KINKA SUSHI BAR IZAKAYA HARBOURFRONT — Restaurant in Toronto

Update (Nov 9 2022): 5 to 2 stars

What an absolutely terrible dining experience we had today. Some of the worst service we've ever encountered, with one server being particularly rude. After being seated we waited 10 minutes just to get our menus. In order to get our menus, and literally every other interaction we had with our server for the rest of the night, we had to wave her down, which was met with attitude. I dislike having to wave down servers as I dont want to come accross as disrespectful or rude, but there was literally no other way we would be serviced. She would constantly walk by our table with empty pitchers and dishes - completely ignoring us and literally didn't check up on us once. I understand if they were short staffed or training, but considering the restaurant was half filled and she was not shadowing anyone I assume that's not the case.

Dishes also took extremely long to come out, which I don't know if it was because the kitchen was short staffed but some of it had to at least be due to our server's neglegence. Our "tokyo fries" came out cold, which we assumed the dish was sitting around for a while waiting to be brought to our table. When bringing a dish our server also informed us something we ordered was actually sold out - about 40 minutes after ordering it. At this point we had been here for over and hour and received about 4/8 of the dishes we ordered (most of which was sushi/sashimi). Fed up and uncomfortable with how we were being serviced, we asked to cancel the rest of our order and we left, settling for real sports bar down the street and at least getting served some food without attitude. Despite all of this, I still left a tip on our $130 bill, to which the server simply said "you want a copy?" then stormed off. Zero class.

I dislike leaving poor reviews one google but this was truly one of the worst dining experiences I've ever had. The only reason I'm not leaving 1 star is I've had great experiences here in the past, but after years of coming here I definitely won't be back to any Kinka location anymore - there are MUCH better Izakaya's in the city now.

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Update (Sept 15 2021): 3 to 5 stars

This location has really improved since my last visit about a year ago. Their new menu is a little more refined with exciting new dishes. Quality control was top notch and service was fast, friendly, and efficient.

Everything was really fresh, delicious and cooked to perfection! The Hamachi was top grade, with other standouts being the carbonara udon, the duck,...

Swung by for dinner and was pleasantly surprised to find that they had revamped their menu, along with stepping up their service game. From meticulously placing linen napkins on my laps to swapping out plates between courses. The attention to detail truly elevated the dining experience to a whole new level.

Service-wise, they were on another level. When I accidentally knocked over a glass, they handled it with such grace, swiftly cleaning up the mess, replacing our dish, and even checking in to ensure I wasn't hurt. It was hands down the best service I've experienced in the past six months, at least.

Big kudos to Ron, our host for the evening. He's knowledgeable, incredibly attentive and patient, and exuded professionalism throughout.

Now let's talk about the food - it just keeps getting better.

The Salmon Carpaccio was a delight - creamy salmon paired with pickled onions made for a refreshing start.

The Beef Yaki Udon was a hit - the noodles were perfectly cooked, the beef was tender, and the sauce packed a flavorful punch. The addition of mushrooms added an extra layer of umami.

The Oyster Kakimayo was also a standout dish. The blend of mushrooms, clam chowder, grilled cheese, and spinach was simply divine.

The Aburi Chef's Selection sushi was a symphony of flavors. I liked their sushi rice - soft, moist, and bursting with flavor. Each bite was a celebration of perfection.

As for desserts, the Chocolate Terrine was a decadent treat - rich, velvety, and paired perfectly with zesty orange drizzles, mixed nuts, and caramel cookie crumbles.

Matcha Panna Cotta - the rich matcha pudding paired with smooth white chocolate was a creamy delight with every spoonful.

And of course, no meal is complete without a refreshing Yuzu Mojito - my go-to drink at Kinka.

All in all, this place has solidified its spot as my second favorite restaurant in town. Here's hoping they keep up the amazing work.

Food (quality, creativity, consistency) - 5/5 Drinks (quality, variety) - 5/5 Ambience (interior design, cleanliness) - 5/5 Service (courtesy, knowledge, timeliness) - 5/5 Value (quality vs. price) -...

Major disappointment. Loud, mediocre food, and truly horrible, rude, patronizing hostess - overall awful experience. Noise level: horrid. Extreme noise alert - cannot hear any thing other than the shouting from the staff from the open kitchen as well as the responding shouting from the serving staff. Every time an order is in, prepared, is out, there is shouting and rattling of utensils. Very loud music in the background. Just awful in terms of noise level. Food: actually not bad, though most of what we ordered (fried ebi, takoyaki and okonomiyaki) that are supposed to be hot came to us as cold to lukewarm. Service: terrible, terrible, terrible. Hostess/main server to our table was rude, unhelpful, not accommodating in any way and patronizing to boot. We were seated at a long table that seats 10 in total. We asked to sit closer to the window and were told no, because the other side sits 6 reserved spots. We asked why it matters which side we are sitting given that we also had a reservation and it was one long attached table?? We already had a reservation for 4 but 1 couldn't make it; a chair was then promptly taken away from our side because apparently it is forbidden to place a coat on top of an unused chair. This was done with a nasty lecture. Other serving staff other than that particular hostess was very decent. I wanted to give $0 in tip but felt badly about the rest of the servers most of whom were actually fairly pleasant and helpful.

Verdict: would recommend only if you want to be lectured, patronized, looked down on, and feel like you are inconveniencing the hostess somehow, be shouting to the person an inch away from you, be listening to the whole of the establishment's staff scream out every 20 seconds some random chant you cannot decipher while eating mediocre food, go for it. I get that they believe it is somehow an authentic Japanese izakaya experience to put on extremely loud music and shouting out orders to the point a customer has a headache (and no, this isn't the authentic Japanese izakaya experience), but rudeness to a customer without a good reason is...