MARU Japanese Bistro — Restaurant in Toronto

Really confusing and disappointing experience. My husband and I had been looking forward to having dinner at Maru for months and were finally able to get away for a date night. Our reservation was at 8:30 (on a Friday night, when they close at 10) and we were one of the last tables to be seated in what was a bustling and full restaurant. Things got off to a great start with super friendly service, delicious cocktails, and a delicious crispy rice amuse-bouche at the table. Unfortunately, they didn't stay that way.

First, they let us know that their signature canape item (the crispy nori) was sold out. Fine. So, instead, we ordered another couple of dishes to share (it's the kind of place where you share everything and you can sort of order as you go/make your way through the menu) - the shrimp sliders were delicious, but the sushi platter was just OK. The fish was fresh but the rolls fell apart easily and the taste was sort of bland.

Then, the restaurant started emptying out until it was just us and one other table around 9:15 (again, they close at 10) and the staff started to clean up/close the restaurant around us. The sushi bar is in the dining space and the kitchen is sort of open to the tables so it's not like there's a lot of separation between customers and "back of house" operations. I understand not wanting to have to stay super late at work closing up after we all leave. But it's also not ideal to be paying almost $300 for a relatively small and simple meal/drinks with a guy mopping the floor directly beside you as you're trying to enjoy your dinner. Plus the clanging and bustling of the staff as they were clearly trying to close everything up as quickly as possible to get out of there. Then the server came back to our table with her full-length winter coat on to ask if we wanted anything else. Beyond off-putting!

So, we timidly asked if it was possible to get more food and she said she would check with the kitchen - this was before 9:30. She came back and said we could so we ordered two more dishes - one was the miso eggplant (again, delicious), and one was their signature sashimi (tuna belly). When the server brought over the sashimi, she said the slices were thinner than usual (I guess they were running out of the fish?) so she'd give us a discount on the item, which is typically $30 for 4 slices. When we got the bill (after we rushed through the food/drinks), they had forgotten to apply the discount so we had to ask for a revised bill (they gave us $7 off the item). The other table ended up getting most of their food in takeout containers because it was so distracting and uncomfortable to stay seated there even though it was just around 10 when we left. So off-putting and unwelcoming!!! And so disappointing after we looked forward to going for such a long time.

TLDR: Some of the food is delicious, drinks are great, the servers are nice. But some of the food is bland, they were sold out of a few things, and they will literally start closing up the restaurant/mopping the floor under your feet almost an hour before closing time while you're still in the middle of your dinner. For the $300 we spent, I expected a much more pleasant experience. :(

EDIT: After we posted the review above, the owner reached out the same day and took full accountability for our experience, thanked us for our feedback and said she will work on improving things and hopes we will give them another chance. This response has gone a long way to improving our overall association with the restaurant and as such, we have added another star to...

I’m not the type to leave reviews at all, but Maru honestly changed my mind. My girlfriend and I got to try both the lunch and dinner menus, and I can honestly say it was some of the best Japanese food I’ve ever had

For lunch, we had the chirashi don, salmon pressed sushi, bluefin tuna shari canapé, and the ika tempura. The standout would have to be the bluefin tuna shari canapé for me, the contrast of the super crispy fried rice and the soft and creamy spicy tuna topping was amazing. The fish was super fresh on every single dish, the rice had the perfect seasoning and texture, and the tempura squid was hands down the best I’ve ever had. One thing I noticed right away is that anything fried here is just on another level, light, crispy, super fresh tasting, and not greasy at all.

For dinner, we tried the drinks, miso eggplant, fish korokke, salmon nori canapés, ebi katsu, and the Roselle cake. The two that blew me away were the nori canapés and the ebi katsu. The canapés had this fried seaweed wrap that somehow stayed crispy and light without falling apart, so you could just pick it up and eat it by hand. The ebi katsu was unreal too. The shrimps were huge, meaty, and bouncy with that natural sweetness, and that same light and crispy fried coating. The curry that came with it was super flavorful and had just a hint of spice.

The cake was a total surprise too. If they have it, you HAVE to try it. We got the passionfruit buttercream birthday cake and it was incredible. Super flavorful, not too sweet, really moist and light. The drinks were also great. My favorite was the hojicha peach lemonade, while my girlfriend liked the matcha yuzuade since it was less sweet.

Service was great as well, the food came out fast, and everyone we talked to was super friendly and...

It’s quite out of our way, but we’ve been wanting to try it for a while since we heard such good things! We were celebrating a major milestone, so had a good excuse to go!

However it didn’t quite hit our expectations. The price of items were quite high even for a premium sushi place. The nori canapé was an interesting idea, with a nice texture but the rice lacked flavour. Shari Canapé was worse because it is basically fried rice. The same goes for the pressed sushi. Every ingredient basically lacked seasoning. Which you could get away with alongside premium aged sashimi, but this was not the case.

For what is basically $3-5 per bite, it’s exorbitant for subpar flavour and tempura battered seaweed.

Their cocktails were also below average. Both alcoholic and non alcoholic are premium priced but lacked any depth from an equally priced cocktail bar. I don’t know how anyone can justify $12 for basically soda and lemon.

We were never asked how things were going while dining. If they did, they could have fixed our dining experience. We were only asked at the end while Paying our bill. We shared our experience but nothing was really done except the server saying she will share that with the owner.

Ultimately, we were here for a special occasion, which was mentioned in our reservation. Nothing about our experience was special. We didn’t expect a parade or anything, but this is not the place I’d go if you were looking to have a...