LUCKY DONKATSU — Restaurant in Toronto

Was in the area wanted a quick lunch and finally had the chance to try and visited at the start of their day. Was unfortunately disappointed. If other reviews hold true this must be a VERY off day for their kitchen. The location is very clean and lots of natural sunlight during the day.

We ordered the combo with two soups, fries, two drinks, udon and two dishes. We upgraded one dish to chicken and with curry, and the katsu we had the original sauce with added cheese.

To start, the cream soups came and I was expected a bowl of really hot and creamy soup. (I had cream soup before in many other places) It looked great - but the soup was actually lukewarm (something like 25C). We had to tell the waitress about it and she apologized and said there’s a trainee that’s on their first day and went to warm the soup again. She took the soups away and came back later with and extra bowl of soup - this time it was slightly warmer (something like 35C) but it was still just a bit below what I was expecting. We were very hungry and did not brother again to ask for it to be hot.

The udon was really good - it was very hot and the soup base was delicious. The noodle was also very chewy. I really needed this to clear the palette after the lukewarm soup.

The fries came and they were crispy and pretty good. The sauce on top was tasty I think it was honey butter or something.

The main dishes came, and the portion did not disappoint. However, a few off observations.

Firstly the pork katsu on the outside was crispy and golden, but the inside was just warm (like, about 50C temp). 🤷🏻‍♂️ I was puzzled by this… I had katsu in other places before usually the entire katsu is very hot inside and out as its freshly out of the fryer (Was the pork precooked, battered and fried?). The original sauce was OK, and pretty good with the cheese on top. My only complaint is the temperature again.

Now the curry chicken katsu feels like it was pre-fried before and re-fried - as the colour outside was darker and hard to cut. We did tell the waitress about this and she offered to redo it - however we were running tight on time and said it’s ok but please let the kitchen know our feedback. She apologized again and said they have a trainee this day.

The salad that came with the dishes was pretty yummy, especially the macaroni salad.

I like to add while we were there we saw another table order beer - they do freeze their beer mugs so they do know how to serve drinks well here. 👍🏼

Overall, I’m not sure if I might come back again. I feel really sorry for the waitress it was not her fault, but they should really get their kitchen in order and make sure their trainee is at a satisfactory level before letting them take over...

Lucky’s is a retro Korean donkatsu place, and it’s sooo good! We’ve gone twice, and I keep thinking about the katsu. I really love the curry sauce over the original sauce for the katsu. The curry sauce isn’t a Japanese curry. It’s a more fruity and gravy-like curry. The original sauce was richer and hearty, the curry sauce really stole my heart and my stomach. The portions are really big, so I recommend sharing one. I wish they gave you more rice & pickles though, it’s so small! The cream soup is really nostalgic for me but somehow so much better than the powder soup I grew up with. The Hamburg steak + cheese bomb is really good too, and it’s an experience but pretty heavy so maybe a one time thing for me. The only thing I would skip for sure is the salad. It’s a pretty basic balsamic vinegar salad. The spaghetti wasn’t my thing, but my partner liked it in a nostalgic way. It’s a slightly spicy super cheesey regular tomato pasta. The service is so good—the girls are so sweet, attentive, and nice. And the vibes are just chill and trendy. It’s a great spot to have a date or bring a friend! And get a stamp card!

Edit: many months later, I still love this place. I always come for the curry katsu, but I’ve given up on the cream soup. Too many times it’s too thin and flavourless. The spaghetti is sometimes soo good—cheesy sweet...

We ordered the hamburg steak with the cheese bomb, classic donkatsu, truffle fries, spaghetti, and burrata salad. 😈 The reason I was very disappointed was bc I can tell the food was not cooked to order. Our food, the moment we got it, had no steam coming out, and the inside of the hamburg was not hot at all. They must have pre-cooked it, and when we ordered it, just heat it up and send it out. Also, their entire menu is heavily based on sweet flavor. I know sweetness is the easiest way to make food taste food but the hamburg steak, hamgurg sauce, truffle fries, spaghetti, donkatsu sauce every single dish was sweet making the entire meal off balance and gave us all a headache at the end of the meal due to excessive sugar. The donkatsu was not crispy enough, too. And I am not sure if it's their problem, but the burrata on the salad had an unpleasant bitterness to it. 😇 The portion size of the food was actually nice, donkatsu was a very classic Korean style, which is nice. They had a promotion that gave us the cheese bomb on the hamburg steak for free. The staff was very friendly and...