Sushi is one of my favourite things to eat and I’m always looking for a new place to try when it comes to AYCE (All You Can Eat) sushi. A lot of these type of AYCE restaurants are very similar to one another in terms of the food they offer as well as the whole ambiance of the restaurant so trying to find a sushi restaurant that offered a more unique experience is quite a challenge to find.
To meet this quest I was on, I was lucky to stumble upon this AYCE sushi restaurant, Spring Sushi. It is located at the heart of downtown Toronto (Yonge and Dundas), the “Times Square” of the city as many draw comparisons to the one in New York with all the bright lights and large billboards surrounding that area.
Spring Sushi is located on the 4th floor of the complex where it shares the same vicinity as the Cineplex movie theatre just steps away from the restaurant entrance inside. Earlier when I was talking about trying to find a more unique experience when it comes to sushi restaurants, Spring Sushi offers one special feature that most other sushi restaurants in Toronto don’t have. iPads!
It was an immediate excitement for me to know that the ordering system was going to be done through an iPad as I have never experienced anything quite like it. Instead of the usual practice where you look at the menu and ask the server to come over to take down your order, in this restaurant the menu is in the form of an iPad and you literally just touch the screen to pick which dish you want.
You can adjust the quantity of each dish you order within their interface and the great thing about using their ordering system is that there is a picture of every dish they have so no one has to guess on how the food will look like. If you do not know what their Las Vegas roll is, that’s ok just take a look at the picture on the menu. Another great benefit I found with this ordering system is that you can keep track of which dish you ordered and also which ones still have yet to come out to your table. Since the iPad stays at the table, you can always look at the list of food you ordered without having to rely on your memory on what you told the waitress 20 minutes ago. Once you are happy with your choices, you can touch the continue button at the bottom and a waitress will get notified to come to your table and send your order off to the kitchen.
Service was really fast as the food came out of the kitchen in what felt like only 5 minutes after I placed the order. This could also be due to the fact that I got to the restaurant at around 9PM on a Wednesday so it was not very busy at the time. The selection of the food was enormous. I’ve been to many other AYCE sushi restaurants and I can say that this place offers the most selection of food in their dinner service I’ve been to. Like most other sushi AYCE restaurants, the lunch menu here is smaller than their dinner menu so certain dishes will only be offered at night. Some of the things I ordered were: spicy salmon and salmon rose sushi, seaweed salad, miso soup, red dragon and rainbow rolls, jumbo shrimp tempura, sirloin steak with spring onion, chicken terriyaki, chicken fried rice, thai curry, coconut shrimp, croquette, takoyaki (octopus ball), ramen, tiramisu, among some others. As you can see, this restaurant not only offers Japanese food but Chinese and Thai food as well.
As much as I Ioved the quantity of choices they offered in terms of food, I found the quality of each dish to be quite average. The sushi didn’t taste very fresh and the dishes that had a fried batter over it such as the tempura tasted soggy and didn’t have that crunch I would have liked. One of my favourite dishes I had there was the coconut shrimp as I have a weak spot for anything coconut. The crispy batter (one of the exceptions) on this was much better than the ones they had on their tempuras and sushi and the coconut just exploded in your mouth. My least favourite dish was probably the Takoyaki (octopus ball). I felt adventurous at the time since I never saw any other restaurant offer this type of food so I felt obligated to try it. I may understand now why this is not offered anywhere else because it did not taste very good. The weird texture of it just leaves a bad taste in your mouth after eating it.
Me and my friend also paid an extra $6 to try one of their teas. Instead of the green tea usually served at Japanese restaurants we saw their strawberry tea on the menu and opted to try it. It certainly has a strong strawberry flavour to it and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. It’s served in a clear tea pot and very small tea cups that almost looks like a shot glass. I would definitely recommend the tea for anyone interested in trying something else besides the “green.”
If you’re looking for a unique dining experience at an AYCE sushi restaurant, than Spring Sushi certainly does offer that at the expense of some quality tasting food. Many of the uptown sushi restaurants I’ve been to have better tasting dishes, but the use of iPads for their ordering system will make your experience a memorable one. The location of the restaurant is also great as it’s located right beside the Dundas subway station. If you are able to get a window seat you will have a great view of Dundas square below and at night when all the lights are on the view is superb. The iPad experience may become old and lose its fun factor after several visits here, but for anyone who has never experienced this restaurant yet, I would recommend them to come here at least once. If not for the food, at least you can say you had fun ordering it.
10 Dundas Street East, Toronto, ON, M5B 2G9
(416) 596 6866
Hours:
Monday to Saturday (11:00am to 3:30pm); Sunday (12:00pm - 3:30pm) - Lunch Hours
Monday to Sunday (3:30pm to 10:30pm) - Dinner Hours
Price:
Lunch - $15.99 (Monday to Thursday); $16.99 (Friday to Sunday)
Dinner - $23.99 (Monday to Thursday); $25.99 (Friday to Sunday)
The Everyday Foodie Report Card
Atmosphere: 8/10
Service: 8/10
Food: 7/10
Presentation: 7.5/10
Value: 8/10
Overall: 77% Everyday Foodie Satisfaction