Sushi Masayuki — Restaurant in Burlington

My wife took me to Sushi Masayuki for lunch for my 46th birthday. We've been here numerous times for dinner since they opened, but this was the first time for lunch. For some additional context, my wife is Japanese, and having been to Japan numerous times over the years, it's hard not to compare the quality of fresh fish to what we have available here.  This is one of the reasons why we've kept coming back to this restaurant, because it's on par with what you would get at an excellent sushi restaurant in Japan.

For our meal, we both ordered the Masayuki Tasting Sushi Lunch. The meal started off with 3 types of tempura (shrimp, okura and pumpkin), along with an egg with eel in the middle called "umaki". There was also braised eggplant in a dashi broth.  Each of these dishes were exceptional quality.  I especially love the braised eggplant since we've had this as an appetizer on previous visits.

The second dish we had was octopus with "yuzu kosho", which is a paste made from chili peppers, yuzu peel and salt.  We were also served sashimi pieces which included greater amberjack and tuna.  The sashimi essentially melts in your mouth and you can taste the quality of fish since the flavours are prominent.  In addition to the fish, the dish was presented with shiso (perilla leaf), wakame, radish, shaved daikon, and shaved Indian carrot as part of the presentation.

The third dish was a set of nigiri, which was served one at a time as you eat them.  This dish contained sea bass, salmon, tuna, scallop, Japanese Spanish mackerel, and amberjack.  As was with the sashimi, you can tell the fish is high quality since each piece is buttery and melts in your mouth.  This was also the first time I've had Japanese Spanish mackerel, and it was absolutely delicious. The dish was also served with a side of miso soup which has a very nice flavour while not being overly strong.

The fourth dish in the set were rolls which consisted of tuna with pickled radish. My wife explained that tuna and pickled radish (torotaku) are put together in a way to melt the fish in your mouth, plus provide the crunch with the radish. When we were speaking with Chef Masayuki, he mentioned that umaki and torotaku were unique to this particular lunch set, and not something you'd see on a regular menu.

Finally, for dessert, we were served green tea ice cream with a sesame senbei on top, along with green tea cheese cake. Both the ice cream and cheese cake were amazing. Neither of them had a lingering aftertaste like you'd get with a cheaper quality of green tea. This is something I'm extremely picky about, and was extremely satisfied with.  When speaking with our waitress, she mentioned that both the sesame senbei and green tea cheese cake are made in-house - which you can absolutely tell due to the quality and overall flavour.

As with previous visits, we walked away quite full and extremely satisfied...

Having written this review over 8 years ago (see below), I felt it was time to freshen it up. We went back to our beloved Sushi Masayuki last night for New Year's Eve Omakase. This has been our annual tradition for many years now. It is an absolute treat to be in the company of amazing people, in a beautiful atmosphere, serving exquisite food. As I've said before, the entire experience transports us back to Japan. Thank you to Yuki and his great staff for providing us the most sublime way to end 2024, and begin 2025. Kanpai!

Last Thursday (November 17) we went to Sushi Masayuki. We are so happy to have found this restaurant. From the "Irasshaimase!" greeting, to the counter seating, to the jazz playing, to the sake and Asahi, to the beautiful knife work, to the luscious fish, we knew Masayuki was place is going to be our new favourite sushi restaurant. It may be our new favourite restaurant, period. We have been to Japan twice and are going back again in May. We love and miss Japan when we are not there. Masayuki will nicely fill in the void. As for dinner, we both had Nami then added Toro, Uni and Unagi a la carte. This all in with tax and tip was $182 and worth every penny of it. It can be less expensive minus the sake, beer and a la carte, but for us, those were necessities. The only things we missed from Japan were an o-shibori before dinner and a basket for Karen to put her purse in on the floor. If we had those extras, we would have been sitting in Japan....

Wowie. I am totally blown away.

I have been itching to check this place out but also scared that I'd be really disappointed since it's a sushi place in Burlington.

First off, the place seems rather unassuming and clean, but it does have a very relaxing setting to it and clean decor. Best part about this restaurant is thay you can watch the sushi master work away.

I have never actually watched a Japanese sushi chef work but it was really cool and interesting.

My wife and I ordered a sushi bento for lunch along with tempura and watched the sushi chef prepare the meal. Wowie. It was like art.

6 nice pieces or sushi and an order of Cali rolls and spicy tuna.

This was some of the best sushi I have ever had. The rice was perfectly seasoned, the texture of the fish and rice were also perfect.

I also noted that the temperature of both the rice and fish were such that you could really taste everything.

Amazing attention to detail and beautiful to look at. Also tastes just as good.

Chef and wait staff are all Japanese and the menu reflects all Japanese cuisine.

I'm Korean myself and have spent half my life in Korean sushi joints which I like myself, but this was different in execution and also selection.

I went for lunch and was very satisfied. I hope to come again for dinner next time around.

5 stars! Also so happy to have something like this in Burlington. Another reason not to have to drive to...