Dinner at an all you can eat Japanese restaurant on a Saturday evening, is this how much I hate dining out on weekends? I have never been to Kaneda before and neither have any of my friends, despite passing by the restaurant numerous times on West Broadway. So when a couple of my friends wanted to have dinner on a weekend, I wanted to choose a restaurant that I assumed may be less busy.
Kaneda has plenty of seating arrangements from the sushi bar, tables and booths to rooms, but the rooms look very narrow and dirty. There were chunks of tempura batter and rice everywhere. As for the menu, the restaurant offers a la carte as well as all you can eat. The AYCE menu has three different options, one without sashimi, a regular menu and a deluxe. Kaneda also charges an extra $1.00 on weekends and holidays.
NO SASHIMI $18.95 || CHILD (4-9) $12.95
ADULT $23.95 || CHILD (4-9) $15.95
DELUXE $28.95 || CHILD (4-9) $20.95
MISO SOUP AND EDAMAME.
The miso soup has one small piece of tofu and a couple pieces of seaweed. There is a light miso flavour but the soup is fairly salty. As for the edamame beans, these are unsalted and are served fridge cold.
EBI SUNOMONO AND BEEF SASHIMI.
Continuing with the appetizers, the sunomono tastes neither sweet nor sour and I am not a fan of the brand of vinegar. The vinegar that the restaurant uses tastes bland and there is an odd aftertaste. Fortunately, the beef sashimi tastes better. The beef sashimi tastes fresh, delicious and although a touch still frozen, it is no biggie. The sashimi tastes a lot better than Tomokazu's too.
AVOCADO AND ALASKA ROLL, AND BBQ BLACK COD.
I love ordering avocado rolls because they are healthy! The pieces of avocado are fresh, creamy and ripe, and the texture of the rice is spot on. I wish the roll included more avocado though like other AYCE restaurants. As for the alaska roll, it is pretty average with no complaints. There mayonnaise is also fairly light as well. Continuing with the okay food, the black cod tastes good. The cod tastes very tender and has a slight buttery flavour.
SALMON, TUNA, HOKKIGAI, TAKO, SABA, AND TUNA TATAKI.
The selection of sashimi tastes fresh and are nicely cut into smooth slices, there are no complaints here. Starting with the salmon, the sashimi tastes fresh and buttery. Following, the tuna tastes fresh as well and the hokkigai has a nice soft slight crunch. Continuing along, the tako does not taste too chewy and has been properly rinsed. Next, the saba tastes perfect and there is the addition of ginger along with green onion which is the proper way of serving saba sashimi (which many restaurants decide to pass on). The last item which is unfortunately horrible, is the tuna tataki. The tuna tastes extremely fish because of the sauce (sesame oil and soy?). Moreover, Rule #1: Never keep the skin on the tuna. Tuna is really dirty and muddy.
RED TUNA SASHIMI AND HAMACHI SASHIMI.
The red tuna sashimi tastes fresh, but it is a very poor quality. There is too much tendon and the sashimi tastes very unappetizingly chewy. The hamachi on the other hand is as fresh as it gets, tasting slightly sweet and buttery. If I wanted to nit pick, I would have preferred a thicker and smaller slice rather than larger and thinner.
ABALONE, AMAEBI, MIRUGAI, EBI, UNAGI, TORO, LOBSTER, MASAGO, SHARK'S FIN, AND SABA.
Starting with the abalone, it is pretty much chopped scallop. Not sure how chopped scallop resembles abalone… The chopped scallop is heavy on the mayonnaise too. Following, the amaebi nigiri consists of two baby prawns which is expected at an AYCE restaurant I guess. As for the mirugai, the sashimi tastes fresh and exhibits a pleasant snappy texture along with a hint of sweetness.
Up next, the lobster is imitation lobster meat and I actually like it. This is probably because I like imitation crab meat as well. None of my friends liked the imitation lobster meat though and found it very heavy on the mayonnaise (but I thought it was fine). Further on, the shark's fin has a bit of spiciness and is pretty much prepackaged imitation shark's fin mixed with jelly fish. Last up, the saba could have used some ginger and/or green onion and has that usual fishy flavour (but in the good way). As for the rice sushi rice throughout the nigiri, there is way too much vinegar but none of the pieces fell apart.
PRAWN & YAM TEMPURA AND BEEF UDON.
The tempura are not over fried, but the batter is extremely thick and hard. But regardless, the prawns have a nice snap and the yams taste moist (but not sweet). As for the beef udon, there is a heavy soy soup base rather than an udon broth and the slices of beef taste very chewy.
VEGETABLE TERIYAKI AND OYSTER MOTOYAKI.
Who ordered the vegetable teriyaki? Me! The vegetables are undercooked which I usually prefer, but these made barely cooked. Moreover, there is way too much teriyaki sauce for my tastes. The oyster motoyaki on the other hand is not much better There is a heavy and overwhelming mayonnaise flavour and I hate how the restaurant reuses the cosmetic oyster shells, which I find unsanitary.
SMELT FISH AND BBQ BEEF SHORT RIBS.
The smelt are over fried, have an uneven batter and do not taste appetizing one bit. Thankfully the short ribs are better though, tasting like they have been marinated for long enough and are tender as well as flavourful, with a subtle sweetness. The short ribs are even better than what I had at Memphis the night before LOL.
SALMON TERIYAKI AND SALMON BELLY.
Surprisingly, the salmon teriyaki is not bad! The salmon tastes moist and not one second overcooked, but there is too much sauce though. Like more sauce than salmon. The salmon belly also tastes good as well, moist, lightly seasoned, juicy and delicious.
MANGO PUDDING
For dessert, we ordered a round of mango pudding which has a slight mango flavour without tasting too sweet. However, the pudding is very watered down. FML since we went for the deluxe AYCE, we totally forgot that ice cream is included! We were too upset about majority of the mediocre food.POSITIVES
- Fresh sashimi
- Free pop refills
- Friendly service, when there is service
NEGATIVES
- Horrible red tuna sashimi
- You may not want round two
- Restaurant is not the cleanest
- Overpriced for the quality of food
- There are a lot better AYCE Japanese restaurants
- Uni and fresh oysters are not available on the deluxe menu like stated
LITTLE THINGS
- An additional $5.00/person may not be worth it for only hamachi, black cod and ice cream
- Tomakazu is another AYCE restaurant which is down the street and cheaper
- Richmond Sushi is a lot better IMO and has a larger selection (considering the similar prices)
Food: 2.5/5
Service: 2.5/5
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