Shinta Japanese BBQ — Restaurant in Toronto

• Update Review * (As of August 10, 2024)

Food: 4 Star Service: 5 Star Ambience: 3 Star Overall: 4 Star

Note: Complimentary Silver Menu Invite

We recently revisited Shinta, where we were invited for the silver wagyu menu dining experience as a complimentary gesture following a less-than-stellar experience during our previous visit. This time, we were served the Australian M9 wagyu, which was absolutely delicious. The highlight of our meal was undoubtedly the chef's selected wagyu cuts. The thick, flavourful slices provided some of the best bites we've ever had, making it our favourite dish on the menu.

In addition to the wagyu, the foie gras was another standout, offering a rich and indulgent flavour. Our server, Daniel, suggested pairing the garlic scallops with the foie gras oil, and it was a recommendation that elevated the dish to a new level of savoury goodness. Daniel's attentiveness and efficiency throughout the evening were commendable; he was quick, kind, and friendly, ensuring that we had an exceptional dining experience. We also appreciated Henry and the manager for seating us by the window, where we could clearly see that the area had been meticulously cleaned and refreshed, contributing to a vastly improved atmosphere. Bonus, this time there was creme brûlée!

Overall, our experience at Shinta during this visit was a complete turnaround. The exceptional quality of the wagyu, the delicious and well-prepared dishes, and the outstanding service provided by Daniel and the rest of the staff made for a truly memorable evening. It's evident that Shinta has taken our past feedback seriously and made significant improvements. We are delighted with the changes, this experience has definitely restored our confidence in the restaurant, let's hope they continue this amazing experience at our next visit!

• Review * (As of July 23, 2024)

Food: 1 Star Service: 1 Star Ambience: 1 Star Value: 1 Star Overall: 1 Star

Note: CASH OR DEBIT ONLY

I recently visited Shinta on July 23rd for a birthday dinner, and unfortunately, the experience did not meet our expectations, leaving me perplexed about the high ratings this location has received. We arrived around 8:30 PM, excited to celebrate, and were initially pleased with our server, Chris, who was friendly and attentive. However, about an hour into our meal, Chris suddenly disappeared. It wasn't until later that we learned he had left because his shift had ended. It would have been considerate and professional if he had informed us before leaving, as we were left without any further service but had to ask other servers for help.

We opted for the all-day menu, expecting the same variety and quality as the Richmond Hill location we've enjoyed before. Unfortunately, many anticipated items were missing, and the meat quality was disappointing. The seasoned miso beef, in particular, tasted stale and overly seasoned, likely to mask the off flavour. The salmon portions were surprisingly small, and unlike other locations, there were no unlimited refills for pop—just a single can with no ice. The only highlights were the corn cheese, kimchi, and pickled jalapeños, but even those can be found better elsewhere.

Dessert, typically a highlight, was disappointing. There was no crème brûlée, which we usually expect from Shinta. To make matters worse, my boyfriend found a piece of cone wrap paper inside his ice cream cone, raising concerns about the care in food preparation.

The service at the end of our meal was disappointing. We were rushed to pay before finishing, which felt impolite. The lady who brought the bill had a noticeable attitude. To make matters worse, our seating area by the window was dusty and unclean.

Overall, our experience at this Shinta location was far from satisfactory. Given these issues, I cannot recommend this location. For those considering Shinta, I would highly recommend visiting the Richmond Hill location instead, where we've consistently experienced fresher food, better service, and a more pleasant dining...

Definitely a BBQ place that has a menu for every budget and occasion. Starting from their most budget friendly option which is the Black Angus at around $40pp, all the way up to their most premium experience which is around $130-140pp. We went in between and did their silver menu for $100pp, which came up to around $250 for 2 people after tax and tips (12% tip is automatically added to your bill).

The selection for the silver menu was pretty good, it included wagyu, Australia M9 beef, and foie gras which we really liked and was the reason why we picked this menu. I believe foie gras was a new addition to the menu, they swapped out the duck breast and replaced it with foie gras. They also increased the price of the silver menu from $85.99pp to $99.99pp after this change as well it seems.

The overall dining experience was pretty good, our waitress was attentive and the food came out quickly. We mainly stuck to the special items on the silver menu.

The wagyu and foie gras pairing was to die for, it was melt in your mouth delicious goodness. I definitely recommend ordering both and trying them together. I also recommend ordering some pineapple to help cut the fat since the cuts on the silver menu is really well marbled so there is a lot of fat.

The Australia M9 was very good as well, soft, tender, and juicy.

My only complaint for this menu would be the rack of lamb, and the thin cut ox tongue from the regular menu. The lamb was pretty bland and flavourless in comparison to the other meats we had. The thin cut ox tongue was so thin that while picking it up to transfer it to the grill would rip. I wish the thin cut ox tongue was cut just a little bit thicker. The thick cut ox tongue from the special menu was great though, I recommend ordering the thick cut ox tongue if you have the option to do so. This place would be much closer to a 5 star rating for me if not for the lamb, and and ox tongue. As well I did feel like they aren't as generous with the wagyu selected cuts, since we were given less wagyu than what we ordered (not too big of an issue since we just ended up placing more orders of the wagyu after) and at the beginning they recommended that we also order some stuff from the regular menu since the items from their special menu could take about 15 minutes for the chef to cut. It didn't end up taking that long which is good, but definitely felt like they were trying to push some items from the regular menu on us.

We finished our meal off with a soft serve each, served in ice cream cones, the flavour was delicious and ice cream was smooth.

Overall a really great dining experience, I would definitely come back for their regular menu sometimes and maybe try their silver menu again for a special occasion. I don't feel like I could eat enough to justify the price tag on their gold menu, especially when the silver menu is already $250...

I have been to this Shinta location a dozen times over the last 5 years, and have always enjoyed the food and experience. I was there tonight with 5 friends that wanted to try Shinta for the first time, as I had recommended it as my “go to” Japanese BBQ restaurant. Though I usually order the basic Black option, we decided to try the upgraded Silver Wagyu option, and the final bill was almost $700.

Unfortunately, I had a terrible dining experience, was extremely embarrassed in front of my friends by the awful service, and will likely never come here again.

In fairness, the wagyu beef food quality was very good. However, there were multiple service-related issues throughout the night

Inaccurate Orders though we placed orders for a specific number of each type of dish with the server, they often just brought one item per person, which led to too much food. We constantly had to tell them that we didn’t order that much per item

Missing items Frequently, items we ordered would not show up. We would need to follow up multiple times, and even then, sometimes items didn’t come. For example, we asked for 1 extra salad tonight and had to follow up multiple times over 45 mins. They ended up giving us 6 salads after an hour - perhaps they accumulated an order after each “follow up”, or just gave one per person. However, this was obviously an issue. During last call for food, we ordered several wagyu beef plates, which never came. We followed up multiple times with the staff

Rude Service I have never seen such bad service before at a restaurant. Perhaps they were overwhelmed on a busy Friday evening, but I found the server to be very passive aggressive. Even when asking if there were any other items that hadn’t arrived and required follow up, you could see the question being asked from someone gritting their teeth. It was very uncomfortable as a customer, like I was bothering them When we ordered dessert, we asked for 2 coconut melona, 1 mango, and 1 honeydew. When he came back, he roughly threw 6 melona on the table, which were not the ones we ordered, and just said “this is all we have”. There was a mandatory 15% tip applied to a table of six or more people. My friends said that if it weren’t for that mandatory fee, they would have paid zero tip, given the poor service

Overall, I was quite shocked by my experience tonight relative to my past visits. Given my friends commented multiple times over dinner that (a) they thought it was terrible value for the money because of the poor experience (b) they would never come back here and (c) they thought Gyubee had far better service and was more consistent, I will be reconsidering my patronage at Shinta...