Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Review: Toko Bistro & Bar (Lunch)

The interior of Toko. Click to enlarge.
So for my first review, I went to Toko Bistro & Bar with some friends. Toko is a Japanese/Korean restaurant and, I believe, the only restaurant that offers conveyor belt sushi service in Toronto (according to Google), which is similar to all-you-can-eat (AYCE) sushi service, but instead, you pay for each plate you take (and each plate has different values). If there are other "sushi train" restaurants in Toronto (and I actually mean Toronto, not the surrounding areas such as Markham or Richmond Hill), please let me know!

I suggested the restaurant to my friends, excited to try out conveyor belt sushi for the first time. I should've thought about it beforehand as we showed up and found no conveyor belt sushi whatsoever! It makes sense since lunch service is usually not that busy in downtown sushi restaurants and would probably be very costly to run conveyor belt sushi during this time. Although we were disappointed at first, they did offer a nice lunch menu and we decided to give it a try.

Now before I start, I'm informing the readers that even though it is listed as a Japanese restaurant, it should actually be listed as Japanese/Korean. There is a large chunk of the menu dedicated to Korean cuisine and the servers and (presumably) the management are Korean. So, if it really matters to you, for an "authentic" Japanese experience, there are other Japanese-run restaurants such as the super popular Guu Izakaya and Manpuku. However, I don't think this should be a deciding factor of where you eat; as long as the food and service is good, that's all that should matter.

Anyway, the lunch menu contained standard fare typical of a Japanese/Korean restaurant: Bento boxes, tempura, and bulgogi. Most of my friends opted for bento boxes, one ordered some sushi rolls (both around $8), while I, being the rebel, decided to venture into Toko's full menu.

The menu contained quite a lot of selection, typical for an Asian restaurant. I personally find this to be a good thing because it means you don't have to settle for anything you're not 100% sure of. However, this can also be a disadvantage because: a) the menu could be a difficult to get through with all the choices presented to you and b) it could slow down service since chefs would have to account for all of these different preparations, rather than focus their efforts on just a few dishes. I'll leave this up to you. I did note that the menu did state that you could change the side dishes for brown rice or salad instead of having the white rice and miso soup. This could definitely be a plus for those of you wanting to dine healthy.

I ended up selecting the ddukbokki ($10), a Korean rice cake dish (a more detailed description here) and a personal favourite of mine. Although I usually order this dish with chicken whenever I eat at other Korean restaurants, Toko prepared their ddukbokki with seafood.

The decor and atmosphere of the place was very nice. It was very casual and definitely a nice place to sit down and catch up with friends while enjoying some lunch. As the name implies, there are definitely elements of a bistro and a bar in the decor, all with a Japanese theme to it. The seating seemed to be perfectly fine for us, though if you prefer cushioned seats, you may want to request this with the server before you enter.

Although we were pretty quick to order, the service seemed a bit lacking. There appeared to be only one server for the whole restaurant, which was actually about 3/4 filled. There were many people in the kitchen that could have easily helped out our server so that he didn't need to run back and forth between all of the tables. I had a clear view of the kitchen and the chefs seemed a tad too relaxed for my liking considering how many orders were coming in.

Miso soup. Click to enlarge.
We first started off with miso soup. I personally found it a bit too salty for my tastes. However, some of my friends thought it was perfectly fine ("Miso is supposed to be salty!"), so I guess it's all a matter of how you like your miso soup prepared.

My friend also ordered an Alexander Keith's as he did note that it was pretty cheap considering what it's usually sold for in other restaurants. Something to keep in mind for all of you beer fans.

What my friends ordered (~$8 Bento Boxes and Sushi Rolls). Click to enlarge.
Not surprisingly, my friends' orders came in first. They thought that their food was good; no major complaints across the board. Toko even includes shrimp tempura in their tempura portions of their lunch menu! I thought this was really nice since a lot of restaurants usually charge you extra if you want shrimp tempura. The rolls definitely seemed a bit bigger than what most other restaurants serve.

My seafood ddukbokki ($10). Click to enlarge.
After about 5-7 minutes, my ddukbokki finally came with a bowl of rice. The portion size was just right, the ddukbokki was very tender and had just the right amount of spice to it. You could definitely feel the kick of gochujang (red pepper paste) but thankfully it wasn't overpowering the dish. When Korean dishes are too spicy for your taste, it can definitely wreak havoc for the rest of your meal. One time I ate some really spicy kimchi jjigae (kimchi stew) and I began to sweat profusely and literally turn red; of course, Cyril, one of my friends accompanying me on the trip, just pointed and laughed at me, mocking the fact that I had decided to order something so spicy. What a great friend he is...anyway, I digress. The dish also contained a good amount of mozzarella cheese and nice amount of veggies. The seafood was just okay for me; I could've done without the mussel. Ddukbokki is a tad more enjoyable with some meat.

Takoyaki ($5). Click to enlarge.
Some of us still felt hungry after our meals, so we decided to order some takoyaki (Japanese octopus dumplings). The price seemed a bit standard ($5) for 6 pieces, though I was definitely let down by Toko's version. The takoyaki seemed a bit overcooked and lacked the awesome mayo dressing and bonito flakes that give a punch of flavour. This has just further solidified my belief that the best takoyaki Toronto has to offer is at Manpuku.

After we finished our meals, I noticed that the server seemed to have...disappeared. While I didn't really mind as I was looking to catch up with all of my friends, if patrons wanted to leave ASAP after finishing their meals, they certainly wouldn't like how long it takes for the server to appear and get their bills. Anyway, once the server finally appeared and took away our plates (about 10-15 minutes after we finished), we got separate bills (which is amazing since Asian restaurants do have a nasty reputation of refusing to do this if you don't tell them at the beginning of the meal) and paid.

So, the ratings of Toko are as follows (detailed ratings system here and out of 5):

Flavour = 3.5
Value = 3.5
Overall atmosphere = 3
Uniqueness = None in this case since conveyor belt sushi service is not offered for lunch

OVERALL RANKING:  3.3 / 5

Overall, I enjoyed my experience at Toko. It's nothing amazing, but it's not as bad as what people on Urbanspoon or other websites make it out as. I firmly believe that one should better judge a restaurant on its dinner service because the restaurant is put under more pressure to perform well with an increased crowd. So, I would definitely visit again for dinner to try out their conveyor belt service. However, Toko should try to improve on its speed of service, which I thought was the worst part of the meal. They could've have easily pumped out bento boxes a lot faster than they could have and it's important to check up on your patrons during their meal so that they aren't left there stranded, wondering where the servers have disappeared to. That being said, Toko does offer some tasty food and a casual atmosphere perfect for catching up with friends or a date.

Toko Bistro and Bar on Urbanspoon

Type of Cuisine: Japanese/Korean
Price Range (Lunch): $5-15
Atmosphere/Attire: Casual

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