Izmi Sushi

Izmi Sushi
714 Queen St W

Don’t call it a comeback, I been here for years! Yep, much like the immortal words of LL Cool J, I’m back with a vengeance. I was unfortunately forced to take a couple of months off due to my usual stomach issues flaring up worse than usual. While I’d have good days where I’d crave sushi, I didn’t think it was fair to post my opinion of new places with a delicate stomach. You may disagree with my opinion, but I’ve never gone back and though “I was unfair to this place.”

This time around, I had to be down on Queen West to feed my sisters cats while she’s away gallivanting, so I met up with my friend Christine for Sushi, Sanko, and Starbucks. In that order too! I noted the existence of Izmi about 6 months ago when I was out wandering around taking pictures for a photography class. Never quite got around to it, and the location was just right.

Inside is a nicely decorated place. A fair bit of “Japanese kitsch” on the walls and ceiling, but tastefully done. The waitress wearing a “working” Kimono was a nice touch. Since the restaurant wasn’t crowded (it was 2pm) I was able to snap a picture of the interior as well as the food.

But on to the food. I decided to take it a little easy this time, get back into things gradually. I went with a Green Dragon ($9.95), which is a Dynamite Roll topped with Avocado. You can never really have too much avocado in your diet! Mmm. Essential fats. My only real complaint was that it was a little bland. The Tempura shrimp really didn’t have much flavour, nor did the crab stick. It also shared a flaw with my second roll, a Crispy Crunch roll ($5.95). These are usually nice and simply and quite tasty. A bit of crab stick, and some nice crunchy tempura bits. Japanese junk food. Unfortunately they went overboard with the mayo. Mayo wasn’t needed, but too much was there and it overpowered the taste of everything else. Plus it made the crispy roll definitely un-crispy.

Despite the somewhat disappointing maki, it was “usually” priced, and the menu sports a wide variety of other Japanese and Korean fare. There’s a little bit of everything here as opposed to the “1,000 varieties of krazy maki” sort of sushi place. I’d go back again, but maybe to try the udon.

Thumbs in the middle.