Japango

Not sure what all those reviews are about. It’s not good and not fresh. We paid a lot more than normal and were very disappointed.

It was my first time here and to be honest I have been craving their maki rolls ever since. I am definitely planning to come back.
Service:
Excellent, servers and chefs were very friendly and welcoming.
Wait time:
We came at an odd hour so there were no line ups but the place is very small so I’d expect there to be a pretty long wait time during busy hours.
Food:
We tried the Japango, soft shell crab and green dragon roll. Loved them all especially the Japango roll. The black sesame ice cream was also very delicious, very creamy and smooth. You can definitely taste the high quality and effort they put into their menu items.

I don’t go downtown enough. Today, when I got the chance to go downtown, I decided to try out a Japanese restaurant nearby. Looking on Google Map, I found that Japango is nearby. It’s been on my «to try» list for a while, so I decided to go here for lunch.
I ordered the Sushi Sashimi Moriawase ($ 50). Salad and Miso soup were good. Then came an appetizer clam. To my surprise, they were really tasty. The sauce for the clams were excellent.
Then came the sashimi. All the pieces except for the maguro (only because I don’t particularly like them. The maguro itself was perfectly fine) were amazing! The King Salmon I believe was from the belly, and it had a natural sweetness that was plain awesome. Hamachi belly was also great. And to my surprise, this set included O-​toro. The O-​toro was also amazing with the melt-​in-​your-​mouth greatness.
Then came the sushi. The torched scallop was excellent – one of the best I’ve ever had. The Uni was also extremely fresh – also one of the best I’ve had.
The service was excellent. The server identified all the pieces of fish for my meal, which I very much liked.
For the amount of food, I felt it was a really good deal, especially since it included O-​toro.
I’d love to try this place again sometime. Their omakase might be the next on my list.
9.25÷10 for the quality. ⁹⁄₁₀ for the service. ⁹⁄₁₀ for the value. ⁹⁄₁₀ overall (not an average).

Overall good experience. Wanted to get Uni but they didn’t have it, wanted to get sweet shrimp also didn’t have it. Recommend their seared o-​toro, taste just what I expected! The eel was ok. Japango roll seems like a must-​get here, and it does taste great.

Holy shit the sushi here tastes good but so expensive and the restaurant is so tiny.
I ordered a japango roll/(8 pcs, $ 13) and the spicy crunchy salmon roll (6 pcs, $ 9). The japango was definitely very tasty and the other was good too. The total came to $ 24 for just those rolls. In other sushi restaurants, there is usually some additional items like soup, salad to help fill you up or a combo but not here.
It seems that this place also had some celebrity guests so that seems Impressive.
I am so conflicted about this restaurant!!!

4.5÷5
*Service isn’t that good as there was only one server in the restaurant.
*I don’t recommend going here with a big group as the restaurant is extremely cramped.
–Live Uni — $ 25
I’m an uni fanatic and this was the best I’ve had in Toronto so far. The uni was amazingly fresh and creamy, had a slight taste of the sea and was not fishy at all.
–Botan Shrimp Nigiri — $ 9 for 2 nigiri
Not only the shrimp was fresh and slightly sweet, the chef also deep fried the shrimp heads and boy, was it amazing!
–Horse Mackerel Nigiri — $ 8 for 2 Nigiri
The Aji didn’t have a strong fishy taste and had a mild oily texture. The fish was served with fresh grated ginger and scallions to counteract the fishy taste and left a light aftertaste on the palate.
–Hokkaido Scallop Sashimi — $ 8 for 2 nigiri
The fact that it was seared helped to elevate the taste and richness in the fish oil. The torch increased the temperature and slightly changed the texture of the scallop yet it was not too firm nor overcooked
–Bluefin Tuna Belly Nigiri — $ 16
The bluefin tuna belly was pricey ($ 16) for two pieces, but I’d say try it once if you’re looking to splurge. Since the fish was seared, it released all the fatty oils which gave the fish a buttery and melts in your mouth goodness…
–Spider Roll — $ 11
The spider roll was much smaller than the ones I had at other restaurants and had a different taste, more delicate, refined and less batter.
–Japango Roll — $ 13
The Japango roll is a California roll topped with seared salmon and scallop drizzled in their special sauce and spicy oil. If you don’t know what to order at the restaurant, I highly recommend this roll! The special sauce was sweet and tasted a little like Teriyaki sauce and went very well with the fish oil that came out from the salmon after seared. With a hint of spiciness, the sauce was not as overwhelmed as it would be on its own.

While I was warned about how tiny this place was from previous reviews, I had no idea how extremely tiny it was. They had given away our reservation after we showed up late but that wasn’t a big problem and we understood their need to seat everyone. My advice would be to go right when they open so you can be seated right away. The food was a bit on the pricey side but the quality is spectacular. The fish is so fresh and not just the regular plain pieces you would expect at other Japanese restaurants. There was so much flavour. In my opinion, the best option for lunch is definitely the Chirashi. You get your money’s worth in terms of the sashimi and the rice is uniquely and perfectly seasoned.
The only problem I had with this is that my friend and I came on a separate occasion and each ordered a lunch combo. We asked for ice cream afterwards, as we had assumed it had come with the combo like many other Japanese restaurants. It doesn’t. And we were also not informed of such. They just brought it to us and charged us $ 5 (which is pretty high for two scoops of regular green tea ice cream…) When asked about this, the manager said «nowhere on the menu does it say it comes with ice cream.» That’s fine, I guess it’s my fault for assuming but it also sounded pretty accusatory on their part.
Food’s good though.

Food: ⁷⁄₁₀ — Value: ⁷⁄₁₀ — Service: ⁷⁄₁₀ — Ambiance/​Décor: ⁷⁄₁₀
Okay, so this is one of those untouchable mystical sushi restaurants of Toronto, so maybe expectations played into this a little. Everyone kept saying the sashimi was great, but that wasn’t the case with our order. The sashimi was… average? Dare I say I couldn’t tell the difference between Japango’s sashimi and any other Japanese all-​you-​can-​eat restaurant? Comparing the two, what set Japango apart was their superior presentation.
– Japango Roll ($ 13) — It looked really ordinary, but this was my favourite part of the meal. It looks really ordinary with a torched salmon top and avocado and scallop (?) inside, but it was delicious. This roll, along with the uni sashimi, came to our table literally less than a minute after we ordered it. It was shockingly fast.
– Spider Roll ($ 11) — This was also delicious. The two rolls were the clear standouts of the dinner. Much smaller than the spider rolls I’ve had at other restaurants and a very different taste; more delicate, refined, less batter.
– Uni Sashimi ($ 9 for three pieces) — I finally experienced the «melt in your mouth» sensation people attribute to uni. And without the fart-​like aftertaste too!
– Sushi and Sashimi Moriwase Platter ($ 50) — This was really underwhelming. With only 18 pieces, it was so expensive, but a good portion of these had a fishy or kinda-​fishy taste to it. The presentation was really nice, but it didn’t really taste very special.
– Sushi Deluxe ($ 30) — 12 pieces with a bonus Dynamite Roll. At this point, we were ordering more food because we weren’t full and we also wanted to give their highly-​spoken-​of sushi another chance. Because the value of the Dynamite Roll is $ 9, that means the 12 pieces of sushi were $ 21, which would be relatively reasonable for Japango. However, food is about taste first and this, just like the Moriwase Platter, was fine, but not exciting or exceptional.
I don’t like how cramped the restaurant is. It’s uncomfortably small, like you’re banging into everything trying to squeeze into your spot. I honestly don’t know how this place operates in the winter because every time someone came in, it brought all the cold night air into the restaurant and blew directly on my back. Fortunately, it wasn’t that cold that day, but I’m genuinely curious how anyone would be able to eat comfortably here in the winter.
The service is really quick. You don’t get more tea unless you ask for it and because there’s only one waiter and he’s trying to be as efficient as possible, he can come across as unintentionally rude, like walking away in the middle of your order because he’s trying to give another table their order. Just something to keep in mind so that you don’t take it personally if it happens to you.
The bill ended up being $ 50/​person and my friends said they’d rather spend the $ 50 at JaBistro.

Service: **
Taste: ***
Value: ***
Ambience: ****
Diarrhea Index: ****************************
I had the oyster shooter and sashimi dinner Deluxe tonight.
The server rushed us out within an hour.
I thought he was being rude, but no, he is being considerate.
He was probably thinking by this time I should really go out and find a toilet.
Love this guy.
This place is so awesome my ass went puking afterwards.
Also, to give you a little context, I am a sushi lover, I grew up in China, where everything is supposed to be quite dirty, I eat streetfood like the thousand year old stinky tofu or the dead chicken that failed to hatch from an egg or eyes or balls from some animal, in China. And maybe chicken skewers that are actually from rats. No diarrhea. This place, some harmless fish gave me diarrhea.
Bravo Japango, of all the 1 stars I have given on Unilocal,this one is for the food.

I like to consider Japango as my secret hidden gem. A few minutes away from Yonge and Dundas, this unassuming resto is tucked away on a side street with very little fanfare to draw customers in.
A bit cramped inside is an understatement, but if tighten your belt a notch and can deal with small spaces, you’ll be rewarded with fantastic food!
We usually go at lunch. Prices are lower, and always a a better deal than at dinner times.
Chirashi bowl is one of the best in the city, and their fresh sushi/​sashimi of the day is always fantastic. Expect to find import cuts like Japanese uni (there’s a difference), horse mackerel, amberjack, and Otoro.
Omakase is also a great choice if you want to fork out the cash. Price is reasonable enough, and great for those who are looking for a different experience.
Pro Tip#9844: Always call ahead — even if it’s 15 minutes before arriving. They take reservations and you’ll have a good chance of scoring a table. It’s walk-​ins mostly but if you arrive during busy hours, expect a long wait!

I did the omakase here recently… and it was spectacular. More than a few people have written about the omakase already, so there’s no need for me to repeat it… though I will say, I think the price of the omakase here is pretty reasonable for the number of dishes and the quality that it came with. I’ve been here in the past for the omakase and while I thought it was good in the past, I thought it was especially good recently… not sure why though…
What I will talk about with respect to my recent omakase experience here was that the dessert had black sesame ice cream that was FANTASTIC. I had black sesame at Kekou, and I had black sesame ice cream at other places in town, but Japango’s black sesame ice cream is worth the visit alone… so much so that me and a friend (who had separately gone to Japango for omakase and developed a craze for the black sesame ice cream) have come here twice since I came here for omakase just to order the ice cream for take out. Sure it’s a little pricy, but it’s so worth it! =)
One thing to note about visiting Japango… it’s a very small shop. If you’re lucky, you’ll get here when there’s an empty table. If not, you might be standing either in a very cramp entrance space, or outside just to have more space while you wait for a table… in my experience though, it’s worth the wait. I’ve never had a bad experience here. Regardless of whether it’s a la carte or omakase, it’s always been good here.

Horrendous and arrogant service from a male waiter /​possible owner.
Came here with only one party ahead of us. The male server told my friend and I that we could be seated but could be a 30 minute wait. A larger table of 4 showed up after us. After about 20 minutes we were called and sat at a table with 4 seats. We were about to order when that same server told us to leave and he would seat the party of 4 who came after us. He told us he meant to call the party of 4 and we needed to leave. He practically pushed us out the door. We asked if there was another table opening soon and he said we couldn’t eat there. No explanation given.
The experience was embarrassing and he didn’t even apologize. We waited for nothing even though he said we could be seated. Avoid this restaurant if you want common decency from your waiters.

Japango is a well known establishment for authentic Japanese Sushi. Over the years, the once infamous mom and pop sushi restaurant, is no longer living up to its name.
Long line ups, rushed service, Japango is has fallen from grace. The price and quality is no long on par. While the food is of reasonable quality, the price, however exceeded it.

I haven’t been here in years but decided to return for a quick sushi fix because I was craving uni and hotate so bad. Read the reviews on Unilocal and many people recommended the Japango roll (California sushi with salmon and hotate on top). Definitely worth it. We ordered a la carte amberjack, hotate, uni and toro. They seared the hotate which killed the taste of it which I didn’t enjoy but their uni. Oh my gawd so good.
Anyway. I would definitely return for a quick sushi fix.

My friend and I visited Japango for Lunch around 2pm and was able to order off the lunch special (it ends at 2:30pm).
I got the sashimi bento and my friend got the chirashi special. I would say the chirashi special is a better deal (you get way more sashimi, and the sides for the bento wasn’t amazing).
We also ordered some 4 nigiri dishes (if you are willing to splurge, I would recommend the otoro nigiri (pink belly tuna). The tuna literally melts in your mouth. ($ 18 for 2 pieces). We also got the uni and it was really fresh and did not taste fishy at all. The horse mackerel was decent, nothing special. The hamachi wasn’t bad either. Their sashimi overall is really fresh!
One thing that did annoy a bit was that the servers were rushing to take our plates away (and it looked like they were going for their lunch break and wanted us to pay and get out). I had some food and my plate and they decided to take it away without asking if I was finished :(!
Overall, the food was good and service was quick. I would definitely go back for the otoro and uni.

Good selection of sushi and they have some harder to find in Toronto, like otoro and anago. However, the store is extremely cramped when it is full. If you are planning to come for dinner on thr weekend, make sure to call ahead and make a reservation, but they tend to have a full house. Overall, the good selection of fish will keep me coming back, just not on weekends.

I came here for lunch with a girlfriend during the weekday lunch hour; we had made reservations as Japango is a very tiny and seating is very limited, probably maximum of 25 people.
We ordered 2 chirashi’s ($ 16 each) and a Japango roll ($ 13). it was delicious! You are also served a small bowl of salad/​miso soup to start. The fish was by far the best I’ve ever tasted in Toronto and at a very reasonable price too. I could taste the vinegar in the rice which I loved.
Will definitely be back!

I’ll make this review as short and sweet as possible to go along with the rest of my overtime take out meal series. Japango, what can I say, there’s a fair bit of hype associated with this place. First off their sushi always looks fresh and I have had a few of my friends tell me this place has some of the best donkatsu in downtown TO. I figured hell yeah, I’m going to order a donkatsu dinner to highlight my evening at work!
First off when I received my meal, none of the items in my combo were labeled. Simply bagging all the items in one bag together and writing the name of the person can’t be that hard right? So after 15 minutes of sorting through other people’s meals, salads and soups I finally put together my donkatsu combo. I started with the salad first, and what a mistake the lettuce was totally spoiled! Not sure if it was due to the fact it was put beside hot food, but I had to throw it out because it was so gue-​like. Now on to the miso soup, I should call it me no soup, because it tasted like water with sand in it. Finally the crème de la crème the donkatsu… when I opened the box it looked as if a small child had vomited all over my Styrofoam box. Not only was the pork not crispy, it was totally wet and the sauces kind of just soaked into the box and rice making a non pleasant chunk of food.
I mean it was take out and I should be a bit more forgiving, so I’m dropping a 2 star instead of a 1. I might give them another shot, but will be definitely ordering sushi next time. Please label my boxes next time Japango or I’ll have to JapanNo on my next order!

5 stars! Fresh and you get what you paid for!
The service was fast and friendly! We went around 3:00 and there was no line up and the place was empty! We ordered the sweet shrimp, blue fin tuna belly, sea urchin, crispy spicy salmon, soft shell crab, scallop sushi, and japango roll.
Everything impressed me literally! I was most impressed about the sweet shrimp. Not only was it fresh and alive, it was sweet and then they deep fried the shrimp heads and boy! was it amazing!!!
I highly recommend ordering the japango roll, it was an instant fave!!!

For the overall experience of Japango, I have to give it a 3/​5, but if I had to base it on food alone, I would give it a ⁴⁄₅.
My boyfriend took me here for my birthday today. He made a reservation over a week ago. When we got there, the hostess/​server said that they were backed up, even with reservations because other parties came earlier and he seated them. He said it would be a 5 minute wait (i knew this was not true) and we ended up waiting 30 minutes for a table. The place itself is small and cramped. We were sitting pretty close to other people and being near the door, we felt the cold breeze every time someone opened and closed the door.
I do have to say the hostess did apologize to us and gave us comp salads for our wait. He was a bit cold when I tried to ask him questions about the menu, but I chalked it up to him being super busy. I think he was the only one serving, seating, taking payment, and cleaning up after people left so he did the best he could.
Hands down, their sea urchin ($ 10 for about 3 pieces) and tuna belly ($ 23 for 3 pieces) were my fave thing on the menu. They were both so fresh. It was my first time having sea urchin on it’s own (I usually have it in rice), but it tasted so fresh and amazing. I would say the quality is just as good as Japan.
Japango roll ($ 13 — 8 pieces) — this was okay — it was charred on top (i’m not really a fan of charred stuff), but it was flavourful. Pretty spicy though. So all you non-​spicy people, watch out — you may only be able to give a few pieces before feeling the fire!
Crunchy Spicy Salmon Roll ($ 9 for 6 pieces) — very good — The salmon was topped with tempura pieces. The rice was so soft and just the right amount of sweetness. Totally melted in my mouth.
Chirashi Supreme ($ 28) — Good amount of sashimi pieces. Came with a piece of sea urchin and eel on rice. A lot of the sashimi were charred so that I didn’t like, but definitely very fresh sashimi pieces. I just wished I knew what we were eating. It’s not written on the menu and the waiter was too busy to tell me what they were. It would be nice to have the pieces listed so that it could help determine if we want to other a la carte pieces.
The food came pretty quickly. Faster than we could eat — there isn’t much room on the table so we felt like we had to eat quickly to accommodate the next dish.
If you are thinking of having a leisure time at this place where you can just talk and chill, think again — it’s pretty much an «eat and get out» kind of a place since they are so small and busy. I think the max time (without stating it) is 1 hour. No dilly dallying indeed!
I would give this place a 4 if the actual dining experience was better. Maybe expanding will be an idea for the future. For the price point, we paid $ 100 for two people and had 5 dishes. I think I would prefer Jabistro instead despite it being a bit more pricier. Though, I don’t know if the sea urchin will be as good and reasonably priced as Japango.