SushiTrain

man – i was excited to go to this place – a conveyor belt sushi bar (kaiten-sushi)!  Toronto finally has an establishment which took over other parts of the world in the 90s…

Well unfortunately in this case, late is definitely last…i gotta say – this place is pretty bad.  first to start off with, the atmosphere was lacking – with the AM-radio sounding music playing in the background, barren walls with too little on them to claim to be designed but at the same time too much on them to be able to claim they are going for minimalistic, and bright lights giving the impression of being in a food court and unnecessarily highlighting the cheap looking tiling – actually highlighting the overall cheap-looking decor in general…the overall ambiance just looked like it was a bad knock off of a great idea – instead of being a showcase of Toronto restaurants competing on the world stage, this place emboldens the critics saying that Toronto is just trying to be lesser NYC.

but despite this, i could overlook all of that if the sushi was good enough to rave about…

well they came up short on that front too.  the basic deal is this, plates of varying colours ride along on the conveyor belt (at an unbelievably slow pace…) – depending upon the colour of the plate, you get charged a different price.  as to be expected, the cheaper dishes were basic with anything with any actual fish in them in the top two price tiers.  This is where the disappointment really sets in.  The top price plate is around $6 – and you get plate of a rainbow roll for example.  But look closely! the plate only has three pieces – half a roll – so in fact for a whole roll, you’d be paying $12!  That price would place it at the higher end of sushi restaurants in Toronto – did the actual quality compare? not even close! the fish was rubbery – one piece almost had the texture of a piece of fat that you sometimes find on a steak… yeah, not the freshest tasting food… the rice lacked stickiness so that the roll fell apart when you picked it up, and the overall taste was lacking.  I would actually say this is one of the worst sushi places I’ve been to – well with the exception of the service– I do have to commend them on that.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough for me to want to come back…

btw – if you’re adventurous and are still willing to try this place, you may have difficulty finding it… it’s the on the west side of Yonge, a couple blocks below Bloor.  Look for the place with the neon sign which is illegible…