Kaka All You Can Eat

Always full as they offer torched and pressed sushi for ayce. Has a good variety of sushi but a lot of their item are only available for weekends and stuff runs out quick! On the pricy side especially if food item runs out!

By far the best AYCE sushi the partner and I have ever dined at. Usually, at AYCE sushi joints, you get hurried service, the rolls are messy, and ingredients are of lower quality — but Kaka beats that stereotype. There are many a la carte sushi eateries that couldn’t compete with the quality at Kaka.
The service is so attentive — even though we didn’t have a reservation, the host managed to find us a table. All the food was brought to our table mere minutes after we ordered it. The tempura wasn’t oily. The rolls were well assembled and had superior ingredients. I LOVED the torched sushi — never had it before but I am 100% a fan! All the desserts were delicious.
A few tips:
–order multiple portions of a dish — when they say 1 order, they literally mean 1 roll or 1 tempura
–make reservations, they are literally booked weeks or months in advance
I thought we were crazy driving all the way from Toronto to come check out this sushi place, but I’m so glad we did!

I can see the appeal of this place. It is one of the few places that offers Aburi-​style sushi at an all you can eat place. But at the end of the day I wasn’t too impressed with the food.
Staff: The staff were very attentive, they came by often to clear the plates and the food came quick as well. You order off of a tablet, which I always prefer because often at times when you order with pen and paper something seems to always been «forgotten».
Ambience: It’s got a modern vibe going for itself. The dark furniture and bright lights was comfortable enough. My party was seated on the side so there was cushioned seats which were nice.
Food: Although they boast a wide selection they were also limited in other ways. For example they didn’t have Amaebi (Sweet Shrimp) but they had Oshizushi (Pressed Sushi). They had Ganache Squares for dessert but they didn’t have Mango Pudding. Now, I’m definitely up for new foods, but this place lacked refinement. The Deep Fried Scallops had holes poked through all of them (possible for faster cooking?), the Ramen Soup dishes came with a lack of meat/​toppings, the Rolls were inconsistent with the sizes, etc.
I will say that this place is a great option for All You Can Eat since this is the only AYCE place I know that has Aburi-​style sushi. Unfortunately, like many other AYCE places, I would come here for the quantity rather than quality.
My final points: if you don’t care for Aburi-​style sushi, the heftier price tag may be a deterrent for you, and you’re definitely going to need to try and make a reservation or else they may turn you away.

Finally came here, this small and constantly booked up AYCA Japanese. I must admit the atmosphere was nice and cozy. The staff was generally courteous. But if you don’t have reservations during the peak hours, forget it! You will have to wait an hour plus.
They have a wide variety of hot and cold foods and the quality was generally okay. And with the iPad ordering system, the food came really fast! Within minutes of ordering. However, I have to say that ordering actually took up a lot of my time vs. eating. They had good ribs, the chicken wings were a bit small and the flavours a bit odd. The pork skewers were really fatty. The tempura batter was a bit thick. But the sashimi and sushi were really good. They have the pressed sushi that looked really good but I wasn’t too impressed with after trying. It fell apart easily and the tastes didn’t go well together. The torched sushi were pretty good, the flames I guess gave it additional flavours. They have a variety of special rolls that are creative and definitely worth a try. Although it would be nice if they came with a description it was hard to tell which roll had what in it. I know most people don’t have the noodles and rice but I think the fried udon and the fried rice were pretty tasty.
Overall the food was pretty good for an ayce place. Especially the sushi and rolls. The dessert were really good as well although all varieties weren’t available when we were there perhaps it’s cause it was a weekday. And the service was superb, they brought our food quickly and got tea for us all the time! Just be aware it’s on the pricier side but I will definitely be back.

Seeing so many reviews and having asked people if they all have had tried out this place yet, I finally got the chance to try it out for myself. I have to say I really appreciate the effort and replication of the oshi & aburi torched sushi that everyone has been raving about. Being able to live out in BC for awhile i’ve gotten the opportunity to try many sushi places there where they have aburi& oshi torched sushi.
Even though over there its a common thing its new on the east coast because no place really offers this type of sushi except for Miku. But having said that, not everyone will be going to Miku and spending lots of money everytime to just get torched sushi. This place is probably the best for AYCE in terms of getting aburi and oshi sushi. Though the quality is not there unlike places that I have tried but it’s very good for a AYCE. Kaka is a good place for AYCE specialty sushi.
The menu I personally found is quite average in terms of the items they offer when compared to other AYCE sushi places. Alot of the same fish, rolls, handrolls and etc that you would find at other places. Again, I like the effort they put in to do the oshi and aburi’s in such a quick turnaround to give to their customers.
Unfortunately I wish their lunch price on the weekend was cheaper it was $ 27 which was the same as the dinner price. Usually isn’t lunch normally cheaper? Overall, not bad but menu is nothing too special except for the special sushi.

Have heard a lot about this premium ayce place, so finally gathered up a group to come try the place.
To call and make reservations for this place is horrendous. First time we called and was on hold for 15 minutes and had to hang up to get back to work. Second time was for 20 minutes to finally get a spot! The only one left was 9pm saturday. I’ve seen a lot of people complaining about the reservation process, I think they need to change something.
We got there around 8:45 as they were clearing a whole bunch of tables at once to seat the 9:00 seating.
They seated everybody and cleared everybody that was waiting in the front, those who didn’t have reservations had to leave because there were no extra tables available.
Once seated we were given an iPad, and told how to do the ordering, and were told there would be a platter of special sushi.
When the special sushi arrived, we had 5 people. Some have 5 pieces some had 4. I had to ask the waitress if we were supposed to get 5 pieces each, and she counted in front of me and asked what I am talking about. Then she realized there were 2 pieces missing and said she will ask the chef to make another 2.
The spring egg is pretty good, the tempura vegetable and shrimp were nice and hot. The pork belly skewer were dry and not very good. The skewers in general were nothing special.
The box sushi and torched sushi were good. Just stick with these. The seared beef roll and sushi were our favourites.
By 10pm they came by and told us this is last call. We just got to eat 1 hour and they told us one more order then our iPad would be taken away. I asked if this includes desserts because I didn’t want my ice cream melting, they said yes. So we had to order everything and have it just sitting on the tables. I looked around and everybody had their tables packed with food.
Their slushies were pretty good. But didn’t get to try some desserts on their menu. We would order them, then ask after they didn’t come. And was told they don’t have any.
I know we had our reservations very late, but definitely didn’t appreciate paying $ 40.00 a person including tax and tip, and eating an hour then being rushed out.
Another thing mentioned by someone on Unilocal,their spoons don’t reach to the bottom of their desserts for slush and yogurts. Need slightly bigger shot glasses.
Not sure if I’d come back, maybe for a 7pm dinner hour.
3 stars for the food (unique torched sushi and pressed sushi)

Busy as always, when you call, they don’t pick up and their voice mail is always full. My friend had to drop by to make a reservation the week before. On a Friday, they only had 9:30pm slot available for 6 and when we arrived, we STILL had to wait 20mins… This was back in December.
At that point I was literally about to implode… Don’t mess with a hungry woman. As soon as they called us up, the waitresses were so apologetic, polite and nice that I couldn’t stay angry. I was caught by surprise as I’m so used to pretentious or over-​worked-​hate-​my-​job/​life waitresses in ayce sushi restaurants.
I admit I may be partially biased because I was starving then. But it was honestly one of the best AYCE sushi places I’ve been to in Toronto. I don’t mind paying the higher than average cost for the quality since it’s a rare occasion when I gorge myself in AYCE. Even though the selection wasn’t massive, they had unique sushi and dishes that set them self apart from any other AYCE. Many of the sushi you can order 1 or 2 pieces from what I recall, so it’s great for small groups to try a variety from their menu. We went all out on the ipad ordering food and they did not miss one item. *claps
Must Try
— Their specialty sushi only available on the weekend (1pc per customer), which is the middle pic in the collage — The waitress would come out with this set first without you even ordering which is the best when you’re super hungry and can’t wait. The best on the menu and sets off the whole experience
— Torched sushi
— Pressed sushi
— They had a variety of dessert choices — I tried one each but some of the choices ran out at our time like the parfait and ganache squares. My fav besides the ice cream = crème brûlée — all flavours, mango lychee slush
— beef tataki
— spring egg (I didn’t get to try but my friend said it was really good)
*Note — Sashimi selection is limited. They don’t have butterfish, the tuna also is a bit mushy but the salmon was fresh. Their quality sushi, kitchen food and dessert really make up for it.

Oh my gosh, I am in love with this place.
It’s not the regular sushi that I care about, but the addicting torched and pressed sushi. Torched sushi is quite self explanatory — the fish atop a bed of rice is light torched/​seared. he pressed sushi, however, consists of 2 layers each of rice, fish and sauce, pressed and cut into bite size pieces. I usually need quite some time between AYCE sushi sessions, but I will crave Kaka’s sushi the next day. Then there’s dessert, consisting of the regular ice cream offerings, along with chocolate cream pots, mango slushes and crazy good crème brûlée. *drool*

Went here for Lunch on a Sunday. The place was packed so service was a little slow.
I was pretty impressed by this ayce place. The quality of fish and aburi were so good, especially for an aburi lover like me. However, I think they need more fish selection. This sets some other ayce places apart like Matsuda, which has amaebi and ika sashimi, or Sushi Legend, which has scallop sashimi.
There were other items that are unique to this place as well that other ayce doesn’t serve, which is a win, like the lamb skewer, ox toungue, mango slushie.
Unfortunately, when we went, some desserts were not available. We were able to order it thru the system. It was taking so long that we followed up with the server. Server claimed it was not served for lunch even though it wasn’t stated in the menu that it was for dinner only (which was clearly stated on some items).

Aburi sushi.
The Japanese term for blowtorched sushi that so many have raved and raved about this place. Does it meet the mark? Is it all that it’s cracked up to be? Or is it just another AYCE westernized sushi joint?
It comes close, but no cigar.
Situated next to where the much loved Congee Wong (now Chef Wong) once stood at First Markham Place, (and the site of an armed robbery once where cash was once king — no really, look it up it happened) Kaka is the new hot eatery where reservations are a must days if not weeks in advanced for large parties. Come here on any given evening including weekdays and you’ll find a long line of patrons eagerly waiting their turn to try this place out.
Myself and 2 other companions were such people. We came without a reservation, a moment of spontaneity to try our luck.
After 30 quick minutes, we were seated at the sushi bar. Our waitress ever so friendly with a smile promptly took our drink orders and handed us an iPad and in clear English, explained to us how the ordering system works. So far so good!
Your typical sushi buffet choices are all there, from cooked food stuffs to sushi rolls, sashimi, including yellowfin tuna that is becoming something of a rare offering at most AYCE places these days. Not surprising as the world’s supply of tuna is rather becoming scarce these days due to overfishing.
Our first round consisted of a plethora of sashimi and sushi rolls, seaweed salad and miso soups and of course, the much talked about aburi sushi, the salmon, tuna and beef carpaccio style aburi. One quick perusal of the dining room and we saw the tables were all full, with a legion forming at the waiting area. Business is booming at Kaka!
Within 5 minutes our orders started trickling in. The staff hard at work behind the sushi bar counter, 4 sushi chefs manufacturing sashimi and rolls like their lives depended on it.
I must say — the sashimi were quite good, cut not too thinly and not too thick at the same time. The salmon and California rolls were done to par, the sushi rice were prepared just right with the proper amount of vinegar and molded into just the right sized rolls that you could fit into your mouth with just one bite.
Finally, after a few more dishes — the first or 3 aburi sushi arrived. First observation, it was quite small than what I’m used to seeing at higher end sushi restaurants. Second, the charred torching was done perfectly, and it looked delicious. The only other fault I could find was that the rice fell apart the moment you picked it up with your chopsticks. A sign of rush preparation as the rice is not suppose to be that fragile to the touch. A minor gripe; we can all look beyond that as it’s already amazing that a buffet is offering aburi sushi.
For the value, Kaka offers a decent alternative to the bustling traditional Chinese fare ever so abundant at First Markham Place. Overall, in a region full of sushi buffets, Kaka is definitely up there in quality and the fast service. Not one order was missed; a testament at the efficiency of the kitchen and the servers. Often, at other sushi buffets, orders mysteriously never come to fruition. Not here at Kaka.
I’d recommend this place to others without hesitation, Kaka despite the complaints from others about the reservation mishaps, or the long lines — is place worth waiting at least 30 minutes for and worth trying at least once.
It will be worth noting to see how this place does a few months to a year from now, will the quality stay up there or slip downward like so many other sushi buffets in the area? Only time will tell.
For now, hurry and check out Kaka where high quality fish and fast efficient service is the norm! It’s no JaBistro or Sushi Kaji, but it’ll satisfy sushi lovers everywhere — if you can get a table that is!
Cheers!

Lunch a la carte review
Was here on a weekday around 1 for lunch, the restaurant was quite empty at this hour which was great. The servers were very attentive and also had great smiles which is unexpected from sushi restaurants uptown. Definitely made the experience more enjoyable.
From the rave with the torch sushi, of course we had to get the torched sushi combo ($ 18) and we also wanted to try the grilled salmon teriyaki bento ($ 13). The portion for the bento was quite generous and was the perfect amount for 2 people. Came with standard soup and salad. We also got a choice of dessert that day I believe because to make up for not offering the AYCE meal, which was a bonus for us as we had intended for the a la carte option anyway. The torched sushi is a must try! Definitely something different and worth the hype. The salmon bento was also great as well, salmon was not dry and tempura was not overly covered by tempura batter. A little steep in terms of price for lunch if you want a taste of torched sushi, but if you are looking to indulge– this is one of the places to go.

I actually booked a table 1 month in advance even though we ate on a Monday. I read somewhere online that the place is always packed so it’s better to be on the safe side… even if it’s super early lols. Because this is an AYCE restaurant I will summarize my visit into the good and bad. Let’s keep it simple.
Pros:
— Pretty good service for an AYCE restaurant (i.e. checked on us a few times, gave us 10% discount for birthday, and provided extra napkins without asking)
— Good variety
— Tablet for ordering which is good because you can see the photos
— Comfortable seating
— Food is served immediately
— Very few items were missed (this happens a lot in other restaurants)
Cons:
— Pricey
— Tables are wobbly LOL
— The teapot is big (which is good because we don’t need to do as much refills) but the tea gets cold near the end
— The dessert spoon doesn’t fit into their tiny glass jars LOL (if you try to eat the pudding, you actually can’t get to the bottom of it)
I want to point out that this restaurant specializes in making delicious sushi (how ironic) but most AYCE restaurants cannot pump out quality sushi that quickly. I love the torched sushi — this is something I will come back for. I think their grilled dishes are average at best but I generally think this restaurant has good service which trumps a lot of other places.

I love their torched sushi here! I’ve been here twice and i really have no complaints except sometimes their service can get really slow. This place is great, the seating area have pillows. very comfy!
Their chicken wings app is pretty tasty, best one I’ve tasted from all other AYCE sushi places although they cut it in half and ration their wings. We usually order the baked oyster, takoyaki, chicken kaarage, braised pork belly, shrimp tempura, beef ribs, and garlic shrimp. All very good!
Their pressed sushi, torched sushi, and sashimi are the main reason we came back. First off, their torched and pressed sushi are 1 per order which is great. Other places give you 5 pieces per order. This 1 per order method is fast, the customer can try a lot and none goes to waste. I would skip the typical making rolls such as dynamite, sushi roll and so on… it’s nothing special and you can get them anywhere, but incase you do order them it’s 3 pieces/​order. The torched sushi are my fave! It has a smokey flavour that compliments the protein and the sauce. Sashimi is fresh no complaints.
You have to order all of their dessert, I have a sweet tooth but their desserts are not your typical AYCE sushi desserts. My favourite is the mango passion fruit. And it’s also worth mentioning that they have an ipad menu, you also don’t have to wait for the waitress to confirm since it’s 1 per order.
One of my favourite sushi AYCE

I don’t know where to begin praising this place. Nice décor, great service, amazing food,…
We came here for on a Saturday for lunch. AYCE lunch on the weekends is 27.99, which I think is very good for the quality. Every dish was so tasteful and triggered different taste buds. They are fast and bring the food one by one so you won’t get overwhelmed with the amount of food on your table. Beef sashimi and torched sushis where the highlight of our lunch. Deserts were also fantastic. They come in tiny portions so you can order a couple. I’m sure I gained 4 pounds after this meal YOLO

Came back for a weekend lunch, $ 27. Still a fan of their food overall. Just one disappointment of their spring egg as it came as room temperature.
Their service has improved a lot since my last visit. The servers are more welcoming. The manager there, Irene, was very professional and friendly. She heard that we are celebrating a birthday and gave one person 10% off. It is just something nice that I would like to point out and thank them for doing so.
I will come back again whenever I feel like some sushi. To be honest, any other a la cart resto would cost more than $ 27 for the amount/​quality of food.

My husband and I can never eat sushi the same way again after having smoked/​torched sushi in Japan. Smoke/​torch the whole menu please! When we learned that there is an ayce in GTA that offers unlimited smoked/​torched sushi, we knew we had to make a reservation asap!
However, soon we were greeted by disappointment after learning the available selections upon seating. There were only 3 types of torched sushi available (salmon, tuna, and beef). In addition, many of the menu items were not available surprisingly on a Friday night (so much to charging full price).
Back to the torched sushi — one would expect far greater «smoked» flavor from appearance. Compared to the ones we had in Japan, the smoked flavor was almost nonexistent. They were also served cold? Perhaps the smoked flavor had long escaped from sitting on the counter for way too long before being served.
The specialty sushi all tasted the same since they were all pretty much doused with the same spicy mayo or sweet soy/​eel sauce. Thankfully they only came in two pieces. Everything else we had was pretty standard and forgettable. Appetizers — I do recommend takoyaki, fried quail, and spring egg.
Overall — I would save my money to go to a la carte restaurant and get authentic smoked/​torched sushi.

We came for sunday lunch and were very very lucky to get a seat. The restaurant was packed and I could see reservations were constantly being called in and declined because of lack of availability. My first suggestion is if you plan to eat here, book a reservation way ahead of time.
The food for the lunch menu, quality was very good, particularly the torched salmon nigiri. Definitely had umami. They had beef tataki too which I love. There were lots of hot foods, the beef ribs in particular are so juicy and tender. There was lots of nigiri for lunch which was nice. Lots and lots of very interesting maki. The hand rolls could use a better distribution of fish though, at the very bottom it is just rice which is a little disappointing to eat. The desserts were very exciting and enjoyable, particularly the lychee slush.
I read all the reviews about their «kaka» service and had to say I was pleasantly surprised by their service. While not amazing, they were very accommodating considering we were a walk-​in, we were not made to wait more than 5 minutes as they shuffled around their reserved seating arrangement to make room for the two of us. None of our orders were missed (I tracked it). Though with a small table we were feeling a bit cramped, we didn’t have room for a tea pot so inevitably our tea cups were always empty and flagging down a waitress for tea was a bit of a pain.
While on the ledge of whether to give this place a 3 star or a 4 star, the price is what ultimately brought this down from the 4 star mark. While food and selection was good, quality was there, service was okay, the price was more than the pretty penny I believed I should have been spending, especially at lunch. With tax and tip included, I was looking at a $ 35 lunch per person. But I suppose with it’s popularity it makes sense that they can charge that price, and will continue to charge that price, but for me, that kind of puts it off my books. Won’t come again unless it’s someone else planning dinner.

This review is way overdue. I came to Kaka on 3 separate occasions already and on my first visit, I was super impressed with the quality of food they offer in an All You Can Eat (AYCE) Japanese environment. I came here once on weekday dinner and twice during the weekend for dinner. Weekend dinner is more expensive, however, they do give you a plate of Chef Specials which contains 4 kinds of sushi from Chef’s choice. Each kind has one piece per person at your table.
I think what makes Kaka really stands out from all the other AYCE Japanese places is they serve a fusion sushi call the Aburi sushi, which sushi with seared (blow-​torched) fish on top. I am always impress with blow-​torched (Aburi) sushi because the minor seared brings out the oil within the fish, and with nice pairing sauce, it taste that much more unique and better than your regular sushi (nigiri). This AYCE makes their aburi sushi pretty good so it’s a MUST order!
In terms of other sushi beside their aburi (blow-​torched), they are just regular and nothing too special. They do taste decent though. Their sashimi is also very fresh and is thick cut, which is a plus for a AYCE place as well!
Hot food, I highly recommend the Carbonara, it is SOO good! Sauce and pasta are both fantastic! Other hot food i would recommend is their fried scallops and garlic shrimp.
Desserts, similar to Ten-​ichi, this place has a LOT of variety, I do not have anything particular i really like in the dessert menu because I am always super full by the time i get to this section of the menu. But if you got room left, go with the two crème brûlée they offer, both are well done.
For an AYCE Japanese restaurant, this one is all the way up there as top in Toronto. Only downfall is, this place is fully book ALL the time, if you got a large group (4 or more), you better book 3 weeks in advance (YES THREE WEEKS!).

I came back because I am a believer in second chances. We all make mistakes. The point in life is to learn from them and to make things better.
Kaka did all of that and even more. This time things went perfectly. Food came out on time. All my ordered items showed up. There were no missing items. Service was very warm and friendly. They actually talked to me and were so polite.
The whole atmosphere was night and day compared to my first visit. I could feel things have improved and the staff changed for the better. The food is solid and the selection is varied. I would recommend people give this place a second try if your first experience wasn’t perfect.
The management here clearly is listening to its audience and will get it right!
Thank you Kaka for a lovely dinner! 5 stars *****

Wanted to make reservations so I called in today but nobody bothered to pick up. I was put on hold for over 15 minutes so I just hung up. Very disappointed.
I came here once during the summer and really enjoyed the food but they really need to improve their customer service.
I’m not sure if the line was just busy or something but having to wait so long just to call in for reservations is just ridiculous.
I’m so sad now ;-;
UPDATE!
So half an hour after I posted this, KaKa messaged me and apologized and the manager personally helped me make my reservations!
When I arrived the manager personally came to the restaurant to apologize even though it was her day off!
Irene is super sincere and she explained that there are hundreds of calls everyday and that they try their best to accommodate. I really appreciate her coming on her day off just to make sure all her customers are happy. She takes her customers very seriously so I truly appreciate it!