Sushi Star

Sushi Star
440 Spadina Ave

It’s almost kind of silly these days. When you’re out and about wandering around the city with friends, and someone asks “What do we want to have for lunch?” I make a production out of thinking about it, and then someone else will finally answer for me. Sushi!

This time we were wandering around Chinatown, and since I fly down Spadina every morning on my way to work, I knew there was a place around here I hadn’t visited yet. Pretty much right across the street from Simon Sushi is Sushi Star. Decor and general ambiance is not this places strong suit. It looks and feels like a cheap chinatown restaurant. Walls mostly bare, butt ugly floor, and pretty much empty at 11:45am. But don’t let this dissuade you.

You can never judge a book by it’s cover, and sometimes the most visited restaurants look the most used. This is not a date type place to go, but it’s certainly a value lunch type. The service was attentive, and I’d have been surprised if it hadn’t been. There was only one other occupied table. The pricing was pretty reasonable, about on par with most lunch type places with the rolls falling into the $3 to $10 range.

The food was pretty darn good. As usual, the green vegan went for the veggie combo. I was actually pretty impressed. It came with Maki, Nigiri, Inari, and Temaki. I was very tempted to steal her Temaki, or as it’s almost universally described on menus, Handrolls. I’ve never had one, and I always forget.

Myself, since my root canal’d tooth is slowly returning to normal I figured I could indulge in something crsipy again and not just go for the softest thing on the menu. I opted for a Dynamite Roll (can’t get enough of shrimp tempura) and Sushi Pizza. Thankfully my friend Jackie introduced me to the goodness that is Sushi Pizza, but I have to admit that it disappointed here. It was rather bland. Thumbs squarely in the middle for this. However, the Dynamite roll was really quite good, and well made. Only a thin layer of rice instead of the usual 1″ thick glob that I’ve had a fair bit of recently. The generous dollop of Tobiko made for a nice change as well. I have to admit that this was probably one of the best constructed sushi rolls I’ve had.

While the decor could use some serious work, the food and service made up for it. If you’re in the neighborhood and it’s lunch time, Sushi Star is a perfectly cromulent choice!