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Toyotomi started in 2004 with the vision of serving their customers some of the most unique and tasty Japanese food available in the region. The executive chef is Mao san who studied under Sato san, the former chef of the Japanese Royal family, and has 17 years Japanese cuisine experience.
There wasn't anything memorable about that place. It was just regular sushi at a regular price with regular service. However, during the middle of the day, the glare inside is really bright and could be fixed. Other than that, everything was fine and nothing really stood out for me to mention.
I visit Toyotomi on a regular basis for lunch. True, they are not true "japanese" (like most japanese restaurants in the lower mainland they are owned by non-japanese people) and sure the food isn't as authentic as real japanese places but this is definitely steps ahead of the competition in the same catagory. They have some good "special" rolls and decently priced lunch specials. I always receive great service.
If you're looking for a place for a casual lunch with solid food for the price, this is the place.
I have to say, Toyotomi has gone downhill tremendously.
I just had takeout for dinner and ordered the Bento Box A.
Opened it up and the dressing with the garden salad had leaked everywhere. It was the same consistency as vinegar and made everything else taste like wasabi dressing. The dressing got into the sushi sectional and made all the rice clump off - so i could only eat the seaweed and filling.
The tempura was on top of a grease soaked napkin. You would think they cared more about presentation. The was so thick and dark, it looked like pancake syrup. Gross.
The teriyaki chicken was also deep fried. They must not change their oil often because the bean sprouts that the chicken rested on had tons of black burnt specks on it.
Very unappetizing - I think this will be the last time I eat there.
I feel a little bit sick now.
This place lives up to the reviews I have seen, mostly. They have a mind-bogging array of rolls to choose from, as well as the usual stuff. Since it was my first visit I wasn't being that adventurous... I thought the tuna roll was fantastic. The fish was very fresh. Even the lowly cucumber roll had a dash of black sesame which gave it a tasty twist. The Alaska roll was on special and it was pretty good. I was a little overwhelmed by the spicy beef roll. MMM, hot and beefy! My wife raved about the sukiyaki, but she said it needed more cabbage and konyaku noodles. The tofu and beef in the sukiyaki were tasty, and the broth sweet and savoury.
The service was intermittent (fast then slow then fast again) and the tea was actually like hot water. Also, the decor looks like the place started out as something else, but it is very comfortable and clean, and several notches above the usual cheap sushi joint. Most important, the food was terrific, and not expensve. If only they had better drink specials! Also they have real Japanese sushi chefs, which was a nice touch.
I will be back for more tasty sushi!
Last time we found out there was a japanese restaurant next to the pub. We decided to try that on last Wednesday. I ordered the daily special roll and the chicken teriyaki rice bowl ; my co-worker ordered a bento box only. I loved their roll that spicy salmon and prawn tempura were really match. The chicken bowl was nothing special. My co-worker said his box was good, too. Service was not bad that waitress checked her tables quiet often and I didn't need to ask tea refill. Although the restaurant didn't look like a japanese restaurant, the ambiance was nice and clean. Our bill for two of us was only $20 including the tip which was good deal for a lunch. We had add one more restaurant to our restaurant list.
I had a surprise birthday dinner here last night and I have to say this is a restaurant I strongly recommend for gathering! Their service is outstanding and foods are all yummy
Three of us order a lot of food from below
Spincah gomaae - the spincah is really freshly
Ebi sunomono - the best sunomono I have in Vancouver
Spicy tuna sashimi - we all like their spicy sauce that a little bit of sour and spicy
Prawn & vegetable tempura - Nothing special to mention
Q.E. Park Roll - the combination of tuna tempura & prawn tempura are really match
Chicken Teriyaki - I like they using the hot plate to serve that can keep the food warm
B.B.Q. Saba - my friend really like it but I think it's too fishly
Green tea ice-cream - the gift from the waitress & it 's home-made style with strong mocha flavour
Denfinitely a restaurant that I will go often
Love the different type of rolls that this place offers. Unique and tasty. Centrally located in North Burnaby. Very nice atmosphere.
I love the different daily specials they have for the week. Prices are reasonable and the quality is not too bad.
Suggest anyone in the neighbourhood to go try it out.
Quite a pleasant alternative to Sushi Town in the Burnaby Heights/Capitol Hill area. I ordered the special of the day which was one of their speciality rolls - the New York Roll: avocado, tempura shrimp (still warm!), cucumber, and spicy salmon on top for $3 (4 pieces). It was tasty enough, and nicely presented with mayo, teriyaki sauce, tobiko and green onion garnishes. Good value since the 8 piece New York Roll goes for $9 usually.
The miso soup wasn't served hot enough, but it was ample enough in volume and had mini-diced tofu, and seaweed bits. Good to see they serve white ginger and not the pink variety with the killer red-dye!
The service was friendly and attentive, we had our tea cups filled constantly. Although the restaurant does have a less than fresh odour lingering about, it is still a nice alternative to my usual sushi haunt in the area.
A friend and I were desperate for japanese food and our usual sushi place on Hastings was closed for vacation so we went to Toyotomi. I've taken out here before but first time sitting in. The first impression walking in is the strange odour, possibly dishwasher smell. The food was nothing special; basically non-authentic, regular vancouver california rolls and farmed salmon nigiri that you can get at any non-Japanese owned sushi places. Also what's with the metal chopstick?! not only do they get very hot while eating hot soup but they leave a weird tingling sensation on my gold fillings. Let's stick with wooden chopsticks. It's time to set up a separate catagory for non-Japanese operated "Japanese"-style restaurants!
We happened upon Toyo Tomi on our way home from the beach on Canada Day. We understand that holidays are a busy time for businesses, so we were really lenient on the service.
What we cannot excuse is how the hostess chose to service two take out orders and take a long, extended phone order while we "waited to be seated". We cannot excuse the fact that there were several other servers and employees in the restaurant, and that there were three clean and empty tables just *waiting* to be occupied by me and the man (TM). We also cannot excuse the fact that once the hostess was done with her multitude of tasks, all she did was take two menus from a stack that we had been perusing for 10-15 minutes, nod at us, and walk 1.5 meters to a table and gesture that it was our table.
What. Was. That.
It also took a while for the server to notice us and take our order, which was just aggravating, seeing as we had our menus closed and were in a major traffic area where many servers passed us.
However, the food was cheap and there were many appetizing specials. I believe we had the rainbow roll for under $4 that day, although I must make it known that since it is a special, they only give you about half a roll. We also had an assorted sashimi, katsu udon, and another roll combo.
I felt that the food was good value, but the service was extremely lacking. Sashimi freshness may be an issue, but as we arrived at about 7pm on a busy day, I think it was just the opening and closing of the sashimi refridgerators that was more of a problem, not particularly the quality of the fish.
Personally, I would go back, just to try some of their daily specials, but without a website or a hard copy "reference" of their specials menu, as well as TMs discouragement, I don't think I'll be returning soon.
This is your typical Japanese restaurant run by non Japanese. Not a truly authentic experience as the sushi is a bit crude and not presently as nicely as you would expect from an a la carte restaurant. A bit like an ayce presentation. A bit on the expensive side for their signature rolls. Good variety in the rolls but the rice is a bit thick.
First time to this place. Ordered a few Maki rolls to try without spending a lot of money. The bill was about $21 for 2. But all the rolls had an excess amount of rice. The rice was mushy, no grain stucture (not fanned to cool after cooking) and no taste of rice vinegar. Asked the waiter if anybody else inquired about the rice........he said "no complaints yet".
I couldn't finished my share of the meal (I'm still hungry) but my companion clear the table without a chopstick pause.
I keep going back with groups that want to go. I will bail next time. I have always been seated in the storage room in the back, never in the real restaurant. There you can smell the garbage out back as well as the cooks smoking. yUK. The waitresses get a lot of the orders wrong and they often serve one person, and then tow more 10 mminutes later etc. Whenever it's ready it's brought without consideration of the entire party. The sushi is good but the miso soup is over priced for a 1/2 portion and not very good. I don't feel like I've had a good time when I leave.
We happened upon Toyotomi on our way home from the beach on Canada Day. We understand that holidays are a busy time for businesses, so we were really lenient on the service.
What we cannot excuse is how the hostess chose to service two take out orders and take a long, extended phone order while we "waited to be seated". We cannot excuse the fact that there were several other servers and employees in the restaurant, and that there were three clean and empty tables just *waiting* to be occupied by me and the man (TM). We also cannot excuse the fact that once the hostess was done with her multitude of tasks, all she did was take two menus from a stack that we had been perusing for 10-15 minutes, nod at us, and walk 1.5 meters to a table and gesture that it was our table.
What. Was. That.
It also took a while for the server to notice us and take our order, which was just aggravating, seeing as we had our menus closed and were in a major traffic area where many servers passed us.
However, the food was cheap and there were many appetizing specials. I believe we had the rainbow roll for under $4 that day, although I must make it known that since it is a special, they only give you about half a roll. We also had an assorted sashimi, katsu udon, and another roll combo.
I felt that the food was good value, but the service was extremely lacking. Sashimi freshness may be an issue, but as we arrived at about 7pm on a busy day, I think it was just the opening and closing of the sashimi refridgerators that was more of a problem, not particularly the quality of the fish.
Personally, I would go back, just to try some of their daily specials, but without a website or a hard copy "reference" of their specials menu, as well as TMs discouragement, I don't think I'll be returning soon.
Some friends took us her for dinner with the "kids' ( I say because their avg age is 17!) The place occupies the old steakhouse right beside the Old NBI, lots of booths and wood and tile floors. The place is very clean; a must for me at a place that routinely serves raw food like any sushi place. The specials and the portion size at this restaurant are awesome! The gomae at 5 bucks is as much as you get for two portions anywhere else and well prepared too. The specialty rolls are what they concentrate on and they are better than most. The Hastings roll on special is a great value for 3 bucks and the Stanley park roll is a new fave. They have a roll with bbq Unagi that i love but I forget the name of it. Tea/service was attentive which a nice change. Of note is their drink menu with plum coolers and other Asian inspired drinks. My Kids tell me that the Chicken teriyaki rated high as well as the donburi bowls. I'm glad that I was shown this place because now I have another sushi choice locally to replace my ban on Sushi Town. This place is clean, with great food and service at a great price. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.
This is a duplicate posting to the one I left for "Toyo Tomi" (2 words) - apparently the same place is being reviewed under 2 different names, so here goes again:
Lunched at Toyo Tomi on the advice of a friend who works in the neighbourhood. All we wanted was a bento box, but the lunch hour crowd had packed the visible seats in the front of the restaurant. There was a table right by the door that was empty, but to their credit they advised us that the cold air from the front door opening and closing would make that table unpleasant. So we waited and waited, expecting that the staff was expecting one of the tables would leave as 1 pm was approaching. Instead we were finally told that a table was being set for us "in the back". Led down a long hall past the kitchen in the general direction of the bathrooms, to find ourselves in a dimly lit windowless cavern with a couple of tables (less than half of them occupied, so why the long wait at the front desk??). This was a depressing, charmless room devoid of music or any redeeming quality at all. The overhead lights were some sort of industrial vapour lamps that gave off a weak but sickly blue light - the kind that make even healthy people with tans look cadaverous. Why they have the front seating area squished into about 1/4 of the total floor space of the restaurant is quite beyond me. Whatever the reason, the experience of eating what turned out to be an otherwise tasty and fairly priced bento box in a room that only an undertaker could enjoy was just too much. I'd go back for the food and location, but I won't sit anywhere but up front. Nor should you.
We went here for dinner on a Monday night and the place was empty so I was surprised they weren't closed! The menu is vast and the prices are weird: often ending in 96, 26, or 36 cents. Something for every price range but alot of very good value dishes so we just ordered & ordered lots of different items and were generally very pleased with the food as well as the service.
I'm not so sure if the place is actually run by japanese but the food is quite good so it doesn't matter. They have daily specials (limited quantities) which are interesting and they have some pricey special rolls which are worth a try if you feel experimental. I had a tuna rice bowl which wasn't quite what I expected because they cooked the tuna all the way through which kind of ruined it.
There are several good Japanese restaurants in Burnaby Heights if you know where to find them. I will return to this place and I took their take-out menu so I'll try that too.
I always have a good experience at this place. I generally don't order 'cooked' foods at Japanese places, so I can't comment on terriyaki or anything. The rolls are always good-sized. They have the best salads - I really love the ohitashi (largest portion I have ever seen, by far) and the garden salad (they use red leaf lettuce instead of iceburg). I know the owners aren't Japanese, but they still have decent food, so I will continue to patronise!
I've been to Toyotomi twice, both times for dinner. They have a nice selection of sashimi; I highly recommend the salmon and saba sashimi as well as the beef tataki. They have daily specials, which I think is a good way to promote something different and encourage people to try something new.
The service is good, they keep your tea cups full and pay attention to you. You can also see that they put extra effort in food presentation, particularly so in the Philadelphia roll and the beef tataki.
It's a great place that serves good quality food. Their udon portions are big too, very filling. However, their sashimi servings are small, or maybe it's just wishful thinking...I guess their servings are normal, I'm just greedy and wish I could squeeze in a few more pieces for my buck.
A friend recommended us, so we went. The food was pretty (they are kind of like specialty sushi/rolls) and actually very tasty :) we loved Toyotomi II, service was ok – pretty fast I think, the price was a little bit high – but I guess it worth the decorations and quality - would go back again for sure.
| 1. | Richmond (15.9 km) |  |
| 1. | Triple Coconut Tree (7 m) |  |
| 2. | Old Admiral Pub (10 m) |  |
| 3. | Pear Tree, The (20 m) | |
| 4. | Fresh Slice (34 m) | |
| 5. | Cioffi's Meat Market & Deli (50 m) | |
| 6. | Domino's Pizza (62 m) | |
| 7. | Cioffi's Meat Market & Deli (66 m) | |
| 8. | Thai Cafe (67 m) | |
| 9. | Subway (80 m) | |
| 10. | Burgers Etc. BBQ House (83 m) | |
