CLOSED - 8 Sushi

Update 2019-Apr.-2: There's a banner up indicating that the 8 Sushi premises are for lease, so it appears the closure is permanent.

Update 2018-Apr.-12: Sadly 8 Sushi had a fire last night and is closed, for how long is unknown. Thankfully no one was injured. We just made 8 Sushi our "Critic's Pick - Best Value in the GTA" only a few days ago. :^( I hope it comes back very soon.

Mishy discovered the very new 8 Sushi by a happy accident, biking home along Danforth; it's at 551-553 at Carlaw, a short walk west of Pape subway station in the Greektown restaurant district. As I also bike home that way, we stopped there one evening for dinner.

  Weekday dinner is $22.99 but there is a 20% Grand Opening discount currently so get there while you can. The decor is nice and there are half-booths but no full booths. Chopsticks are non-disposables, The soy sauce is all low-sodium, excellent and not salty at all. 8 Sushi also uses an iPad menu system, which is usually a major convenience, but in this case wasn't: the menus would often hang or freeze when being scrolled or selected. I put it down to "teething pains" for a new restaurant and will doubtless get resolved.

Miso soup was quite good with a nice flavour but a bit dilute; tried a second bowl and it was better. Hot and sour soup wasn't really either with too little flavour; it was the only item of the dinner that I didn't like. Wonton soup had a bit of a strange flavour in the wontons I couldn't identify but put that aside and enjoyed the rest. I ordered green salad but somehow avocado salad arrived; dressing was excellent so wasn't an issue; Mishy loved the wakame (seaweed) salad; she indicated it wasn't vinegary as it is at other places sometimes.

Salmon sashimi was excellent and I liked the presentation. Salmon sushi and rose were both very good with excellent texture, and the egg sushi good as well. Spicy salmon roll was very good and Mishy loved it.

Spring rolls were very good; I enjoyed the sauce and they were not oily. Mishy loved the deep-fried tofu, and they brought teriyaki sauce for her as a dip which was a nice gesture. Hard-to-please Mishy also loved the chicken teriyaki; I thought it was quite good as well. Steak teriyaki was super-tender with nice flavour and a good sauce. I loved the exotic flavour of the excellent satay beef, and the spicy Thai chicken. Cheese wontons were good and not oily; the sauce was chili-based so may not be for all palates. Shrimp tempura was very good and light.

For dessert, the ice cream was good and no trace of freezer burn. Unfortunately, it was good enough that Mishy ate mine so I can't comment further. She also ate my banana tempura; she liked that too. The crème brûlée was fantastic.

All in all it was an excellent dinner and I quite enjoyed it. With the 20% discount the price was also exemplary, and I'm looking forward to returning before it becomes full price, at least to be able to sample the desserts!

Update: 2017-Oct.-18 I'm updating 8 Sushi to 10/10... it's become our favourite weekend place to eat for a couple of months because the weekend lunch menu includes sashimi! An excellent deal and the food is always consistently excellent to match.

Rating: 10/10.