Restaurants
Lola Sushi
It's hard being a budget-conscious sushi lover. A career thrifster, I've become so used to cheap sushi that biting into the real deal is always a pleasant surprise. Magnify that shock by a thousand when that fresh, succulent first bite comes from a $7.50 lunch special. Finally! No more contriving weird anniversaries just to get some fresh fish (Happy 6 months after our first subway ride together, honey...let's go for sushi!) Now that Lola Sushi has hit the Toronto scene, this girl is buying her own sashimi!
A few blocks south of Eglinton on Yonge, Lola Sushi lets you eat like you live in North Toronto without paying like it. Traditionally decorated in deep blue fabrics, antique pieces, and rice paper screens, Lola is tasteful and cozy. Quick, cheerful service adds warmth to the atmosphere: my server gladly answered my questions, queired my preferences and directed me to specials I hadn't noticed on the menu, ultimately leading me to this special: 5 pieces of sushi, a California roll, soup and salad for $7.50.
Salmon, thick and fresh, soft rice, sweet avocado, delicate beet curls on citrusy salad, and a mountain of ginger all vied to be my favourite parts of the meal, but the true beauty at Lola is that everything tastes good, looks good and costs little. This is why I ended up there again only two days after my first Lola lunch. (Happy 1 week after our first Christmas together, darling: dinner's on me!).
Now, love at first bite is one thing, but could Lola keep my affection a second time around? Not only was my second meal as good as my first (oh, the tempura!), but I learned that Lola's "lunch specials" run all day! For some reason, serving superiour sushi at discount prices is not enough for the good people at Lola: they've got to sweeten the deal by maintaining an all-day bento selection. According to the servers, there is no plan to end these day-long lunches, so there will be plenty of delicious discount options the next time you need sushi, and they'll be there again when it comes time for those "day I discovered Lola" anniversaries, too.
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Perhaps I should ask about the criteria used to choose restaurants for reviews - is it just any restaurant you happen to dine in that gets a write up?
And I find these simple reviews really handy for neighbourhood eating. Sometimes I don't need an outstanding, stellar place that I have to trek out to, but just a good, affordable, reliable place nearby.
Also a good recommendation is I ZU, probably one of the best sushi in town but not a lot of people know about it.
It's on Yonge south of Davisville. They remodeled at the end of the summer and the place is looking good on top of their great sushi and fair prices.
I only ate there once when it was a steakhouse, but it was the best steak dinner I've ever had, plus the waiter ensured that my wine glass was perpetually at the rim, and their ceasar salad was pretty great with fresh shredded parmesian and large homemade croutons.
If the food and service is good, it gets a check. Who cares what font they use as long as it is legible?
If it was a high end establishment, you would have a good argument there, but really, are you going to hold it against a low end restaurant?
"Oh hay! You use Comic Sans in yer menu. You probably don't care enough to put some effort in your font selection, therefore I'm expecting that you're treating your products the same way too!!"
I went here last week and was met with fishy fish and hockey puck nigiri. No seasoning of the rice whatsoever.
I feel a bit bad saying that because the staff were so nice and gave us a couple items on the house so I would definately return, just not for raw food/sushi.
Plus I'm always very happy with the service, everyone is really friendly there :-)