Grand Ichiban Sushi

Grand Ichiban Sushi
345 Adelaide St. West

EDIT: As of December 9th this establishment has closed. Seems that someone wasn’t paying their rent as the note posted on the door from the landlord padlocking them out says.

Of all of the places in the Queen/Spadina sort of area that I go to for lunch at work, this is probably the most “expensive”. If you’re looking for a $9 lunch, this isn’t the place for you. However, if you’re looking for an incredibly tasty roll with superb presentation and a nice modern looking restaurant, this is the place.

Everyone I work with managed to bail out on me today, either having brought a lunch or with prior plans. Fine, that just gives me an excuse to treat myself! Add to that the fact I had a 1pm meeting, it had to be somewhere close. How about right across the street from work? It doesn’t get closer than that. I’ve been to Grand Ichiban a few times when I wanted to treat myself with something a little more fancy, and I decided to go whole hog today. When in doubt, Lobster!

This time around I just glanced at the names and “surprised” myself by not looking at the contents of the rolls. I went with the Lobster Fantasy Roll ($13.95). A lobster fantasy it sure was. Fried Lobster tail with avocado topped with spicy mayo, teryaki sauce and tobiko. When it arrived I was suitably impressed simply by the way it looked. The rolls sitting on the sauce surrounding the empty lobster tail. One bite confirmed the tail wasn’t just there for decoration. That was the one I was eating. It could have used a bit more avocado, and a couple of peices had rice falling off, but damn it was good.

There are better deals to be had for the food itself, but the restaurant was very nice without being stuffy and inhospitable. I’d take someone here for a first date if I was trying to impress. Classy and friendly. Just like myself! As an added bonus they do catering as well. The prices look pretty darn reasonable for trays, and everything I’ve eaten here says they’re going to be good.