Wabora

The ambiance of this place is really great. Their lunch special is great and great portion as well. The Red Dragon roll is to die for, I just wish their price for dinner is not as steep. For a bento box, its about $ 22 — add $ 5 and you can have all you can eat sushi some place else. I would only come here during lunch, or when I’m not crazy hungry at dinner. Overall though, I would come back. Staff are amazing as well, very friendly and accomodating.

This customer service is terrible and the bar staff/​wait staff can be rude. The food is average and I would recommend going to Blowfish across the street instead.

We celebrated a birthday here for my father in law — the ambiance is awesome and I love their chic décor. The food was on par with the nicer restaurants in the entertainment district area. I would happily go again, maybe for some of their sushi making classes!

Always consistant. Really good quality sushi. Always fresh. I go there at least once a week and was never disappointed.

Awful service. We were so disappointed because we spent $ 100 bucks on two people. I could have eaten again after.
The sushi isn’t that great but it is good. They are extreme with the sauce.

Wabora tries to be upscale, but it’s not. I get that it’s situated inside the Thompson, where the rent must be extraordinarily high. However, the prices are unjust (except for perhaps their lunch menu) for the quality and quantity. That said, the food is good – just not worth it.
The servers are friendly, but inexperienced and often lack English proficiency. It’s run by Koreans and they hire Korean students (some who are temporarily here on a working holiday visa) and under staff to control labour costs. How do I know? I’m Korean; I know how many Korean restaurants operate; and can tell whether Koreans are born here or not.

I bought a groupon for Wabora a while ago and decided to use it with my friend.
First I’d like to state the pros and why I gave it 3 out of 5 stars. The food is good. It’s nothing special. It’s presented well and the taste of the food is good but again nothing special. The establishment is nice and is in a posh trendy area. After ordering the food took approximately 15 – 20 (about average time) minutes and looked quite good. I ordered the Fire Chicken and my friend had ordered the Spicy Pork Bulgogi.
Some cons, my dish was about $ 27 and my friends dish about the same at $ 30. He’s not Korean but I am. To pay a whooping $ 30 each for our dishes was pretty outrageous. To go out to an actual Korean restaurant and order $ 60 of food, you’d end up with a feast to feed 8 – 10 people. The ambiance was nice though and the background sound was loud but not overly crazy.
I probably won’t return to Wabora only because I feel that it’s overpriced for what you’re getting. I’m not discouraging others from going though. The food was good and the place is classy.

I recently bought a $ 40 Groupon deal and attended a sushi making class with my friends on the past Saturday.
We were taught how to make two rolls: spicy vegetable tempura roll and crispy valentine’s roll. The chefs were very friendly and they gave straightforward instructions. We were also given ample fillings to work with. FYI, you don’t need to make the sushi rice, as they would be prepared for you, ready to roll. It was fun to make rolls with your friends, share some laughs and eat your own creation afterward. They were quite filling and delicious.
I would say $ 40 deal was alright, still a bit overpriced. I wouldn’t recommend trying this class without the deal, as it would just not worth it.
3.5 stars

Sushi Making Class, Groupon deal.
For $ 40 each, my friend and I got to make two sushi rolls and eat them! It was really fun experience. We had a great time learning to make sushi. The main chef and two helping chefs were very friendly and even joked around with us during it. We made spicy tempura maki roll and a tuna tower sushi roll. Both were super delicious. Their ingredients provided were high quality, and the teaching was good too.
I’d recommend the deal!

3.5÷5! Bought the $ 40 sushi making class groupon. It’s still expensive for what you get but an enjoyable experience. The veggie roll is amazing and the tuna tower is decent. The chefs are very friendly. Great activity for groups!

First off, I would give it a zero… but the food was actually decent. I got the $ 10 chicken teriyaki lunch bowl and got a roll of spicy tuna roll. Chicken and vegetables and sushi were great. It was the brown rice that I had an issue with.
Nowhere on the menu did they say that the brown rice has mixed beans in there. so I didnt notice this til the end of the meal when I saw a chickpea (I am allergice to chickpease). I informed the waiter and asked him if there were indeed beans in the rice or if it was somehow mistakenly included. He said that it was part of the rice.
I was furious, how can a restaurant be so negligant in not including something like that? I know lots of people who are allergic to some bean or another.
When I informed the waiter that I had to go get an allergy pill b/​c of their negligant, he just kind of shrugged his shoulders. I just got back from there as I am writing this review and am fuming. If I didnt need to get an allergy tablet, I would have let them know right then and there.
If they at least acknowledged the fact that I could have very well died (its an allergy that constrains my breathing), I wouldnt have posted this negative review and let it go.
But the indifference by the staff shows the ignorance and stupidity of the owner to not train their staff properly and shows a complete lack of humanity.
Never going back here again! Stay away!

Amazing, friendly, professional service,
Very high quality and interesting (some very unique) sushi, prepared with artistry and pride.
Huge menu with tons of variety.

I went to Wabora for drinks and light bites last week. First of all, I love the ambience. I think it’s a beautiful room.
The service could have been better. We were one of four occupied tables, and still had to flag a server down. Once we had him, he did a good job. Kept the sake coming with a smile.
We ordered:
The sashimi trio, the yellowtail heaven and a spider roll.
The sashimi trio was out of this world! the fish melted in my mouth. I highly recommend it! it was a 5 star appetizer.
The Yellowtail heaven was a tremendous disappointment and the reason for this 3 star review. In my opinion yellowtail is the most delicious type of sashimi. Cool and refreshing. However, Wabora’s yellowtail heaven wasn’t as fresh as it should have been. It was a two star appetizer.
The spider roll was good.
The sake list was impressive. We had an amazing cold non-​filtered sake, that I wish I could remember the name of. (Our server recommended it.)
I’ll probably return to Wabora, but I can’t in good faith recommend it. I’m not saying don’t go. Just keep your expectations moderate.

This is a solid 3.5.
Let’s start with the basics — the food is good — tried tons of the sushi as we were a party of 8 and got two different boats. Great variety, lots of flavour — really high quality.
The atmosphere is a bit lacking… again, think the Thompson has missed the mark on authenticity. Seems vacuous and contrived. Service is fine. Just fine. Nothing great and at that price-​point I would expect better.
Ok, but not awesome… not worth rushing, but if you are in the area and like good sushi, you will be pleased.

We stumbled upon this place exploring King West. It was between this or the diner. We went with Sushi. It was a pretty busy place on a Friday night, with lots of coming and going and a busy bar. We were seated in this awkwardly shaped both. No offer to take coats and no coat hangers in sight. When the waiter showed up he said «Hi, can I take your order». No hello, no specials, just wanted to know what we were eating.
That’s where the prompt service ended because we got our food and he disappeared for about 45 minutes. It took forever for them to clear the table and I had to nearly beg for the bill. The wait was so long it made my honestly contemplate if you could be accused of dining and dashing if they never bring you the bill?
The food was much better than your average cheap sushi joint, but hardly that much better to justify the higher prices. I’d rather eat at Japango for less money. Also, no wasabi under the fish — not acceptable for place with prices like this.

Waiter is friendly, pours water and I end up waiting about thirty minutes.
Four exceptionally beautiful women noticed me waiting patiently, and sent over a stiff drink … With a cherry on a stick. Very 2012 :) thank you for the moment to those four gems.
Most incredible was our waiter’s (I call him skippy) suggestion of the sake. The smooth light flower esque one. It was fantastic.
Dunno what it was called, nor could I pronounce it. But tantalizing … Very fitting: D.
Thanks Wabora. I knew I could count on you.

Like most Torontonians, I am addicted to sushi.
Today we died and went to sushi heaven…
Wabora is the best sushi I have ever put in my mouth… I’m scared because it was THAT good, and unfortunately I can’t afford to go there all the time.
Granted, the prices are a little steep, the sushi is absolutely delicious. They have a vast selection of items on their very long menu, where the items vary from 7 $ to 20 $.
My girlfriend and I ordered 4 rolls and split them all; 3 out of the 4 were huge (8 pieces each), and very filling, one was slightly smaller and only had 5 pieces. We were more than stuffed and realized 3 rolls would have been sufficient.
The Volcano Roll is delectable… it literally melts in your mouth. I’m probably going to dream about it tonight.
The Las Vegas Roll is also delicious with shavings of tempura bits on top of the actual roll…
They have a variety of sauces on various different rolls that are delicious and the presentation of the food is also excellent.
Their seafood is extremely fresh, efficient and super friendly staff, chic atmosphere — ideal for a nice date or a celebratory dinner and drinks. The décor is a little fancy looking for a «sushi resto-​bar», but that’s not even an issue once the food is in your mouth!

I think this place has more pretensions about what it thinks it is than what it is in reality.
The décor is trying to be upscale, but I thought it looks a bit clubby. I felt like I was at a bar in the Club district, expecting the people at the front couches to order bottle service. The 2-​person tables in the back are too close — could it have hurt them to just take one table out and spaced us out a bit more comfortably? I was confused by the atmosphere as well, because while it was trying to be upscale, the clientele was pretty casual.
It was a Friday evening and our row was busy, but the service was quick and our waiter was nice. No problems there.
However, everything is pretentiously overpriced. I don’t think any of the food I saw coming to other tables warranted a price tag of around $ 30 (and I know plenty of other places where $ 30 is worth $ 30 in terms of quality and quantity). This place is not an upscale or unique restaurant! Charging prices like these is misleading.
We had a coupon and, as we obviously didn’t want to blow it on just one dish, we decided to order sushi rolls. Except for the interesting cooked salmon sushi roll (super rich tasting and warm), the others were disappointing. Pieces of each roll, without fail, fell apart on our chop sticks and were unevenly cut. They may have been long, but there was no girth to them. Few flavours stood out. This place was so cheap, they even skimped on the rice to hold the darn rolls together.
Thank goodness our coupon was a gift, because this place is a total rip-​off.

I have been here twice, and both times everything was amazing. The sushi has so much flavor that it just explodes on your taste buds. I tried different sushi rolls during these two visits, and nothing has disappointed me a bit.
Strongly recommended: valentine roll, love love salmon (which is wrapped up with tender, warm salmon rather than rice and seaweed!).
Green tea here is also very authentic, I am curious as to where they get it from, for $ 3, you get some premium quality tea.
Service is ok, everybody is pretty chill, and there is no pressure even if you sit for longer and have a nice chat with friends.
One of my favorite places for sushi in entire toronto, and I will for sure make many more visits.

I was there tonight with my girl friends as a birthday night out. We had a bottle of wine as well as some rolls. I find rolls are amazing and creative. Especially crispy crunch rolls. I dont prefer martini though.
We had a best server ever in my short but long restaurant experience. She was kind, funny, attentive, and also she knew the menu thoroughly.
Perspnally, i think im going back there on my birthday for the little gongs and drums they play for the birthdays and the deep fried ice cream!