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| - Impromptu Yelp gatherings are great--except when they're at new hot-spots that have been getting far too much press and the entire GTA converges on them like paparazzi on fallen sports heros. The line-up for this place was insane on the random Tuesday night that I went with my fellow Yelpers. Worse, the place is small and sans proper waiting area so everyone was splayed along the walls, from the entrance all the way to the washroom--all the while being jostled by the servers and patrons en route to pee.
Worse than that, the wait was about two hours for our party of 5! Luckily, Mike S. saved the day by inviting us over for drinks at his über-cool bachelor pad nearby. We came back to Guu 90 minutes later as they were setting up our table and about to call our name off the waiting list.
The hostess told us we could have our seats at the communal table for two hours. Normally, that'd be enough time to finish but everything arrived at a glacial pace. And as with most izakaya food, the food on the plates is in dollhouse portions so it was hard to gauge when we'd had our fill.
FOOD (Arranged from best to worst)
Best:
Karaage ($5.80): soy sauce marinated fried chicken morsels. Tender and tasty, one of the best dishes that night.
Buta kimchi bibimbap ($8.50): Korean bibimbap in a hot stone pot with kimchi and ground pork. Another highlight that night.
Takowasabi ($3.50): a tiny dollop of octopus in a nostril-searing wasabi (real wasabi not that fake stuff out of a tube) dressing that you wrap in nori. It's refreshingly delicious and different but you really have to love wasabi to enjoy this.
Banana tempura: slices of banana fried in tempura batter, served hot with ice cream. I never order dessert at Japanese restaurants but I would definitely have this again. YUM!
3 kinds of shochu (a Japanese distilled drink similar to vodka; ranging from $5-6 for a single shot to $70-90 for the bottle): the Kurokame (sweet potato shochu) was fairly smooth and went well with the food.
A double pint of Sapporo on draft is only $9!
Meh:
Hotate Butter: grilled scallops with butter, topped with various garnishes. I like the version at Ematei better which doesn't have fried garlic chips and scattered nonsense on top.
Aburi Salmon ($6.80): salmon sashimi seared on the edges with ponzu and wasabi mayo. Yawn.
Kakuni ($5.80): sweet miso-braised pork belly with boiled egg. I always love pork belly but I didn't love their overcooked rendition of it.
Yaki udon ($7.80): stir-fried udon with beef. Meh.
Worst:
Gindara: miso black cod. Usually my favorite at izakaya but they ruined it :( The skin was flabby and the flesh did not melt in my mouth the way it usually does.
Ikapiri ($6.50): deep-fried calamari with spicy ketchup and wasabi mayo. The sauce on this was sickly sweet and the squid was kind of lost in it.
SERVICE
Even though the service was well meaning, we had to wait crazy-long for everything, including the alcohol and water, but I will attribute that to opening-weeks incompetence.
I like that this place is run by real Japanese people but our waitress' English was barely there. Luckily, I am fluent in F.O.B.
VIBE
Raucous and fun. Think of it as a beer hall or tapas bar where the aim is to drink while picking away at small plates of food so you don't keel over too soon. Good for groups so you can try a bunch of dishes.
BOTTOM LINE
I definitely see potential for this place to kick ass but the kitchen and front of house need to get their acts together. When I hear reports that they've improved, I'd definitely go back and look forward to adding two more stars in an update.
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