Overpriced and Over-rated
This restaurant is overpriced and over-rated. On top of that, chef/owner Tojo was arrogant, insulting, and condescending.
The restaurant's interior design was a bit dated and the ambience was dull. One would expect a much more sophisticated atmosphere for the price he charges.
We found the food was not creative and original as Tojo proudly claimed. For those who don't know any better, don't be fooled by what he tells you. Really, I didn't think our dinner was anything worth raving about. If you travel more and you have been exposed to world cuisines, you'll know what I'm talking about.
It didn't measure up to the numerous restaurants on the streets of Tokyo (Tojo implied he was superior to his Japanese counterparts), and they were friendly and reasonably priced.
We had something called 'Omakase', meaning that the chef would decide what he would 'creatively' conjure up to impress his guests (and of course he would also decide the $$$$amount of the bill). Usually it is pretty nice, and we are no stranger to it. But at Tojo's, what a mistake that was!!! What a rip off that was!!!
What we had:
1. Sashimi of local salmon, tuna, snapper, and geoduck clams.
2. Diced mixed seafood in sea urchin sauce, served in a half sea urchin shell. The sauce had an over-powering sourish taste.
3. Handrolls of mixed fish. It was as ordinary as any other handrolls.
4. Small pile of cooked dungeoness crab meat served on a large crab shell. I love crabs, so I liked it. Again, nothing creative and original about it.
5. Smoked sable fish in broth. This one was ok.
6. Cut rolls or more like a stripped down California Rolls. I couldn't believe it, we were having Omakase and he served us rolls. I was expecting something I'd never had before. Well, of the 8 pieces we only ate 3.
7. Plain uni sushi without seaweed, I guessed Tojo ran out of ideas.
We stopped at that because we were disappointed and to be honest, it was filling.
The food was ok in general. No surprises. But for that price, I expected to be 'WOW'. I was, not by his foods, but by the 'check'.
The check came and the food was CAD $260 for the 2 of us. The small bottle of sake was CAD $38. It said 'Tojo's choice' on the sake menu, that too was average.
This is for people from Hong Kong:
When we first sat down, Tojo asked where we are from, we said HK. The condescending bastard said (with hand gestures) "Tojo up here, Hong Kong down here, 300 places below." I wondered if that was necessary. But with a comment like that, I suggest my HK friends can delete Tojo's from their list when they visit Vancouver from now on. Oh, he also kept bragging that he's got MONEY.
Last but not least, we noticed he doesn't smile to his customers. He looked miserable throughout our entire dinner as if he didn't give a damn. We did not feel particularly welcome.
Andrew Law
Hong Kong |
發表於 2009-4-5 19:43
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