna itself was ok. Much better than the salmon sashimi. It didn't quite have that buttery after taste that white tuna is known for but it was ok, i'd say mediocre. What really ruined it for me was the rice that came with it. HORRIBLE quality of rice. I mean, it was like mush. Best way to describe it is congee type of rice. Small grains and mushy consistency.

Spider, Dynamite, Tempura Roll = Absolutely horrible is all i can say. Probably the worst quality maki rolls i have tasted in at AYCE restaurant. Hell i would say even worse than grocery store sushi. The rice to seafood portion was ridiculous. There was an incredibly thick thick layer of rice around the seafood. And as I mentioned before, the rice quality was not good. The spider crab and tempura inside the roll was relatively bland.

Unagi Rice Bowl = Wow, i have never seen smaller portions handed to me before. I mean this whole dish was in a regular sized rice bowl and it was half filled with rice, then there's a little dinky piece of eel that was smothered with bbq sauce. IT was just nasty.

Enoki Soup = Extremely fishy taste. Plain nasty, did not even have a second taste.

Beef Fried Rice = My gf ordered this and it was horrible. One thing that i absolutely cannot take in fried rice is cabbage pieces. This one had a lot of them and it was soaked in bbq sauce. It was like "sauce rice" more like fried rice.

Needless to say we didn't go for seconds. It was one of the most dissapointing AYCE experiences me and my gf have ever had. The bill came up to $40 including tips. Let me just say that i'm quite an avid japapense sushi restaurant goer. Some of the places I've been too:

Akina
Sake
Sushi Island
Haruba
Umi sushi
That sushi place in the 2nd floor of pacific mall, can't recall the name
countless more around steeles/midland area and downtown

I went to Ikura mainly because of the 1st page of this thread where someone testified how exquisite the place is. With all those pictures, how can anyone resist? My preference for AYCE would probably be sushi island or akina. Ikura is the WORST i have been to.


All I can say is that I went last week and the quality is still top notch!

I have been here 10 x and never been disappointed. I would still go here b4 I went to SON& or Wasabi as it is quieter, better food and ambience

[salvador]

well from seeing the mixed responses coming from this thread, i would have to say that Ikura is inconsistent with the quality of food they serve.

I have been here 10 x and never been disappointed. I would still go here b4 I went to SON& or Wasabi as it is quieter, better food and ambience

ambiance? Hmmmm, i dunno about that one. The place did not look classy to me at all. I mean they had these shiny green and red balls hanging from the ceiling that looked like they were christmas ornaments. There was a disco ball too in the middle of it. They had some pictures of nice looking dishes like Lobster, different types of sushi, none of which were available from the menu?!?

Quiet? It wasn't really quiet with the chinese rock karaoke music blasting all night ..........

Better food? I've never been to wasabi or Sushi on 7 but as i mentioned, worst ever AYCE i've been to. The service was just about the only ok part of the experience.

[higapoo]

My friend and I wanted to go to Ikura because there have been so many different reviews and since it's near by we have been planning on going. I was wondering what kind of menu do they have? Do we have to order verbally or is it a tick menu? We also have been thinking whether we should go to Ten ichi instead based on the most resent reviews of Ikura. So do you think Ten ichi would be better to go to? Also what kind of menu does Ten ichi have? I don't like ordering verbally because i tend to get nervous about everything and may order wrong.. so do they have an ordering system that involves writing the quantities and ticking which item i would like? I hope you guys understand what i mean.. because i went to this place on bamburgh and they had this kind of menu. Do they still have AYCE there because i haven't been there in a while. Thanks so much :)

[Irb]

Other than Maison Du Japan this has to be the worst place. Food is so bland and tasteless. Their salmon is also not fresh.

[Punky Hunky]

Other than Maison Du Japan this has to be the worst place. Food is so bland and tasteless. Their salmon is also not fresh.

I would have to agree. I was there last night and definitely the quality has gone down. First the dinner price has gone up to 13.99. SOme pieces of the salmon was mushy. They wanted to charge my 1 year old 4 bucks for having half a bowl of Udon and after we complained they were really slow in bringing the food. I used to come here all the time, had a VIP 10% card but after last night I ripped it up and left it with my bill. Just can't believe how bad it's gotten. Very disappointed.

[trueno92]

thanks for the headsup guys, i'll be marking my review as

OUTDATED

[Fallen_Paladin]

While your at it trueno, you might as well throw sake in that pile too. I've been there twice this summer. The first time was okay. The second time was horrible. I'm not going back there again until I hear a well written positive review.

I hate it when AYCE sushi places take a dive.

[Geologic]

While your at it trueno, you might as well throw sake in that pile too. I've been there twice this summer. The first time was okay. The second time was horrible. I'm not going back there again until I hear a well written positive review.

I hate it when AYCE sushi places take a dive.

I still think Yang's kitchen is good. Although the only thing I dislike is how busy it is all the time :cheesygri

[Atheral]

Aww... I've been to Ikura 3 times when it first opened a while ago. It's a shame to see this place go down like that.

Looks like I'll be going to Sushi on 7 or Han-Bi at FMP tomorrow...

[higapoo]

So what about Ten ichi and that place on Bamburgh. Do you guys have any reviews and info on those places?

[Geologic]

So what about Ten ichi and that place on Bamburgh. Do you guys have any reviews and info on those places?

The place on Bamburgh sucks!.. I went quite a while ago and it wasn't AYCE. The food was basically chinese food made to look japanese. :lol:

stay away.. that is all.

[higapoo]

^^ good looking out
i guess we're going to ten ichi :lol:
thanx everyone for your help

[Homer88]

^^ good looking out
i guess we're going to ten ichi :lol:
thanx everyone for your help
I hope you haven't went to Ten Ichi yet... that place was terrible. Went there last year, came out hungry... Sheeeesh

[higapoo]

I hope you haven't went to Ten Ichi yet... that place was terrible. Went there last year, came out hungry... Sheeeesh
GOsh.. is there like NOWHERE for us to get good sushi at an AYCE in scarborough? :(

[bell02fantasy]

GOsh.. is there like NOWHERE for us to get good sushi at an AYCE in scarborough? :(


whats worse...this place or akina or wasabi

[h2o-]

I'd rate

worse -> good
Ikura - Wasabi - Akina

[callous]

Ikura Sushi:

A very tiny restaurant, so tiny that I can literally smell the washrooms from across the restaurant. Gross.

Not much selection, sure it's cheaper, but who cares that it's $1 cheaper but you get far less selection.

Food is ok, very average - nothing that begs the customer to come back for more. The suishi pizza is quite nice ;)

[express.items]

Ikura Sushi:

A very tiny restaurant, so tiny that I can literally smell the washrooms from across the restaurant. Gross.

Not much selection, sure it's cheaper, but who cares that it's $1 cheaper but you get far less selection.

Food is ok, very average - nothing that begs the customer to come back for more. The suishi pizza is quite nice ;)

Agreed.. small and not much cheaper.

Went there on Tuesday, was very quiet, service was slow, then when the sushi did come the rice was warm! Green Tea ice cream tasted "different" than other places and when ordered a Dragon Roll and a Spider Roll, we only got half of both! I would not go back and would rather pay the extra $1-2 and go to Wasabi

[Sting]

I passed by yesterday and it is no longer there.

[trueno92]

I passed by yesterday and it is no longer there.

thank god.

the miscommunication in this place was enough to make them train monkeys or learn sign-language.