Kabuki Sushi Lounge

Hmm… I really wanted to like this place! But, their sushi was ok, the service was ok. It really wasn’t anything special. The décor was really nice though, and I find their price was too high for what they are offering, although the restaurant is at Shops and Don Mills, so I guess they were trying to match all the other restaurants.
I really don’t have anything good/​bad to say about this place, it’s very ordinary, nothing special. I had the spicy salmon sashimi ($ 9) and my husband had the sushi salmon lover ($ 16) combo. Good thing I wasn’t really hungry — the portions were pretty small!
They also charge for tea. I really hate when japanese restaurants charge you for tea. Our server must the owner of the place, I find her trying way too hard to get us to love her. Oh and when I just ordered the appetizer because I really wasn’t hungry her reaction — «oh? just the appetizer? You sure? Just the appetizer?» YES woman, just the damn appetizer.
I don’t think I would come back here, it was just ok.

Shinjuku was excellent. The salmon rolls were average. The modern rolls are worth the price.

I’m writing this after my second dining experience here. I found it to be really over priced for what it is. I’m pretty certain the over priced menu items are to pay for the décor and ambiance.
The sashimi is average, not particularly great considering the prices. The miso black cod was pretty good and likely the only thing I would order again. Their cocktails are very creative but a bit over priced I found. The waitress really pushed for drink orders and more then once, I found that annoying especially since no one wants to drink and drive.
The waitress came by very often, it felt like she was trying to rush us through our meal and I didn’t appreciate that very much. She was also very insistent that we order more alcohol beverages instead of accepting ‘no thanks’ as the answer.
I would much rather go across the street to Joey’s for their rainbow roll I think. They’re not as pushy and not as expensive.

Didn’t really like this restaurant when it was at Bayview Village, except for the fact that if I felt like Japanese, that would be the place to go. Now, the same has happened to Shops on Don Mills. If you feel like Japanese within this compound, then this is it.
Having said that, it’s an ok place for sushi. It’s got your usual sushi and sashimi, and those specialty rolls with crazy sauces. It’s got the fried stuff, and noodles and rice. Service can be a hit or miss. One time, my parents and I went on a Wednesday night early on, and we had a great waitress. Pan to a Saturday night, our waitress (not the same one), continually forgot my drink orders, had to ask for chopsticks three times, and was no where to be found. Reservations are a must as it was packed, packed.
I find that the Management chintzed out on waiters for a busy Saturday night just to save money (?) By the way, it’s not that cheap. Unless you order a glass of their house wine, a glass of wine will set you back $ 16 or $ 18 for an 8oz. That pricing is reserved for Four Seasons dining, thank you very much.
Go if you must, and for convenience of location, but really, there are so many other better Japanese restaurants, if that’s what you’re feeling like.

Lunch menu Chirashi $ 16.00! I said to myself, this must be good for that price. I always order this dish in other high rated restaurants for lunch. So I know how this should be prepared and presented.
Here’s what you will get at Kabuki! A bowl of sushi rice about ¾ full of their serving bowl. Then here’s the pathetic looking Chirashi where the 5 slices of sashimi is arranged in a pinwheel on top of the rice. One paper thin slice of salmon, one slice of white fish, one shrimp, one surf clam, one slice of fake crab, bunch of ginger, a lot of wasabi as if I have a lot of sashimi to dip into. Insane! And you get a bowl of salty miso soup!
Honestly, do you expect me to finish this huge bowl of sushi rice with 5 slices of sashimi??? It’s not worth coming here. Save your money.
If there is such a thing as negative star, that’s how Kabuki should be rated.
The way sashimi are sliced tells all! This is not an authentic Japanese food.

*I was quite surprised to see how spacious and elegant the restaurant was. Simple and unique décor made this a welcoming environment without being too formal or pretentious.
*The price is definitely pricey even for just the regular Japanese food, but I supposed it’s explainable by the surrounding restaurants in Shop at Don Mills.
*The service was average and I wasn’t too happy to see the host (or manager) spent all her time at this one table — which I assume it’s her friends — and ignored us until we asked for the bill.
–Oyster Special — $ 16/​dozen:
The oysters were good but I much prefer the juicy and sweet kinds which I think are P.E.I oysters? I’m no expert so I can’t tell where these are from by the looks of it haha. Also you can’t call this an oyster night at all lol Each oyster was approx $ 1.3/each, that ain’t a deal.
–Chicken Katsu don — $ 13
it was good, but not spectacular. To be honest I might be a bit bias here because I never liked chicken katsu don (shocking I know). I mean you get ²⁄₃ of rice and ¹⁄₃ of meat & egg, it just not something I would gravitate toward to because there’s too much carb. With that said, I appreciate that Kabuki also offers a brown rice and white meat options along with a vegetarian alternative as well.
–Shinjuku roll (avocado, oshinko, rice crispy, topped with torched white tuna, cheese, spicy mayo, unagi sauce) — $ 17
Since the tuna was blow torched, it brought out the flavorful oils to the surface of the fish and creating a slightly smoky flavor. The oshinko (Japanese pickled radish) was quite a nice addition to help cut through the fattiness from the fish and cheese sauce, and the rice crispy gave some crunch with every bites. Not sure what kind of cheese they used, but looked like those processed cheese wrapped in plastic tbh.

Entrance:
The entrance is a bit awkward. If there is a lot if people coming and going it could get messy.
Food:
They have a lunch menu as well as the regular menu. I had the agedashe tofu app. It was okay. Hard to really mess up deep fried tofu. It was presented nicely was missing the garlic chips the menu described it as having.
I also got the spicy lady bug roll. Of course i had to get it, sounded tasty and neat. I think the lady bug part was salmon covering the top of the roll with tiny piles of green fish roe. Not very lady bug looking but close. I was a bit concerned about the spicy part, but no worries, they forgot to put the spicy part in. The neat part is, the centre is tempura mini corn. It is a really nice flavour. Hear that other Japanese restaurants, mini corn tempura… Make it so!
My friend got chicken teriyaki, white meat with brown rice. She practically licked the plate clean so yeah I guess she loved it. You can not tell from the pictures but there is a lot of chunky vegetables under the chicken.
The restaurant was good. I will probably be back. The food was good, the prices a touch highish. They forgot ingredients but the food was tasty. Service was very attentive.

Dinner was great. The food was fresh and tasty. Service was fast and friendly. I would come back. ;) They also have 4 big screen tv’s and we watched the Jays play! The only con is that I wish the rice was served hotter and they brought us bowls instead of plates, otherwise it was very good.

Went for a date night with the girlfriend as we used to go to the kabuki restaurant at Bayview village, and loved it. We used to like to get the teriyaki chicken bento box.
We were totally surprised walking in. Has free valet parking outside and cool modern décor inside. At the recommendation of the waitress we tried the lobster chipotle role. It was very good, and my girlfriend said it was the best roll we ordered.
Unfortunately this is where the praise for this restaurant ends. We ordered the teriyaki chicken main, but ended up sending it back as it was very dry and did not have a lot of flavour. For $ 18 I would have expected more.
Both my girlfriend agreed that most of what we ordered ended up being very bland. And not worth the price asked. In review while the décor was nice the food is not worth the prices being asked for sushi.
My girlfriend and I spent over $ 100 for our meal when we could have gone to any number of all you can eat sushi restaurants and spent $ 80 and felt we got better bang for buck.
Will not be recommending this restaurant. But willing to try again if changes are made to the menu.

I don’t usually write Unilocal reviews, however, with the service my friends and I received last night, I knew I needed to write something on Unilocal to help others reconsider this restaurant option and save 3 hours of their life. I would give 2 stars for the food, and –1 stars for the service. I had made reservations under my name for 20 people 1 MONTH in advance prior to coming into the restaurant. This was supposed to be a special event to celebrate a 25^th birthday. It was SPECIAL alright… eSPECIALly BAD. The experience was so bad. I’m laughing to myself in bewilderment.
Once everyone was seated we asked for water for the entire table. Things got off to a bad start when it took 15 minutes for the water to even arrive at the table. We we looked around to see why the service was so slow, we noticed that there was only 1 waitress and 1 manager (KIM), to service the entire restaurant. The restaurant was understaffed in the customer service front and the restaurant was only 40% full. I’d say that our 20 person table was 30% of the restaurant and the 10% Caucasians. (I’ll get to the Caucasian vs everyone else part later).
What made our party so upset is that:
a) Reservations were made 1 month in advance. So they should be prepared right? WRONG!
They knew 20 people were coming in to their NEW restaurant, so they had more than enough time to be ready. I had specified with Jason (manager) that it was a special event as it was for a 25^th birthday celebration and he told me he would be there to make sure it was «the best”. Well, it was ”the best”…at making us HANGRY. The manager Kim at that time said that one of the staff called in sick. If they call in sick, a simple fix is to get another waitress to come in. They knew that 20 people were coming in. This isn’t the first time that they have used that ‘excuse’ — please refer to Kimmie L’s review. I feel the exact same way, and then some. If it has happened before, don’t let it happen again. They had more than enough time to prepare. Kim (manager) could have managed the situation better. If she had explained to us that the service would be slower than usual because they were short handed and apologized or even manage the situation before it became a big one, we might have been okay. As a manager, if something isn’t going well, communication is key. She failed to acknowledge the slow service when a few members of the party commented that service was extremely slow, and did not apologize for the slow service. Everything was so slow, including the getting the bill. Don’t they want $?
b) Food took forever to come, but not if you’re Caucasian
It took 90 minutes for all the food to come out. We arrived at the restaurant at 6:30, placed orders at 7 pm and received foot at 8:30 pm. The restaurant was 40% full at the time. I don’t know how long this restaurant will survive if they don’t change up their customer service and management. We came to eat, not to be starved.
I agree with Kimmie L’s post that «The owner and the servers really cater to non-​Asian customers. My boyfriend and I are Asian and we received not any of the the treatment that other customers had received around us. When others received dishes slowly, they were notified that someone called in sick and they will be served shortly.»
Although we were seated first and ordered first, we could see KIM (manager) cater to non-​Asian customers. As a few non-​asian customers came in after us, they received service immediately and received their food before our party even though we had ordered first. They received such quick service that they were able to order, eat and settle the bill before we could even receive our food. I get that this area has a lot of Non-​Asian customers, and maybe Kabuki caters to them, but good service is key to running a restaurant and it was extremely obvious in how they went about things. Since we were waiting for our food, our entire table was able to watch Caucasian tables come and go. 5 tables were served and customers had left before we had received our food. That is not acceptable. Not once were we asked if we were doing okay.
c) The water had some «white stuff» in it.
We received water with some «white stuff» in it. It was opaque with a sticky gooey consistency. A part of me wants to say it looks like it came from a male sex organ, however it could be really gooey rice or some sort of tissue paper (like when you throw toilet paper into the bowl). Whatever it is… WHY IS IT IN THE WATER? When we showed the waitress, she said it was the dishwasher. Which didn’t make sense because if that ‘white stuff’ was left from the dishwasher, wouldn’t she see it when she poured water into the cup? There was obvious amounts of the mysterious white stuff in the water. Watch out for the fertile waters next time if you go!
We will never come back to Kabuki. Please share this review to save your friends and family. Your time is valuable and precious.

This review is based on lunch experience at Kabuki Sushi Lounge. I rated this based on comparable lunch experience and price point for other Japanese restaurant’s lunch offerings.
I like the décor of Kabuki as a lounge. I can imagine myself having a drink and munch on some Japanese tapas dish or sushi?! Oyster specials?! That sure sounded good! And opens late so I can pop by after movie at VIP theater in the same shopping area.
Lunch Chirashi ($ 16) was so so though. Fish is not the freshest and still ok. Nothing I would rush back or recommend that to my friends as a must try.
+5 star for having bottles from Collective Arts Brewing available and the drink menu is interesting.
Service was attentive.
Not a bad choice for lunch if you are shopping at The Shops at Don Mills.

There is not a better place for sushi, tempura and deep fried banana in town. Just perfect. Atmosphere, food, price, service.. Amazing! I strongly recommend this place. (And no, I’m not a relative or friend of the owner)

So I just left the restaurant just now and i needed to write a review as fast as possible. This restaurant does not live up to the name. The sushi is made very foolishly and clumsy our spider maki fell apart at the seams. Also the service is a huge thing for me. As formerly being in the customer service industry for sometime, I have to say the customer service is horrible. It is super slow. The owner and the servers really cater to non-​Asian customers. My boyfriend and I are Asian and we received not any of the the treatment that other customers had received around us. When others received dishes slowly, they were notified that someone called in sick and they will be served shortly. While we were sitting there… No one was serving us or talked to us at all. Even I saw the owner give business cards to non-​Asian customers and did not even receive a glimpse of a look to see if we are okay.
Especially if we are getting a 10 piece sashimi 6 pieces of sushi, one roll and one appetizer for $ 105… And my boyfriend went specifically for oysters and were sold out… The service was horrible, the food was mediocre.
I would never go back and I am so furious I had to write as soon as we walked out the door. I wanted to write this review for my own conscience to let others know of this experience. Completely we are disappointed.

The sushi was okay but I definitely thought the dishes were a bit pricey for what it was. Given the location and the atmosphere I can understand, but I think they need to do something to posh up the experience for it to be worth it. You know how places give you little snacks on the house, edamame, apps, something! Or maybe spruce up the place, to make it more hipster or more «lounge». Frankly just looks like regular restaurant. Need to compete with the neighboring Joeys, Bier Markt.
I was told it was oyster night. I mean the oysters were good but didn’t seem like it was a good enough deal to be called oyster night (1.25−2.5 each). I ordered the Shinjuku roll ($ 17), the presentation was great. I like the torched tuna, the burnt flavour was good but the sauce didn’t bring out the flavour and bring together all the ingredients. I thought the crispness of the japanese radish was okay but there was way too many in there. The addition of the rice crisps was quite creative but I liked the usual tempera bits more. I don’t even want to talk about the cheese… cheese whiz? processed? Dunno when I started being a cheese snob. Overall I thought the roll is different and creative but it didn’t hit it for me and definitely not worth the 17!
I agree that they really tried to be creative with their dishes, perhaps I didn’t pick the right ones. This place might need another try before I give up on it. The washrooms were nice and the service was great, that’s probably what’s keeping them afloat! Oh and if you want to watch sports they have four large TVs.

Had initially come down to Shops at Don Mills to hit up another restaurant, but it was like an hour wait so we walked over to Kabuki. I’ve got to say, the overall experience was quite good!
First off, the décor was elegant. Simple ambiance paired with unique pieces made this a welcoming environment without being too formal or pretentious. With 4 televisions, 3 were playing the hockey game while 1 played non-​stop animé! (Which is cool!) Lol.
Had to wait a little while at the front before we got seated as they didn’t seem to have a host, but were quickly seated when someone finally came by. We decided on drinks (Sake Sangria, Sake Bellini, & Chinatown Cold Tea) and dove right into the menu. The drinks were all quite tasty and very different as they were interesting takes on already popular drinks with the addition of sake. With an already wide variety and array of unique Japanese dishes, from sushi and sashimi to hot dishes and noodles, the inclusion of the daily menu will keep you coming back for more.
I ordered the Bluefin Tuna Sashimi off the daily menu and Curry Katsu with Pork. My friends got the Snow Ocean Crab Salad and Chirashi.
Bluefin was amazing, as it was super fresh, sweet and flavourful, and melted in your mouth! A bit pricey at $ 18 for 3 pieces, but worth it if you really enjoy high quality fish!
The Curry Katsu was a nice big portion, with lots of rice. Could be a bit spicier as it was a bit lacking in that respect, but a good whole flavour to the curry.
The Crab Salad was very fresh at a nice portion and the Chirashi was quite good with lots of variety in sashimi.
Overall a nice night out, albeit a bit pricey. Definitely a nice addition to the Shops at Don Mills and worth trying to get the unique dishes that many other Japanese restaurants don’t have. Will definitely have to come back some time to try some other things!

Located across the way from BierMrkt at shops of Don Mills. Any time I go to a new Japanese restaurant I go with the chirashi ($ 16) to get a good feel for the freshness of the fish.
The verdict is the fish is decent, I have had better, unfortunately in a crowded sushi market they dont do enough to have me come back on a regular basis. My friend had the chicken udon and said that was much better so I will come back one more time and give that a shot to see if that changes my mind.

Expensive but worth its price. All the food is light — but filling. Definitely recommend the SHINJUKU MAKI (Avocado, Oshinko, Rice Crispy, Ginger, Cucumber, Habanero Cheese, housemade Unagi sauce, topped with blowtorched White Tuna) which is a wonderful modern take on the traditional maki. The SPICY TUNA SALAD is not your traditional salad at all! Instead, it comes wrapped in paper thin cucumber slices that are bursting with spicy tuna on the inside.
They also offer specialty sashimi that changes daily from Thursday to Sunday. Their sashimi is flown from Japan and the selection changes with the «catch of the day» in Japan. We also got an order of that and it was very interesting to taste the unique fish! The sashimi was served on top of an ice bowl.
Their drinks are nothing short of unique! Try the Chinamen Cold Tea which is a must for beer drinkers or their San Fransokyo, a tangy sweet cocktail.
Like your traditional Japanese food? Have no fear, they also serve traditional food if you prefer to keep it simple. Would return back but not it is not my go-​to place just because of the price. It is a very nice treat and a wonderful addition into the Shops at Don Mills plaza!

This restaurant is located at the Shops at Don Mills; a blooming area. My friend told me about this restaurant and I took it upon myself to try it because #ILOVESUSHI ! The menu is vegetarian, gluten free and health/​diet watcher friendly. There are symbols which indicates to you which items are vegetarian or low carbs etc. One of my friends was not eating meat for religious reasons that month so this was very useful to us.
Now time for the food break down:
[x] Shinjuku roll — this roll was topped with torched white tuna and had drizzles of unagi sauce. It was crispy and delicous!
⁵⁄₅
[x] Assorted Sashimi platter — i’ve got to say, it was the freshest fish i’ve ever eaten; served beautifully on a block of ice which keeps the fish nice and cool. A must order. ⁵⁄₅
[x] Drinks: Sake Bellini and Chinatown cold tea. I definitely recommend trying one of these drinks. ⁵⁄₅
we ordered some other dishes which were great but these were my favourite. Ill definitely be back to try more and update my review.
The atmosphere is very clean and modern. The most intriguing part was that aside from sport channels, they had animé playing on one of their tvs LOL.
As for service, our server was very professional and polite. Excellent all around.
I hope I’m not being too generous but I had a great time and I believe it deserves my 5 star review.

Visited on a Wednesday evening. We were there from 5:30 — 9pm, and there were only two other tables the entire evening. It is a relatively new restaurant so it will hopefully get busier soon.
We ordered a bunch of appetizers, rolls, and the black cod to share. Wish they had spaced out the timing of the food — everything came out minutes apart. Portions were big, but quality was similar to an AYCE joint. The salmon tataki salad came with cheap lettuce on the bottom, which didn’t go very well with the dish. Black cod was a tad overdone and wasn’t as buttery as I would have liked. Ran out of uni which was pretty disappointing. I equate the authenticity of a sushi restaurant with their quality and availability of uni.
The décor was pretty casual. I had expected something a bit more fancy given the location and the «sushi lounge» name. They had the unisex single stall washrooms which were clean and modern — likely because of the light traffic of the restaurant.
Service was good — our server was friendly and attentive. Food was reasonably priced for the portions and location, but food left something to be desired.

The $ 14 curry chicken ramen is below grade. The ramen texture can not compare to any authentic Japanese ramen restaurants in downtown Toronto.
The $ 45 YoYoGi Sushi & Sashimi, 10 pcs assorted sushi, 10 pcs assorted sashimi is not worth it. The salmon, tuna, hamachi & octopus sashimi’s quality are just ok. The only good quality is the kazunoko saba sashimi.
The $ 11 Chipotle Karage — fries chicken bites is over priced and the chicken bites are too soft and greasy.
Customer services and interior design are good.
I found the food prices are over priced, I think the Canadian dollar decline may have an affect on the food pricing.