Kintako Sushi Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Toronto

What an amazing restaurant!

First of all, we were both very impressed by the high quality level of customer service we experienced during our visit, starting from the moment we walked through the door. This place is very welcoming and inviting, making you feel comfortable like you're a regular visitor.

To start, our soft drinks came in chilled/frosted glasses which is a nice touch. Now let's talk about the food. We ordered our meal and then both received the House Crunch Noodles Soup (we didn't order it or expect it). It was so flavourful and delicious! We now love this soup and will definitely have it again. Then we had our edamame appetizer that was so warm, fresh, and simply done perfectly! Then we each had our rolls which were very nicely presented but more importantly, were absolutely amazing with flavours, textures, and perfectly made! My spouse loved it so much, she ordered a second roll!

Let's face it; there are lots of restaurants in this category around the city but we all know they're not all the same. The detailed level of customer service combined with the flavourful and perfectly made dishes certainly makes this place stand out amongst the rest! This has now become an instant favourite for us and we will certainly be coming...

Absolutely terrible experience — avoid at all costs.

I rarely leave negative reviews, but this was honestly one of the worst dining experiences I’ve had — Japanese or otherwise.

First, the service was shockingly bad. We waited over 20 minutes just to get water, and the server acted like we were bothering her any time we asked a question about the menu. Zero knowledge of the dishes, no recommendations, and a ton of attitude.

Then came the food… and wow. I ordered the sushi platter — it tasted like it had been sitting out all day. The rice was cold and hard, the fish was slimy, and one piece literally smelled off. My friend ordered the ramen and said it tasted like instant noodles in dirty dishwater. Lukewarm broth, mushy noodles, and somehow both under- and overcooked pork. Just disgusting.

To make it worse, the place was filthy. Sticky floors, unclean tables, and I saw a cockroach run under the counter near the kitchen. Yes, seriously.

We didn’t even finish our food, and when we politely expressed our disappointment to the staff, they just shrugged and said, “That’s how we serve it.”

Never again. There are so many amazing Japanese spots in town — this one doesn’t deserve...

June11/23 Just went back tonight for dinner and ordered the maki boat for 4, shrimp tempura, plus the sashimi platter for 2 for the 4 of us. The rice on the rolls I found were to mushy (too much water when the rice was cooked). I did not like the texture at all. Very disappointed! The sashimi was not cut thick enough and not as fresh as I would expect. They had over half the restaurant full plus takeaway orders waiting and the staff couldn’t keep up. So service was an issue. I reduced the 4 star to a 3 star rating this time. Not sure if I want to come back again.

June1/23 Last evening we wanted some sushi so we tried Kintako. Ordered a chicken bento box with an upgrade to sushi, salmon on fire maki, unagi maki, tuna & avocado and salmon& avocado maki. The bento box came with shrimp and vegetable tempura, it was very good the batter was light- perfect! Chicken was a bit over cooked and saucy for me. Overall the bento box was good. The salmon on fire was very tasty, nice flavours. The unagi roll needed a bit more eel. The other 2 maki rolls with salmon and tuna was fresh tasting. More than enough food for 2. I will be back to try the sashimi to confirm my 4...