Wakame Sushi - Weston (Japanese)

Wakame Sushi is located at 2625-F Weston Road in Toronto, at Weston Road just south of Hwy. 401 in the open mall behind the Great Canadian Superstore.  It's transit-accessible by both the Weston Road and Royal York buses.  I found it by accident while I was biking and planning to go as far north as Steeles then reward myself with a different AYCE, but a new place is always priority!

Wakame has a dark interior and plenty of booths... about two-thirds of the floor space are occupied by them. The decor is very modern and stylish. Unfortunately they use disposable chopsticks. I'm unsure how the tea is as it was a hot day and just stuck to water (which had a welcome slice of lemon.) At least the interior was air-conditioned. The soy sauce was very fresh and not salty; was probably real Kikkoman as opposed to other places who may be putting non-Kikkoman sauce in Kikkoman bottles.

For starters, the miso soup was good but was somewhat dilute. The hot and sour soup was hot but not sour; worst of all it was burnt and I was not impressed. Thankfully it was the only bad item in the meal. The green salad's dressing was fantastic and among the best I've ever had; nicely fresh and crisp as well. Cheese wontons were good, as were gyoza dumplings, and their sauce among the best I've ever had.

On to the entrees, salmon sushi was perfect and fresh with excellent rice not too sweet or sticky (although there was a bit too much of it in proportion to the fish.) Butterfish and shrimp sushi was likewise excellent with good presentation. Spicy salmon sushi was very good and I enjoyed the topping. Red dragon roll was good and accentuated the very fresh cucumber flavour.

Shrimp tempura could have been a bit more lighter/flakier; other deep-fried items here were similar such as the yam tempura, but again the sauce excelled and was tangy and nigh-perfect. Chicken teriyaki's sauce was a bit too sweet but otherwise quite tasty. Curry chicken was breaded as is the Japanese norm; the sauce was flavourful and quite good. For dessert, ice cream in the usual flavours was good and not freezer-burned. Fried bananas were also quite good but again slightly oily much like the other fried fare. Service was very fast, friendly and attentive.

Wakame's weekend lunch is $17.95. Although the food was quite good overall, there were elements that needed improvement. However what was there was done well so it was still a good lunch and the price is not excessive.

Rating: 7-7.5/10.