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| - Katsu is the fourth all-you-can-eat sushi place I've essayed around Toronto. While I still like Yang's Sushi Bar in Mississauga the best, Katsu has given me two pleasantly surprising experiences, making it a contender in my books despite the fact that it's pretty far out of my way.
The first time, I went with a friend to get a late lunch. While the food didn't stand out (I think I had a Bento box), the one thing that I remember was that the price was really good and the portions were quite substantial for a Japanese lunch.
The second time I went for all-you-can-eat dinner. One big minus: The order menu is a form you have to check yourself, and it contains ZERO information about which dish is what. No pictures, no descriptions, just Japanese names. I can never remember what all the names mean, so ordering was much more difficult than it should have been.
However, most of the food was quite satisfying. It's not often that a cooked chicken dish at a Japanese place leaves an impression, but this one did, with one spice-rubbed chicken that had a great, unique flavour. I couldn't even tell what it was except that it's much better than any chicken teriyaki I've ever had. (Update: It was the lemongrass chicken.) The salmon and butterfish sashimi were both good, with larger pieces and a more pleasing colour (maybe fresher?) than most other places where I've ordered. Katsu's sashimi and sushi choices are, unfortunately, smaller than other places -- no unagi sushi available, no salmon roe, no egg sushi -- but what I was able to get was good, and so was the price. There is, apparently, a deluxe all-you-can-eat menu you can ask for, but I was satisfied with the regular menu.
One thing to watch out for is that this place offers pretty substantial portions of each item you get from the all-you-can-eat menu. If you're used to the tiny little portions of each order you get at other places, you should start out conservative. I've never had an all-you-can-eat sushi place where I didn't send through a second order form, but this place gave so much food on my first order that I actually had trouble finishing just the first order. If you're the type who likes to sample lots of different items, you'll need to pare back your orders here.
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