Restaurant Review: Solo Sushi Ya

I love Japanese food and it's something I can have every night and never get tired of. There are lots of Japanese restaurants in where I live but most of them are run by Korean and Chinese. I tend to avoid those restaurants as the quality of the food is just not so great. I still go to Chinese run Japanese restaurants for Teppanyaki in Toronto. But when it comes to Sushi, I try to stick to Japanese run restaurants. The quality of the food is just better.

About this restaurant, the first time I've heard about it was around 2 years ago when I was searching for a decent Japanese Restaurant that is relatively closer to home and there I found Solo Sushi Ya. They do have another location in downtown but I heard it's not as good and downtown is much farther for me than Newmarket. Even if I drive local, it only takes me 20 to get there. The only thing I want to complain about is it doesn't open on weekends during lunch time and there are food on the menu that are only offered during lunch time. So unless I actually take time off work to go there for lunch on a weekday otherwise I can never have them.

I know a lot of people go there for their omakase, but I am not a fan of their omakase. I've tried it once and my friend also tried it. We both think that the omakase is not that great. There are other places for omakase. They are good food but I prefer to have something I have control over. They serve good hot Japanese food it's just that the food in the omakase isn't something I truly like.

They offer very fresh sashimi, it's one of my favourite places in town for sashimi. I like to get their open sashimi. You don't know what you get, basically the chef decides for you. He makes his choices based on what he knows you like and the best catch of the day. For their open sashimi, he charges based on the market value so you won't know the price on the menu.

For me, the open sashimi always consists of smoked mackerel, tuna, hamachi, salmon, amaebi (sweet shrimp). The remaining sashimi always depends on the catch of the day. This time we got aji instead of the normal scallop sashimi. The aji was served with ginger and spring onions. I've always wanted to try aji in Toronto but most restaurants don't have it. I just realized you can only get fresh aji on Fridays or Saturdays as the fish dealer/importer leaves Toronto on Tuesdays and comes back on Thursday nights with their fresh catch so it's only available on Fridays and Saturdays.   

Salad with homemade salad dressing. I actually like their salad dressing but I prefer the salad dressing at Shiso Tree Cafe at J Town.

Uni sushi with homemade soy sauce. I love uni sushi. 

Aji, Ika and Hamachi. All are great with aji being the best. 

Aji sushi. I haven't tried aji sushi at other Toronto Japanese restaurants before so I can't compare. 

abalone, scallop and amaebi(sweet shrimp) sushi. 

They ran out of octopus sushi so they gave me abalone sushi instead. This place has really good amaebi sushi. Just look at the size of the shrimp. I love the shrimp here. 

Just look at the shrimp. It's so big and juicy! Apart from Solo Sushi, the only other restaurant that served huge Amaebi is Kaji Sushi. Other places only serve you the tiny amaebi that is the size of my pinky finger. 

This is something new to me. I love handrolls but I've never tried the handrolls at Solo Sushi. They are a lot bigger than the handrolls at Miyabi but these taste so good. They are spicy salmon, negi hama ( chopped up hamachi with spring onion) and spicy tuna handrolls. The negi hama has to be the best among the three. One of the must try from this restaurant. 

Free dessert!! I'm glad their free dessert is not green tea ice cream. I tend to skip dessert if all they give me is a green tea ice cream. Their daily dessert is a coffee pudding made by Jyo's wife. I think this pudding is available daily because I see it every time I go. My boyfriend doesn't like dessert also enjoyed this pudding. 

I didn't order any sets but I was still given the salad and miso soup so I'm not sure if this place gives out salad and miso soup to all its customers as I know some places don't do that unless it's specified in your meal. The chef also gave me and my boyfriend free sake as this was our first time there after the new year. 

This is a restaurant I enjoy going to but I don't go there very often. Maybe once every two or three months but most of my experiences there are enjoyable. It's a small restaurant so expect to wait and do make reservations as it gets pretty crowded on Fridays during the warmer months.