Osaka Sushi is located at 46 Simcoe Street in downtown Oshawa; note that there is another Osaka Sushi in Toronto we have reviewed, but it appears unrelated. It took us almost five years to be able to review this one because it only serves AYCE on weekday lunch, and not including Mondays, so there were plenty of missed opportunities. It's a smaller place with a bright wooden interior with wainscotting which reminded Mishy of the sadly departed Kyoto House in Whitby. Pop is $3.99 AYCD canned which is rare. Unfortunately disposable chopsticks are used, but we brought our own as always. There is a 90 minute limit but this was not an issue. Soy at table was only slightly salty, fresh and flavourful. Ginger is not dyed pink. Ordering is old-school onto paper templates. Wasabi had a milder flavour than most places.
We both loved the green salad, especially the dressing as it was sweet and resembled mayonnaise, and Mishy said that she would like to make it always. Miso soup was fantastic, full of savour and not dilute. Vegetable tempura was excellent with very good sauce and not oily, and shrimp tempura was also very much the same. Pork and chicken katsu (aka tonkatsu and torikatsu) were both excellent with good sauce and not oily. Deep fried scallops aka surimi were all so quite good and paired well with the included sauce. Harumaki (spring rolls) were very good.
Beef teriyaki was a reasonably good cut and the sauce was excellent, and we both loved it. Chicken teriyaki was similarly good in the same sauce. Gyoza were good and not oily, and the sauce was good too. Beef udon soup is a largish portion so beware if you're getting full. It was delicious and Mishy even tried it which she usually doesn't and thought it was excellent, especially the savour of the beef stock.
Salmon nigiri was quite good and fresh and paired well with the soy sauce. Green Dragon roll was also quite good. Tamago nigiri was quite good and the it wasn't overly sweet and was flavorful. Spicy salmon sushi, is certainly spicy so watch out for the heat but it was pretty good other than that. We noticed the kitchen offerings were even better than the sushi.
Dessert is rather spartan with only green tea and vanilla ice cream, but at least there's that. Vanilla was rather plain, and possibly a bit stale but not bad. Green tea was much more flavorful, and was actually excellent. Weekday lunch is $26.99. This is pretty standard these days for the area and timeframe. Osaka had the basics and did them quite well, and we did have an enjoyable lunch.
Rating: 8.5 – 9 / 10
