Toshi – Good Food comes to those Who Wait
Toshi, located @ Main and 16th, is one of my favorite Japanese restaurants in the city. Conveniently located, Toshi is a small and tidy Japanese-run place that serves both extremely fresh sushi and some great cooked dishes. It’s affordable too.
However, a secret this is not. Toshi is always packed and you’ll have to wait (20 – 60 mins) for a table at peak times.
Toshi doesn’t take reservations. When you step into the restaurant, the first thing you’ll see is the sign pictured above. As it instructs, you have to write your name down on a list pinned to the wall. Once a table is ready for you, the waitress will call out your name. Be careful, the waitresses have bad English and may mispronounce your name so pay attention to where you are in the queue.
On this visit, I went at 8PM on a Friday night. After writing my name, I took a glance and saw that there were 9 uncrossed names ahead of me. The restaurant only seats around 30 so it was looking hopeless for my growling stomach. Luckily, 5 of the names ahead of me had left by the time the waitresses called them out so I only had to wait 25 minutes.
Once you are seated with your food ordered, you won’t have to wait long for the food to arrive. This is great because the food is delicious! Above, Spicy scallop maki on the left ($3.50) and Spider roll on the right ($6.50).
Below, Toro sushi ($1.80 per piece) and Unagi sushi ($2.00 per piece). The toro melts in your mouth (not in your hand).
The seafood here is really fresh and tasty. Look at the rice in the pictures above. Notice how the grains of rice are not squished together?
Good sushi does not fall apart on the trip from the plate to your mouth.
Good sushi does not have rice that is densely packed together.
How do you accomplish these 2 seemingly contradictory rules? Well, as Toshi and other good Japanese restaurants do, you use fresh, super-sticky sushi rice. I especially like the fact that the sushi and rolls here have slightly warm rice with cold fish.
As I mentioned, Toshi’s cooked foods are good too. Above is their Oyster Motoyaki ($3.25). If any restaurant makes a better version of this than Toshi, I’d like to know because chef Toshi Saito’s is fantastic.
Vancouver’s got a countless number of sushi joints. Among them, there are a couple dozen that are fantastic. Among those, Toshi is one of the most affordable. Definitely check it out if you don’t mind waiting a bit.
Btw.
While writing this post, I noticed that Toshi was listed in Vancouver Magazine’s “Best Sushi in Town” list – http://www.vanmag.com/Restaurants/Best_Sushi_in_Town
I’ve only tried one other place on that list (Octopus’ Garden) and definitely plan on checking out the others!
Hey Ed – I’d hear of the wait here, but good to know how the “system” works. Do you ever know if they used to take reservations and abandoned it after they got this huge rush of popularity and opened it up to first-come-first-serve? Is it the prices that are the key driver to all this traffic (e.g. if it were more expensive, would you still see the lineups for the same quality)? Generally, I’d think the sushi rice is a bit on the warm side here given how much they seem to have to make during a serving, that might explain the slightly warm temp you describe. Interesting “best sushi” list, though I always am cautious with lists. I’ve been to OG and Zest only on that selection though, so worth checking out the rest I suppose.
I’m not sure if they’ve ever taken reservations. Ever since I started going to Toshi a couple years ago, they’ve always had this system in place and there’s always a long line to get a table. It’s a bit annoying, but Vancouverites seem to be used to queuing up (e.g. Kintaro, Stepho’s, etc.)
The prices aren’t exactly cheap but they’re not expensive either. The prices are average, but I’d say that the food is definitely above average. In comparison, a place like Sushi Garden on Kingsway (Burnaby) has long lines too. Sushi Garden has the same average prices, but what makes them popular is not so much the quality but their huge quantities. I guess what I’m trying to say is that Toshi is great value not because the prices are low, but because the quality of the food is quite high :) I’d still go if it were more expensive. Afterall, I still like pricier izakayas like Guu.
I reckon that the long lines are because of a combination of:
-Good value
-Central location (crappy street parking though!)
-Favorable reviews in local sources
-Limited seating
Btw, I don’t place much trust in lists either :) I wasn’t impressed with Octopus’ Garden the one time I went a couple years ago.
Toshi’s also one of Georgia Straight’s golden plates for Japanese this year http://www.straight.com/article-194762/2008-golden-plates-best-cuisine#japanese
They’re getting a lot of attention if nothing else. Which I hope doesn’t translate to longer wait lines :S
The baked eggplant was really good. And I’m not a huge eggplant fan.
HI Ed. Nice blog.
I wonder if we can order takeout? Do they close in the afternoon (like between 2 to 5)?
Hi, I just discovered your site – it’s great to see what food adventures you’re finding in the city! Have you tried Sushi Aoki on Broadway and Granville area? It’s a tiny restaurant, but authentic. It’s owned by this awesome Japanese chef who wears a cool hat and makes really good food.
I’ve never tried Sushi Aoki, but will definitely add it to my ‘sushi places to try’ list. If there’s any food I can’t get enough of, it’s sushi.
Thanks for the tip and for visiting!