Toyotomi 豐臣家 (2nd visit)

FIRST POST ON TOYOTOMI [HERE]

A revisit to Toyotomi - an all you can eat sushi and hot pot restaurant, what is there not to like? The restaurant is located in Richmond on Anderson road and provides free underground parking, but we did not know and paid at the meter (12 minutes/$0.50). There are plenty of booth seating arrangements and the restaurant can accommodate larger parties, but the only issue that most people seem to mention is regarding the service.

On my first visit, service was not needed because we arrived ten minutes before closing and had to order everything at once. So when all the dishes arrived, the waitress asked if we had enough food on the table (although some items were missing) and the staff disappeared. We were able to stay until after closing and the owner's son never rushed us. On top of that, he was very friendly.

On the revisit however, the service was not so great since all the staff members were working and we came during the regular dinner hours. This means that dishes get slammed as well as tossed on the table and the staff rush off to talk amongst each other, which I do not mind because how much service does a table need at an AYCE? Not much, so it is not an issue. Expect the worst and there really is nothing to complain about, right? However, if the food sucks and the staff provides rude service… then there may be a problem.

DELUXE $21.59 || CHILD (5-12) $15.99

ADULT $15.39 || CHILD (5-12) $9.99

BROTH $8.88 || YIN YANG $9.88

YIN YANG, JAPANESE CHILLI AND JAPANESE BEEF BONE ($9.88).

We selected the Japanese Chilli and Japanese Beef Bone Broth out of a variety of five choices. The Japanese Chilli soup base has a chicken broth flavour along with a hint of chilli sauce and is not very spicy. As for the Japanese Beef Bone, there is a faint beefy flavour. Both soup bases taste bland but because we ordered a lobster, we tossed the head into the Beef Bone broth which resulted in a lobster flavour.

CILANTRO ($0.66), DEEP FRIED GARLIC ($0.56), WASABI AND SATAY ($0.56).

Since Toyotomi serves sashimi, a side of wasabi is provided on every table but other accompaniments are extra. We grabbed a side of cilantro, deep fried garlic and satay.

BEEF SASHIMI AND ICE PINEAPPLE.

The slices of beef sashimi are topped with green onion along with deep fried garlic, and have a strong sweet acidic flavour. The sashimi tastes fresh and tender, but the sauce is not very good (although some may not mind the very sweet flavour with beef?). As for the ice pineapple, it is actually made in house! The pineapple appears to be sliced and frozen in-house with not even a hint of frost bite, and taste naturally sweet. These are definitely my favourite item at Toyotomi and I had at least ten pieces!

BBQ YAM, SAUSAGE, DEEP FRIED MOCHI, OYSTER MUSHROOM AND COD FILLET.

The thick slices of yam are served hot, but taste very dry. Following, the sausage is a generic hot dog and we forgot to try the mochi.

FATTY BEEF, BEEF TAIL, SNOW BEEF, PRIME RIB AND LAMB SHOULDER.

Beginning with the fatty beef, the slices of meat do not taste tender and are fairly chewy. However, the slices of beef do taste fatty for those who like fattier cuts (it is just a poor quality). Further on, the slices of beef tail are cut very thick and taste dry along with chewy. Continuing, the snow beef tastes slightly fattier than the fatty beef, somewhat more tender and is sliced very thin. The last of the beef is the prime rib, which tastes chewy and dry like the first visit. None of the cuts of beef are tasty or flavourful and I was surprised that I made the revisit. I think my interest in the lobster sashimi overlooked the quality of the rest of the dishes lol. I mean, many hot pot restaurants serve the same quality of meat but Toyotomi's is fairly poor.

Ending the plate of meat with the lamb shoulder, the slices of meat taste average and tender. The lamb is the best out of the bunch because the meat tastes average, like majority of many hot pot restaurants'. As for the presentation, Toyotomi arranges the slices of meat on one plate and I suggest asking them to separate the meats for those who want to pick out which ones tasted the best for round two. We did not make it to round two though, because none of them meat was worth it in our opinion.

LOBSTER SASHIMI ($12.69), SALMON, TUNA AND SABA SASHIMI, SHIU CHOY, ZUCCHINI AND PUMPKIN.

The lobster sashimi is sliced nicer than first visit and exhibits a slightly soft crunchy texture along with a hint of sweetness. There is also a topping of masago which provides a bit of an extra crunch. As for the salmon, the sashimi tastes fishy because the skin was attached and the tuna sashimi tastes average. However, I like how the saba is topped with green onion because many Japanese restaurants forget that or choose to pass on it.

AVOCADO ROLL, ANDERSON ROLL AND SALMON SASHIMI.

First up, the avocado roll is too loose and the pieces of avocado slipped out. This is not really a big sea lat an AYCE restaurant and the avocado is fresh along with ripe. Following, the anderson roll is pretty much a deep fried prawn tempura that is topped with spicy tuna 

POSITIVES
- Free underground parking
- Hot pot and sushi is available
- Menus and order sheets are provided on the side, so no need to ask for them

NEGATIVES
- Service is better during last call
- Poor meat quality
- There are better AYCE hot pot or Japanese restaurants for around the same price

LITTLE THINGS
- First post on Toyotomi [here]
- The restaurant was pretty much dead at 5:45pm and the waitress kept trying to leave when we were not done ordering. She grabbed the order sheet and rushed off, so we had to stop her to order broth and she rushed off again. We then had to stop her again because she never gave us the chance to finish ordering two soup bases  and ran off, while thinking we only wanted one.

Food: 2/5
Service: 2/5