Nagoya Japanese Restaurant

 Almost everyday I pass by this place. Sure, I've heard about it on the radio and seen it's ad in the newspaper, but I've never really had the intention of trying it. No reason at all, but due to the many other places that offer AYCE, I totally forgot about this place. We were shopping at the fairly close Pacific Mall one day, and once again I was given the task of choosing where to go for dinner. The first place that popped up in my head was Nagoya. I guess the foodie gods thought it was about time we tried this place out.

It was only about 5:30 pm and the small
restaurant was already jam packed. When I
mean jam packed, I mean jam packed like a can of sardines. There was barely any room for the servers and patrons to get by. Anyways on to the food. They were having a Lobster Sashimi (3.5/5) special.

The lobster was sweet and tender and our whole party enjoyed it. The tobiko added a nice crunch. We got an order of Takoyaki (3/5) and it was fairly average with a bouncy piece of octopus inside. The Sashimi was decent, our favourite being the Ika (Squid) (4/5).


It had a nice buttery and bouncy texture which we all enjoyed. The Salmon Sashimi (2.5/5) was cut thick but unfortunately, it didn't taste very fresh.




There was a slight fishy taste, which sucked because it was cut properly. The Octopus (3/5) made up for that in a way as it was  decently chewy with a snap. The Crab Meat (2/5) and Surf Clam (2.5/5) were both average.



We got 4 different rolls, such as the Spider Roll and California Roll. When it arrived to our table, we were immediately confused as to which roll was which. It was poorly constructed as piece was falling apart. I understand that I'm at a AYCE, but this was honestly very disappointing. We noticed other patrons weren't exactly satisfied with their rolls either. The Spider Roll (2/5) had no sauce on top which made it really dry. The California Roll (2.5/5), was topped with a little too much tobiko, and fell apart really easily.

We ordered the Salmon and Avocado Handroll (2.5/5) and there was no avocado to be found.
It was stuffed with so much rice which was gummy. At this point, we were quite unhappy,
especially because the service was lacking as well. For a small restaurant, it was super hard to flag down one of their 5 servers and they mostly forgot to help us check up on an order.


I did like their system of us telling which dishes to order instead of patrons writing it themselves on little sheets or scrolling through an ipad, but unfortunately some orders did not come through.

 
Their desserts were pretty typical for a Japanese AYCE. They had the Mango Yogurt (4/5) which was the highlight of the night due to it's creaminess and slight mango flavour. The Green Tea and Red Bean Icecream were creamy but tasted average and nothing special. The Coconut Pudding (3/5) had a faint coconut taste, but was enjoyable because it was creamy and silky.
Overall, our experience here was not the best, and since there are so many more new AYCE places, I would suggest trying those before coming here.

Johnny's Hamburgers

There's nothing like a juicy, hot and freshly made hamburger at 2 in the morning, am I right? One sunny afternoon, my friend and
I decided to visit the popular burger joint, sandwiched between two busy plazas on Victoria Park Avenue just south of Sheppard. It was right about lunch time and
the place was already jam packed with hungry patrons waiting for their orders. With a variety of burgers on the menu such as the Banquet Burger and veal on a bun.

We decided to go with the Lunch Combo special which included a Hamburger, fries and a large soft drink. For only $5.75, it was well worth it. The Hamburger (3/5), featured a somewhat juicy patty that was grilled to perfection. Flavour wise, it was average, and with the plethora of toppings it made the
bun soggy. The Fries (3/5) were
fairly average as well. Just in
 between slighty crispy and soggy.
The 'Large' drink was more like
a small, but decent for the price.
Johnny's Hamburgers is definitely
the go-to place to satisfy a good,
cheap burger craving. The place
almost reminds me of Square Boy
in the Danforth, minus the quarter
chicken meals and gyros.