Yuzu Izakaya

Great izakaya option in the neighbourhood of Yonge and Finch, it has good ambience but without the usual izakaya loud welcoming crowd of waiters and waitress.
Open concept design where you can see the chef’s action. Spacious, good layout to host party, tables in between has a bamboo curtain which can be rolled down to provide privacy for your group.
This izakaya offers daily specials along with a good variety of japanese food choices in it’s izakaya style menu. Appetizers, salad, skewers, udon, donburi, fried food, oden, grilled fish, you name it. Thursday specials include very fresh beach angel live oyster from BC one dozen for $ 33, big, creamy and briny, 20% off sapporo frozen beer.
Cute Korean speaking server, very friendly, attentive, polite and know the drink menu well which is a plus. Good portion and the flavor is there along with a reasonable price. On a side note, karrage is a no no.
comparing to the nearby izakaya Tsuki or Nome, Yuzu provides less nosiy dinning environment, better location and friendly service. Overall a 3.5 stars

Cute Japanese izakaya! :)
I tried the frozen beer foam drink here. I didn’t like the foam part but my boyfriend does — it’s really cute for pictures though! Service was excellent — our waitress checked on us in good intervals and she was very friendly.
TAKOWASA
I’m so happy with the amount of seaweed that comes with this dish. Usually I run out of seaweed before I finish up the takos. Yummy!
SALMON + NATTO
I love natto so I loved this dish! It’s an acquired taste so not many people can take the flavour. Very yummy — great textures within the mix (and more seaweed comes with it: D)
SPICY SCALLOP ROLL
It smells so good! Very delicious — not spicy to a point that you need to drink something. Just right!
TEMPURA UDON
I like how the udon is still chewy and not mushy. Not a big fan of tempura but my boyfriend said it was very good.
GINDARA
(Grilled black cod fish)
Marinated very well — loved this! So sweet and the portions were perfect.

This izakaya is blesssssss. The food here is just so much better then some of the other izakaya. The salads are bomb and I’m a carnivore so to order salad is quite different for me!
My gf and I have tried a lot of the items on the menu and the salad is still so bomb compared to the others. Don’t get me wrong the other items are really good, but the salad is amazing. I tried something new and it comes with unagi + avocado on top of stir fried veggies. I love eel and avocado so had to give it a shot. It’s quite nice, but definitely an appetizer plate not dinner :(. The seating can hold roughly 60 people I think? Not a bad limit, but some seats are tucked away and hard for the waitresses to see your hand.
Definitely a must try if you in yonge and finch area! Also quite accessible since finch station is there plus there is parking spots in the back!

The restaurant is now called ‘Hashi Izakaya’- same amazing food, menu, and service!

When I arrived, I wasn’t sure if this was the yuzu izakaya resto I saw on Unilocal,but it seemed like there was no other izakaya nearby. Its called hashi izakaya. Food was fresh and delicious. Dishes are sized for sharing. Expect to spend about 20 to 25 $ per person if you want to try a variety of things. I found the ambience casual, relaxing. Music in the background was still kind of loud for my liking. It was hard to hear what people in my table were saying. Servers spoke great English and were able to help explain to us what each dish was all about.

This place is very similar to Guu, except a lot less crazy. The staff was friendly and you’re still greeted in Japanese when you walk in or out of the restaurant. The main waiter was very friendly and even showed me what things looked like on Wikipedia when I had questions about some menu items!
The food itself was good, I especially liked the salmon sashimi. I also tried the Tempura Shrimp Udon, and it definitely had a lot more than just tempura shrimp. It basically contained every edible sea creature out there.
There were a lot of menu options that I didn’t get a chance to try, but I can see many of them being great choices.

Food was delicious, but there wasn’t enough non-​fish options. Atmosphere was a little loud, but otherwise it was enjoyable.

We really liked this place. In fact, we’ll probably go here a lot more than Guu in future… its a lot closer to us, and also much better value (portion sizes are significantly bigger). Food taste great as well. And as others said, the noise levels are not crazy high.
Recommendations:
–Butter Squid: delicious.
–Okonoiyaki (pancake): this also was really good. In fact, this would have to be one of my favorites so far.
–Sashimi platter: I thought the quality was good
The skewers for the most part were tasty, and good value. However I wasn’t a fan of the steak ones… I felt that the meat wasn’t very tender.
I’d recommend avoiding the karaage (fried chicken). It wasn’t good at all. A little dry.
Very close to Finch Station
Accepts Credit Card
Will definitely return

This place is now called Hashi Izakaya!
Finally, an izakaya that I can walk to from home! The ambiance is dim and usually not too busy or loud. When you walk in and leave the restaurant, you are greeted in Japanese. Staff is knowledgeable and attentive. Food is very flavourful and great portions. The pricing is about the same as any other izakaya, but the portions make is more worth it to come here! It’s about $ 25-​$ 30 per person (without drinks), and we were both very full afterwards.
Only thing is that their rolls were drenched in mayo, so if you’re not into that sort of thing, try to avoid ordering the special rolls.
I’ve been here twice for dinner. I’ve ordered the Eel with rice, dynamite roll, grilled octopus, sashimi, yakiudon, sashimi salad, ebi mayo (shrimp) and they were all very tasty. I will be coming here again this weekend and I can’t wait!

If you order the right thing, you will love this place.
The atmosphere is great here. It is like a bar, but not too loud like GUU. So you can actually have a conversation with frds here.
Foods is good if you order the right thing. Personally, I recommend below:
–butter squid
–Ebi Mayo: Their Ebi Mayo is a bit spicy
–Oden: this is a awesome dish for winter time. Portion is big and soup base is awesome
–Skewers: I like the pork one and the bacon one
However, if you go on weekends, it will be very pack. Thus, make sure you go early. Also the food comes very slow during weekends. We waited for at least 30mins for our first dish (Even sashimi came very slow).
Other than that, it is a great place to go at north York.

I’ve been to Yuzu a few times now and can say that it’s a good choice for North Toronto. Of course, it’s not Guu by any stretch of the imagination but I will settle for this if I am ever feeling an izakaya craving and don’t want to trek downtown.
The ambiance is dark and very bar-​like. There is a bit of bar seating but tons of tables so you’ll definitely get a seat no matter what day/​time it is — even on weekends! The service is attentive as they try to be with limited staff and are quick to apologize if your soy sauce pitcher is empty or if they forgot to bring you something.
So far my favourites are:
— Sashimi platter — This dish comes in 3 sizes depending on how big your party is. It’s assorted so you always get a good mix of various kinds of fish, even if you order the smallest platter. The fish has always been delicious and I really like the mix of seared or seaweed wrapped sashimi along side the usual salmon and tuna.
— Okonomiyaki (without toppings) — Delicious! But takes a while to get to the table, it’s always last to come out when we order it.
— Salmon Tataki — This dish is comparable to Guu but just without the garlic chips and some greens instead. So good!
— Grilled Buttered Squid — Grilled to perfection and not overcooked. It comes with a sweet/​spicy korean like sauce.
— Black Cod — SOOOOO creamy! A must get!
— Oysters! They charge a fair price for the kind of oysters they usually have which is either Beach Angels (West Coast) or Shigokus (Washington). It comes with a couple house-​made sauces but they also have Tobasco if you prefer.
— Sake — they have a pretty good selection (in my limited knowledge) and I like that it comes with a «dry-​ness» score on the menu so you have an idea of taste. The waitress also has good recommendations if you ask. We asked her the first time we went and have since always gotten the same one. Once you order the sake you also get to pick your cup from a basket of selections (so fun!).
What you do not come here to get: fries. My friend ordered them because he was starving and we were sorely disappointed in the quality (no kidding). I also tried the beer slush they have and found it underwhelming. Although I’m not really a beer drinker myself I was intrigued by the novelty. Also, I would recommend not getting the skewers. They were warm when they got to my table and teeny tiny, so not worth the price.
If you go late at night, around 11pm onwards if I remember correctly, they blast the music very loudly so expect to scream if you plan on chatting. This is not a place for late night intimate dates. They also play pretty good music (in my opinion haha. lots of up to date edm!).Yuzu is a good place to kill time before hitting up a karaōke place, which is also conveniently located downstairs.
Tons of parking in the green P lot in the back or on the street.

This Izakaya has great ambience and an impressive menu. The portions are very generous and fairly priced. Food is absolutely delicious and always served with finesse. Service is great, waitresses are sincere, accurate, and quick. Returned twice already and will definitely be back again.
PS There is a 3-​hour dining limit for groups during peak hours on weekends even with reservation.

I cheated on Nome and came here once.
And only once.
Pricing is a bit hefty for izakaya. I only enjoyed their yakitori. Everything else is just okay.

This izakaya is amazing!
I love izakayas, but sometimes, when it’s too loud, it gets really annoying. The noise level is just right and it doesn’t seem like everybody is too squished together (like Guu). The atmosphere is awesome and it is really authentic to the culture. It’s great because everybody still feels separated but together at the same time.
The first time I came here was to try the frozen beer, which is amazing by the way. And that’s coming from somebody who’s not a fan of sapporo.
The food portions are also great– as someone said, it’s the first time someone can leave with a full stomach. I’ve tried the buttered squid, avocado salad, the wasabi squid on seaweed and a few other small dishes. They were decent sized and done very well. Shout outs to the chefs!
The drinks are also amazing. At the time, random men from the bar ordered drinks for my friend and I, and although we were hesitant to take it, we tried a few sips and it was delicious! Definitely one of the best alcoholic fruity drinks I’ve ever had– I think it was the yuzu special?
The service was also quite speedy.
Anyways– definitely must come back.

1^st time going to an izakaya. At first I was worried that it will be way too noisy for my liking, but it wasn’t so bad. It’s probably also because I was there just there between 6pm to 7:30pm on a Friday evening. There wasn’t much people during that period, but they did turn up the music near my leaving time.
Since I’ve never been to an izakaya, I have no other ones to compare it to. But someone in the group says portion is bigger than other izakaya.
We were a table of 3 and ordered:
— Salmon Tataki (salmon sashimi pieces with light sauce, topped with salad greens)
— Don Buri-​Unagi
— Black Dragon Roll
— Okonomiyaki (Japanese pancake)
— Meat skewers: 1 order of each of the 3 types of skewers listed: pork, beef, bacon w/​mushroom, each order comes with 2 sticks
Overall, every item was nicely prepared and presented. Black dragon roll was the biggest I’ve came across for this item. All fish and ingredients were very fresh and tender. Okonomiyaki was good, although I expected it to be a bit bigger, and I thought it was slightly different than other Okonomiyaki I’ve tried. I think it was lacking the sweet sauce and mayo that are normally on top of these things. Server mentioned there was supposed to be squid pieces, but I didn’t noticed.
What I really love are the skewers. Just simply 3 type of meat skewers, but they were grilled to perfection. Meat pieces are very juicy and flavorful. If I ever come back again, I will definitely order more of these.
So no complains/​cons. Food is fresh and well put together. Portion is good. Service is good. Décor is spacious and clean.
We did actually feel full when we left.
I would come back again.

Wow! Finally an izakaya where I leave with a full stomach and my hearing intact!
So nice not having people yell constantly (like some other izakayas downtown…). And the portions are generous! It makes the price seem reasonable.
I ordered nearly half the menu on my first visit and it was all fantastic. Just a wonderful, well rounded and fascinating menu.
The surprising thing is that I have been passing by this place for years. And from the outside it doesn’t look that inviting, but on the inside the décor is perfect, lots of space (another thing other izakayas fail to deliver), nice music, and great staff. Definitely a hidden gem.

In my quest to search for an izakaya uptown, I’ve stumbled upon this place in North York. This place has really nice décor and seems to be a good place to grab a drink with friends.
They have one of the better Okonomiyaki I must say, unlike some other ones that are stuffed with vegetables. Also you can add various toppings to it like cheese or bacon. I thought their seafood yaki udon and karage was pretty good as well. The best part was that we tried this «drink» called WHAT THE MAKgeolli, that’s for sharing. It comes in a big pot and you can scoop it into bowls to drink. It’s kind of a slushy, milky, sweet drink and its pretty cool to try with friends!
My only complaints are that the waitress had a bit of a language barrier and couldn’t really explain to us what some of the foods are. Also, they didn’t have the Wara-​yaki when I went, the hay smoked salmon etc., and the skewers were kind of small and dry. They really need to update their website too! Otherwise it’s a really good place to have some snacks and chill with friends.

Awesome. If you order the salmon, they bring out straw (twigs?), light it up in a container and cook over that fire. So far, the food I’ve ordered had been good, Saba shioyaki, avocado salad, salmon natto… service is a bit slow but I can’t really complain cuz I’m in Korea town watching the Korea vs. Russia world cup game…

Unlike most izakayas already on the market, this is one of the few that actually allows you to leave with the feeling of fullness! I ordered a gyu don, a mussel soup, and a karrage thinking that the portions were going to be akin to guu or fin. Well, the gyu don came with a generous amount of beef and a side of pickled vegetables (which I really enjoyed) and was probably enough to satisfy me as a dinner on it’s own (ok, maybe a small side too ’cause I eat a lot). The mussel soup probably had like a good 20 – 25 mussels in there too. Is the soup base anything special? Naw. Are the mussels fresh? Probably the frozen ones. Was it still enjoyable and good to pair with sake? Yes. Yes it was. Finally with the karrage it was really more taro chips than meat BUT still a bigger portion then what I anticipated. The citrussy mayo that came with it was also very addictive.
Incidentally, you will also have some entertainment at the restaurant! Here you will see many young Koreans dashing from their table to either the back door for a smoke break, or someone being carried by the waiter and his friend to the washroom cause he drank too much! Food and a show, what more can one ask for? Overall, excellent place to chill and hang out. They even have partitions hanging down to divide adjacent tables when they are occupied to offer additional privacy!

Yuzu Izakaya opens till 3 am. Seriously?
Great for late night snack and drinks!
This place so new I can even smell the fresh paint…
Skewers $ 3 for 2 not a bad deal… We tried the Pork Neck and Beef. Pork neck is well flavored, great bite and really porky. Love the hot peppers!
Wara-​Yaki Beef Tongue ($ 10) was meh for me unless you love the charcoalness. The texture was way too mushy for my liking. I feel like I just smoked a cigar after eating that!
Beer selection is so so Coors Light? Meh