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| - Ever since Izakaya has been a trend in DT Toronto, it stretched out to North Toronto along the Yonge street. Izakaya Ju is located at the end of the North Toronto in J-Town. It offers casual Japanese dishes, and they are not ordinary dishes other Izakaya offers. They change their special menus over some time, so there's more variety to its menu.
Food:
- I've been to Ju three times, and all three times, I ordered Teba (Chicken wings) & Negima (Chicken leg & leeks) Yakitories and Deep fried chicken wings stuffed with pork dumplings. Most of yakitories are salted and grilled, and sometimes it can be really salty. Deep fried chicken wings stuffed with pork dumplings are very different, something that you won't see in traditional sushi restaurants. It has full flavor of pork dumplings with tender chicken. Seared BC Tuna tastes good with raw onions, but disappointingly, it's thick and awkwardly sliced. Agedashi Mochi has very interesting texture, and the bonito soup with it is very original and natural. They currently have Osaka fried rice with octopus for special menu. It may look like ordinary fried rice from Chinese take outs. But with sliced gari, bonito flakes, and okonomiyaki sauce on top, it has unique flavour of Osaka. Overall, most of foods are good, but salty enough that saltiness in your mouth won't easily go away.
Service:
- Staffs are very friendly, and attentive. But there were lack of communication with few waitresses when making reservation, and ordering. It was hard to talk to them on the phone, because they did not get my name easily that I had to repeat and spell it out few times. Also, our waitress misunderstood our order and we had to wait an hour for one udon to come out. Other than that, there is no problem with staffs.
Atmosphere:
- It's crowded both weekdays' and weekends' dinner. For party of 4 or more, I recommend making reservations before visiting. There's nothing special about interior, and since the restaurant is filled with smoke all the time with grilling yakitori, it is best not to wear expensive winter clothings when visiting.
If you are looking for a place to drink Japanese beer with yakitories and little snacks in North Toronto, Izakaya Ju is the perfect place to pay a visit.
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