Spring Sushi Hamilton — Restaurant in Hamilton

For the details for this visit I was taking a friend out for some sushi for their birthday. I was excited to go to Spring as I have visited the Dundas Square location in Toronto and it has always been to a very good standard with nice views and friendly staff. I have never eaten at this location in Hamilton and thought this would have been a good option.

Getting into the place was nice with good ambiance. I was greeted with friendly staff that bought us to our table and we started to order. I was excited to interact with the Cat Robot server they had there too. I could tell the server was not that friendly but nonetheless I was looking for a good time with my friend.

Upon getting an order bought to me via cat server I promptly took off all the items off the cart and pressed it face and it moved on. The waitress took a rude tone with me later at my table “Did you take an item off the cart that was not yours” I explained “I just took the item off the cart after it stopped at my table ”. She replied with “what lights up in blue is yours” as shes scoffed and rolled her eyes at me. From that interaction I made sure to pay close attention to the cat robot server because of that. I think at the front they could’ve asked if we dined in this location before so they could’ve given us the heads up how the robot worked. For me this spoiled a good time with my friend and I was nervous to interact with the robot as I wanted to get it right. We did get all you can eat sushi which for me this was the star of the evening. The food was great, but I didn’t like to much the salmon hand roll personally I don’t like too much white part on it. I also ordered Sangria, it did not taste that good. Its almost like they forgot to add the simple syrup so it tasted more like a light soda spritzer then sangria.

I think the waitress could use a bit of training in hospitality. I think if she talked a bit to me after this outburst this could have saved the evening for me but she didn’t make the effort and it shows. I tipped still but even her passing me the terminal to me via table was an indicator that she was not looking to provide service. Why the service is not zero is because the fast chefs and the cat robot should not...

📌my recent experience in this place: My friend took me to this place 1st time and unfortunately for is there was a cockroach 🪳!!! You can see it on the video! We were half through our dinner there… when I saw a cockroach crawling on a back of the sofa I was sitting on I was freaking out! Can you imagine how many of those things must be there if it crawled in bright light among people!!! Yes, the staff took care about the bills but we couldn’t eat there anymore. I couldn’t even drink water. I definitely not going back and not ordering take outs from there again. More I was surprised with the costumers reaction, the tables next to us were telling how unlucky I am, but aren’t you at the same place with cockroaches with me right now?🤷🏼‍♀️ Sorry guys (staff) I was really thinking if I should post it but you serve raw food! Your place must be super neat! I wish you luck and get rid of the insects once and forever!

📌2 weeks earlier: We recently tried ordering takeout from this Japanese restaurant for the first time. The website was user-friendly and easy to navigate, making the ordering process simple. I placed my order for a specific pickup time, and everything was ready right when I arrived. However, one aspect of the payment process was confusing: tips. This was a self-pickup order, so I was surprised to see tip options starting at 15-18% during checkout. There wasn’t an option for 0%, which felt strange since I was picking up the order myself. I didn’t see why I should be expected to tip when I was the one driving to the restaurant, collecting my own order, and serving myself at home.

Fortunately, I discovered that after selecting the lowest tip percentage, I was able to override it to 0%, which solved the issue. Still, it’s an odd setup for a takeout experience.

Regarding the restaurant itself, the atmosphere seemed pleasant, and I’d like to visit in person with friends sometime. The sushi was tasty, and the ingredients appeared fresh. However, half of the pieces didn’t hold their shape well—possibly due to being packed for takeout—but even in the photos, they weren’t presented as neatly as I’d expect. That said, the quality and flavors were satisfying, so I’d be open to...

The staff here were quite friendly and attentive. The ordering system uses an iPad like most modern AYCE restaurants. The menu had a decent selection but I would say it doesn't offer a lot compared to other places I've been to. This should be a sushi restaurant so I tried most of their sushi and seafood items. I had their dinner buffet which had access to their entire menu.

The sashimi was fresh but lacking in variety. They offered standard salmon, white tuna, snapper, surf clam, albacore. Most other sushi items were locked behind nigiri options. The gdragon roll was tasty and the mango in it added a refreshing twist to an otherwise standard sushi roll. Overall, their seafood was average.

What stood out to me was the sirloin steak cooked to medium rare. It was cooked perfectly everytime I ordered it and the sauce on it paired very well with the dish. It was easily the best item on their menu.

Although consistency with multiple orders was not the best, I would say their grilled and deep fried items tasted much better than the rest of their menu. I would not recommend the udon.

Unfortunately, they were sold out of the Thai items I wanted to try and would like to say they "offer" these options as well but cannot give you a review on them.

Their dessert menu had ice cream, tiramisu, pudding, and deep fried banana among other options. I wanted to try their yuzu ice cream but they were sold out. I was offered lychee instead and was pleasantly surprised. It was very tasty and had lychee chunks in it! Would recommend.

I want to point out that one of the food runners, Richard was very good at clearly annunciating what dishes were brought out since chatter in the restaurant was loud. I liked this because I found that in some AYCE restaurants, I would order many things to try and sometimes I didn't know the name of the items I wanted to reorder! Thanks Richard.

Their menu had a mixture of both good and bad items. I bumped up the rating to 4 stars because the staff...