Zakkushi On Carlton

Zakkushi never disappoints, whether it’s Vancouver on Denman, on Main, or Toronto on Queen west or here on Carlton. This location has a more traditional atmosphere, you can smell the charcoal smoke in the air, and it’s lovely. You don’t get the trademark menu to mark yourself, but that’s a minor detail. We went through a lot of options, appetizers, mains (organ meats and muscle) and cocktails. Due to the popularity of the location, the sake list has a few options missing but that happens. The very warm welcome and good bye stands out. The chefs are skilled and everything is served to perfection. I will add this location to my favorites & revisit often.

It can be hard to decide what to get so the Zakkushi set can be a good way to explore and it’s good value. I tried a variety of chicken, beef and pork skewers, and they were all grilled perfectly. Two skewers that particularly stood out were the premium beef tongue and the quail eggs wrapped in pork. The Cassis Oolong cocktail was so refreshing and I really liked the blackcurrant flavor.

Food was delicious and atmosphere was lively! Servers were friendly but we were rushed to leave when we were non-stop eating and drinking. I was told we can stay up to 2 hours when I made a reservation and I thought it’s also because their food takes some time (which is totally understandable for a busy restaurant like this). We were there for about 1 hour and still finishing the second round and a server came and told us it’s last call. We planned to order more but we left instead and went somewhere else. Again, I understand the restaurant is very busy that they need a table and I would definitely go back, but it will be nicer to have time to enjoy the experience more.

I went to Zakkushi with a couple of friends and was absolutely impressed by the fantastic service, beautiful presentation, and delicious food. We had a good variety of the menu and everything was just so very well done. From welcoming us in to ordering to presenting the food to sending us off with a greeting in Japanese, the entire experience was wonderful. The staff were very friendly and courteous. We had brought cake to celebrate a friend's birthday and the staff not only offered to keep it refrigerated, they also dimmed the lights when it came time to bring the cake out, lighted a candle for the cake, and also got the whole restaurant to sing happy birthday together!! It was a blast and I would highly recommend!