We came here to celebrate my wife's b day. When we arrived, the hostess immediately greeted my wife with a "happy birthday" which was a nice touch. We sat at the bar and went with the Sakura Omakase option. Before I comment on the omakase exprience, let me tell you that their tea pouring game is ON POINT!! You will never have to take more than 3 sips of your tea before someone comes rushing in to refill your cup without being too intrusive which was definitely nice.
On to the omakase exprience. The sushi chef was nice but it was really hard to understand what he was saying when it came time to explain what he was serving and no, I'm not talking about Chef Jackie Lin. We felt bad always having to ask have him to repeat himself or clarify what he was saying so we just mainly nodded and say "thank you" most of the time. There were about 17 dishes or so including dessert. Everything was good but for the price we were paying, I was expecting much more. What cheesed me the most was that all they did to celebrate my wife's b day at the end was sticking a little candle next to our dessert which was already part of the Sakura Omakase option. Nothing "extra". I wasn't hoping for a full size birthday cake with the works but come on, for the price people were paying to celebrate a special occasion, maybe a little additional treat or something no?
Overall, service was impeccable, restaurant was clean , but I guess where it fell short was the taste. It just didn't live up to our expectation for that price point hence the mediocre rating. Sorry Shoushin, but your tea pouring game is the best I've experienced so far in Toronto!