Little Tokyo Sushi
726 Kingston Rd
Pickering, Ontario
Cuisine(s): Japanese, sushi
Date visited: April 2010
So after a late lunch at Belaggios Gelato nearby and hitting up Pickering TC for a movie, our dinner menu was open for something new. Our usual sushi place was a bit away and we didn't want AYCE so we decided to try Little Tokyo Sushi
Food: 3.75/5
Every time we eat sushi, spicy salmon maki roll is a must. We pretty much base our entire rating around it. Biased much? Probably, but that's how we roll. We started off with green tea and edamame - it came out hot but with too much salt for our liking. The spicy salmon roll was spicy - done well but I wasn't impressed with the lack of salmon in the roll. I'm also a fan of having a layer of rice on the outside. Spider roll and Skydome roll (shrimp tempura with the usual cucumber, avocado, tobiko, etc) were tasty but the end pieces were a bit sloppily put together.
Service: 3.5/5
When we came in, we were directed to a specific booth, not "sit anywhere you like". Our hostess/waitress was nice but had a hint of snobbishness. We didn't asked about drinks while looking thru the menu - I'm used to drinking green tea while looking it over. Small oversight I suppose. Our appetizer and sushi rolls came quite quickly (there was maybe 1 or 2 other couples in the place too). She topped off tea and checked on us frequently at first, but it fell off the cliff in the last 15-20 minutes. We ran out of tea and because we were seated in a booth with tall wooden walls we couldn't gesture to her without practically walking out of the booth (which is what I did).
Atmosphere: 4/5
The place was clean, with a nice japanese look to it. Booths hugged the walls on two sides and had the usual display of fish with the "sushi-maker" person in view. The booth was nice, and we got a cute little soya sauce dripper. The only problem is that the booth is so enclosed that your view of the outside is limited. When we ran out of tea, the lady was talking amongst others not in plain view, and I had to stick my head out of the booth to get her attention. Had service been a bit better I might not have ranted about the booths.
Price/Value: 4/5
Edamame was well priced at $3.50. 6 spicy salmon rolls were a bit pricey at $5.95 but the specialty rolls were expected: ~$9-10 for spider and skydome rolls. Food was good with exception of the spicy salmon roll.
Overall dining experience: 3.5/5
Although the food was good, I was a bit disappointed with the service. That, combined with our make-or-break opinion of the spicy salmon. I might come back for take-out, but I don't think we'll return for another dine-in experience.
