KIN KIN O-Ka-Ne by Oo-Kinza Fish House — Restaurant in Toronto

I don't think this is a "bad" restaurant, but it has several problematic elements that all add up to a bad dining experience.

First, the price - all other issues are more or less connected to the price. The price of the dishes sets an extremely high bar and the reality is that it only leaves you disappointed once you try the dish and it tastes the same or worse than other sushi places you've tried for more than double the cost. Even "cheap" dishes like skewers are exorbitantly priced (10 skewers of beef/chicken/pork for $78). Even if the food was decent, the price just makes it a terrible value for what you're getting.

Second, the seating - we were seated in the walkway against a short wall between 2 other tables. The restaurant isn't very big so I understand the necessity to cram as many tables in as possible, but the absurdity comes from the fact that, again, you're paying upwards of $75 per dish and you're dodging servers while quite literally sitting on milk crates... The uncomfortable seating and inconvenient table placement ruined any ambiance created by the beautiful interior.

Third, the service - our server came to our table 3 times: once to take our order, once to give us the wasabi and once to deliver the food. After that they didn't check in on us again until we were ready to pay, and even then they would avert their gaze as I tried to make eye contact so we could settle up and leave. When we did get our bill the server offered to remove the taxes if we paid in cash - an offer I accepted. Our bill came to $118 and I gave 2x $100 bills. The server asked if I wanted my change... I had to politely hide my reaction but was absolutely floored that they would ask if I wanted to leave an $80 tip to someone I'd seen for a combined total of 30 seconds the entire meal.

Lastly, the food quality - it was... Just ok... Nothing special. The rice had far too much vinegar that it overpowered any subtle flavours the fish and other ingredients tried to establish. The cuts of fish were amateurish for the cost and I found them to be too thick and almost nauseating to eat - and I eat A LOT of sushi. The squid was rubbery and inedible. The mackerel was sliced so thick that it left a 1cm wide ribbon of skin that was also inedible. All in all for the price I expected better than mall quality sushi and was left disappointed.

The only upside is the interior design - the restaurant decoration is beautiful and the plating is very Instagrammable. But the meal left a figurative and literal bad taste...

Originally found this restaurant through Instagram and TikTok from many different reviewers such as BlogTO where there were nothing but good compliments about the food and the restaurant's atmosphere. I will admit that the restaurant atmosphere is wonderful as it gives off the vibe of a being in Japan, but the food doesn't even come close to the amazement of the decor. To preface, our table was a party of 8 and as it was the first time visiting the restaurant we all tried something a little bit different to get a sense of what the restaurant has to offer such as the sashimi, nigiri sushi, rice bowls, and ramen.

To begin, we ordered a set menu with the sashimi platter + nigiri set; the sashimi and the nigiri sushi was decent but it wasn't anything special. Yes, the presentation is wonderful, but the fish did not taste like what you expect a 90$ platter to be. The fish tasted bland where it all tasted the same and missing the “fresh” taste you would expect when paying that amount of money. The uni in the set tastes watery, not creamy, and lacks the typical umami flavor uni usually have.

For the rice bowl we ordered a unagi + egg bowl and the beef bowl. The unagi + egg bowl was good but the beef bowl came cold. Small thing to pick at was that the beef bowl came first but everything else came 20 minutes later…

Lastly, the ramen was such a disappointment. We ordered chicken ramen and beef ramen and it was definitely not worth the price point. First the soup in the beef ramen tastes like instant noodle broth. Secondly the chicken meat was visibly raw in the center. The servers were really apologetic about this, remade the bowl, and took it off the bill. Knowing that the ramen was 38$, it was hard to accept the quality of the food that was presented.

In the end, I would not recommend this restaurant for people who value good food for the price they pay for it, BUT the good thing about this place was that the servers were really nice and were very professional, and the photos we took came out were really...

WARNING: Don’t be fooled with Fake/Bribed 5 star reviews

One thing I dislike that some restaurants are doing is when they bribe people with discount to get a good review and therefore more customers. And because of this, this place is loosing all the stars I would have probably given.

My husband and I, for one, look for google reviews before going to places specially restaurants and this kind of bribery disappoints me.

We went here to celebrate our anniversary and we left VERY disappointed and HUNGRY.

FOOD: Very pricey. We got the sushi rice with salmon, uni, and salmon roe, and my husband got the tuna with salmon roe and uni for almost $60 EACH! Mannn!! You can easily get the same food with probably better quality in other sushi place. We wish we would have gone to AYCE place instead. sigh what a waste of money! We had this kind of food in Kyoto and we thought it would be close enough with regards to taste but geez, we’re so disappointed. They have even more expensive food items in the menu like snow crabs and lobster, but for $150?? I’d rather go to Red Lobster or high end chinese restaurants for that amount.

AMBIANCE: This is the only thing we liked in this place and I think this is really what the price of the food is for. It looks similar to the streetfood stores in Donburi, Osaka. That’s it, that’s all.

SERVICE: Staff are nice and kind in general BUT There’s just this one lady who, as soon as my husband finished eating, took his plate away while I was still eating. I still had half full of my small bowl. This is very rude! There were only less than 10 customers, so why?? My husband and I were just left looking at each other like Wow.

Overall, I will not recommend this place to anyone. Just spend your money elsewhere.

I do hope they’ll decrease their price instead of bribing reviewers so they’ll get more...