Etsu Restaurant

This place is really great. Their sushi is quite good and their cooked Japanese food is even better. Usually, the teriyaki and gyoza pales in the bento boxes. Not here. Sooooo great.

Etsu is simply put, quite good Japanese food. for a reasonable price you get reasonably good food. I came here for dinner with 3 friends and I ordered the bento and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the small-​ish looking portions add up and I left the restaurant feeling like a foie gras duck.
I had the dinner bento with teriyaki chicken and everything was done right. Their miso soup could use a bit more seaweed/​tofu but it’s just an appetizer. The same old salad with that sour ginger sauce was given and that was also quite good.
Then the bento came with it’s 9 pieces of sashimi, butter fish, salmon and toro. Some tempura’d vegetables and shrimp, the teriyaki, rice and a whole load of other stuff that I can’t remember. The tempura was done right, it wasn’t the dense battered tempura that some bad Japanese places will do but battered in panko, biting into it is like biting into happiness, light and crunchy.
The sashimi was good all fresh, salmon soft and smooth, toro had a nice light taste and the butter fish melted in your mouth.
The teriyaki was also very atypical but also really delicious, nicely seared chicken that retained its moisture with a light drizzle of teriyaki that was tangy and savoury a real rice thief. No literally this teriyaki chicken got off the plate and stole my f***in’ rice.
⁴⁄₅ stars for quality food and beautiful décor, loses a star for being memorable and original*.
*It’s not either of those things

In my top 5 sushi in Toronto at the moment. Just ignore all the other sushi joints on Baldwin & and go here. You won’t regret it. Great sashimi.

Seriously good sushi. We started with the udon noodles, which had some of the softest noodles I think I’ve ever tasted. We got them to add chicken into the broth, which was off menu, and it was totally perfect. For sushi rolls, we got the Snow, Kamikaze, and Spicy Tuna, and it was the most amazing combination ever. Seriously good restaurant. Totally fair prices, and definitely get the udon plus sushi combo. Udon heaven, plus sushi heaven, equals a really good heaven.

My other half frequents this sushi establishment every now and then with her co-​workers. She was always hyping up the lunch specials, specifically the Chirashi bowl. We tried it one Saturday, and I was really blown away!
Place is small, and felt overly modern, but don’t let that scare you off.
Fish was very fresh, with a number of different cuts. I loved the octopus with ponzu, and addition of Ikura (Salmon Roe). Great lunch price too.
I haven’t tried anything else yet, but if it’s any indication of their other items, they’ll be seeing me soon

The ambiance of this restaurant is warm and comfortable. Its somewhere you want to be when its snowing outside. Like other Unilocalers say, the restaurant has style. It is modern and trendy. The restaurant is surprisingly not loud even with all the tables being full. The setting is also romantic, which would be a good idea to bring a date here.
My party ordered: chirashi, sashimi regular, curry udon, yellow tail roll and black dragon roll.
Like other Unilocalers say, the chirashi is hands down the best one I tried in Toronto for this price tag. The sushi is reasonably priced for eating a la carte in downtown. The sashimi in our dishes were really fresh and the rolls tasted really good. Overall, the food was delicious.
The waitress here is nice but the service can be slightly slow because they usually only have one to two waitresses on the job.
Highly recommend Etsu if you wanna eat some fresh sushi and sashimi in downtown Toronto and you want to stay in the $$ price range.

Should have ordered the chirashi instead. The salmon portion in the salmon bento is so small. Other than that, everything is perfect.

I came here for a girl’s night dinner with my girlfriends. I have to say I’ve walked by this place many times before but have never tried and haven’t really pay much attention to this place either. This place is good for a small group of friends, but if you are a party of 6 make sure you make reservations because this place is small and I think they can only accommodate one table of 6 people. The menu selection is pretty good. The prices, I would say, is average for a sushi restaurant. The servers were all very friendly. The only think that I thought was lacking was that we had to ask many times to get refill for our tea. The food was good though. I ordered the sushi regular plate. I really enjoyed my food. Over all this place was good and so close to my office, maybe next time I will come here for lunch.

It’s a nice restaurant with a modern interior and a nice mix of Music playing in the background. The service was good but the food was very forgettable.

We ordered: I ordered the chirashi (pictured above) and my friends ordered a roll, and two katsu dinners.
Food: The fish was delicious! I love how they used all sorts of different kinds of fish and used different flavourings. The cherry tomatoes and seaweed were a nice touch. Had no idea what to do with the lime. Sushi rice was decent, but I have had better. Not quite enough rice vinegar. My friends seemed happy with their meals although I didn’t sample.
Service: Service was quick, attentive, and refilled our water reasonably quick. Food came out all at once, more or less.
Conclusion: 21 dollar Chirashi is pretty good but it’s a little expensive and will leave you wanting more. If you’re a fan of tamago, there is nothing for you here.

I’m never disappointed whenever I’ve gone to Etsu. This place has been here for a while and the quality has always been consistent over the years. It’s a nice & clean. The ambience is nice too (we were noticing interesting 70s type music over lunch today). Food-​wise, it’s good clean tastes (which is what I really appreciate with sushi/​sashimi). I usually get the bento-​boxes here the most though (when I come for lunch). My favorite is the salmon teriyaki bento box – the fish is soft and tender and flavored really well, with lots of veggies. The restaurant can get crowded during lunch time, but I’ve never really had to wait long to get seated. Service is nice and fast as well. This has got to be one of my favorite places to eat lunch in Baldwin!

Best chirashi in town! Like many other Unilocalers’ reviews, highly recommend trying it out. My friends and I came here on Friday night and made RSVP beforehand to avoid wait time.
The sashimi was very fresh and had a variety included in the chirashi including some non traditional fishes/​seafoods. Just a note that one kind of fish/​seafood is spicy, so ask the server to opt out or change with another type if you are not big of spicy food. The rice they used is the japanese sticky rice and is not soggy. It is a couple dollars more than typical chirashi (~$ 20), but it is definitely worth every dollar. Dish also comes with standard salad and soup.
Service was great, although it did take a little bit for the food to arrive which wasn’t a big issue. Can’t wait to come back to try out other dishes!

Etsu is chic, contemporary, and its food tastes as good as it looks.
Having grown up in Asia, I have extremely high standards for sushi. This is the first sushi restaurant I found in Toronto that was phenomenally delicious, but at the same time didn’t burn your wallet.
Size: sushi and portions are larger than most restaurants, most dishes are complemented with a salad with wafu dressing and miso soup.
Price: extremely reasonable for the quality and size of the food, around $ 15 for a good meal
Décor: trendy, spacious and clean. I especially love their glass tables and translucent chairs.
Ambience: has a jazzy feel to it, thumbs up for the music selection. Perfect scene for a casual date.
Favorite dishes: sushi platter, Kalbi, Bulgolgi, Udon
Service: Service and speed are reasonable. The restaurant gets a bit busy sometimes, and there is only one server. The one time I had to wait too long, the server was considerate enough to eliminate the tip option when I was paying for the bill.

We reserved beforehand for a group of 15 people for lunch on a Friday. They had us pre-​order before we arrived via e-​mail. This worked out really well as the food came 15 minutes after we arrived and some of us even ordered on the spot.
FOOD: I had the Chirashi as recommended by many Unilocalers, and it was delicious. It came with a variety of sashimi such as salmon, tuna, caviar and butterfish as well as a balanced blend of rice seasoning, seaweed, ginger, and a cucumber. The rice at the bottom was not soggy, very fragrant and paired well with the sashimi pieces. It came with a side of miso soup (nothing extraordinary) and typical small salad with Japanese dressing.
DRINKS: We didn’t order any drinks but they do have a decent selection of sake.
SERVICE: Service was very good. The servers came around with all our food promptly and managed our big group well.
All in all we were very satisfied with the food and service. The lunch menu is also very affordable considering this is a decent Japanese restaurant. I will return again for their bento boxes and maki rolls!

We came here as a group for a birthday. The food was excellent and lots of selection. Atmosphere and service was great. Would recommend this place for any special occassion, not an everyday place as it is $$$.
Overall, sushi was very high quality and lots of exotic drinks and desserts to choose from.

I almost don’t want to write a review here — I wanted to keep this a hidden gem!
I say hidden because despite the amount of ratings on Unilocal,this place never seem to be packed with customers.
The price is great for what you get and I’d be happy to eat their sushi every week.
The variety of fish you get is great, sushi rice at perfect temperature, and all the nigiri get their own sauce and topping such as fried garlic pieces, finely chopped green onion, or mince ginger. The attention to detail is astonishing. Every nigiri is made with love.
One star off for the weird service and waitress. But who cares guys — just come for the amazing sushi, you won’t regret this.

Service was slack. We were not greeted to our table, water was not given, didn’t even know who our server was for 20 mins until we finally asked.
The food was pretty good. Scallop appetizer had no maple flavour, just teriyaki. Which was disappointing. Plus it was way overpriced for what came out.
Had the deluxe bento for main and it was fantastic.
Nice décor inside, good food but could be much more welcoming and better service.

Love this place! Best nigiri ever!
I have been on a quest to find an average priced good sushi place and this is where my quest ends! After being disappointed so often I came upon the reviews for Etsu and decided to give it a try. We went on a friday night and it wasn’t crowed at all, might be because of the spring break (as told by the waitress).
We ordered:
1. Sweet Sake: Loved it… although the fact that it was made in USA was a bit odd.
2. Chef’s Selection Sushi: 4 pieces of nigiri, absolutely delicious!
3. Albacore Tuna: It was part of the above but we liked it so much that we re-​ordered it! Love the garlic oil topping
4. Tomago: Good, Mr. H liked it a lot more than I did.
5. Kimchi Roll: My least favourite, it was too strong for my liking.
6. Spicy Scallop Roll: No bad but not great either
7. Snow: Basically a dynamite roll + seared butter fish, yumm! Loved this!
8. Volcano Roll: I had seem pictures of it online and mine was not similar to that at all, it was average.
I’m surprised it took so long to find this place, I keep getting mailers from all the other places like Sushi Shop, Sushi Tower, Kyoto, etc but this place is waaaaay better than any of them.
Overall, the service was top notch and the nigiri was the best I’ve had at this price point. Will definitely go back for more! :)

+.5 for service
I think U of T students should feel spoiled that they have so many great sushi restaurants nearby… or great restaurants in general. Ryerson as well. Etsu is simply one of tens of sushi restaurants that’s within walking distance of the two campuses.
Coming in for lunch, the place was pretty much full seated. However the servers did get to me in a reasonable speed, so all was good. I ordered the sushi lunch plate, as I wanted more sushi compared to other bento ingredients.
The sushi was really well crafted and tasty, and even included scallop! Many of the fish were seared (which I love but some people might dislike), but the essentials were there. As long as it’s fresh, tasty, and presented in somewhat of an acceptable manner, it works for me. This meal fitted the whole bill IMO.
Service was very good despite the busy-​ness of the restaurant. The employees covered all corners of the restaurant well, and turnaround is quite fast. So even if you have to wait… it won’t be long!

Elaborate deco, looked more like a bar other than a Japanese restaurant. the Lightning is really dark at night.
I ordered chirashi. Better than I expected. Nice display. Many toppings. Nice rice. They got a the small thing other places didn’t have.
It will be awesome if they only charge it 13 during lunch time.