Shio

Expensive, mediocre, slow. I suspect those two 5 star reviews by users with 0 friends and 3 reviews are probably fakes. We went on Saturday evening and we were the only people there, and our order was very simple (2 orders of skewers) yet they were SO slow. They’re doing Groupons and Unilocal deals to attract more people, but what they should really be doing is rethinking their prices, or making the dishes worth the current price.

This place is a hidden gem! The food was amazing with good price point. We had a groupon which made it even better value!
We got a free tapas on the house (any tapas under $ 5) and we picked the crispy tofu. Although it was free, the portion was huge! The tofu was super crunchy and the spicy sauce on top was a nice touch. We also ordered the sashimi six ($ 21), 2 blow torched sushi five ($ 15 each) and anmika ($ 8) and we enjoyed all the dishes very much!
The food was really fresh and the portion was good! We loved the anmika, monk fish liver, which is not common to find in Japanese restaurant.
Highly recommend and will definitely go back again!

Taking a tip from the last review, I’m giving this place 5 stars to put it on the map! (It’s more like a 4 — very good place).
Spontaneously decided to pop by for a light bite in between doing laundry just down the street. What a pleasant surprise this place is!
Given that the two of us arrived at the most awkward time to eat — just before 5 — we weren’t surprised to find ourselves the only ones in the dinning room. Once this place gets better known and fills up, I think the large space will be really nice.
The food was beautifully presented. We only had three plates in total — the sashimi was flavorful and the best I’ve recently tried, the crispy tofu was perfectly crunchy yet soft with a delicious sauce, and the sesame spinach was also very good. They make their own soy sauce too! I wish I had stayed way past my laundry cycle.
The best part — VERY reasonably priced. I solidly recommend Shio.

4.5 stars, rounded up to 5 to put them on the map!
Interior is a Japanese-​western fusion, with traditional daruma dolls, japanese posters, and sings, coupled with western-​style chandeliers furniture, and lighting. Overall, it was clean, hip, and I liked it!
They give you a free tapas with any purchase, and we chose the fried tofu. It was good! crispy on the outside and melt in your mouth on the inside, covered with a tangy sweet shoyu sauce.
Next up is the mushroom and shrimp tempura popcorn. This was also really good! I personally like the texture of shrimp and mushroom, so it worked for me.
Spring rolls werent my favorite, but my girlfriend liked it! I think there was asparagus, avocado and shrimp. Everything on their «hot» menu is fried, so it might be overkill if you order too many fried things!
I also ordered the ten piece nigiri platter. Nigiri is a good way to judge any sushi place and it is usually my final judgement in reviewing a joint.
I was impressed over their salmon. It was so vibrant I thought it was tuna! This is because their menu says it is wild caught, so this is cool. Their Mackarel was good, as the wasabi and scallion balanced out the fishy flavor. Another standout was their snapper, which was soft and subtle.
Yet, their rice was cold, which is not the way sushi is to be done. However, it wasn’t enough to bother me.
All in all it was a great night! Give this place a try!

Super disappointing! Once again, my hopes for a good local sushi joint have been dashed. Shio is currently in soft opening, and offering a free tapas dish to entice new customers. We had the Yam Poutine, Crispy Tofu Cubes, Maki Trio, and Blowtorched Sushi Five. We assumed that we would start with these and them order more later. No such luck. The Yam Poutine was fine — not as good as the Squash Poutine at Oddseoul, but serviceable. The Crispy Tofu Cubes were cooked nicely — crispy but still soft — they could have used more sauce, but otherwise no complaints. The next dish to arrive was the Maki Trio. It looked beautiful, but on first bite, there was a major problem — the sushi rice was COLD. Really cold, like refrigerated cold? In fact, the whole roll was super cold, uniformly, like perhaps the rolls were pre-​made and refrigerated. This is seriously not ok — not to be a total sushi snob, but sushi that’s fridge cold is not good. Actually, I’m totally fine with being a sushi snob — sushi rice should never be this cold. It’s a step down from even grocery store sushi, colder and less palatable. It’s like leftover sushi that you are remembering to eat 2 days later. I called our server over, explained the issue with the cold rice, and she said that sushi rice was supposed to be cold. Uh, no. I googled and showed her a quote from Jiro — sushi rice is supposed to be fresh and 30 minutes out of the rice cooker — body temperature. Warm but not hot, warm but not cold. All of which to be better suited to show off the flavour of the fish — cold sushi rice is an assault on the palate, and distracting. We sent the Maki Trio back. The Blowtorched Sushi Five arrived, and the fish was very good — the blowtorch effect really brings out the flavour of the fish. But again, the rice was fridge cold. So sad. Service — well, the server offered zero suggestions on the menu and told me sushi rice was supposed to be fridge cold, soooo… no, just no. Also, there were only two servers and a cook present — at 8pm on a Saturday, during your soft open, no owner or manager present? They took the Maki off the bill but no one came to talk to us about it. This does not bode well for this business. Lastly, the dining room is just odd — it’s not a comfortable space, and like the sushi rice, it’s FREEZING cold. We kept our coats over our shoulders as we ate. Decoration is kind of odd, the lighting is very low and «romantic», but then there is house music playing? The ambiance could use some work for sure. I hope that Shio will improve with time, but I doubt it. Best of luck.