House of Moments

The food and vibe are nice but this place is a little pretentious. Having a dress code that includes 2″+ heels for your hostess and coat check staff is sort of barbaric in my opinion. I chatted with one of the coat check ladies who confirmed that high heels are mandatory parts of the uniform but did assure me that her and her team slip into flats (or just take the heels off) when no one’s looking.

Great atmosphere. Its hard to find places that are truly unique these days and this place its décor and theme is truly a one of a kind moment. It has a new york chic ambience. Live music art gallery what more could you ask for. Its a gem kind of hidden in the city and well the food, sushi? Not too shabby and good quality.

We thought we would give it a try and bought a Groupon voucher. Finally went and overall the décor, space and layout is quite exceptional. No wonder they do many events. Quite taken by that and the presentation of the food. While we did order off a limited menu, portions were a good size. Tempura was not greasy and beet salad fresh. Good start. Sea bass entrée, again good size portion tasted a little off, a little too fishy and not in a good way and the sides, veggies and mashed potatoes were tepid at best. Staff was fine, server in training so cut him a little slack but when ½ an entrée is left on a plate, as a server, you should really wonder about its quality or if the guest was not happy. Signature maki set was huge and well enjoyed. Would give this place another shot.

We eat out a lot, and this wonderful restaurant deserves your attention. As everyone seems to agree, the décor is stunning, and the best part is in what used to be a large, open warehouse space, the use of the incredible carved doors throughout makes it really intimate. The tables are well-​spaced, providing awesome privacy. We loved the glass tables, as the focus was totally on the amazing food. And amazing it was. Everything, from drinks to desserts, was perfect. Creative. Unique. Amazing use of spices without overpowering the foods underneath. Presentation was flawless. Portions were reasonable. This place would be phenomenal for a special event or large party, too. This was one of the best meals we have enjoyed in a long time. Don’t miss it.

This place is super unique — lounge /​restaurant. The décor was stunning — huge doors from Cambodia, Thai sculptures, and art gallery. There was even a dance class going on in the other room while we were here. They host events — this would be a wicked place for a larger 50+ person event.
It’s got a bit of a pretentious feel to it — definitely dress up for this place. Kind of expensive for food, but it was worth the experience.

I actually really like this place. But kind of just the place … And food. To be frank, the servers were a little bit pushy. Minus a little bit.
The ambience like many reviewers before have said, is amazing. It’s one of a kind. It’s like dining in a really hip art gallery with Buddha statues at every corner. The dining area is really spread out, and the tables are a bit larger for my liking as it’s quite far from your partner but otherwise I absolutely love the restaurant.
This review is based on a prix fixe menu as well so some of the items I’m listing MIGHT be restricted to that menu.
Curry Sashimi: LOL WUT. It’s one of the weirdest combinations I’ve ever had for food. But it’s surprisingly really good! The spiciness and flavors of the curry contrasts the simple, clean taste of the tuna an salmon sashimi
Signature Sushi Set: It featured two different sushis. One was the RUSSIAN ROLL (8pcs)
Avocado, Banana Long Peppers, Spicy Salmon & Fresh Jalapeño on Top. Never tasted anything like it before but it was delicioussssss. Especially if you like spicy, this definetly had a kick to it. The other one I had was RED VELVET ROLL (8pcs)
Deep Fried Shrimp, Avocado, Cucumber, Fish Egg, Tomato, Tuna Chunk, Garlic Mayo, Green Onion. This one was my favourite. I loved the hefty Asian flavors in this roll, and it kind of tasted like a spring roll inside sushi. It was just so savoury, and I can never get enough of savoury.
Spicy Salmon: so before I came, Unilocal seemed to tell me that the spicy salmon was the dish of the place. It’s okay. It’s better quality than other sushi restaurant but again, it’s much more expensive. Meh. I would rather much prefer the red velvet roll.
Matcha brûlée and chocolate brownie. Both are really good, but something you can definitely get somewhere else. Didn’t much stand out, but it was still quite good.
Overall, the food is quite amazing. It’s a fusion I’ve never tried at any other place before. The atmosphere is beautiful as well (I don’t get the thousand dollar doors though…) but it’s beautiful. A place to impress. But the reason for the two stars was the service. I would recommend their servers to not be so pushy and try to scam their customers. For instance, I remember only ordering only one dessert, and when two came out and we told them they made a mistake they basically said they still had to charge us for it because it’s already made. Whatever though, didn’t want to ruin the mood.
Great food and place, not so great service though.

Very cool place (KEEP READING). Outside of downtown and everyone in our party that drove found free parking (Saturday night). Very cool décor! Love the art gallery feel and the collection of doors from around Asia were amazing. BUT… food (which very well decorated) was mediocre for the price point. Very sushi-​based menu but the sushi was… sushi; nothing to justify the price. My biggest complain was that my boyfriend who doesn’t drink ordered a «virgin Caesar» which cost $ 9… my cocktail cost $ 9… not okay. A virgin Caesar is basically the same category as a pop… very disappointed in the place when I saw the bill: $ 18 for two glasses of Clamato.

Only went there because we had a Groupon credit to use.
We were allowed one salad, soup or appetizer worth up to $ 14 and one entrée up to $ 30 each, not bad but what they don’t tell you is that you have to order from a separate menu that the portion are tiny. There is no way that my 4oz salmon was worth anywhere near $ 30 and it was overcooked. The waiter was very confused, first he told us that we could order from the regular menu and that we were allowed one soup/​salad, one appetizer and one entrée each so we placed our order than he came back and said sorry you have to use the other menu and only one soup/​salad/​appetizer. We talked to the manager and she was no help.
When we asked for the bill it should have been only to pay the taxes but there was an extra charge. We told him and he left, change something on it and we payed. We told the manager that they are ripping people off by making you order from the special menu and she told us never to come back.
That night there was also a fashion show going on and the music was so loud we couldn’t even talk.
The décor is weird, a warehouse with a few pieces of «art». They sell purses and scarves on a counter.
All in all not a classy joint, very pretentious, high prices and not worth it.

The ambiance is quite unique, too bad it’s quite away from central down town. What is essentially a warehouse, House of Moments incorporates a restaurant & asian inspired contemporary art gallery. From scuptures, and canvases, to various fixtures, and artsy décor.
The down-​tempo house music playing in the background makes you want to bobble your head as you eat your meal, and even get up at times to dance… if you’re more of a piano musician there’s a piano towards the back :)
I can safely say this place is one of a kind!
The server was helpful, knowledgeable… but unfortunately slow lol…
Their drink menu has a handful selection, but does NOT compromise the quality.
The food… see the scoop below.
Edamame: ⁴⁄₅ not salty at all, which is great, the sesame seeds sprinkled on top added some flavour since this appetizer is bland to begin with.
Shrimp & Vegetable Tempura: ⁴⁄₅ Perfect balance of batter, unlike most places where its majority batter. Presentation was creative, and the value was exceptional.
Spicy Sushi Dish: This trio included Spicy salmon sushi, Spicy tuna sushi, and Russian Sushi (Which I’ve never heard of nor had). Though the Russian sushi had jalapeño peppers on top of each individual sushi I didn’t find it as spicy as the tuna sushi, but nonetheless all three sushi’s were delightful
This venue hosts weekly parties, however this particular day there was no DJ! the place is a great venue to hosts parties, etc. Definitely a unique venue in this city that I would love to revisit. Just keep in mind this place is priced accordingly to the quality!

This sushi-​asian fusion restaurant has a pretty unique warehouse basement/​art gallery space thing going on in terms of décor and vibe. With constant strange down tempo house music playing, a large (mostly empty) basement location covered in a mish mash of random asian decoration, and an art gallery space in the back full of (unfortunately pretty boring when I went) paintings, this place was pretty unique.
I was a little wary of the food when we came in because there were only 3 groups (including mine) there on a Friday night. Fortunately, the kitchen turned out some fresh and well made sushi and appetizers. The edamame appetizer was prepared differently than I’d had before with sesame oil and seeds replacing the usual light salting and making this simple dish much richer and tastier. Nice idea! I’ll steal it at home. The vegetable and shrimp tempura was alright. A little on the greasy side, but still tasty. Sushi itself was pretty fresh tasting and well prepared. We ordered the spicy plate (spicy tuna, spicy salmon, and Russian: jalepeno, salmon, etc.) and they were all good.
Later in the evening we noticed the bartender lighting stuff on fire… uh, naturally this grabbed our attention and we ended up ordering a dozen shots of his choice which resulted in us getting the entire 20′ counter lit on fire and 12 pretty awesome mixed shots. Pretty cool. Highlight of the evening.
Also, lots of sake! Haha, always good with sushi.
The experience was a little uneven/​weird on occasion and everything did seem slightly too expensive, but I wouldn’t be averse to coming back here with some friends if they chose it if only to make the bartender light more drinks on fire…
Probably a 3.5, but it gets rounded up rather than down because… review 50! Woo! Haha.

The décor is a bit out of place, The food is mainly Japanese, but they use chinese, thai etc décor or other asian influences… anyways it’s random pieces in a warehouse.
The rolling chairs is a bit annoying.
The food was not very good, especially the sushi, there’s lots of heavy sauces, the rolls are too big each piece. overpriced sushi.
they did not have UNI in stock.
the portions are small.
The waitress scammed us. My friend left early (we had a group of 9 girls) she thought it would be confusing so she gave $ 60 to the waitress to cover her portion. (that’s what the waitress told her)
when our bill came (The waitress thought she was smart and split the bill up for us)
for one my bill was incorrect TWICE, there was drinks on it that did not exist etc. and in the system she was able to mess around with the TAX amounts, my friend who had the exact same bill as me, however my TOTAL was more, cause she was able to put in WHATEVER tax amount in there. The funny thing is, she is able to go back and change the receipt however she wanted
anyways a friend and I both asked her separately in 2 occasions if she deducted our friend’s $ 60 before she split it up and gave us all out separate bills and she said she did. so we trusted her, since it’s her job and she probably does this everyday (WRONG)
Only did I realize that she had scammed us and pocketed our friends money, after I looked carefully at the bills and calculated it. (I’m in accounting)
so she took the mandatory 18% tips + our friends extra $ 60 as tips. So she made about $ 200 on our table alone, and she probably scams unsuspecting customers all the time with this (splinting bills system they have) it splits all the dishes in 8 (for example if the sushi plate was $ 14 and you have 8ppl, it will show as $ 1.75 on the receipt and a ¹⁄₈ on the side instead of 1)
Sorry but I will never come back here again, if the service was exceptionally good, i would not mind giving her a $ 60 extra on top of the 18% tips (it’s 18% on top the food + tax, yes another 18% on top of the 13% tax)

My wife and I only went here because she got a $ 100 gift certificate from work.
The décor seems to be all over the place, is it a warehouse? is it an asian restaurant? an art gallery? I found this whole place to be disjointed. The art hangs in the back in an area that feels unfinished (I tripped on a cable on the way to the bathroom). The asian themed décor clashes with the white cement pillars all over the place, feels like they just robbed a Chinese museum and are holding the artifacts here while you eat.
The server was great, very attentive, no complaints there.
We ordered the lobster tempura and were both quite disappointed with it. It was very bland and overcooked. I kept dipping it into the sauce to get some sort of taste because it has zero taste and was quite rubbery. I won’t lie, the sushi was fantastic.
Overall — if you got $ 150 to spend for dinner for two, go somewhere else. The premium they charge for the venue just isn’t worth the money in my opinion.

Great venue! Love the décor. Staff are awesome. Bathrooms are not big enough though!

Not too crazy with the Venue. Literally looks like a factory that was renovated yesterday just slab some paint on the walls and brought in paintings and sculptures to make the place look like a somewhat gallery. Dont get me wrong at least do some work to the flooring it looks like my public school gymnasim. But what was interesting they have after 10 on saturday it turns into a lounge they were hosting 2 local artist from Toronto and was exhibiting their artworks.
The presentation of their food was absolutely stunnning. Must try their tako yaki fried octopus balls have to be the best one I tried yet made perfectly. We also had the Snow White Roll was freaking amazing. As for the main entrée I had the lamb chops perfectly made. Only upsetting thing was the dessert which I was really looking forward to the matcha green tea crème brûlée which was the worst ive ever tried! I recommend you not to even try to eat any desserts!

This is a unique place because it’s not your typical restaurant. It feels like an art gallery when you walk in, which I think is awesome. Service was on point and the food was amazing.
Had a bunch of different dishes like the beer salad, lobster tempura, steak, sea bass and a bunch of rolls and sashimi.
My favourite dish was the roll with the enoki mushrooms and scallops. It was like heaven in a roll.
Nice place for a date if you want to try something different.

The sushi at House of Moments is top notch, and the ambience is unique. However, I would only give the place three stars due to the inexcusable quality of service. My colleague and I came here on a business trip to Toronto. We made reservations and arrived on time.
First of all, no one greeted us when we walked in, so we meandered over to the bar. The bartender was great and made a fantastic drink while we waited (even though there were several open tables???). We waited for about 15 – 20 minutes, but I am not sure why, as the place was not crowded. When we were finally seated, no one would come to our table to give us menus, fill up our water, etc. I made eye contact with a waitress several times, but she walked right past. Keep in mind, the entire restaurant probably has a total of ten tables, and there were about three waiters and a manager walking around. There was no reason for them to overlook us. I finally went over to the manager to complain, after which things finally got better. However, at this point it was about 35 – 40 minutes after our reservation time, and we were STARVING.
Like I said though, the food was delicious, and if you are there for drinks, I would definitely recommend a raspberry sour. Don’t expect great, or even good service, though.

I was conflicted in writing this review. So conflicted that I waited close to a month after celebrating my birthday here before writing this up.
Based on food and atmosphere alone, I would’ve given it a solid 4 – 5 stars and not hesitate for a second to spread the hype around this Asian-​fusion restaurant. However, there were far too many hiccups in service for me to substantiate anything higher than 3 stars.
Pros
— they accommodated my growing group of friends to our dinner table*
— the food was really, really impressive both in presentation and flavour
— awesome artwork and unique ambience
Cons
— *but this was a result of the table being ready an hour late and some of my friends were only planning to attend post-​dinner drinks
— was sent a prix fixe menu in my reservation email exchange with the manager then told upon seating that the chef did not want to honour any fixed menus
— TWICE the busser cleared our dish of uni. with uni still on the dish (the first time we told the manager and she sent out a second dish only for a similar thing to happen again)
— the salmon entrée did not match the description on the menu
— was overcharged for bottle service on two separate bills
Admittedly most of the cons were rectified when brought to the attention of the manager save for the prix fixe menu and salmon. However, I feel like a restaurant of this calibre (read: price point) should hold some integrity in service and not have its patrons constantly chase down managers/​servers when things goes wrong.

I went to an event here last night, never heard of House of Moments before and was pleasantly surprised. The space is gorgeous and has a very creative vibe. Layout is a bit odd, but for a special venue there was plenty of space to move around, comfortable couches and artwork showcased on the walls.
The food at the event (sushi) was equally tasty but nothing out of this world. I enjoyed the actual place more than anything else.

Tasty! Lil bit on the pricey side.
What I really liked about the restaurant was the décor… Very beautiful and offers a unique ambience.
Tried just about everything on the menu and it was all very good. No complaints. Sashimi is not bad, but not equivalent to the caliber of freshness at a high end sushi restaurant.
No complaints on service… everything was good.

Was here on Saturday for a private event, and while I really enjoyed the event and think highly of the group organizing the event, I was very disappointed with the venue itself for a number of reasons:
(1) Over-​priced drinks. The drinks were ridiculously priced ($ 15 for a single carefully-​measured shot of whisky)
(2) Terrible layout. While the art work itself is interesting, the actual layout of the space is horrendous and the pillar interferes with your ability to really gauge the space and interact with large groups.
(3) Greasy hors d’œuvre. Even in my drunken state, I couldn’t even eat more than half of one of the many deep fried, oil-​drenched appetizers that were being handed out. Just horrendous. Add to that one of the servers dropped something on the floor, which I happened to point out, and they rudely said they would be back to get it (which they never did, and it just lay there on the floor)
With the art work (which actually started to feel redundant and all sort-​of blended together), this venue had the potential to be something great, but my overall assessment is a major thumbs down.