Taisho is permanently closing on March 21/22 of 2009. They have stopped serving the ayce portion of the menu and are now only focusing on a la carte items, with every item being 10% off.
The food is basic, and the service is extremely lacking, no refills offered, and in order to get any service whether that be being seated in the restaurant or having the order taken, the food delivered or even corrections to the order- like you forgot my miso soup- you practically have to hit the server or other staff over the head.
Nothing remarkable about this place,
and then comes the bill- let me tell you right now
please don't even ask them to remove the 15% gratuity to the bill, just tell them you don't want to add more to the bill, and that you want the ordinary total. I did this tonight when we went, and she readjusted the total without argument. She would have had a huge problem should she have fused, I know my rights and I know the law and I know how to file a complaint where it will sting.
If you ask nicely for them to remove it, and then they disagree this is grounds for a complaint to the Better Business Bureau. No business can adjust your total and add a tip without giving you the option of deciding for yourselves what you would prefer to pay.
Like some of the previous entries, I had her remove the tip and left paying the total bill only with no extras.
I am sorry the restaurant is fallen on hard times and has to close, Im sorry that the cranky people they did employ are losing their jobs and Im even sorry that they didnt practice excellent customer service skills at the best of times, but what makes me the angriest is the fact that they are screwing people out of their hard earned money by these unscrupulous acts.
I would recommend people never eat here again, but since it's not going to last long it doesnt matter but please WATCH YOUR BILL, AND TIP WHAT YOU WANT NOT WHAT THEY SEEM TO ADD!!!!!! YOUR THE CONSUMER AND YOU HAVE MORE RIGHTS THEN THEY DO WHEN IT COMES TO DECIDING THE TIP!!!

I went to Taisho with a couple of friends for dinner. We went for the regular menu instead of the all you can eat. Nothing really fancy about the food. It's an ordinary japanese restaurant where food is not exceptionally good and not exceptionally bad either. It's doable for the price. In any event, the food was not the major issue. My gripe is the gratuity that was tagged on to the bill at the end of the night. They added 15% on to our bill as tip. Come on, this is no 5 star restaurant and service was just mediocre at best. They brought us the food and only came once to pour tea. At an average restaurant, I expect that tip would be based on the customer's discretion. When we asked the waitress about the 15% automatic add on tip, she gave this lame excuse that the hostess who brought us to the table should have told us. Of course, the hostess wouldn't have told us because if she did, we would have left the restaurant even before we got seated. After a few more minutes of acting with the other staff members, the waitress came back to our table. She told us that she would deduct the 15% gratuity from our bill. She stated that we wouldn't have to pay the 15% tip if we didn't think that the service was worth it. Not only did we think that the 15% was not worth it, we didn't put any tip at all. We just paid for the price of our food plus the tax and left. Needless to say, because of this dishonest business practice, my friends and i will not be returning back any time soon. I believe the people at the next table also had an issue with the gratuity tagged on to their bill as well. They probably weren't as vocal as us but why get bullied by this immoral, dishonest and manipulative act. Very unprofessional. And I thought i saw it all:=)

Taisho was a pretty decent place about 3 to 4 years ago but ever since they renovated it's just gone downhill from there. Before getting seated, the host told us about a 10% gratuity that would be automatically tacked onto the bill. There is a choice for All You Can Eat and regular menu. We chose the regular menu but as we sat down, it was apparent that even for All You Can Eat, there wasn't much choice on the revolving belt by the tables where you can grab sushi. In fact, I'm not even sure how long some items were sitting there but all there really was to choose from was tamago (egg) and California rolls. I think the look of the menu compared to how it was before says a lot about how the restaurant has changed. There aren't as many offerings as there were before.

I ordered the Nabeyaki Udon with salmon and tuna sashimi plus sunomono salad. These were pretty decent but I've had better Nabeyaki Udon. My friends ordered the sushi boat for two people that came with an assortment of nigiri, tempura and sashimi. I gave the tako (octopus) a shot and it wasn't very fresh and tasted quite fishy.

Despite the way the food tasted, the service was decent. Food arrived within a reasonable amount of time. The servers replenished our cups with tea quite regularly, picked up empty plates and even responded to other requests quite quickly. However, by the end of dinner, we weren't very satisfied with our meals and on top of that, weren't completely overjoyed with the idea of paying 10% for tips. We felt that the servers deserved it more than the chefs if they're the kind of place that split tips. After asking for the bill, we were surprised to find out that the server had written down in the blank printed space that appeared as "Gratuities ______%", that he had filled out 15%. This wasn't really much of a problem but I feel it's dishonest to tell people at the beginning that mandatory tips are 10% when in fact, the servers can fill out whatever they want. They should at least tell people it's a minimum. When asked at the cashier why it was upped to 15%, he replied that it's the holiday season. What an excuse.

Considering the nonsense of the mandatory tip for customers who aren't in a large group, along with the food that was almost decent, I would not recommend Taisho unless you are starving and have no place else to go.

This is our second favourite choice for Sushi/Japanese in BBY, the first being Fish on Rice. We have tried the all you can eat buffet here, until we found the Happy Boat... $25 for 2 is pretty good, and there is lots of food. It comes with Miso to start, we usually order Goma Ae as an extra and sometimes Spicy Tuna or salmon as well. The boat itself comes with the Miso, tuna and salmon roll-6 pieces each, prawn tempura-2 each, veg tempura-3-4 pieces each & dipping sauce, deep-fried gyoza- 2 each (my only dissappontment, would rather regular), beef teriyaki, california rolls-3 pieces each, 6-7 large pieces of chicken karaage with sweet glaze, a bowl of steamed rice each and ice cream to finish. Would be filling enough without the add-ons, but we LOVE a good goma ae and theirs is very good. A very good solid choice for Japanese w sushi we have found, to date.

I've been to this restaurant quite often, and it's not for the food, but the convenience. If it didn't have a good location, the business would be closed pretty fast with the way things are going. Luckily, this place is right beside Silvercity Theaters and with it's enticing, yet semi-clean setting, it's like tempting a baby with candies - or in this case, many babies.

Although I've been to this place many times, like I said, I am going to write a review for it this time (don't think I wrote one for it yet lol)

This review will be based off of its ordering menu and not buffet. I will add the buffet part in part two.

PART ONE - First the pros -

#1 - PRICE - price was fair for its location and the amount of food given, but did not justify the quality. I had a hard time choosing whether to place price within the pros and cons section but seeing how most of the people who come here are young and, pardon me for saying this, 'inexperienced or lenient' japanese cuisine munchers, i thought perhaps quantity was more important.

#2 - portions were quite enough, although not as generous as they used to be which i thought were probably due to the price of oil spikes.

#3 - spacious. the tables are nice and big for, normally, a party of 4.

PART 1 - Cons -

#1 - lukewarm food - the foods seem to be heated up in the microwave, meaning everything is pre-prepared. Normally, single order menu items are better than their buffet versions but seeing how I tasted no difference, it was quite a rip off here.

#2 - quality was definitely not good. I'm not saying you'll get stomach aches but what I mean is the quality of the ingredients used. Sushi rice falling apart, wrong or wrong portions of rice vinegar, and overall fastfood quality japanese cuisine.

#3 - sanitation was moderately clean, some areas having moldy corners and sticky floors are common - missed a spot perhaps?

PART TWO - pros

#1 - amount of selection on the menu

PART TWO - cons

#1 - price - this place's all you can eat is very high for the quality of food you get.

#2 - quality - poor, sashimi tasted lukewarm...and there the color was wrong

#3 - presentation - not good, looked messy and sloppy compared to other AYCE

#4 - taste - this place's taste are saltier than most other places, which requires you to drink lots of water.

#5 - service - bad, inattentive.

#6 - gratuity - definitely does not need to be automatically added especially when their service does not match up to it.

I will not come here again (repeats to self again and again) but seeing how it's a convenience after a late night movie, it's very hard to not get tempted.

I don't mind paying gratuity but I like to decide myself what they deserve. In this case, I didn't mind paying the 10% gratuity but was offended that they thought so well of themselves that they accorded themselves the tip they didn't want to miss.

Generally, the food was OK. A bit more variety then some other all you can eat places. Also, they give seniors a discount which is a nice touch.

After not having been there for many months now, me and my hubby decided to return last weekend. Everything was how I had remembered it. The atmosphere & food were still pretty good. Granted service could have been better, but I will give my benefit of the doubt that maybe because it was during the rush hours.

However, I was stunned when the waitress said that a gratituity charge will be added on to our bill. Since when were tip mandatory? I felt obligated and forced into it. I don't mind giving a tip if I had receive quality service, but what if it were the other way around?

Taisho's in a convenient location with a laid-back atmosphere, complemented by their taiken belt and use of bamboo. Although I can't comment on their raw dishes since I don't order them, their cooked food is decent, and I've gone there many times over the years to order what I know to be safe.

However, they have a problem with service: not much effort was made to ask how our food was, or whether or not we would like refills on our drinks, be it tea, pop, or just water. Quite often the server just placed our dishes at the edge of our table and leave, as if we were some animals that were simply happy enough to have our troughs filled.

To make matters worse, they now have a mandatory 10% tipping policy, which they don't tell you when you put your name on the waiting list. There are also no visible signs to alert you of this. They only tell you when you are getting seated. But who's going to leave after waiting fifteen minutes for your table, when you're already hungry? 10% is not a big deal, but at least be up-front and honest about it. When the manager was asked about their reasons for this new policy, he replied that they weren't receiving many tips from customers in the past, so were forced into making this decision.

There are other examples of poor service on which I don't think I need to elaborate, but if people aren't tipping the servers, you'd think management would do the right thing and correct their service. Instead, they have this "hidden" policy.

How unfortunate for a once-favourite place.

...for sure, because it's in the mall near the theaters since the food is not that good anymore. I started coming here a few years ago when I started working at the mall. Back then the food was way better and so was the selection going down the moving belt.
I haven't worked at the mall for a year now but I paid a visit over the holidays and decided to eat here....what a disappointment !!!

For starters, they charged $2 extra for AYCE (holiday surcharge) but the food was no different than any other time; I agreed to pay because I thought they may have special "holiday" items...NOT. I think it's just an excuse to scam up a few extra bucks. I think they do this on long weekends too.

The food on the belt consisted of the same tired 4 items going round and round (tuna sushi, ebi sushi, tamago sushi and endamame). We saw a few salmon sushi which quickly disappeared never to be seen again for the 1.5 hrs we sat there. Only 80% of the cooked items we ordered actually showed up even though they claimed they were delivered...must have gone to a table beside us.

Next time, I'll eat somewhere else before heading to the theaters. Don't think it was worth the regular price anymore and the $2 "holiday" surcharge is a kick in the teeth.

btw, I can't remember a time when most of the tables around the belt were occupied by toddlers whose parents were not managing their kids and so they were nosing and poking at the food on the belt as it passed in front of them...next time I go for AYCE, I'll go to one of those where you order and a server brings your food.

Tried the AYCE. Very disappointed in the tempura prawns and veggies. 1 small limp prawn and 3 veggies. Every thing else passable but table service was slow. Almost like they want you to fill up on the sushi rolls. 3 menu items per person at a time. Small portions. Might go back in a pinch but not voluntarily.