After work on a Friday night, I was looking forward to try Toshi Sushi to see what the hype was all about. Arriving at around 6pm, the place was already packed, with a long list of diners waiting and the restaurant itself was pretty small. So instead, we did some searching, and I suggested we try Zipang Provisions, which is also on Main St.

The restaurant looked almost like a bar from the outside, and didn’t seem like a Japanese restaurant. Inside, the interior was filled with wooden tables and benches and ropes. A very modern and hipster decor. The restaurant was also filled with mostly Caucasians, but I guess the clientele in this area is mostly non-Asian. One interesting thing we noticed was that almost all of the diners were families with young children. I guess they really cater to families and children here. Anyways, the sushi chefs and waitresses all looked Japanese and were very friendly.

Even their glasses of water were super hipster and came in Mason jars.

Chicken Yakiudon

We started off with the Chicken Yakiudon. Flavour-wise, I found it quite different from your typical Japanese restaurants. It came with assorted vegetables, and we chose Chicken as our protein. The noodles were glistening in the sauce and was quite flavourful.

Love Shuffle and Zipang Roll

We also chose two of their sushi rolls. First was the Love Shuffle, which was filled with 2 pieces of prawn tempura, cucumber and mayo. They were topped with alternating ingredients of salmon, avocado and mango. Each was topped with a masago roe. Not bad. Sort of like your typical rainbow roll. The second roll we got was the Zipang Roll, which was wrapped with soy sheet and filled with scallop, salmon, cucumber, and radish sprouts. I liked the change from seaweed to soy sheet. Their sushis aren’t large, but they are all made with care. A good rice to filling ratio with quality ingredients.

Overall, Zipang Provisions is a tad pricier than some sushi joints, but you get quality over quantity here. Plus, service was really friendly. I’d like to point out that we actually found a piece of hair on one of our rolls, but the server acted very professionally, apologized, and got the chef to prepare us a new roll.

Pros:
– Service is really friendly
– Ambiance is cool and hip, but still great for families

Cons:
– Service was just average
– Restaurant can get a little loud with all the children

Price Range: $15-25

1: Terrible 2: Poor 3: Average 4: Good 5: Excellent

Food: 4
Service: 4
Ambiance: 4
Parking: 3
Overall: 4