Sushi is probably something that I need at least once a week.  I love it.  Its quick, inexpensive, I never feel ridiculously full and I get my intake of fish which is not always my go to meal choice.  I finally got a chance to go to the newly opened Saku Sushi on Queen Street which I had heard some great things about from friends and also saw listed on blogTO’s “Top 10 new sushi restaurants” list.  The reviews that I was coming across were also highly favorable so was excited to check it out and potentially have a new “go-to” spot.

When you walk inside there is a large bar to your immediate right with a back lit wall and plenty of seating.  On this particular night almost every seat at the bar was taken.  There are  few booths to the left and then longer tables and booths to the back which are on a slightly raised level. The décor is definitely a little more high end compared to other more casual sushi spots which I like especially if you’re out on the town on a Friday or Saturday.

We had a reservation so were seated immediately in one of the booths at the back.  The restaurant was definitely busy but not any busier than what would be expected at 8PM on a Saturday.  Here’s where things started to get a little sour.  Once seated, it took almost 10-15 minutes for someone to even acknowledge us.  We took advantage of the time and decided on our drinks and even our food. Finally about 20 minutes we got the water we had been asking for but no one took our order.  We kept looking longingly towards any wait staff that would walk by and then finally someone took our food and drink order.  Our food arrived in a pretty timely fashion but oops, turns out they forgot about our drinks.  The order hadn’t even been put through to the bar.  So 45 minutes into our meal we had most of our food and water.  Our drinks did eventually arrive and they were okay.

The bright side?  The food was delicious.  Not only was it very pretty to look at but it was fresh, very unique in terms of the ingredients and style and the pieces were very decent in size.  On the chopping block for the evening:

The Boston Special Roll – prawn tempura, avocado and deep fried fish
The Ocean Dream – tuna, avocado, cucumber, salmon, green onion
Torched BC Tuna Pressed Sushi

The Ocean Dream looked beautiful and my buddy mentioned it tasted super fresh.  Definitely one of the lighter rolls to choose from.

The Boston roll was good but I probably wouldn’t order it again.  The composition was delicious but REALLY filling because of the deep fried fish on the top. Out of the 8 pieces I probably ate 4 of them fully, 2 without the deep fried fish on the top and then left two behind.  Again, delicious but not one I would necessarily come back to.

Overall, the place was cool and food was delicious.  They did only just open in November so I want to be able to give them the benefit of the doubt that they are working through some kinks.  The reviews on Yelp are pretty much all stellar so I would be willing to give them another chance.

Discover SAKU:
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/SakuToronto
Instagram:  @sakutoronto
$ – about $30 for our food and a drink each