2024 Update: I’ve added a breakdown of a few Toronto Sushi Markets I loved on a recent visit to Toronto. TO has the best sushi market scene in North America. See all the info right here.
If you’ve read any of my Toronto sushi reviews and/or spent a minute in the Toronto food scene and/or been stuck on the subway between Eglinton and Lawrence with no cell service and been forced to contemplate life (might just be), you’ve probably realized that the TO sushi scene needs a bit of work.
Well I’m here to help.
Instead of focusing on what there isn’t in Toronto, let’s focus on what there is.
Like construction cranes. There’s lots of those.
And some pretty good sushiya, including the best in Canada which also happens to be the most expensive restaurant in Canada.
Below, I’ve collected 5 great sushiya that I recommend in the city, all of which could stand up against the best sushiya in my New York City guide.
The one key difference between Toronto and other key sushi cities is the volume of cross-mingling. Some of these sushiya are backed by the same person. Some of the Itamae come from other sushiya. We’ll see if that changes as time goes on.
This site is accessible directly at TorontoSushiGuide.com.
Have any issues? Feel free to drop me a line at info@thesushilegend.com or follow me on Instagram at @TheSushiLegend and slide into the DMs if not.
Thanks for reading.
Sushi Kaji
Best for: An OG Toronto Sushi Shrine
Cost: $160-$200
Style: Omakase-only
Location: Etobicoke
As a sushi-obsessed child growing up in Toronto in the 90s and early 2000s, our sushiya visits were limited to neighborhood joints in the burbs (which 20 years later is now the centre of the city). That was just how the sushi scene was back then, not just in Toronto, but in New York as well. The proliferation of higher end sushiya just didn’t exist.
However, there was one. In the days before Yelp and Google, the parents of a buddy used to order the Zagat review books. For all you millenials, it was basically a restaurant review pocketbook with ratings decided by the Zagat family and their minions.
The Toronto Zagat handbook always had a restaurant called “Sushi Kaji” at the top of its list. Never mind that it was expensive, it was in Etobicoke – a western suburb famous for Reds star Joey Votto, and a world away for a kid with just a Razor Scooter. This was my Masa.
So when my now-wife visited Toronto for the first time a decade later, I knew where we had to go for our first Canadian date.
Read my full review here.
Sushi Masaki Saito
Best for: Sitting with one of the planet’s most renowned sushi legends and perhaps Canada’s best sushiya
Cost: $680 CAD
Style: Omakase-only
Location: Yorkville
I think it happened somewhere between the impossibly soft Zuke nigiri and the precisely sliced kasugo.
Or maybe it happened somewhere between our fourth and fifth carafes of Jikon Omachi sake. Truthfully, I’m not sure, that last part is still a blur.
What I do know is that regardless of how many thousands of sips I took during my visit to Sushi Masaki Saito in early August 2022, I distinctly remember thinking – at some point – that a sushiya of this quality and a restaurant of this serenity just don’t belong in Toronto’s Yorkville neighborhood.
Full review here.
Shoushin
Best for: Omakase date night
Cost: $330-$480
Style: Omakase-only
Location: Bedford Park
One of my favourite aspects of my visit to Shoushin was the space itself. The sushi bar is beautiful, crafted from light Hinoki wood, and untreated with varnish. Part of it is seated with chairs, but for the more adventurous and traditional of you, there is a portion where patrons remove their shoes. Adjacent is a no-shoes table area (for those of you with families) – I haven’t experienced it myself, but judging by how hard it is to make reservations, I’d imagine the sushi at the tables is as good as at the bar.
As for service, Shoushin delivers in both quantity and quality. Though there are a number of staff working, there are clear roles: you won’t see the same person pouring you water as serving your food. And I couldn’t picture a more polite and knowledgeable group; clearly, the training methods have been successful.
Read my full review here.
Kaito Sushi Omakase
Best for: Affordable, entry-level Omakase
Cost: $77
Style: Omakase-only
Location: Junction
Kaito serves a $77, 14 course Omakase, just on the outskirts of the Junction neighborhood on St. Clair West. They offer 3 times nightly, 6, 7:45 and 9:30 (!), .
To say it fills a void in the city would be an understatement; According to the Itamae, this is the only omakase-focused sushiya in that price range in Toronto.
Think for a second how ridiculous that is. By my latest tally of all the Omakase options in New York (FULL LIST HERE), there are 59 sushiya serving an Omakase at $100 or below (despite what NY Mag says, this is NOT a new phenomenon).
That’s 59 for a city of 8 million. Toronto, with 3 million, has 1.
59 to 1. A worse Toronto performance than the Leafs in Game 1 (all of the years).
My hope is that given the quality of Kaito and the gap in the market, more will start to spring up
Read my full review here.
Zen Japanese
Best for: Experiencing one of the OGs of the Toronto sushi scene, family night-out
Cost: $30-$160
Style: A la carte and Omakase
Location: Scarborough
I visited Zen for the first time this past summer. It was a last minute trip and the counter was booked solid, but I was fortunate enough to enjoy a wonderful Omakase-“style”- more on what that means in my review – meal at the table.
Koshiwabara- San presides over a team of chefs behind the counter. It’s clear he’s a commanding, yet welcoming presence with years of experience both preparing and teaching sushi.
That education isn’t just for his team, many of whom have gone into open other restaurants of their own. It’s for his clientele. When Zen first opened in 2000, fine sushi in Toronto was spicy tuna maki from Edo at the ACC (shout out Barry Chaim).
We’ve come a long way.
Read my full review here.