Hatsu Sushi (Manitoba St.) — Restaurant in Toronto

In short, I'd say the food was very, very good, but the overall experience was disappointing.

I was looking for nearby options for sushi and thought I'd give this place a try based on the glowing reviews. Sushi and ramen are one of our favorite tskeouts so I'm always looking for options. We've tried I think every other takeout sushi place from Humber river to Etobicoke Creek, and from Lakeshore to Qew.

I called in and ordered 3 rolls ( black dragon, spicy tuna, spider), Bento Box B (beef bulgogi), and mixed tempura for pickup.

Again, most of these were excellent... Very nicely prepared, and again, very delicious -certainly among the best take out places I've had, and maybe the best ive had in my neighborhood hood in mimico. Service seemed pretty friendly too, I have nothing bad to say about service, but also have nothing special to say about it.

But there were quite a few disappointing things that I have to point out in fairness:

Tempura was soggy due to condensation in the packagig. Better sushi places know to prepare the takeout box by 1) wrapping tempura in foil and 2) poking little holes in the styrofoam box for the steam to escape . They did neither of this, resulting in a mushy set of tempura veg and shrimp. Which again was disappointing because apart from the texture it was quite delicious.

I read a few reviews claiming very generous proportions. My experience was not that at all. Just decidedly average serving sizes for every item in my order. In fact some items looked decidedly small, like the side salad that came with the Bento box, or the serving size of white rice in the Bento box. Definitely felt like I should have received a little more for the price. Also, one single tiny container of ponzu for the tempura and one single tiny container of soy for all 3 Maki rolls. They put two rolls in one box and in the other box put the last roll with the only one serving of pickled ginger and wasabi instead of 3 servings. Not a big deal for me since we don't need a lot of the sides and condiments, but I would have expected more considering the size of the order. I forgot to take pics of my order, but the pis from other reviews are consistent with what I received. I think the pics tell the story themselves... Portion size is pretty average.

Lady mentioned it was a busy night so pickup would be about 35 mins. It turned out to be more like 60 mins.. almost twice as long .

No chopsticks /utensils or napkins were put into the takeout bag. That was no problem because we ate at it home and used my own, but that was just a happy coincidence and would have been a major annoyance if we didn't have our own utensils and napkins.

Many reviews commented on the cute messages on the takeout containers. I don't recall if I saw anything like that, but tbh it makes no difference to me. It's not really something I care much about when I order takeout.

Overall I'd have to leave it as a 3/5 based on my first and only visit. However, the food is truly delicious and definitely better quality among the takeout options in the local area. So, I'll give this a other try, hopefully on a less busy night to see if my first visit was just a one off, or actually a...

Unfortunately I have to update my review to a 1 star instead of 5. My original review is below.

This place has started cutting corners and it shows. The spicy rolls aren't the worst — you can still see small chunks of fish, unlike some places — but most of the roll is filled with gloopy tempura.

But the biggest issue is the tuna. The tuna rolls are filled with finely minced leftovers, like one would use in a spicy roll. This already isn't good, but the worst part was that the fish was not fresh. It was not close to fresh. It wasn't quite spoiled, but it was as close as you can get without making someone sick.

The albacore wasn't as bad as the maguro, but it was old too.

If you're only ordering avocado and salmon you're probably going to be okay. But you cannot trust this place to keep their standards up on items that don't have as high of a turnover.

It's not high-end sushi, but it's exactly what you want from a simple, local take-out shop.

Fish is fresh. Rice is fresh and decently seasoned. Rolls are well-made, with a proper rice ratio. Service is...

My brother in law just got a party tray and asked the avocado from all rolls beside the green dragon roll to be removed and packed separately. The person who answered the phone replied asking if it was an allergy issue and was answered yes. Instead of taking out the avocado, they just packed rolls with avocado in a different container (while keeping the green dragon roll along with non avocado dishes). I understand that this is a communication problem as I enjoy their food very much usually, but when we called them back, instead of acknowledging the problem and looking for a solution, the same lady who answered the phone was busy making excuses saying this is what we ordered. It is unfortunate to have a restaurant that makes great food to have such a poor representative who just repel future customers. When someone asks for avocado separately due to an allergy, it is usually asking to take out the avocado from the rolls, not just pack the rolls separately separately (which was not...