Yasu

After trying several high end sushi restaurants in the city, Yasu is my favorite. Every single piece of sushi is perfectly seasoned and balanced. They really choose the best quality fish and the food is a great value for what you spend. The only downside is that you have to make reservations ahead of time and the restaurant is quite small. Worth it though!!!

Of the omakases I have tried in Toronto so far, Yasu is definitely at the top for me thus far. As always, the first impressions of a restaurant is the décor. Unlike other restaurants, Yasu is rather small and seats only a small number of patrons. That said, it is not a downside as you get a very intimate experience with the chefs for the duration of your meal. The restaurant has a modern theme in that it is simplistic and classy. Both times I have been, most of the seated patrons would choose to sit at the sushi bar (there are only two other tables that I have seen at the restaurant). The service staff are very efficient and friendly — they gave us warm welcomes, are quick to serve and come to each party to spotlight the seasonal sushis that are being served.
The choice sushis that we have had so far are all very fresh. You have your main dishes such as toro, mackerel, bonito, etc. — all of which are delicious, fresh and a delight to your taste buds. Then there are the seasonal catches which have also been a pleasure to try. The chefs introduce each fish to you as they serve it and explain where is is from and what is special about them. I have had the pleasure of being served by Yasu on my second visit and watching him (and the other chefs) prepare and serve each sushi was a memorable experience in itself. They are very particular about their cuts, the presentation and the timing of each dish. I truly enjoyed myself each time I’ve been there and am anticipating what the next season will bring us.

I went to Yasu with pretty low expectations despite the high ratings because I usually get let down by a lot of higher end sushi places in Toronto. Yasu definitely exceeded my expectations!
I think you definitely have to sit by the sushi bar to get the whole experience. The chefs are very technical and I was blown away by the way they cut all the fish with care, and place the sushi at the right angle, etc. They really aren’t there to entertain your conversation but you really don’t need the conversation to be amazed. I loved the way they chose their cuts, their knife craftsmanship, the way the smoked some pieces, and how fluffy their egg was. It was interesting how they put the two sea urchins from the opposite coasts to compare their flavours. I’ve eaten uni from both coasts but it was interesting to compare them side by side. Their salmon roe was pretty high grade and I’ve only seen similar ones in Japan. The ones that make it here are usually small, not sweet, and not plump… I was most blown away by their quality of the red meat tuna! Such a popular sushi but it was definitely the smoothest I’ve had, and I would say that I had my fair share of sushi from Japan. Sublime. The chutoro and ootoro were good too but I may have had better. Other pieces were all very delicate in flavour and texture and I left very satisfied. I may not have been completely full but I was still so satisfied. Great place for people who can appreciate sushi and I thought the price was reasonable for the quality of cuts they provide.
Thanks Yasu for the experience!

Great dining experience when I came here for the omakase dinner with a few friends. Reservations for this restaurant have to be made almost a month in advance because they only have two seatings per night.
The omakase menu is the chef’s selection of 18 pieces of sushi and dessert. There are two tables and also seating at the sushi bar right in front of the chefs. I sat at the sushi bar which was amazing because you can see the chef making each piece of sushi. The chefs are Japanese and are very experienced and elegant in their sushi-​making technique. Out of all the sushi, my favourite was the uni (sea urchin), blue fin tuna, and sea scallop.
The service was very excellent and the chef would introduce each piece before serving it to you. The waiter also showed us pictures on a tablet for some background info on some of the sushi. The price is 80 $ +HST, which is pricy but is worth it for a special occasion or when you want to treat yourself or somebody else!

My Friends and I came here for the omakase (Chef’s choice). The experience was phenomenal. I find a lot of times when I go for omakase the chef isn’t right in front of me to explain where it’s from and such and this was a food education as we were seated at the sushi bar. Every piece placed in front of us was explained and any questions we had were answered. They recommended some stuff that was in season. In our case we ordered a la cart uni (sea urchin) from Japan, even though we had some with the omakase that were from BC. There is a bit of a difference but I enjoyed both. I also ordered the hot sake which goes great with raw fish I find.
Overall I would come here again but reservations can be hard to get and it Yasu is on the pricier end but completely worth it.

Yasu was rated one of the top sushi places in Toronto and so for my second year anniversary, I decided to bring my girlfriend here. Coming from Vancouver, I am a «sushi snob» since good quality and cheap sushi is in abundance on the West. After reading the reviews it seemed comparable to sushi in Vancouver, but a tad more expensive (mild underexaggeration). I made a reservation online where I had to provide my credit card info. Due to its popularity and limited seating, if I called less than 48 hrs before my reservation date, my credit card would be charged the full price of the omakase ($ 80/​person) which was fair.
Yasu did not disappoint. 18 pieces of some of the best sushi I have ever had. Every piece was crafted like a work of art. I could truly taste the subtle flavour of each sushi piece. To top it off, the sushi chef noticed I was left handed and placed each piece so it was easy to pick up. This was the icing on the cake.
Definitely recommend Yasu for its great sushi and a unique and authentic Japanese experience.

Yasu was a really great experience for me. I appreciate some of the things other reviewers say, when comparing this place to other omakase restaurants, but it’s still a very refined, elegant and elevated sushi experience. I got to try three different pieces of tuna, firefly squid, super-​fresh uni and various other kinds of fish from all over the world. The presentation was refined and delicate, and sitting by the chef at the bar was fascinating.
If you’ve never done omakase before, this place is really approachable and affordable. Book a weeknight reservation at least a week in advance, and there won’t be any trouble getting a seat. And if you’ve done omakase before, it may not be the same as other places you’ve visited, but it’s still a lovely experience :)

With their highly sought after reservation and near perfect ratings, I was so excited to finally get my hands on the ‘best sushi in toronto’. Unfortunately, Yasu couldn’t claim that title for me.
We were seated at the small brightly lit sushi bar with only around 10 seats in total. They start serving the whole place at the same time so don’t be late. The environment was pretty quiet with everyone’s eyes hanging on the 3 sushi chefs every elegant move.
The plum wine we ordered was a delicious start to the highly rated $ 80 omasake experience which I thought is a reasonable price point. I am a fan of the simplicity and enjoyed watching the chefs delicately create the sushi pieces like works of art. Our chef, although very polite, spoke so softly that half the time we couldn’t hear the details of what we having. I did not know I ate cod testicles until after the fact. It was a pleasant surprise.
There were for sure some delicious pieces such as the toro, monkfish liver and sweet tamago and I think it’s very easy to appreciate the authenticity of the experience. Overall though, I felt the fish lacked their distinct sweet freshness and the rice missed the mark on the vinegary acidity. Wait time between each sushi was also sporadic that I got hungry in between. An interesting experience but I was far from being blown away.
Was seriously hoping for a ‘Jiro dreams of sushi’ moment but it seems like a ticket to Tokyo is still the best bet.

Came back for round 2 for my birthday about a month ago. I won’t go into detail about all my pieces like my last review, but this is my general impression.
1) Wasn’t as impressive as the first time around. Pieces felt smaller. (Picture evidence showed that the Uni sushi was much smaller this time).
2) Fish selection was too similar to the first time around (I was hoping for something different. Is it the season? Last time I came was also around the same time).
3) Was still hungry after. Went for a pizza afterwards :\
4) The filefish sushi with filefish liver on top was perhaps my newest discovery and the best piece of the night.
Still excellent quality sushi overall, but something was lacking compared to the first time. Less wow factor in terms of quality, and smaller pieces made it feel the value has gone down a little.
9.25÷10 for the quality. 9.5÷10 for the service. ⁸⁄₁₀ for the value. ⁹⁄₁₀ overall (not an average)

18 pieces of sushi at the Chef’s choice and an ice-​cream dessert for $ 80 per person. Worth the price of admission in every way.
Yasu is a small space consisting of a bar which seats about 12 people and 2 tables behind that. TIP: Sit at the bar for the full experience. You’ll be able to watch the chefs in their element, crafting each piece with precision and care, sprinkled with the right ingredients or sauce to enhance the taste of the fish to the best that it could be. They then place it directly onto your plate under the most perfect lighting for a photo op which is essentially every foodie’s dream. The fish is gleaming from the freshness, laid on top of the sushi rice where you can identify every single grain. Pretty much sushi in HD.
The menu changes depending on the season/​whatever is freshly imported. A few things that were served for my dinner include: striped jack, ikura handroll, 3 cuts of blue fin toro, cod testicles, mackerel, sea eel, monkfish liver and seared sweet shrimp. As for dessert, it was ginger icecream which was light and refreshing. The highlight of the night for me was the Cod Testicles which was creamy and surprisingly delicious, despite how much I was cringing at the thought of what I was actually eating. Tastes almost like Uni without the sea smell.
It was my first time having omakase in Toronto with my one other time in Japan at the Tsukiji Market. Yes, we’re paying almost triple the price but it’s probably as good as it gets here, people! We’re not shying far from the real deal (in terms of quality) at all. An absolutely wonderful experience that everyone should indulge in.

Yasu is a 5 star sushi experience. Hands down the best sushi dinner I’ve had in Toronto.
This sushi restaurant offers only Omakase at $ 80 per person. Omakase is literally translated to «I’ll leave it to you» meaning that you trust the sushi chef to select your menu. The Japanese consider this to be a great honour and they do not take it lightly. So if you came here expecting spicy salmon rolls, I highly doubt they’ll offend you like that here at Yasu.
The restaurant itself is very small. It is an L shaped sushi bar, with two small tables at the back. DO NOT MAKE RESERVATIONS AT THE TABLES. When I went for dinner, I noticed that the guests at the tables were trying to see from afar what the sushi chefs were doing. Omakase at Yasu is a «dinner-​and-​a-​show» experience, sitting in the back will ruin the experience.
The menu changes frequently at Yasu. It is impossible to predict exactly what seafood will be available because it is imported all over the world from places such as Japan, Norway, Boston and Vancouver. I will say that recent reviews here on Unilocal is nearly identical to what I had (with one or two pieces different) so maybe it is seasonal.
At the end of the night, the sushi chefs will ask if you want any extra pieces. I opt-​ed for an extra piece of Cod Testes and Toro for an extra $ 8.50 and $ 7 respectively.
The beauty about this restaurant is that you get to try fish from all over the world, from genuine Japanese sushi chefs. The lighting here is perfect for taking pictures, and my girlfriend spent as much time taking pictures as the sushi chefs spent making the nigiri.
I strongly recommend this to any sushi enthusiasts for an anniversary or special date night.

Yasu does many things right and I thoroughly enjoyed my experience here on a date night with hubby. But Yasu fell short on a few expectations and I had to take a star away for the following reasons.
1. They give you disposable wooden chopsticks you get from any take out joint. We were not provided with hand towels so we could eat with our hands.
2. I know it’s omakase and we were given the option to request for more or less wasabi but it would still have been nice to have some at the table alongside the ginger.
3. A few of the sushi tasted under-​whelming at best. See below for comment.
With that said, my review breaks down like this.
Ambiance: 5
Service: 5
Food: 3.5
Overall experience: 4
Yasu is very intimate and that was perfect for our date night. I loved the fact that there is limited seating and we felt free to chat and giggle at our own table which was 1 of the only 2 available at the restaurant. The rest of the folks at our seating time sat at the bar as we enjoyed the intimacy of our small table with banquet style seating and watched the chefs work from afar.
We both opted for sake pairing option (addtional $ 50 pp) which provides you with 5 different sakes to compliment the courses. We are not sake connoisseurs by any means but we were super smitten with the Dassai 50 they served as the first glass. Rest of the sake were good as well but Dassai 50 is now on my shopping list.
The list of fish we were served were almost identical as Lisa C’s (with the exception of the snow crab) so I won’t go into a detailed list here again. We enjoyed most of the fish served that night but the Cod soft roe, uni from both coastlines, perfect salmon roe were that stars of the show, although the nori that accompanied the salmon roe was a little too thick for my liking.
The striped jack, we were told were very rare in North American Japanese restaurants. Although the fish was excellent quality, I did not feel that it would be a favorite for me even if it were offered widely in other Japanese restaurants in Toronto as there was a mildly fishy tasting finish. I preferred the amber jack as it tasted less fishy in comparison.
However, the real disappoint was the shrimp and the monk fish liver. I felt the charring on the red shrimp was too over-​powering for the fresh sweet shrimp and really failed to enhance the sushi as the charring was all we could taste. The monk fish liver also suffered similar fate as the shiso leaf in the sushi was too strong for me to enjoy the creaminess of the liver.
The rest of the fish, in my humble opinion, were just fine. Very fresh, yes. But I expected more unusual variety of fish which was not the case.
Perhaps best thing about Yasu’s sushi, and my favorite thing about the sushi that night other than the freshness of the fish, was the rice. Their sushi rice is second to none as the delicate balance between sweet and sour has been so finely achieved, that it elevated all their sushi to to a totally sublime level.
Overall, the food was good, the service and the ambiance was excellent. Would I return to Yasu? Maybe. But I really want to re-​try Zen at their new location first.

Another birthday, another dinner at Yasu. Again amazing service, my tea was always replenished with a new glass and always warm. Chef Yasu was a delight to watch, so precise.
Enjoyed every piece, each bite was heaven.
1: Fluke from Boston
2: Striped jack from South Japan
3: Hokkaido Scallop
4: Soft roe from cod
5: Red snapper from Japan
6: Uni from Boston and Vancouver
7: Red shrimp from Argentina
8,9,10: otoro blue fin tuna from Mexico (lean, medium fatty, fatty)
11: Mackerel from Norway
12: Ocean trout from Scotland
13: Snow crab from Nova Scotia
14: Salmon roe with yuzu zest
15: Amber jack
16: Monk fish liver with daikon, shisho leaf and ponzu from Boston
17: Sea eel from Japan
18: Sweet Tomago
Dessert: Black Sesame Ice Cream

I made a reservation at Yasu a month in advance for dinner on a Sunday night. They’re fully booked all the time, and only open reservations 30 days prior to the reservation date.
When I got to the restaurant, there were a couple of other guests waiting around at the front. Nobody was seated yet at the empty seats, and I’m assuming they wanted to wait for everyone to arrive before starting the dinner service? Because of this, the whole meal felt like a group dinner with a bunch of random strangers.
For $ 80 per person, you’re served around 18 pieces of sushi. Again, everyone was served the same thing at the same time. The work was divided up between three chefs, and all three shared one rice bowl, and had to wait for one another to slice the fish before passing it on to the next chef. So, I found the spacing between each piece to be quite long.
I know this is Toronto, but I can’t help but compare this to my experience in Tokyo where Jiro’s sushi had a flow to it (from lighter tasting pieces to the heavier tasting). At Yasu, the pieces seem to be quite random — we were served baby sardines, and all the tuna came at once from lean to fatty O-​Toro. Some of the fish did not taste fresh to me and the tamago at the end tasted more like cheesecake.
We ordered an extra piece of monkfish liver sushi at the end (that was my favorite!) and when the bill arrived, we saw that we were charged $ 7 per piece.
For those who enjoy Sake pairing with their meal, they offer that with the omakase for an extra $ 50.
Yasu is definitely a great experience for those who have never tried it, but it is also not the best sushi in Toronto nor the freshest. Don’t come here with high expectations, because you won’t be blown away.

I’ve been here a few times already and I must say their food and service is consistently good. They serve omakase ($ 80) and I must say it’s definitely worth it. Aside from one incident when I wasn’t done binging on nigiri and the waitress gave me my ice cream and I tried explaining to her that I wasn’t done with my sushi fix but with the lack of English she spoke and my lack of patience I gave up and ate my ice cream misty eyed.
The environment is a little sterile and I feel bad for even breathing sometimes but I think it might be because they want you to focus on your food instead of being distracted with everything around you?
There was once this couple pulled out their phone and watched a baseball game on loud during dinner. I was super irritated as much as I am a fan of any Toronto… the whole restaurant (it’s already tiny) does not need to be filled with the commentator’s voice.
I prefer Yasu over Zen and Yuzu… Have yet to tried Kaji as I heard that Yasu used to be with Kaji. I would definitely come back (already have two reso booked for the next two weeks) — booking is super simple but you can only book up to 4 people and with a credit card. Ugh, I cannot wait until Friday!

Best sushi I have ever had in Toronto. Great service great food alongside with great people.
Expect the meal to take two hours to complete as they prepare all the food in front of you. The place is really small I would say it fit less than 20 people each time. Make sure you book a month in advance.
It’s a bit on the pricier side but it’s definitely worth it! The whole experience was amazing. ;)
Will definitely visit again.

Came here for a special date night and was blown away by the variety and freshness of sashimi. There’s select dining times only so make sure to reserve tables beforehand!
The restaurant seats 13 – 15 people, mostly seated around the sushi bar and a table for two on the side by the window. No matter where you sit, you’re still close enough to see the live action of food being prepared before your eyes. It’s really quite impressive how intricate each sushi is.
The omakase meal involved 18 pieces, mostly consisting of sushi topped with tamago and scallop sashimi. My favourite is the monk fish liver and the Saba (mackerel). So delicious! There was also a smoked flounder sushi that was paired with ginger and green onion that was a close second. This is just to show you the variety of fish and sushi as part of the meal!
Service was great and servers were very attentive throughout the experience. The whole meal took 2 hours, since each sushi is served one piece at a time, however it was well worth every second of waiting for the next piece.
Do try it!

Yes. I love sushi. I love to eat raw fish. But how you prepare that little piece of raw fish with rice makes a huge difference.
During my spontaneous Canadian trip, my husband made a reservation at Yasu for our exceptional sushi experience while we were in Toronto.
It was very small restaurant but modern set up in downtown Toronto. Walk ins are not recommended. From other reviews, it seems like you need to at least call 2 weeks in advance to get a reservation.
12 seats in sushi bar and 1 small table for 2 people. Our seating was at 5pm. After everybody got seated, 2 sushi chefs came out. We were so lucky to have chef Yasu make our sushi. Whatever he prepared was so good. Melted in our mouths. We didn’t need any soy sauce as Chef Yasu brushed soy sauce on top of our sushi.
If you are ever in the greater Toronto area you must try Yasu.

Don’t think you can go wrong with Yasu for $ 80 per person.
The fish is super fresh. The unni and monk fish foie gras tasted amazing. I won’t spoil the rest but they definitely use premium ingredients. My date said it reminded her of omakaze in japan.
Asked for a split sake pairing but they just give one shot glass and you share, which is fine if you’re out with the gf/​bf. But doesn’t seem like they’re willing to split it with two separate glasses.
Got seats by Yasu and he’s really friendly, down to earth kind of guy but has a heavy accent.
Overall really enjoyed the dinner and the intimate setting.

Highly recommend! Brought my boyfriend here for his birthday dinner and it was the perfect decision. I booked a month in advance so book your appointment early to ensure seating (sushi bar is the best)!
I loved everything, the SUSHI, atmosphere, décor, seating, cleanliness etc. It definitely on par, if not better than what I experienced in Japan (*mainly comparing against Sushi Dai in Tsukiji Market). My boyfriend was skeptical at first but after the first piece of sushi, he was amazed how Yasu can pull this off in Toronto. He agreed 100% that it is on par with Japan sushi, we only wish that this experience can last forever. Freshness and variety of fish, chefs’ technique, excellent service, atmosphere and money for value; overall it was perfect, my boyfriend and I walked out all happy and satisfied! Try it yourself ~
Fish of the day*
Stripped jack
Red snapper with sea urchin
Hokkaido scallops
Monk fish liver with shiso leaf from Boston
Stone flounder (flat fish)
Sardine from Portugal
Sea bass from Greece
Golden eye snapper
Amber jack (type of yellow tail)
Snow crab from Nova Scotia
Salmon roe with yuzu
Blue fin tuna (tuna, medium fatty, fatty)
Fluke from Boston
Bonito fish from Japan