Mikasa Sushi Bar

Went here 3 nights in a row because the food was THAT good! Each plate is unique and beautifully presently. Service is great too. Would definitely eat here at least once a week if I could! My go to Montréal sushi restaurant.
P. S. I know they were renovating the building Mikasa was in from May 2014… Not 100% sure if/​when Mikasa will be reopening :(

This restaurant has gained my first5 star review. I am not too picky but I felt there was always something missing in the other places I reviewed before.
This more of a high-​end restaurant serving Japanese food. I could easily tell there sushi is fresh. I loved their Cali and the salmon tartar rolls. There sushi rolls are huge and quite filling too so be carefully when you are ordering.
They also serve wines and alcoholic beverages. I had a glass of their house white wine, it was good.
Finally, the service was excellent by all means. Friendly staff, did not have to wait long till the waitress came to take our order. She was so polite and we’ll groomed. It took less than 10 mins for the food to arrive.
Definitely going there again.

I was not impressed with Mikasa. I eat a lot of sushi and know what is good and what is not. I came for a weekday lunch here and found that the sashimi was not fresh whatsoever. I had a variety of 3 or 4 kinds of fish, so it wasn’t just the one type. The service was good, but not stellar and the prices were somewhat high. I was really impressed with the miso soup and cucumber rolls as well as the overall presentation of the food. Definitely not the worst meal of my life, but I left paranoid that I would get food poisoning from old fish.

Loved this Japanese restaurant — this was a recommendation from friends who live here and I’m so glad they took us here.
3 of us decided to venture here on a Saturday night without reservations, and we got a nice private window seat. Menu’s here are extensive and you order all variety if rolls on paper. We also ordered two large bottles of hot sake which went down oh so nicely (and on a cold day, there was nothing better than having warm sake settle into our tummies).
My favorite roll was definitely the friend eel — the rice was so fluffy and soft that it felt like I was eating Marshmallows. I like my Japanese rice soft and sticky so this was perfect for me! Plus, this dish came with the best dipping sauce ever. We also ordered several other rolls (fried crab, tempura roll, vegetable roll) and all were really delish. This restaurant is perfect for groups as all the dishes are entirely shareable, and yummy!
Service was excellent — our waiter was attentive when required and explained each dish to us.
If you’re ever in this area, and feel like Sushi, I highly recommend Mikasa! It has everything going for it!

What a disappointment. I walk past Mikasa almost every day and was looking forward to trying it based on the reviews here. For a high-​end sushi establishment in the middle of the city, I expected much better in terms of quality and presentation, both of which were just average. The sashimi looked like it had been sliced by a three year old, the nigiri pieces were big and clunky, and the fried roll tasted like it had been sitting there for a while. Better luck at one of those hit or miss places on St-​Catherine. At least they will under-​promise and over-​deliver, instead of the other way around.

I was never into sushi, until a few years ago I was introduced to mikasa it was a whole different level. The taste was great, I finally acquired the taste for sushi. If your a first timer eating sushi, Mikasa is great place to start.

Excellent Sushi !
Spent the weekend in Montréal, and decided to give this place a try; we were not disappointed.
The staff was friendly and knowledgable, and the food was fantastic. I actually felt bad eating it, because it was so expertly displayed.
The Anaconda Roll and Spicy Tuna Tempura are must haves !

In Montréal this week for a show at the Bell Centre, we hadn’t had sushi in a while so as this place was close and the reviews generally good, we decided to try it out.
The restaurant is nice. The décor is nice, and it is a pretty large place.
On a Tuesday night, it was quiet though. Even by the time we left (7pm) there weren’t many tables occupied.
Food:
Rating a restaurant always comes down to the food though and for us, with all the different sushi restaurants we have been to, I can’t say I was overly impressed.
This isn’t to say it was bad, it was just unremarkable. We tried one of their house specialty rolls and shared the chef’s sushi for two (their ‘love boat’) and nothing really stood out while we ate that was ‘oh soo good’. Maybe our choices weren’t the best, I don’t know.
Price:
In terms of price, the sushi combo wasn’t bad at $ 62 for two people but their prices for rolls is a little on the high side for what you get (some as high as $ 18 which really shouldn’t be more than $ 10-​$ 12).
I can’t say that I would go back as I would want to try the other sushi places downtown first. But if you were close by and didn’t have the time to go to another one, you can still try it out.
I’ll give them 3 stars but in terms of a rating, I’d put them at ‘I’ve experienced better’.

We had the Vegetable Tempura and you only get five to six pieces for $ 5 but it was fresh, delicious and the Tempura sauce was the best I’ve ever had.
For the main course we both had Teriyaki I had the salmon and my wife had chicken. They were served on a sizzling platter on a bed of bean sprouts/​vegetable with a bowl of rice on the side. The portions of chicken and salmon were quite large and cooked to perfection with just the right amount of Teriyaki sauce.
I originally said the ambiance was stuffy and corporate but it changed as the restaurant became busier.
The service was great. Our server spoke three different languages and was great with us and other patrons.

Excellent place! Chao at the bar made great recommendations… Fantasy Roll followed by the Anaconda Roll… Out if this world taste. Will make this one a regular place for dinner!

Je né suis pas un super fan des sushis, mais je dois dire que je me suis régalé au Mikasa. Belle présentation des plats, service impeccable. Plus cher que la moyenne, mais vaut la différence. De la qualité et de la classe, quoi!

Almost perfect!
The establishment itself is clean, modern and spacious enough to hold a good amount of tables — I can’t imagine it would be too hard to get a table in the evening (I visited on a Saturday night).
The staff are extremely friendly and attentive — topping up my glass with cold ice water whenever it was required. I also witnessed them helping several people with their first sushi experiences.
The atmosphere was calm but moody, though the music selection was a little off — RnB, really?.
Though I soloed my first experience, Mikasa seemed good for a quiet meal with friends (I will be returning again). It’s not the kinda place I would suggest for a first date though — the tables are rather close ;)
I started off with several pieces of sushi, each at $ 5.75 a pop. Some of the best sushi I’ve had — certainly better than anything I had in the UK.
I then hit up the ala carte menu. The sake based sauce on the salmon was a little thin, but that didn’t effect the taste, which was okay, but nothing spectacular.
The servings of sake were provided in generous proportions and got me a little drunker than I was prepared for.
A great place, that I recommend to any sushi lovers, though I would suggest taking a seat at the bar, ordering a bottle of sake and eating enough sushi to make your wallet hurt :)

Une grande liste de cocktails et de sushis absolument délectables. Quoi demander de mieux pour une soirée entre fille à jaser, se raconter des histoires de derniers mois et rattrapper le temps perdu? Pas grand chose!
J’y suis allée avec une copine puisque notre premier choix était trop rempli et j’en suis ressortie contente que le destin nous ait forcé à changer d’endroit. Le Mikasa a une bonne ambiance à la fois intime et «lounge.» Tous ça est balancé parfaitement pour faire de se resto un très bon endroit pour un cocktail entre filles qui ont beaucoup de jasette, ou bien un souper entre amoureux (dont on était entourées de tous les côtés!)
Les sushis que j’ai essayé, le Crunchy et le Tentation, étaient un peu dispendieux ($ 16 et $ 17) mais à la quantité de caviar, de thon, de crevettes que j’avais, je né peux vraiment pas me plaindre. Mon cocktail, le Pink Paradise, était fruité (ananas, coconut) sans être trop sucré. C’était la même chose pour le cocktail bleu fluorescent qui avait l’air d’un Kool-​Aid mais qui goûtait complètement différent.

Really original and delicious sushi. I was blown away by all the delicious and imaginative flavors and textures. Definitely not your average sushi bar. Highly recommended!!!

As only the second restaurant I’ve seen that serves spicy tuna on tempura Oba leaves, I had to give Mikasa a try. The interior is neon chic, with almost a Hollywood-​Hills domicile-​blurring distinction between the interior and terrace. Service was friendly and, how shall I say: reservedly inquisitive?
The dishes were expertly prepared (sashimi was sliced and curled perfectly, rolls were uniformly sliced to CNC specs, plating was artistic and balanced), but a complete lack of spice in the spicy tuna was a disappointment and the tempura Oba leaves had that slightly soggy texture tempura gets when it’s been left out too long (or worse, been placed in a refrigerator).
Overall it was still a good experience, but even though I dined alone I was left feeling like I’d gone on a date with a very beautiful model who talked about her looks the whole time.

One of the greatest sushi place I’ve been to. Great service as well, the server was very helpful as my girlfriend is a beginner in sushi, he was on par with everything.
The food was delicious, clean, fresh and had great presentation. It is on the pricey side of the sushi life but it’s worth it if your going to fine dine for the night.

BEST SUSHI I’VE EVER HAD!
I have been to many sushi places around the world and this one was the best… so far. (never stop searching! *smile*) Mikasa offers original sushi creations, whose presentation is the only rival to their palette pleasure. Rather than a boring salad starter, we opted for mango, strawberry spring rolls wrapped in leafy greens, which were sweetly satisfying. Even their SEAWEED SALAD featured a lively honey dressing in a spicy base. The breaded sashimi dish was memorably tasty and the tempura was not greasy at all.
The sushi costs a little more than what you can buy at the mall, but you DO get what you pay for. The Sushi Chefs, 2 of which were female, drive their innovative ideas into creative presentations that leave you wanting more. Everything is made to order, so the quality is super fresh. The arrival of the 6 different platters was pleasantly unhurried, bringing the 4 of us only 1 plate at a time. Many sushi restaurants in the US that bring all your plates at once and try to push you out the door. Mikasa is a true gem worth digging for in Montréal.
TIP: Ask your waitress to point out the most popular rolls on their «favorites menu».

Great quality sushi, good location, a bit pricey, but worth it!
While the menu seems to be over populated by huge, presentation oriented rolls, one can still lean on the true measure of a real sushi restaurant, FISH and RICE.
I will happily return to this restaurant on a weekly basis for their tuna, salmon, and hotate (scallop) in it’s most simple form served on rice. The miso soup leaves something to be desired, but only falls short in comparison to the fish itself.
The staff behind the sushi bar are great and welcome a Japanese phrase if you know any. Very friendly atmosphere, great for a quick bite or a nice dinner.

I have to say that my review is tainted by my daughter being robbed inside of this supposedly «upscale» sushi place. We were the first people in that evening. You start talking to the waiter about being on vacation and the next thing you know a single man is seated behind my daughter and unzips her purse stealing her wallet and camera. He sat there for about 20 minutes and the waitress never checked back with him. Hmm. Luckily he didn’t get much for his efforts. The other strange thing is that the staff said this is apparently not uncommon in this restaurant.
There are plenty of other better places to eat in Montréal.

Très bonne place où la nourriture est excellente, le service irréprochable et très convivial aussi, on nous a offert des shooters de saké en fin de soirée car nous étions les derniers. Il y a aussi une petite salle privée pour des réservations spéciales. Le cuisinier prépare les sushis derrière son bar et on peut profiter du spectacle. Tout est beau! Faites flamber la CB ça vaut la peine!

We were downtown running errands when a sushi craving hit, and ended up at Mikasa. The atmosphere is quiet and relaxing, at least on a Tuesday night. We were tired and felt lazy about choosing individual rolls, so we ordered the «Love Boat» for two, the chef’s choice of sushi. It took some time to arrive, but we watched the chefs make it, so at least we knew everything was freshly made.
Our sushi arrived on a large wooden platter in the shape of a boat — cute. At first I was disappointed that there was more sushi and sashimi than rolls. But then I tried it — all the ingredients, fish and rice, were very fresh and full of flavour. Very good stuff. The service was friendly and attentive. We washed everything down with half a bottle of Orvieto (Italian), which was inexpensive and served its purpose. I would definitely return next time I’m downtown looking for sushi.

I was trying to find a Japanese restaurant nearby where we were and found this place via Google Maps (the Unilocal app for the BlackBerry is horrible). Since it had so many good reviews I was looking forward to this place.
The décor is nice with its blue lighting, white linen covered tables and the servers were all very friendly. Food came out very slowly even though the place didn’t seem that busy though there was a large group that sat shortly after us.
We ordered a number of rolls which were all good but didn’t think it was anything spectacular or very different from other sushi restaurants that I’ve tried.
One roll worth nothing is the Sobaten (8 pieces) — this one was interesting. It’s a maki roll of Soba noodles, grilled eel & Japanese oba leaves. I found the noodles made the roll mushy and didn’t enjoy the oba leaves very much. It was interesting and glad I tried it but wouldn’t order it again.
This place is good to try once but that’s about it.

Does a sushi restaurant have to be run by Japanese professionals to be considered genuine? Most would say no (many great sushi restaurants in California are run by Koreans), but in the case of my first visit to Mikasa, it was comforting to hear the staccato syllables of Japanese between the crew behind the sushi bar. The serving staff are young, personable, professional, knowledgeable, and fully trilingual (at least!). A lot off attention is given to the customer.
The food is certainly adequate given the raw materials which can be accessed in Montréal at this time of year. There is a shift to please the local palate (more fried items), but a lot of care is given to the presentation of the maki and special rolls. I didn’t have any sake, so I can’t judge their drink menu.
One element that is clearly a plus is the sex ratio behind the sushi bar (okay, I wasn’t looking for a legitimate use of the word «sex» in a food review but here goes!). Sushi chefdom seems to be a male dominated career, but at Mikasa tonight, there were three lovely and capable young women deftly wielding razor sharp blades, with the smiling senior chef from Hokkaido, humming along cheerily to the Musak piped in continuously over the speakers, making it a friendly crew of four. Thanks for the tip on sushi knife sharpening!