[Japanese] Yamato

Restaurant: Yamato Japanese
Cuisine: Japanese
Location: Yorkville
Address: 24 Bellair St
Price Range: $10~15

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very Good 5: Excellent

Food: 4
Service: 3
Ambiance: 3
Overall: 3.5

Extra information:

* Open for lunch and dinner
* Teppanyaki Avail
* Sushi Bar
* Good for bigger groups

I am not in Yorkville much, if I am ever ever in the area, it's mostly for shopping and I usually go elsewhere for lunch. But on this specific day, I met up with a friend and she was craving Japanese food, so off we went to one of her spots for sushi. I had no idea this restaurant existed and probably would have never known unless someone took me there. The reason being that the restaurant isn't located at street level and you actually have to go down couple stairs to get to it.

Yamato serves simple Japanese food as well as Teppanyaki at the back of the restaurant. I was surprised to see they had another seating area through a hallway and the restaurant turned out to be a lot bigger than I expected. Since it is located at half basement, the lights were quite dim even for lunch service. I personally prefer brightly lit restaurants when I am there for lunch but I guess we were somewhat seated by the window so it wasn't too bad.

Ordered: Spicy scallop roll & Spider roll 4/5

* Spicy scallop roll was $11 and Spider roll was $15. The food took quite a bit to come out, I think it was my spider roll that was somewhat time consuming. I guess they deep fry the soft shell crab when you just order it which is good to know they make it fresh. Rolls were nicely made and was presented nicely, especially the spider roll. There wasn't too much rice on the roll (which I like) and the cucumbers were crunchy with the avocado just ripe.

I really enjoyed the spider roll which did not skimp out on ingredients. For $15 for 4 pieces of rolls I guess it is on the pricey side, but if you care for quality this is probably the place for you.

My friend ordered Sushi lunch ($14) which comes with 6 pieces of nigiri and a tuna maki as well as Spicy scallop roll.

Sushi lunch is served with miso soup.

Summary: Place to go if you are looking for good quality sushi in Yorkville area. Check it out if you want Teppanyaki as well.