Sakada Sushi and Teriyaki (Japanese)

Sakada Sushi and Teriyaki is located in the mall at 1822 Whites Road in Pickering, north of the Hwy. 401 exit at Whites Road. Sakada has a tan, older interior all in one rectangular area, the proverbial "hole in the wall." There is booth seating on one wall. Disposable chopsticks are used unfortunately, but we brought our own as always. Ordering is old-school onto paper templates. Low sodium soy sauce already present at table; it was good, fresh and not salty. We went for weekday lunch. One canned pop is included with the lunch price, which is excellent. There was a steady parade of takeout customers while we are there, at least 5x as many as dine-in.

Green salad was good and fresh though the dressing was a bit thin. Miso soup was excellent, savoury and not dilute, though not much but the broth but it was still quite enjoyable. Mishy loved the seaweed salad.

Shrimp tempura was good and only slightly oily and I enjoyed the sauce. Deep fried scallops were very good and well-cooked. Broccoli and pumpkin tempura was also quite good and not too oily. Gyoza were good and not oily or overdone. Beef teriyaki was very good, especially with plenty of black pepper... I am easily satisfied and ordered seconds. Mishy didn't like the chicken teriyaki saying it was mushy, but I couldn't find any issues with it and she retracted the comment on the next piece.

Salmon nigiri was very good and fresh with good rice consistency as was surf clam and crab surimi. Red snapper aka tilapia was very fresh and excellent.

For dessert there was only mango ice cream. It was delicious fresh and not freezer burned. Weekday lunch was $14.00, which, especially considering the included canned pop, is phenomenal and the lowest price I have seen anywhere in a long while... it may even be the same on weekends as their outdoor sign indicates that AYCE lunch is $14.00 without any further criteria. The lunch menu is quite small and contains "the basics", but what was there was enjoyable and without complaint. Sakada is one of the best values I have seen and definitely merits a return, and as value is factored into our rating this is reflected.

Rating: 9 - 9.5 / 10