Matsuda Japanese Grill House - Sheppard Location — Restaurant in Toronto

Dined in on March 17, 2024 at 6:10PM with three people (reservation).

TL;DR -Automatic Grat charged maybe on weekends, even with small party. -Pop not included with AYCE ($7.95 for two) -Found it cold in our section and had to wear our jackets - other people were also wearing their jackets indoors.

I like that you can get sushi and KBBQ grill at this place, although the sushi/sashimi is just... it's okay, it's included in the price you pay, nothing to write home about. They had the sweet shrimp which I liked and some side dishes I had never seen at other places. We only ordered the Prime Short Rib and the Marinated Kalbi as our meats along with some sashimi, sushi, and sides.

The service was good - staff were very attentive and the food arrived quickly. Order through the website which was nice.

The reason I am giving it three stars is the following:

We were three people and they automatically charged gratuity (which I calculated ended up being 15%) - which may not be a big deal but I would still like the option? Or is this one of those places that provides their staff with a living wage? But then that shouldn't be grat on top of tax. If you aren't paying attention you might end up giving them DOUBLE tip (grat already included and then automatically giving tip on the machine because you're so used to it). This seems sort of scummy to me, especially if people aren't paying attention and don't look at the bill, but maybe that's their fault? (They didn't split the bill individually, they gave us one grand total and calculated what it cost for the three of us - I got two drinks, one person got one drink, and one person got zero drinks).

Maybe I am nitpicking, but I wish AYCE places would really just get on board and decided - IS DRINK INCLUDED IN THE PRICE OR NOT? Again this is me being nitpicking because some places include it in the price and some don't and people will say "It's your fault for not asking" - fine. But had I known that two pops would cost me $7.95 I would not have partaken.

Where we were sitting which was near the window, was extremely cold, and we noticed that other people in our area were also wearing their jackets indoors to eat. I understand the staff are warm because they are running around, but I have never been that cold at KBBQ. Just saying.

I might not know of too many places that do both Grill + Sushi (and no I am not going to Chako) but I don't know if you'd want to come here, maybe try...

I dont usually write any reviews but this is one for my books.

I've been wanting to come to this place for a while now so we called to book a reservation prior to our visit. They told us(Hostess) that reservation for 2 was first-come, first-served, so we asked how long the wait was going to be and we were informed by the Hostess that today isnt going to be bad so they told us to come in. I wanted to eat and my partner was just going to join me because she wasn't hungry for ayce. We came in and as expected and told, it wasnt bad at all. They had many available tables and we were about to get seated, but when I explain the situation to the hostess that my partner wasn't going to eat, she said that they do a "head count" for that. I was a little confused about what she meant, she was having a hard time explaining it in detail so I asked if i could speak to the manager, hoping they would understand. So in comes the manager, (Hailey or Heley) I was polite, shook her hand explained to her that I am a paying customer and my partner was just going to be sitting and not doing ayce. All of a sudden, she informed me that the place has been booked and have reservation when we were just about to get seated by the other hostess. They said we needed to wait at least 2 hours but would not be guaranteed a seat. We called her out and said we were just about to get seated and even called to ask if theres a waiting list and your hostess told us no, but now your saying your all booked for other reservation? She stood firm with what she said despite the call out and then suggests I could go to their other location to eat which is absolutely ludicrous. We've been to dozens of AYCE restaurants that allowed me to eat while my partner sat and waited and they were very accommodating, yet these people made it seem like we were trying to scam them (partner does not even eat meat).

Very disappointing and frustrating experience. I was looking forward to this the entire day. Now that I know they own other chains, I would tell you the viewer, my friends, colleagues, and family members to stay clear and avoid Matsuda all together when theres better places out there. Id rather give my money to places that would happily accommodate us rather than a bunch of liars. Its safe to say that I would never go here again even if they offered us compensation. The experience...

This is my 4th time come to this place. And is the 1st time since they are opened last week in August 2020 because of the pandemic. Everything remains the same good quality of Beef or pork and added the seafood like shrimp and new dish scallops, very fresh. Staffs are very nice and friendly. Before you enter, there is a machine for temperature check which is a safety feature for everyone coming into the restaurant. Hand sanitizer at the entrance too. And each table is able to maintain a very safe social distance which makes me feel very comfortable to eat here. Therefore planning to revisit again next month to celebrate my birthday. Picture 1 to 3 is the most updated pictures or the 1at three pictures. Keep up the work!!! Thanks for the nice staff hospitality!!

This is my 3rd time come to this place!! Excellent service and Quality of food. Staffs are very friendly. Quality of beef is great. Not heavily marinated. And the Most important thing is not too oily. Maybe you will experience a little bit of oil at the end when you finish the dinner which is normal. The lady boss recommended us to try 2 things: pork belly, at 1st when I look at the raw meat is full of fat but after burning, totally not oily at all and very tasty smoky smell. Amazing!! The 2nd one is Fish head soup, a bit pepper inside and taste really good. The portion of 1 bowl is good enough for 2 people but I take the whole bowl myself because no other soup better than this one and is not thirsty after you finish drinking. The service is great compare to other BBQ restaurants. Like every one of them has a time limit for 2 hours, other usually remind you the last call after 1 hour 20 minutes or 1 and half hour but here will remind you when close to 2 hours. And other restaurants will hand you the bill and want you to leave exactly after 2 hours even though no people line up but here not only they won't chase you and rush you to leave. They even keep pouring water or refill some warm water while we are talking at the tables. This the Best Customer Service!! Therefore we will continue to come back again....