[Japanese] Inakaya

Restaurant: Inakaya
Cuisine: Japanese
Location: North York
Address: 126 Willowdale Ave
Price Range: $15~25

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

Food: 3
Service: 2
Ambiance: 3
Overall: 2.5

So my journey to finding fresh seafood/sushi continues here in Toronto. I heard many good things about Inakaya so I was excited to make a trip to North York to try out this restaurant. We made reservation prior to the visit since it was known that it gets super busy for dinner time. By the time we arrived, it was super packed inside the restaurant.

Inakaya is really tiny and I would not recommend going here in a big group. It's best if you are going with just another person or maximum 4 people in total. They used to serve lunch menu, but starting on January 1st, they stopped with their lunch service completely so keep that in mind.

For somewhat of a pricier Japanese restaurant, I found their menu to be really cluttered. They hand wrote all over the menu and it was falling apart. Also, if it interests you, mid-way throughout the meal, I found out Inakaya is a Korean owned.

For a somewhat pricier Japanese restaurant, I found their menu to be really cluttered and messy. It was super lengthy, had hand-written writings all over it and it was falling apart as well as stained with whatever it was. No big deal but I wish restaurants would pay attention to little things like this, kind of disappointing.

Table Setting by the bar

Cold Sake

Choose your own sake cup

 Ordered: Sashimi Starter $13

* Chef's assortment of fresh sashimi
* Very small portion but sashimi is very fresh

 Ordered: Wagyu Amiyaki $55

* Grilled Wagyu beef on the hibachi
* I saw photos of this specific dish online many times and I was determined to try it
* Don't be fooled by photos online...this is one tiny dish
* Strips of beef are size of my pinky finger and there are 7~8 pieces (making them ~$7 each)
* They were good and yes they were tasty, but so not worth $55
* Make sure not to over-cook them (eat them while they are rare to medium-rare)
* I rather just go for steak at the Keg

Ordered: Rainbow Roll $12

* California roll topped with assorted fish and seafood
* This was really good but nothing special

Ordered: Sonomono $12

* King crabs, cooked shrimps, octopus, clams, seaweeds, cucumbers served with Japanese vinaigrette
* This was probably my favorite dish of the night
* It is a little pricey for $12 but everything was super fresh and it was very refreshing

 Ordered: Chirashi

* This was what my friend ordered
* I didn't really try it but he said it was decent
* Probably should stick to dishes like this if you want to leave full

Summary: Inakaya is not a place if you want to leave full (unless you want to spend around $70 or more per person). Quality is good but not exceptional, service was mediocre and the restaurant was too crammed. Did I enjoy my dining experience at Inakaya? not so much...I am not going back.

Comments

[amysfoodadventures.com]

You're awesome for taking photos of the menu ;D I still haven't visited Inakaya yet although it's been on my list for a long time. Seems like I shouldn't be in any rush to try it :)

[foodigatorJ]

Yea it gets annoying after awhile when they have super long menu haha go try the lunch menu though!