Toro Sushi — Restaurant in Carmel-by-the-Sea

It was a hot July day in Hollister. I decided to drive down to Carmel-by-the-Sea after sweating up a storm. You see, I had been painting in the garage since noon. It was 88 F inside. Right outside on the driveway, the sun was beating down hard on the pavement. The radiant heat was making it unbearable. After an hour an a half of applying primer, I had enough. I decided to head down to the coldness of Carmel-by-the-Sea. It was 61 F and I was loving it. Most of the time I keep my wanderings to south of Ocean Ave. This time, I wandered north of Ocean Ave. This was when I happened upon Toro. As I was quite famished, I decided to give this place a try.

After a quick perusal of the menu, I decide on the chirashi. This dish came with 5 or 6 different types of sashimi on top of rice and a dash of tobiko roe. There were some seaweed salad and white ginger on the side. There was quite a bit of food, so I’m glad I brought a big appetite! I have to say it was delicious.

I had the green tea with my food. It came in a traditional cast iron pot, with loose leaves. This is the way tea is supposed to be served.

I drove down on a Saturday afternoon. The area was more busy than usual, probably because of the heat wave. A lot of cars that night, both on the way down and on the way home. It took me 1 hr and 24 minutes to get to Seaside alone. Normal, it takes this much time for me to get to Carmel-by-the-Sea. I overheard from the hostess that the place was booked out until 9 that evening. Because I was a solo traveler, I was able to get bar-style seating by the window.

Though I was sitting right by the open front door, just on the inside, I still enjoyed the cool breeze wafting in as I enjoyed my food. My only complaint was the cold breeze made my fish cold (just kidding!).

Service was good. Even though I was a solo diner, the waitress checked on me and asked how I was doing. Most other restaurants just leave me alone the entire time. They think I’m not worth the hassle because the tip is too small to justify their effort as I’m just a party-of-one.

I shall like to come back on a weeknight, just to avoid the crowds and perhaps get a table outside, under one of the...

Only come to Toro if you live in Carmel and are dying for some sushi, you like bad service and rude employees, and you like eating fish that has been sitting out for a while.

First, my waitress was incredibly slow. She means well, but is not respectful to her customers. She took over 15 minutes to bring plates, napkins, chopsticks, ginger and wasabi. We specifically asked for the ginger and wasabi to come before our sushi came because we like to snack on it. In fact, the plates, utensils, ginger, and wasabi did not arrive in time for our first appetizer. Also, the waitress took forever to refill my water. I had to ask multiple times to get her to refill.

Second, other staff along with our waiter were rude to us. They seemed bothered by us asking for another serving of ginger to pair with our sushi. Multiple employees made comments and jokes about us asking for more ginger. It was incredibly rude and off-putting.

Lastly, the ingredients tasted like they had been sitting out for a while. The fish and cucumbers tasted like they had been in the fridge for a while. It did not taste fresh at all. It tasted dry even with soy sauce. The fish in the area is generally so fresh. The sushi was expensive too, so I definitely expected fresh ingredients.

Overall, Toro is overpriced for bad service and ingredients that aren’t very fresh. I recommend trying the other restaurants in the area if you are on a trip and not wasting your time here. There are much better sushi spots in...

I don’t like leaving bad reviews unless it is absolutely warranted…..we arrived at 2pm and the restaurant was not packed….we sat down at 2:20 and ordered a bottle of wine and sashimi along with 2 rolls….sashimi came at 2:50, still no wine

Our waters weren’t refilled and we were sitting in the sun….after asking for an update on the wine, we were told the fridge was broke (ok) and they would bring out another bottle of a similar grape (they didn’t know what kind of wine we ordered when they said they would bring another bottle)….then they came out with two empty wine glasses and we finally just said skip the bottle, let’s just order by the glass….which should have been offered 15 mins into the wait…(38 mins for a glass of wine) - the waitress didn’t seem to understand the concept of waiting tables (and I used to be a waiter)

We literally had to ask for water refills (30 mins into being seated at a place that was NOT crowded) - when I asked for a water refill, it eventually came (10 mins later)

The Maine Squeeze was very tasty, the toro and salmon sashimi were underwhelming for being close to the ocean, overall the food was not with the terrible dinning experience.

I always tip exceptionally well….but I had to leave zero after what was an...