Sano Sushi (Japanese)

Sano Sushi is located at 8143 Yonge Street in Richmond Hill, just south of Hwy. 407. It’s somewhat transit-accessible from the GTA via the Vaughan Transit bus from Finch subway station (however we walked there.) We went for weekend dinner. Disposable chopsticks are used unfortunately, and sadly we had neglected to bring our own. Ginger is not dyed pink. AYCD pop is included with the meal, which is awesome. Soy sauce at table was fresh, and not salty, so we did not need to request low-sodium. Sano has a nice modern interior with plenty of booths and is quiet for its size.

We both loved the green salad’s soy-miso-ginger dressing; the pieces of lettuce were a little large but no matter. Miso soup would have been excellent, but was too watered-down. Beef udon soup was good, and thankfully in a normal-sized bowl instead of an oversized, as most other places do.

Salmon and tuna tataki were both very good, and each had their own distinctive sauce which was tailored to the flavor. Mishy loved the salmon rose, and it is her favorite dish which is a reason enough to go to a place, and I also like it too of course. Salmon, tuna, red snapper (actually tilapia) sashimi was excellent and very fresh.

Shrimp tempura was very good, light and flaky; the sauce was also very good, although a touch too sweet for my liking. Beef stir-fry udon had a wonderful beef flavor (reminiscent of very good burger) but not a single piece of identifiable beef that I could find. Beef short rib was all right with the spicing, but a bit gristly and greasy.  Chicken teriyaki was alright but the sauce could have been a little more expressive and dark. Sweet and sour chicken was good, about the level of very good takeout; the sauce was not too sweet. Mishy loved the peanut Pad Thai.


General Tao chicken was quite good, although not exactly traditional. Mishy said that the bacon asparagus was a let-down, and I disagreed while trying to explain to the words “bacon” and “let-down” do not belong in the same sentence. She also didn't like the spicy beef teppanyaki sauce’s flavor, but I did and thought it was very good. Grilled mushrooms were alright but the sauce was a little dark and needed a little more savour bring up the flavor of the mushrooms.


For dessert, banana tempura was made with entire slices of banana; Mishy loved it because it had maple syrup on it on all sides, which as delicious. Mango ice cream was very fresh and had the wonderful flavor that I love. Vanilla ice cream was also fresh and very good. Chocolate mousse was gloriously chocolatey, and Mishy absolutely loved it, as did I. Unfortunately neither of us liked the coffee jelly, as it was too bitter with a burnt flavor without enough sweetness to offset it. Happily, strawberry yogurt was wonderful and made up for it, though strawberry mousse did not taste like strawberry at all, but instead like green apple but it was good nonetheless. Mango jelly at least tasted more like mango and was good, as was mango yogurt. Weekend dinner price was $26.95, which with the AYCD pop is not bad (also this is a pricey area.) We did have an enjoyable dinner.

Rating: 7.5/10