Toshi Sushi has been on my radar for awhile but the long lineups has deterred me from coming sooner. We bit the bullet and decided to risk it. They’re sister restaurants to Shiro, one of our favourite sushi spots in the city.
We came at 5:15pm on an early Wednesday evening and it was already full. We added our name (go inside and jot your name down on the list) and ended up waiting 45 minutes for a table. Crazy.
Hours outside.
There were only 3-4 groups of two in front of us and we still had to wait that long. I can only imagine the lineup on a busy Friday or Saturday night. We ended up sharing a table with another twosome. The inside is small; there’s less than 30 seats. Saw quite a few people doing takeout. If you lack patience, that seems to be the way to go.
The menu is short; soup, udon noodles, salad, tofu, agemono, yakimono/itamemono, donburi, sashimi, nigiri, sushi combos and maki.
2x Green tea ($0.95 each) – servers come by frequently to refill your tea, which is nice.
#4 House combo ($19.00)
House roll, tuna roll and 6 pieces of sashimi (2 each of salmon, hamachi and snapper).
Sashimi was fresh; favourite was the hamachi. House/ tuna roll are on the small side.
2x Tuna ($2.75), 2x salmon ($2.75), toro ($3.00) and tai nigiri ($2.75)
Rice was nicely packed and properly seasoned.
A few closeups of the nigiri pieces.
Chopped scallop ($5.00) and negi hama ($5.25)
These two makis were fantastic. Negi hama (yellowtail and green onion) was a nice change from our usual order of negi toro.
Chopped whole scallop was super fresh and delicious.
Nasu dengaku ($6.95)
Baked eggplant and miso sauce. This came out last even though it was our appetizer.
It’s grilled nicely but the sauce is quite sweet.
Trip #2
#5 Nigiri combo ($21.00 for 10)
10 pieces chef selection of nigiri. We were given albacore tuna, wild sockeye salmon, saba, ebi, hamachi, ika, amaebi, hokkigai, aji (horse mackerel) and tamago.
My favourites were the saba (not too salty), hamachi (good bite), amaebi and aji. Tamago was respectable but didn’t sway me one way or another.
Assorted sashimi ($29.50 for 15)
5 types of sashimi which were albacore tuna, hamachi, wild sockeye salmon, aji and hotate.
The hotate were B’s favourite; plump and sweet.
The aji was my personal favourite; a bit more of a texture.
Yakitori ($5.75 for 2)
Two grilled chicken skewers. These were okay but found the sauce a touch sweet. Probably wouldn’t get them again.
Chopped scallop ($5.00)
The ratio was more rice than scallop. Still doesn’t beat Sushi by Yuji or Shiro’s.
Umeshiso ($3.50)
This was delightfully tart and sour.
Negi toro ($5.25)
The better of the two maki’s that we ordered. Negi was fresh and had a good mashed consistency.
Is it worth the wait at Toshi’s? Either go early or get your order to go. It’s good but doesn’t crack my top 3 sushi spots in town.
Toshi Sushi
https://www.facebook.com/Toshi-Sushi/
181 E 16th Avenue
Vancouver, BC
(604) 874-5173
