Gonoe Sushi (North York)

[looniePincher]

Had dinner last night at Gonoe Sushi. I've been going there for years and I really think it's one of the most under-rated restaurants (based on the number of patrons seen in the place) in the area.
I've always found the fish to be fresh and the rice has a nice consistency. Last night was the first time I noticed how well they do tempura--light, crispy, and not greasy! Two thumbs up.

[Royaljelly]

Any comparisons to some of the bigger sushi names on this board, eg. Kaji, Aoyama, Zen, etc..

[erly]

Ganoe Sushi serves excellent quality Sushi.
The rest of the food has gone downhill in the past few years.
Their Tempura shrimp, at one time consisted on whole shrimp in the lightest of batters.
Now they are cut in half, and the batter is thicker.
We still order their sushi, takeout, but never eat in, as the rest of their food is just O.K., not bad, but not really good either
No it doesn't compare to the high end like Kaji, but neither do their prices, and the fish is always fresh.

[abscissa]

Sounds good. Where is it? I would like to give it a try and upload some pictures. (In my effort to become Toronto's #1 sushi expert :D ) I don't mean to be rude but I am not sure that the fact that it is always busy means anything. Do they do omakase or is it more of a take-out place. (There is nothing wrong with take out places! We can't all afford $200 dinners every night :D )

[erly]

It is not really a place for omakase, but if you call ahead, I think that they might be be willing to prepare one.
It is an attractive restaurant,
Simply, our choice to take out.
Don Mills road halfway between Lawrence and York Mills, on the west side
Same small plaza as Island foods.

[looniePincher]

Abscissa,
Sorry for the confusion--what I meant by "based on the number of patrons" was actually that every time I've been, the place has been quite empty! I can see why you thought otherwise.
It's surely not among T.O.'s finest (Kaji, etc) and I never claimed that it was, but it is definitely one of the better choices in the area for fresh fish and good Japanese.

[JamieK]

Hey, abscissa - when you get your pics, can you also upload them to the places link page?

[vanityfare]

I've had dinner at Gonoe with one of my friends who says it's his favourite sushi place. It's Korean owned and the space is quite small, but cozy. The first time I dined there, the service was very good (my friend has many food allergies and they always, always accomodate his needs) and I thought the quality and portion sizes of the sashimi and sushi rolls were great as well.

I went back again with my family a month or so later, and didn't find the food nearly as impressive. The portion sizes of our sashimi also went down a bit. I was hoping to "wow" my family with the meal because I was so impressed with it the first time, but came out feeling really underwhelmed and disappointed.

I wondered if I had received better attention the first time because I had dined there with my friend (who was a regular)?

[dlw88]

I've also had hits and misses at Gonoe. I had heard that there was a change in ownership at some point, but my regular friends say it never happened. It's definitely not that cheap either. If you're in the neighbourhood it's one thing, but if you're making a trek, it's well worth the extra 5-10 minutes in the car to Cafe Michi IMHO.

[superchick]

i work in the area and this had been one of my favourites however, the chef and perhaps the owner had changed back about a year ago. I went from frequenting once every 2 wks to not having been there in over 3 mos.

The cooked menu has changed and the rolls/sushi are not made with the same level of quality. While better than Tako next door, it's a shadow of what it formerly was.

[To the last crumb]

Gonoe must have either changed hands, or the owner has gone through a life-altering experience (and not for the better). A lot could have happened between Nov'07 and Aug'08.
I ordered only cooked dishes, nothing tasted Japanese or good. The tempura batter, although freshly fried, was tough and thick, much like a bad beer batter. The gyu don was compiled of (not Japanese) rice, bulgogi tasting (although very tender) beef, egg (as if in an oyaku don - yeah, go figure), onions, and a big squirt of bottle teriyaki sauce on top.
For what entered my palette, they are about 30% over-priced. Even if they were appropriately priced, I wouldn't recommend this place to anyone I like.

[erly]

Ganoe, as I have said above in 2007 has changed, but some time ago.
We do not order their other dishes.
We still like their sushi, and did a take out combo sushi and sashimi last week.
The fish was very fresh, and the fish to rice ratio just right.