Tonight, my husband and his friends decided we should try out the ever popular Tomokazu on Broadway. We didn’t wait very long, but it was pretty busy. While we were waiting, I bumped into some old high school friends, so it was really nice to see them!
Their late night menu is the standard fare in AYCE late night, some sashimi (with a limit), some rolls and lots of fried goodness. We ordered and our food came pretty quick, but some fried food at the end came very slow – we already had some of our round two items show up before our round one fried items showed up.
It’s really hard to keep up with all the food that came to the table – I was in the company of 6 guys – so I snapped as many pictures as I could.
We ordered tuna and salmon sashimi. The salmon (pictured above) was buttery and melted in your mouth. The tuna we ordered was good but some of the pieces were still a bit frozen.
Chicken & Pork Tonkatsu. The chicken (pictured above) and pork tonkatsu was good, it wasn’t burnt, had a good proportion of sauce and didn’t have much fat in it.
We ordered sweet egg (not pictured), tuna, salmon and hokkigai nigiri. The proportion to fish on rice was decent. I felt kind of gypped that the hokkigai and sweet egg were cut in half per nigiri though.
We ordered the Tomokazu spicy roll, dynamite and BC roll, along with some cones. The cones were a bit small, had little meat and just as little rice. The taste of the spicy tuna cone that I had though was not too bad but I thought it could use more fish in it. The Tomokazu roll was flaked tuna that was a bit spicy, but mostly just dry.
The Oyster Motoyaki. Some people think it’s weird that it’s served this way (as opposed to being baked in it’s own shell)- however, for someone allergic to shellfish like myself, I appreciate it being cooked in a tin. I can’t say I was too impressed with this one though – it was like they cut the oysters into four or five pieces and put one piece in each of the little tin. There was a lot of mayonnaise and not much cheese to the motoyaki, so it was a little over whelming.
Salmon Teriyaki. I love salmon teriyaki and I’m glad that at Tomokazu it was moist and flavourful. Most AYCE sushi places have very dry and flaky salmon and try to make up for it by drowning it in teriyaki sauce.
Chicken & Beef (not pictured) Teriyaki. The chicken was freshly made because it was piping hot. The taste was not too bad, but it didn’t really stand out.
Beef Short Ribs. I found the short ribs taste different here than most places. I think it’s a bit sweeter and has less of that “barbecue smokey” taste. I did like that there was not much fat on the ribs but it was still tender.
Deep fried Gyoza & Spring Rolls. Typical to any AYCE sushi place, there was really nothing too special about them.
Deep Fried Calamari. We had a couple orders and they weren’t very consistent. Some of them were battered perfectly, some were not battered enough.
Our dessert was jello (not pictured! sorry!), different flavours and very good for jello!
I did want to mention something I noticed while I was there. As we were winding down our meal, the manager for the evening came over and he looked at his watch and said, “This is your final order.”
And throughout that time, I was watching as he kept looking at his watch, glaring at us and running around looking stressed. Our waitress on the other hand, did gently said that we had one last order, which I felt was more appreciative than the manager.
I understand that it’s busy, but everyone who was waiting ended up getting seated. We’re paying customers too, so I think that it isn’t right to get so huffy over it. Sure, there’s a time limit and it’s stated plainly at the bottom of the menu for everyone to see, but never have I ever been told that we only had one final order and have a manager who glared at us every time he’d walk by.
Needless to say, I don’t think I’d ever come back to this place because of such a bad attitude displayed by a manager. The food is mediocre and I could think of other great AYCE late night sushi places that I can bring business to who appreciate their customers.
Food :
The food is decent, but sometimes inconsistent. They cut corners by cutting sushi in half and serving 1/5th of an oyster in their motoyaki. I can’t say I was too impressed.
Service: 
I’m giving a better rating than I thought I should, because I’m thinking of the waitress who was helpful and nice to us. Otherwise, it would’ve gotten a whole lot less.
Value:
The place is on par with most AYCE late night sushi price points, the food is decent and the menu choices are not too bad, but I could think of better places for late night. (Like Ebei.)
Ambiance – 
The place is big, able to accommodate big parties and spacious. It is fairly clean and looks recently renovated. The kitchen seemed a bit small for such a big place, but looks can be deceiving.
Here is their website.
