Omai — Restaurant in Toronto

The dining room is a cozy space with a few tables along the windows at the front, a few high top tables along the wall, and then seating at the bar. The lighting is fairly bright and music is not loud to the point that you have to raise your voice to talk to others.

Had the tasting menu along with the sake pairing, which was a good way to try a variety of what Omai had to offer. It was a good amount of food and drinks and I was pretty full by the end.

The oysters were a nice way to start the meal. They tasted fresh and vibrant with a bit of citrus with the pomelo.

The tuna in the temaki also tasted fresh, and had these crispy onions on top which carried a lot of the flavour for me and a welcome contrast in texture.

The uni was served on squid ink toast, which was not as toasted as I was expecting it to be. It was quite soft and bouncy when I picked it up, expecting it to be almost like a crostini. The uni itself had a good flavour, but was expecting a stronger taste.

The king salmon was nice and appreciated a bit of the crispy skin with it. The blue fin tuna was also good and tasted fresh. Both were served on top of some julienned asian pear which provided some subtle sweetness.

The noodles for the lobster dish were soft and carried a lot of the shisho pesto sauce with it. The sauce was thick and flavourful and provided a rich herby background to the lobster meat. Will also just say that the sauce can get a bit messy. The lobster was cooked well and had a good flavour to it.

The wagyu was cooked great with a good crust and warm, pink centre. The jus was a nice complement.

The dessert course was a lemon tart with a torched meringue and what tasted like cherry puree on top. The citrus taste was pretty strong and the filling was runnier than I’d expected. It would have been nice for the crust to be less tough and easier to cut through while you eat it. It took some force to break off a piece.

The four sake tastings were interesting and complemented the dishes well I’d say. Our server also was very knowledgeable with explaining the context of each drink - the history of their brewers, the way the rice from the sake is processed, where the water came from that went into it, etc.

The first sake was quite sweet for my taste. The second one was my favourite savoury sake which had a low polished ratio, just a slight sweetness, and was cool and crisp.

The final sake was also great and they served it with a side of Asahi beer. The sake was unfiltered and had a pleasant pulp texture to it with a natural sweetness.

Service was great through most of the night - knowledgeable, attentive and friendly. I was pretty pleased with my experience and would come back to try their other dishes. I think it’s a nice spot for good eats, drinks,...

Wow! Everything we had were creative and tastes super delicious and unique, made with high quality ingredients, and are reasonably priced.

Omai is a tiny boutique style Japanese/Korean fusion restaurant. Although it’s a tiny place, seats are well spaced and the open kitchen give it’s a nice spacious feel. It’s also a great place to get a drink.

Caviar oyster: one of the best oysters I’ve ever had. The salty taste of caviar accentuates the sweet taste of oyster. Their house made white wine and chilli sauces were delicious too.

Temaki (hand roll): we ordered a few different ones and they are all super delicious, especially the uni. They are all pre-seasoned with unique sauces inside. The wasabi that came with it tastes like very good quality and is quite sweet.

Kanpachi Crudo: I love the taste of kanpachi and this dish is delicious. Kanpachi is a very high quality ingredient and this dish is definitely very reasonably priced.

Croquette: it’s a simple dish but it is so well flavoured with multiple layers of taste. The texture was also very well made with a crispy shell and a smooth and soft center.

Seoul dog: an Asian interpretation of chorizo. It has a nice spicy kick to it that is flavourful but wouldn’t leave your month burning.

Pork Belly: super crispy skin. It’s probably the least special dish of the night but it’s still not bad.

Fried chicken: a more advanced version of the typical Korean street food. The chicken was super juicy and the flavouring is well balanced but with food...

We were running a bit late for our 8:15 reservation on a Friday evening, but we actually didn't end up getting seated until half an hour later. They also had to move us to another table to accommodate a party of four, but they did warn us ahead of time, and they comped our first round of drinks, which was nice of them.

We were hoping to do the tasting menu because we really wanted the uni toast (which they ran out of) but they said most of the tasting menu items were gone, and we had to order a la carte. So if you're looking to do the tasting menu as well, make sure you get an earlier reservation. We ended up ordering a few items:

-Caviar oyster - the oyster was fine. I liked the hot sauce in the little bottle that it was served with

-Blue fin tuna hand roll - this was really good. I liked the fried shallots it was topped with. It was a nice change from the typical green onion

-Salmon hand roll - this was great as well. I recently started liking ikura, so that was a nice touch

-Flat iron wagyu - this was probably the worst dish of the night. It came smothered in some sauce, reminiscent of the teriyaki kitchen entrees you'd get at a sushi takeout restaurant. It masked the taste of the beef, which makes me wonder about the quality and if it was even wagyu at all

Maybe my experience would have been difference had I gotten to try the tasting menu. But it's hard to judge when menu items are limited. I probably wouldn't go out of my way to come...