While our overall dining experience at Guu Parkdale was pleasant and positive (it was our first time here), we felt there was a room for improvement in terms of food and menu selection.
It's not entirely fair to compare Guu to a real izakaya in Japan or even to any pub or restaurant near an ocean where fresher seafood is readily available at a better price, but izakaya food should be more affordable offering a wider selection (after all an izakaya is a casual pub for after-work cheap eats & drinks enjoyed by your average Joes and Janes, right?)
Having said that, Guu's Hotate (sea scallop) sashimi and Maguro Tataki (lightly seared tuna) were very good by Toronto's standards: fresh, juicy, sweet and relatively generous in portion. Their service was prompt and servers were all friendly, cheerful and attentive. Cocktails were delightful. Their sake selection was limited but what we had was nice. But Blow-torched cured mackerel pressed sushi was very fishy. Its rice was cold and mushy too. Other dishes were not jaw-dropping but good however.
We just wish Guu would be more like a real izakaya in Japan and offer a wider variety of small but yummy dishes and drinks at better prices so that we could stop in with our friends whenever we feel like it without worrying about our wallets.