Gonoe Japanese Sushi

The specialty of this restaurant is Korean flounder and other Korean seafood specialties although they do have basic Japanese sushi and other Japanese dishes.
I had tried the small Korean flounder combo with four friends for $ 77.95. It comes with tempura, flounder and soup. I was told that the small flounder serves 2 people however, I think the meal can serve 4 people due to the, side dishes, soup and additional rice they gave. We also ordered the sushi lunch set A (8 sushi + 6 rolls) for $ 10.95.
In the end we were all pretty full.
We ate the sashimi in Korean BBQ style putting it on lettuce and adding sauces, garlic and peppers and putting it all in your mouth. The fish tasted light and fresh and the sauces made it tastier. I don’t know if the tastes justifies the price but the fish was imported in from Korea so that’s why.
The sushi had more fish than rice and the rolls were tasty with a hint of sweetness.
The sushi and roll selection contains the most standard names compared to other sushi places but there is definitely good value.
I really like the spicy sauce that came with the flounder. It wasn’t really spicy and it was kind of sweet.
Now that I have tried the Korean flounder I don’t know if i may get I again due to the price but who knows.

My fam is really more of an AYCE sushi kind of fam, so when i got a chance to join my boyfriend’s family at Gonoe, I had to do it!
Everything they serve is amazingly fresh — live octopus (STILL ALIVE WHEN CONSUMED), sashimi, it’s all amazing. I know there are adventurous foodies out there who have been itching to try live octopus, and you can do it right here!
However, that’s not the only thing to rave about here. so I’m not quite sure what we ordered but i do know that its a series of combos. Just gonna name my favourite things:
Tempura — simple, but fried to be extra crispy
Spicy Fish Soup served with Black Glutinous Rice — spicy but AMAZING. just so good. reconsidering all those times that i ate pork bone soup instead.
Deep Fried Mackerel — Tasted so fresh, it’s a small fish to share for a large group, but definitely worth trying.
Sushi Boat — some of the freshest seafood i’ve had, but then again i mostly just have AYCE sushi quality sashimi.
Flounder Sashimi — it’s a LARGE plate of sashimi, with something like chewy, jelly textured noodles underneath, served with House made ginger. it’s a must try for sure
if you want fresh, authentic Japanese (but run by Koreans) food, then look no further!
(also pricing is about the same as an AYCE sushi place)

I went there to try the living octopus sashimi. we went there especially for this dish because it will still be moving as you place it in your mouth. we had ordered this place some lunch specials. Overall lunch specials were around 12 dollars after tax without tips. which was the cheapest ones, the bento boxes were around 17 dollars after taxes or so. The other dishes we tried were chriashi, spicy sashimi bowl, beef teriyaki box, and shrimp teriyaki. Overall the food was average, it did not seem to justify the price. i expected the food to be much better, given the price.
The Service for a restaurant is average, however i think the servers will have communication problems as they do not speak english for the most parts.
Overall i believe if you are a foodie and wanted to try the live sashimi, then it is worth coming, however if you just want a decent japanese meal, this place will be a bit pricier than necessary for a decent one around the area.

Love it here. The quality is amazing and the maki rolls are so flavourful. They don’t wrap crazy amounts of rice to the rolls and they’ve always got the best selection of fish and raw items.

I first came here for the live octopus. It was a really fun experience, great way to practice your chopstick skills.
We had a octopus, flounder combo and a boat, it was a bit too much for a table of 4 plus 2kids. They have a variety of sashimi you don’t often see elsewhere. I would consider it slightly more expensive than your regular sushi place.
Lobster roll taste amazing as well.
The flounder sashimi, for me was quite dull. Maybe too much of only one type of fish… The soup was good, came along with a grilled fish as well.
Recommend as a dating place, live octopus can really get to a topic starting. And it’s fun!

A favourable review because I was pleased with their service.
Overall, it’s the higher end alternatives like Japango and Ja Bistro are literally just way beyond Gonoe’s league. This is a good spot for people who enjoy their California and shrimp tempura (cooked) rolls.
The sushi and sashimi aren’t top grade, so if that’s you’re thing you won’t be happy here! Quality is about the same as AYCE… EXCEPT the uni was shockingly super fresh and scrumptious.
All the dishes were really beautifully presented, especially the large boat that we ordered!
Fun experience for anyone that wants to try live squirming octopus, though I didn’t.
Good prices, good service, good presentation, but sashimi quality definitely not for the sushi connoisseur!

Did not enjoy this place at all. Only came for the live octopus which was just. Live octopus (slimy and salty). Everything else wasn’t fresh or extremely underwhelming. They seared the hotate to mask the fact that it’s not fresh. The «toro» felt like chewing on cling wrap. Unagi tasted like packaged. Ika was meh.
Will definitely not come back.

I usually head to AYCE restaurants and fill my stomach up till it hurts. Every once in a blue moon I would check into an authentic sushi restaurant instead.
I ordered the Sashimi & Sushi dinner special (picture below). Comes with few appetizers and green ice cream. I have to say they have high quality Sashimis here. Tastes as fresh as it looks (picture below). Sushi and makis were alright.
Now to the restaurant: Nice décor, clean place, comfy booths, and wonderful service.
Overall great place for Sashimi lovers. Sashimi here is a must try!

I know other reviewers thought that the octopus didn’t have much taste but I really really enjoyed it. It’s a light, salty taste. Same with the flounder, it’s so clean and fresh tasting, I drove all the way from downtown just to have some! Service can definitely be slow here but the freshness of the seafood and how nice the staff were, made up for it. What was extra awesome is that I was too full to end my meal with the spicy soup they have so they packaged the individual ingredients to go and told me how to cook it at home!!!
Honestly, I wish I could just eat everything on the menu, because when I looked around at other people’s tables, everything I saw looked SO good!

Quick disclaimer, my review is purely based on the seafood special platter as well as the flounder sashimi. I’ve come back to this restaurant numerous time for the same dishes. Not sure how their other dishes are but they do their specialty Korean style seafood stuff VERY well.

The live octupus is really the best!
It’s about 30 dollars with tax but if you’re eating it with a group of people, then the price
is much more reasonable.
The service is great! The waitresses and waiters are very nice and they are organized.
My favourite thing to eat there is the salmon don. IT’S SOOO GOOD.
The only downside is that food takes a little long to get there. but it doesn’t matter because
the food is so worth the wait.

The live octopus is a must try when you come to this place. Pretty much the main attraction here.
The live octopus dish was $ 28+ tax so it’s a little bit pricey. It was kind of hard getting the tentacles stay on my chopstick and it doesn’t have much of a taste on its own and is very chewy. Make sure to dip it in a lot of sauce. Certainly it was a very unique experience. The sashimi tasted pretty fresh but everything else was kind of average. Service was a bit on the slower side as it took awhile for all the cooked stuff to came out. On the other hand, all the raw stuff came out pretty quickly.

One of our server, Amy was very helpful & nice. We loved our food; salmon teriyaki & salmon salad.

Gonoe Sushi is not bad but also not great. We came here because of the live octopus they serve and it was definitely an experience. The sushi, sashimi and maki rolls were quite average. Service was mediocre.
The live octopus was definitely very interesting and a fun dish to get. Mind you it will set you back $ 28. The squirming octopus tentacles are served with two different dipping sauces on the side, sesame oil and salt or a kimchi sort of spicy sauce. The suction cups will try very hard to stick to any surface. Try sticking it on your hand!
As mentioned the sushi, sashimi and maki rolls are very average. We ordered a large sashimi boat and a small sushi and maki combo. About the same quality as an AYCE Japanese restaurant. The sashimi was cut way too thick and large. Nothing special.
We were also given a spicy seafood salad on the house. This has an overpowering kimchi dressing which takes away from all the other flavour. Would not order it again.
Service was pretty slow. Apparently our server was new but we had to ask for a tea refill five times before getting a refill. We actually got our tea because we asked for the bill… Lol
The only special thing about this restaurant is the live octopus, nothing else stands out. Give it a try if you’re feeling adventurous.

Came here for the $ 145 live seafood dinner combo, the main draw being the live octopus (as I’m sure it is for many diners here)!
So let’s cut to the chase: I feel it tasted like nothing. Just squiggly bits of tentacles, more chewy and tough than the typical cooked octopus, and a bit slimy. Seriously, boiled chicken has more pronounced flavour. The only flavours I really got were from the spicy (ish)-sweet sauce that comes from a plastic squeezie bottle or sesame-​salt dipping sauce — both of which I liked, by the way, but the octopus itself had no taste in itself.
Other live/(«odori”-style, if you’re familiar with the Japanese type live kind of seafood) seafood you’ll receive as part of the set:
— Abalone: My favourite of the set, it’s got a toothsome quality kind of like a very thick-​cut geoduck… but not as tasty as geoduck, IMHO…
— Sea cucumber: It looks so slimy on the plate, but it’s actually quite sturdy and tough.
— Sea pineapple/​sea squirt: Very slimy, squishy, briney and … ammonia-​y. Um, I’m not doing a very good job of selling this one.
— Sea… … Slug?: Uh, I don’t even know what this was. Chopped up, it looked like bits of chitterlings (cooked/​fried pork intestines). It tasted like… um…um…I can’t even remember.
— The head of the octopus, whose body you just ate raw!
— One whole flounder: Wrap it up in your choice of leaf (lettuce, large shiso/​perilla, or ssukgat/​chrysanthemum leaves), stick some sauce on it with optional raw garlic slices and jalapeño, and eat it. Since it’s filleted immediately before it’s served to you, don’t expect Japanese-​styled sashimi, which has been given time to develop flavour. This one is more fishy, and has firmer textured flesh.
Other things you’ll get in the set:
— A spicy fish soup made with the flounder head/​bones
— A tempura set of about 4 – 5 shrimp and a few vegetables
It’s exactly a bad deal, but I feel like this was more of an «experience» type of meal than one where I had really enjoyed the flavours. I’m glad I tried it, but all in all I’d say it was all relatively bland.

Gonoe is located in a plaza among many other Asian restaurants and marketplace. Owned and Operated by Korean, Gonoe serves Japanese cuisine along with several Korean dishes.
As this restaurant is so popular, it is always packed. We went on a weekend and could not make a reservation and waited around 45 minutes for a table for 5.
Tempura Appetizer
The assorted tempura appetizer includes your typical shrimps and vegetables like cucumber, sweet potato. It is deep fried to perfection with a very well done crispy breaded coating. The only complain would be that the shrimp was not fresh.
Side Dishes
Like your typical Korean restaurant, Gonoe serves a few side dishes. We got kimchi, japchae (glass noodles), broccoli and pickled radish. Something to clear the palette between different dishes. We also each got a salad as a starter.
Grilled Black Cod
One of our favorite hot dishes of the night. Accompanied by a lot of vegetables and a bowl of rice. The black cod was flavored perfectly with a very smooth and soft texture by the well preserved oil from the fish itself. The natural oil of the fish makes it very moist.
Flounder Sashimi (Small)
Served beautifully on a bed of shaved radish with an assorted variety of leafy vegetables, the flounder sashimi is one of the most popular dishes at Gonoe. There are a few different ways to eat the flounder sashimi, you can either eat it dipped in your typical soy sauce and wasabi or wrapped in lettuce with miso paste, garlic slices and jalapeño. We found the flounder sashimi to be a little chewy because of its tendons so it was rather difficult to eat as a wrap. Although we only ordered a small platter, it was quite a large portion and we got bored of eating it after a while. So it’s best if you order it with more people. It was nonetheless very fresh and tender but not our favorite dish and probably won’t order it again.
Live Octopus Sashimi
The highlight of our night of course was the octopus sashimi. This has got to be the freshest yet most challenging way to eat an octopus — while it’s «alive» and moving. With this dish, we are mainly eating the tentacles, it is served diced up on a small plate with dipping sauce that contains sea salt and sesame oil. While the octopus itself doesn’t have much taste to it, the dipping sauce gave it a light salty flavor that brought out the sweetness of the fresh octopus. It also has a very unique chewy texture that is softer than its cooked version. It might seem slimy and disgusting to some people but it doesn’t actually feel that way once it’s inside your mouth. Do be careful though to chew thoroughly or the tentacles might get stuck in your throat with their suction cups!
Assorted Sushi and Sashimi Boat (Medium)
Filled with freshness from the sea, this boat consists of a good mix of sashimi, sushi and rolls including Salmon, Tuna, Snapper, Surf Clam, Octopus, Hiring, BC Tuna and Hamachi, Eel, Shrimp, California Roll, Dynamite Roll. The sashimi is very fresh to taste and have beautiful colors and evenly distributed fat.
We had quite a lot of fun eating at Gonoe. Although the wait was a bit long, we enjoyed the food very much, which made the wait worthwhile. We highly recommend you to go try out this restaurant if you happen to be in Toronto! It’s one of the few places that serve quality live octopus and fresh sashimi. We hope you enjoy your time at Gonoe as much as we did!

Go-​noe further for fresh seafood and octopus!
After having raw octopus in Beijing, I had a mad craving for some in Toronto. I heard from friends that this is one of the places to get good fresh seafood so I had to visit.
I went with five other friends to the restaurant and got seated in a booth and the restaurant décor is cute.
We ordered the live fish combo and a live octopus. The combo came with soju, tempura, flounder, soup, fish, and seaweed salad. The tempura was cooked well and is one of the better ones I’ve had. The flounder tasted really fresh, but it kind of lacked in flavour. Adding lemon to it helped the taste, but not too much. The soup was pretty spicy, but delivered on taste. The fish was hard to split between people but the fish was delicious. The seaweed salad was pretty standard.
But before all of that… The octopus came — still squirming. You can tell it is fresh by how much it was moving. The saucers that came with it really helped bring out the flavour.
Craving: satisfied.
Wallet: empty.
Although this was great, I’d rather spend this money on other sashimi restaurants. The octopus is certainly unique, but not enough for the price.
The cherry on top: we got green tea ice cream to round off the meal.

Like a lot of people, I came to try some very interesting fresh seafood. Experience wise, Gonoe was cool. The moving octopus was definitely social media photo worthy.
We ordered Flounder Sashimi + Seafood Combo Set $ 139.95
— Flounder Sashimi (M) + Seafood Sashimi Combo (1. abalone; 2. sea squirt; 3. sea cucumber; 4. Urechis unicinctus, 5. octopus) + assorted tempura + deep fried fish + spicy fish soup
My friends and I all felt that there were just too much sashimi. unlike the one we usually have in a sushi bar: salmon, toro, tuna etc. when i say sashimi, i meant those tasteless chewy raw sea animals. besides that and the spicy fish soup, the rest were deep fried which just does not go very well with all the cold chewy raw seafood we just finished and were also lack of flavours. when we finally eat our way to the last dish spicy fish soup, we had so much expectations on it. we wish it could be warm and hearty with flavours. but soup was so bland!
We waited in the line for so long and it was just disappointed.
but again social media photo worthy! a pretty cool way to show off.

My first time here with 2 other friends. We came for lunch on Saturday and it was pretty busy. I thought the service was friendly and servers were quick. The price is fair and the food we ordered was very fresh. We ordered a small sushi and sashimi boat, beef tataki, seafood udon soup, and fresh live octopus. Yup we saw a picture of a live octopus so we had to try it! It comes to our table already cut up but the tentacles were still moving around. They were squirming around and actually sucked themselves onto the plate. It took some effort to pry them off the plate. Haha. Once you got them off the plate an into your mouth, the taste was actually pretty bland. You have to dip into the hot sauce or soy sauce. It was fun to eat but now that I’ve experienced it, I’ll just order the other stuff. The sashimi, udon and beef tataki was fresh and very tasty. A great little spot.

If you are a fan of trying new things, come to Gonoe Japanese Sushi. Firstly, you have to make sure that you are going to the right «Gonoe» restaurant because this is the only Gonoe restaurant that sells live octopus. And this is the one reason my friend and I came here.
A plate of live octopus tentacles cost around $ 37 per plate and when I mean LIVE octopus, I mean, they are still wiggling around your plate (headless). Ive seen couple videos from Instagram and I thought why not give it a try. But you gotta tag a friend along with you who is also a daredevil.
The overall service was okay and I highly recommend you to reserve a seat a head of time, especially on weekends dinner. The taste was okay, but it was a fun overall dining experience.