Diamond Sushi is located at 79 Mary St S. in Barrie, about 100 km north of Toronto. It is about a 20-minute walk from the Allendale GO station, so is transit-accessible even at this distance. iPad menus are used which is always welcome. Disposable chopsticks are used unfortunately, but we brought our own as always. $22.99 weekend lunch. Green tea is included. Pop is $1.50 can not AYCD. Soy at table was slightly salty but had a wonderful flavor so was probably seasoned, it appears to be with five spice. Free Wifi is available.
Diamond Sushi has salmon rose, which is Mishy's favorite, on the menu as “salmon flower sushi”. There is also smoked salmon nigiri. Machine loved the seaweed salad, saying it tasted very organic. Miso soup although thin was still flavorful. Spicy miso soup was delicious with hints of tomato soup and Mexican spicing. Green salad was quite good with a very mild house dressing, although there was nothing in it but lettuce. Kimchi was wonderful with an unexpected but not unwelcome kosher dill tang.
Smoked salmon nigiri was wrapped in wakame and was excellent; I loved it, although Mishy did not. Salmon flower AKA salmon rose was awesome with nice thick cuts of salmon, very fresh. Salmon nigiri was very tasty and the salmon was very fresh, although Mishy found that the rice was not packed tightly and tended to fall apart a little; that did not happen much for me and I am more about the flavour. Surf clam, red snapper/tilapia and crab surimi nigiri were all fresh and very good. Philadelphia roll was delicious with larger roll size, so there were only four pieces per order.
Beef teriyaki didn't have much traditional teriyaki flavor but still was very tasty and savory with its gravy-like sauce. Chicken teriyaki Mishy described as buttery, in contrast to the “rubbery” she describes it with at at other restaurants, so it must have been especially tender, and the sauce was excellent. General Tao chicken was very good, although the sauce was sort of runny, but was delicious nonetheless and the red pepper pieces complemented it. Gyoza was fresh, crunchy and not overly oily with a good flavor only made better by the tangy sauce.
Chicken curry was delicious in its curry sauce, although it was like the General Tao sauce rather runny, but no matter. Green onion beef rolls were understated but tasty. Shrimp tempura was quite good not oily although not the crispest but still not soggy. Mishy loved the lemon chicken, so asked me to try some of it,and again although the sauce was runny it was still very tasty and lemony, to the point where Mishy wanted to take the sauce home. Chicken katsu was so delicious that Mishy even ate it even though she usually doesn't like it because it is breaded; the sauce was only ketchup but it didn’t need anything else.
For dessert, tiramisu was excellent with a wonderful rum flavor. Happily, Diamond Sushi has ginger ice cream, my favorite, and it was excellent and fresh. Red bean ice cream was good and fresh although did not have that elusive flavor. Strawberry ice cream was delicious and richly flavored and very fresh.
Service was fast and friendly. Weekend lunch was $22.99. We had a wonderful lunch and would happily return. Everything was good to excellent and the offerings were good for this price point.
Rating: 9 - 9.5 / 10
