Matsu Japanese and Thai

The place is beautiful but the food is not satisfying. I can only say both the place and the food have the «look»

I came here last Friday for lunch and I wish the experience was better.
The food here was meh. Salmon sushi wasn’t fresh and the tamago was ice cold. The maki was good, rolls were alright. Cooked food wasn’t all that great. The «satay» isn’t grilled — its steamed and has some satay sauce on top. The dumplings were odd for me. It has shitake mushrooms, wasn’t fried or pan fried — was steamed. The sauce wasn’t served separately, it was this pinkish vinegar poured on top. Although no one should be eating dim sum at a japanese all-​you-​can-​eat, but it was offered on the menu and it wasn’t all that great.
80% of our foods came, we would occasionally get doubles of something we didn’t order. Service was o-​k.
One thing I really disliked about this place is they charge you $ 2.00 per person for hot green tea. It wasn’t something they asked if you want, they just put it on the table and they charge you $ 2.00 per person.
All in all, I wouldn’t be returning to this place because this is probably one of the worst a-​y-​c-​e places I’ve tried.

My fiancé’s family and I came here for Christmas eve dinner!
We stuck to ordering mostly the Japanese stuff. My fiancé loved the udon and had a good 5 – 6 bowls himself. He also loved their special rolls (Matsu roll?) and downed 2 alone. I loved their seared white tuna fish sashimi and stayed away from most of the rolls. I didn’t want to overstuff myself with sushi rice! They also had dim sum. like warm egg custard buns (my fav) and shiu mai. For desserts, unlimited green tea and red bean ice cream for the win! Our party of 12 had at least 30 scoops all together. It didn’t take them too long to bring out the food and very accommodating to us continuously adding to our order.
Probably not worth it for its price especially since I filled myself with mostly ice cream. But a great place to take a large group to. especially for people who can’t decided on what to eat!

TERRIBLE SERVICE!!!
i went there on mother’s day, and i had the worst dinner there!
their servers were full of attitude and the food came out so slow
The worst part: the food was under average!
I will never go there again.

So, first of all, the lunch price is insane (in the really awesome way)… $ 12.99 for everything you want off of this menu:
.
They basically put an a la carte menu CHECKLIST at each table with a pencil and you check off everything you want. There is a large selection (especially for the price) of options in the following categories: appetizers, soup, dim sum, wok dishes, stir fries & noodles, curry and wraps, sushi, maki, «Chef’s Special» (salmon pizza, salmon & mango pizza, and unagi & avocado pizza), hand rolls and dessert.
Second of all, if you have to do buffet, this is the civilized way to do it. Waiter service. Love it.
YOU try to restrain yourself. It’s not easy.
What we ordered the first time I went with an overall thought or two for each:
Green tea — very nice. Only matched by the green tea at the Caesar Spa in the Days Hotel at Yonge & Carlton.
Spring rolls — YUM!!!
Yam tempura maki — a couple were slightly soggy, but A-​OK.
Avocado maki — avocado was a bit too far gone — too squishy.
Inari sushi — Yummers, though rice could have been stickier.
Edamame — unsalted and microwaved-​tasting. Gross.
Beef enoki rolls — OK.
Where they lost the stars:
SERVICE
— very friendly and energetic, unfortunately to a fault. Upon being seated, four different servers approached us and took our drink order. I was polite to the first one but COME ON. Three and four got a bit of my lip. Deservedly.
— the above experience was repeated each time I have visited (three times now).
— that said, I loved the enthusiasm and cheerfulness. You don’t see that much. It was a refreshing break in the middle of the day.
— the hot & sour and miso soups we ordered were served last… what?
— the above soup experience only happened the first time.
KITCHEN
— edamame was unsalted the first time, oversalted the second, unsalted the third…
— Miso soup is pretty flavourless.
— something is happening with the sushi rice. Are you making it ahead of time, perhaps? A bit too firm and not sticky enough… like trying to use long-​grain rice for sushi. It’s not good.
DRINKS
— awesome.
— mid-​day cocktails rule.
So, it’s not great, but it’s fine for what it is — better than a lot of downtown hole-​in-​the-​wall sushi joints!
Final note: Décor, serving ware and bathrooms all get A+ grades!

I went here on a Saturday afternoon for AYCE for a birthday party of 20. The restaurant was 60% at capacity.
Not the greatest AYCE! The food did not have flavor. Lack spices in curry. Sushi was okay, but minimum presentation.
Décor was modern and clean.
The service was slow and staff was unorganized. I lost my appetite because food came out slow. We placed multiple orders for items that did not come out.

I’ve been here twice. Once when they opened about 1.5 years ago and about 4 – 5 months ago. When they first opened, they were a-​la-​carte. My girlfriend’s food looked absolutely amazing and tasted good (the few bites I had). My food? I constantly had to remind them and then after almost 1.5 hours of waiting, I said forget it. Since they were just opening, I thought they would have improved the next time… boy was I wrong.
They were now AYCE, but it took over 1 hour to get our entrees and we had to constantly ask them. At the 45 minute mark, they said «we have a computer problem». Still, the food was good, but not worth the wait.
If they could serve food within 15 – 20 minutes like most normal restaurants, I would give them 4 stars, but the horrendous service downgrades it to two.

I went here today — Friday July 7^th, 2012 at lunch time.
It wasn’t very busy. When I first walked in, I loved the quietness. It was very spacious and had pretty décor. Chandaliers, mirrors, black carpet, decently comfy chairs. The ambiance was nice.
The lunch price was $ 12.99. With tax it came to around $ 15, which was cheap for AYCE.
The satay pad thai was nothing special, had the general taste to it.
The sushi was okay. There was a decently wide selection, even for a weekday. I had the red dragon roll, a mango and salmon handroll (which was actually tasty despite the weird combination) and a couple of plain salmon sushi. I enjoyed the salmon, the red dragon roll seemed slightly dry to me. The salmon sushi was fresh.
I only had one of the dimdums, which was the BBQ pork. It tasted normal, the meat inside wasn’t dark brown and gross, it was good.
Then I had two of the chicken dishes — spicy chicken and mango chicken. They tasted SO similar except for the sauce and the other ingredients in them. So they just use the same chicken with different sauce.
The thing that ruined our lunch was the curry. It tasted really gross and nearly made my companion throw up — yes, it was that bad. Don’t try the curry!
For dessert, we had the fried banana and also the free green tea/​mango/​strawberry/​vanilla ice cream. Same old flavours, nothing special.
Most of the food was similar to fast food. I would have to say the sushi was better than my expectations. I would say, for the price it was definitely worth it. It would have been a 4-​star review if it wasn’t for the curry.
It was nice that the waiters were quick, patient with us, and let us stay around to talk for a long time. It was a good experience.

Line up = 1.5 hours
First round of food = 15 minutes
Second round of food = 20 min
Third round = got up and left to Tim Horton’s because we were overly hungry
Bill paid = $ 60 for nothing.
If I could, I would rate it negative stars. not even 1.

Fancy chandaliers with a wine bar stocked with more selection than your average sushi AYCE restaurant. It does get busy around lunch time and lunch menu is quite extensive even at a price of $ 12.99 pp. Of course no sashimi, but I‘m glad it included the dragons rolls. The red dragon roll could‘ve brought this place up to a 4STAR if not for the chefs using smoked salmon instead of fresh.
Pad thai was a huge disappointment, especially if you‘ve had authentic ones that are just bursting with flavors of tangy, sweet and spicy. This was plain BLAAANDDD!!! I did not even touch it.
Their beef udon soup was yummy. I asked for spicy sauce on the side and that ended my meal. No ice cream for dessert included, just deep fried banana.
I loved the servers. Very upbeat and friendly. Service was fast.
The fried calamari was on the chewy side with not a lot of the salt and pepper “UMPH“ I was expecting.
I have yet to try their dinner selection so I will definitely be back.

I’ve been to Matsu few times since they started AYCE service in their restaurant since it’s near my home. Their sushi and rolls from AYCE are neither wonderful nor terrible (although they lay too much rice bed under the sashimi for sushi). Their appetizers, woks, and noodles are pretty much tastes similar to Chinese Take-​outs from food courts.
I would recommend Matsu when you are really hungry and craving for some rolls and sushi. Also, when they take AYCE orders, they miss one or two dishes from the orders, or hand out the dish to other tables.
However, I’m giving three stars because of their excellent service and manners from the manager and the rest of the service crew. Even when I frown and ask angrily for my missing orders, they smile and politely respond that they will re-​submit the order. They also try to be available for your needs. And this may be only reason I return to Matsu.
Their price is also very decent. Until March 31^st 2012, they have a promotion price for weekend AYCE — $ 14.99 for lunch.

Came here for lunch on a Wednesday afternoon. They jacked up the price because it was the holidays, even though Dec 28^th isnt really a holiday for many… so lunch was $ 15, but for a few dollars does a Unilocaler not deter… (I’ll admit, I tried to haggle the price down since the manager was Chinese and I was in an obnoxious mood, but to no avail).
Anyways, the food was… surprisingly good. The sushi and all the japanese food was average to below average (except for the Uni Pizza, which was pretty good– I usually despise Japanese «pizzas»… «)… teriyaki chicken was dry and the sauce couldn’t save it, sushi was average for an AYCE, rolls were average, but the Thai food was actually pretty good.
The curries was of the creamier variety, and served roti bread and fried fish (if you ordered the… fish). Thumb up.
The satay beef was really good. ThumbS up.
At this point, sadly, I had already gorged on average sushi and maki rolls, so I couldn’t try any more of the thai food. But I’ll be back to give it another try.
Dinner has a few more options. Notable MIA items from lunch were soft shell crab rolls and sashimi (which is the norm). I’m hoping for dinner they have some coconut shrimp or some other Thai options.
Comparable to Spoon & Fork from what I can tell. Though I’ll need to try dinner to make a fair comparison.
I’m only giving 3 stars because the *overall* quality is average, a few good items, a few bad. Plus I couldn’t haggle the manager, so thumbs down there ;)

Okay let me say the nice things first: Restaurant is nice and clean, menu selection is decent. They don’t have some items that I really love at Japanese AYCE places such as salmon belly, and steamed egg but they have most of the items you would expect. Now onto the not so nice stuff: The taste of the food itself is mediocre. Some items to note: sashimi was fresh, black pepper beef was a delicious surprise, rolls were below average, pineapple fried rice and pad thai was tasteless and a waste of belly space. Our party tried a lot of other items too but nothing really stood out. The service was good at first but then they disappeared for a long time and never brought some of our items. I don’t know what to say. It looks like the negatives outweigh the positives for this restaurant. $ 20.99 on weekdays and $ 25.99 on weekend.

I wanted to like this place so much. The décor is nice and the restaurant is clean — everything is pretty new.
The food is actually, chinese, japanese and thai. There is a lot of choice from what you want to pick since it is a sit down all you can order and eat meal. To be honest, the food isn’t the greatest at all. They oversauce a lot of items with high sodium sauces. For example, the teriyaki chicken is dry, but it has a lot of sauce to cover up the taste. Unfortunately, the best part of my meal was the mango ice cream and the green tea ice cream.
I think the owners hired their own personal friends in need of a job and not for experienced or skilled waitstaff help. Unfortunately, of the two times that I have gone there, both times the wait staff have trouble communicating with their customers since they don’t have very strong english skills at all.
Most recently when I went, we had to remind them three times to clear our plates (which add up in a table with the all you can eat dishes keep on coming). They forgot to bring us water and clean utensils when we asked them.
In our most recent dinner there, I witnessed an incident where this one waitress acted really unprofessionally have an emotional fit and was yelling to her waitstaff colleague in mandarin complaining about a group customers and their order. She had the outburst in front of a table of customers since she was frustrated by trying to place an order that they wanted. It was clear the breakdown in communication is a big part of the waitstaff problem, but it was really unprofessional of her to have an emotional outburst in front of the paying clientele like that.
For four people, (no drinks ordered) and including tip it was a bit over $ 100. Honestly, with the poor service and the not so great food, please save your money and go elsewhere. It wasn’t worth it to go to Matsu for dinner at all.
The night after that we went to Richtree markets, not far away from Matsu, for a birthday event for the same amount of people. We had a great time, got treated really well and we paid $ 75, including tip for the dinner.

This is now my favorite AYCE for sushi. They have a few rules such as no more than 3 orders of any one items… but they have a plethora of items. They feature more sashimi choices than any other restaurant so the ‘3 dish rule’ works out well.
This place labels itself Japanese and Thai… but its missing some key Thai items… those great salad rolls for example.
Their sushi is also excellent the presentation very good and unlike other AYCE sushi joint they bring everything you order. The only thing they failed to bring out was the salmon roe sashimi and they omitted to point out that they were out of it. I had to ask 3 times until someone spoke up.
Its certainly on a par if not a nudge ahead of my Sushi place of record: Maison du Japon.
Go enjoy go again.

Matsu now offers AYCE and a la carte. My Unilocal friend got all excited since it is AYCE and he can really stuff his face with food. and can eat all the ice cream he wants…
Lunch AYCE ($ 12.99) sounded awesome with this price, since the menu includes both Japanese and Thai food. But I found most of the food tasted bland especially the Thai food… and the sushi and sashimi were disappointed both in presentation and taste.
Dare I say, my maki rolls that I did at my sushi class looks so much better and taste better too??? I understand that the «sushi chefs» were all overwhelmed but when my rolls came out looks worse than what they have at T&T…
The only item we enjoyed the most are the ice cream… I felt so much better when I ate my 6 little scoops of ice cream even when I am coughing… cough. cough cough…

Oh my goodness! Talk about a great AYCE sushi restaurant. Everything that comes to the table is presented wonderfully. They even plated the squid and scallop as an amuse bouche. As well, the soft shell crab was cooked to perfection. I have to admit that I had to order the crab three more times. The décor is stunning. The staff is very knowledgeable. Leo, one of the waiters offered great suggestions, especially the ‘black pearl’ maki roll. You have to try it.
This place is owned by the same people as Ginza sushi on finch and on clark in Thornhill. They clearly know what they are doing.

I agree with Tony F. There seems to be a proliferation of Chinese people opening Japanese restaurants… and just throwing together some stir fried pad thai and thinking «Hm…this makes me a Thai restaurant too!» I call BS on that.
Ahem. That sounded bitter. Let me restart.
Walking in I was impressed with the décor. While there have been too too many Asian fusion restaurants lately, one of the positive by-​products is that, because they are competing against each other, many of them have really outdone themselves in the décor and ambience department. The restaurant really feels like the lobby of a 4-​star restaurant in terms of its ambience. 5 stars for its classic, elegant, but modern (trust me) décor alone.
The food, however, I find would be worth a 3-​star. My shrimp and vegetable tempura menu item was small, but that’s because I mistakenly ordered the side dish version, not the dinner version. I accept that this is my error and that I probably should’ve taken a closer look at the entire menu but even allowing for that, the portion was abysmally small for $ 7.95. The interesting thing is that the dinner version (with rice) was $ 8.95 as I belatedly discovered. This led me to think that the full version is just the same as what I had, but they give you a side order of white rice. If that’s the case, then good luck as the size is puny. You could literally hold the entire tempura set in the palm of your hand. That’s kinda sad.
That being said the other people at my table enjoyed their food. The tempura soba was lovely (the broth was very nice) and the chicken pad thai wasn’t the disaster I was afraid it may be. The waiter even offered to put the sauce on the side when we expressed concern about ketchup-​y pad thais.
So…math time! If the food is 3 stars, and the ambience is 5 stars, and food and ambience carries equal weight, what’s the overall rating? Hint: Look above.
PS: LOVE the private glass-​encased dining area. Gotta try that next time.

It’s an interesting mix: Japanese and Thai… But I really didn’t enjoy my food at Matsu. I may have been spoiled with the good food that I’ve had at AME and at other Japanese restaurants, but this place just wasn’t up to my standards.
We ordered the tuna tartar, and I wasn’t very happy with the presentation. Just looked ilke a haphazard in a cup. It was okay — but not worh the amount that we had paid for.
I had the black miso cod bento box. It came with maki rolls, sushi, two fried dumpligns, the black cod, rice, etc. The sushi was good, but I didn’t like how there were the dumplings (just seemed to generic and lazy) and the black cod wasn’t good at all. I ended up having a rash after eating it.
I’m sure the sushi is great at Matsu, but for now, I’m not very impressed.

Domo arigato mister Roboto
Thank you very much, Mr. Roboto
Until the day (we) meet again
Thank you very much, Mr. Roboto
I want to know your secret
Japanese Thai!!! Not sure that’s the best way to market themselves. They should really go with «Pan Asian» which is the category I’ve coined for that of Salad King, Mr. Thai, and Spring Rolls. Every Chinese person who opens up one of these restaurants thinks they can cut fish and make pad thai, so why not do both since they make so much money?
Now having said that, I’m a fan of affordable Pan Asian food, just like I’m a fan of HK Café and Chinese people’s take on European western food (some kind of red or white sauce on pasta = western food), it’s the equivalent of Man Chu Wok and the Mandarin I guess, but then again, that’s Chinese people’s take on what they think Westerners like for Chinese food. It’s all quite confusing.
Anyways, Matsu is located in the same plaza as Wonder Phở and the Piazzaolo, and on the same block as the new Galleria. Recently opened, it still smells like a brand new place. So far, I’m a huge fan of the décor and lovely design. Dark woods, variety of seating styles from tables to booths to even a glass encased room for one large table.
The food is what you’d expect. The «Thai» food essentially is some kind of saucy food on rice or vermicelli. Today I got the mango chicken, which was fairly on point. The Lunch special comes with a spring roll and a Tom Yum soup which was a bit sour for my taste for $ 10. My buddy for a Salmon Bento box, and it looked fairly decent, but if nothing to unremarkable. Service was decent, again nothing of note.
All in all, I’m happy this neck of the woods finally has a pan-​asian place, and it’s a bonus it looks very nice on the inside.
So. Thank you very much-​o, Mr. Roboto.
Kilroy.