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    Izakaya Ju

    3.6 (202 reviews)
    ModerateJapanese, Sushi Bars
    Closed Closed

    Izakaya Ju Photos

    Business Info

    IZAKAYA JU ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Moderate noise
    Casual
    Good for kids
    Good for groups

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    Recommended Reviews - Izakaya Ju

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    Skewers combo
    M C.

    Food 3/5 so-so, not as good as before Service 4/5 nice and welcoming Ambiance 4/5 nice and comfortable

    Vegetable combo
    Cynthia Y.

    Cute izakaya that is not loud nor too busy. Relaxing with good service. Nice variety of food items, a bit pricey for the taste. Good quantity.

    Aiko I.

    Check their "today's special" menu. (not available online. Go there and check). Before coming here, I checked their website menu. I was not impressed as it did not have "chicken liver" and "Hatsu - chicken hearts". These two items were the MUST items in regular Japanese yakitori places. But we were there for their Gyu(beef)-tongue and Tsukune (Japanese chicken meatball skewers) - I have been a big fan of these two! When stepping in the restaurant and the menu was given, I was SOOOOOOO pleased to know that they have these two items (hatsu & liver) as "today's special"! The chicken liver (with shio/salt) was cooked perfectly medium-rare. Melty tender with a hint of charcoal. The hatsu was meaty and tender with juicy, springy texture. I recommend these items be eaten simply with Shio (salt). Squeeze a lemon wedges for refreshing aroma. Another recommendation is Motsu-ni (Innards Stew). It has a deep, savory and well-rounded flavor. Each ingredients had a unique texture and I enjoyed every bite of it. Lamb was a bit disappointing. Overcooked. Our Pitcher of Asahi was drunk up so quickly lol. Ice cold - perfect for Yakitori dinner!

    Soft bone karrage
    Anthony F.

    Was a little disappointed by some of the value and one or two misses. The veggie combo was like if chef decided he hated me and selected the worst pieces to cook. While the chicken soft bone karage left much to be desired. The other stuff was good as it was tasty and not overly salty. But everything goes down better with a beer. The location is clean and staff is great. All in all I will probably come back again but will have to be more picky with my orders.

    Luisa T.

    Izakaya Ju Japanese vibe Authentic quality food Around $36 (with tax) per person This is a great Izakaya, most of the customers here are Japanese, so you will feel a strong Japanese vibe as if you are in Japan. The cheese baked oyster is amazing. I love their yakitori skewers too~ just slightly salty. But overall valuable and yummy.

    Yakitori Combo
    Nikki M.

    First came here some years ago and tried chicken heart for the first time. I enjoyed it so much! I came back recently but unfortunately they've removed chicken heart from their menu :( My friends and I made a reservation (party of 3) and were seated immediately. This was during COVID times, so only half the restaurant was open and lots of social distancing. We got the yakitori combo, veggie combo, and one of their dons - all of which were delicious! I will say that Izakaya Ju is a little more on the expensive side - the yakitori combo was $20 for 5 skewers, each skewer having roughly 3-5 pieces. Their service is very good, and I look forward to coming back for more yakitori

    Charmaine L.

    Been there many times and they never let you down. Nice service and yummy food. Not the best best but good choice when you want izakaya at uptown.

    Mandy Z.

    Izakaya Ju is one of the most traditional izakaya place located in J town.  Many of the new izakaya restaurant offers more varieties than this place. However, because of the good review of their eel rice, I pick it for dinner tonight.  We ordered mushroom salad, grilled chicken salad, baked mushroom and oyster with cheese, takoyaki, fish cake, eel rice, ramen, sashimi platter for 2, grilled whole mackerel and vanilla ice cream.  Overall, the quality of food is good.  The eel rice is not as stand out and personally i won't come back because of the eel rice.  Sashimi is fresh and cut is thick.  Fish cake is a bit lack of flavor.  The chicken salad has some surprise, reason to say that is I don't expect such a large portion and very good taste at the price point of $12.  Finally the vanilla ice cream with brown syrup is excellent.  Very special to end with this for a dinner.

    Connie H.

    I have a soft spot for this restaurant because I have watched it evolve over the years. I still remember when the owner set up a tiny booth in the winter outside Jtown selling grilled chicken skewers, and he told me he wanted to open a restaurant there. In a few months Izakaya Ju was open and they had a very limited menu with the focus being the Yakitori chicken, but over the years have expanded the menu and real estate to take the adjacent store space too. My favourite item is still the Yakitori don which is only available during lunch. The chicken burger is also amazing! Obviously their speciality is the yakitori, but I have tried almost everything on the menu and every dish is consistently good quality with good presentation. They hire all Japanese servers and so the service is great. It may be a little challenging for some people as their English ability isn't the greatest, but they are more than patient. Their menu may not be as extensive as some other izakayas, but it is a nice cozy spot with reliable quality and service.

    Lim T.

    This place never disappoints me. After coming here for so many years, the food is still really good. Came to J-Town last night to pick up a cake from Green Tea Lounge and decided to have dinner at Ju. It was around 7pm and the place was quite pack with a few empty tables but marked reserved. I totally forgot how busy this place gets but luckily there was 1 table free for the 3 of us. It's great to see that the restaurant is doing so well since they were one of the first Izakaya places in GTA and with all the competition now, they are still able to keep it up. There are definitely more items on their menu now compared to when they first open. Love the yakatori here especially Tsukune (chicken minced meat). Got a few yakatori, Osaka fried rice, Takoyaki and Karaage. We also got a complementary dish of tako wasabi if you follow them on Instagram. The food came really quickly and everything was delicious. If you love Japanese Izakaya, then you must try this place!

    arrived 10 minutes before it opened and there's already a line, was able to get a seat without reservations. Seems really popular especially during the weekends! The food was good, I would give it a 7 - 7.5/10: we had soba which was great, absolutely love that; beef tongue could be thicker but they're good enough! However, the price was higher than expected. Overall i enjoyed the meal! p.s. they didn't have ochazuke :(

    Oyster in mayo and cheese
    Nicholas L.

    I enjoy eating here sometimes and my last visit was no exception. Heading into this place from j town feels very nice with the alley scenery outside. I walk in and am greeted friendly by the host/server. The place was rather busy at the time but no wait time. For me, I enjoy coming to Izakayas for drinks and snacks rather than a full meal, so I had eaten before coming here. But if you did want to grab a meal, the prices are fair. The food took a bit of time to deliver but was very tasty so I'm ok with that. Drinks came out instantly, as expected. They let us sit in with no complaints all the way till closing. All in all very pleasant experience, and highly recommend the oyster in mayo. Yum!

    Chicken wings
    Nicole T.

    I've come here twice now and have enjoyed my meals both times! I've tried the chirashi don, which is pricey at $35. However, the quality of fish along with the types they give you make it more worthwhile. Just coming back from a trip to Japan a few months ago, I would say the fish quality was at a similar level. The ramen with pork is really good, the broth is tasty and the ramen itself is just the right texture! Again, on par quality with what I had in Japan! I also had the chicken wings (I believe its 3 for $7?) which were huge and tasty! I actually ordered them because I saw that a lot of people in the restaurant had ordered it, and I'm glad that I did! The outside is crispy, the inside is moist and the sauce is tasty and not too sweet or salty. They have an assortment of skewers you can order as well, and we opted for the 5-skewer assortment set that is picked by the chef for $12. Each one was good, there was none that I didn't like. Definitely going to be a returning customer!

    Stuffed chicken wings

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    Taki Japanese Cuisine

    Taki Japanese Cuisine

    4.7(30 reviews)
    5.2 km

    Taki is a fine dining Japanese restaurant located in the busy commerical areas of Richmond Hill…read more We recently had lunch here for a special occasion. The restaurant is super quiet and they offer great quality of food with great service, and the price is expensive if you choose to order sukiyaki set (expect $80+ per person). You can choose between sushi sets at different price level or sukiyaki from the menu. This suits the need of our group given some people prefer sushi but some couldn't eat raw food. They also offer a couple of limited appetizer dishes such as tempuras and unagi don. If you booked the sukiyaki table and want to order sushi, you need to call them in advance to notify which sushi sets you want. We tried the sashimi and sushi courses at $55, which included miso soup, 5 pieces of sashimi, 8 pieces of sushi (squid, toros, salmon, scallop etc.), handroll and matcha or black sesame icecream at your choice. The sushi is smaller than average, suitable for small eaters. The course is totally worth the money. I love every piece of sashimi and my favourite sushi include the scallop and the squid. Everything was super fresh. The dessert was also having the perfect sweetness level for me. In addition, we also tried the sukiyaki for two ($110), which includes mushrooms, cabbages, great quality of Angus beef, yummy tofu and udon. Again, all the material was with great quality and super fresh. I especially liked the sweet sukiyaki soup, the tofu and the udon. We also ordered some shareable dishes including chawanmushi, unagi don and cod. Cod was cooked to perfect (soft and flavourful), and unagi don had quite decent portion. It would be better if the unagi could be softer from my personal opinion. Chawanmushi was mediocre. Overall, I strongly recommend this restaurant to fan of Japanese cuisine. It meets different people's needs by offering both cooked and raw food options, and the sushi set definitely has great value for money.

    Got the dinner special $95omakase. It's a really good deal compared to their other omakase combos…read more This one doesn't have sashimi but I didn't miss it because the nigiris were all so satisfying on their own already. Was worried it wouldn't be filling, but it's just the right amount of food. Whether you're celebrating something special or just want a traditional Japanese meal, this would be my spot. The sushi chef was very friendly and approachable, but he wouldn't make you feel like you need to yap with him like other omakase I've been to in Toronto where they would talk to the customers a lot. The wait staff was attentive and polite. Overall really good quality sushi, service and value. Would come again! I also appreciate that they don't require a deposit for reservations and don't require to pick the set you want beforehand. Very clean and warm design. Felt like I was in Japan!

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    Taki Japanese Cuisine - Kimono in TAKI

    Kimono in TAKI

    Taki Japanese Cuisine - Hokkaido scallop

    Hokkaido scallop

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    Sumoki - Sumoki - yakitori meal spread with crispy sweet corn ribs

    Sumoki

    4.0(61 reviews)
    6.1 kmUnionville Mainstreet, Unionville

    Back again and incredible again…read more Small tip. You don't need to order on only one phone. As long as you scan the bar code, you can order from any phone. Enter either you own info if paying separately or the same info if one person pays all of it. Lots of new dishes as well as old favourites: Chochin: Tried it. Not a fan. Tastes exactly the way I thought it would. Which is internal organ like but in an unpleasant creamy way. Duck liver raspberry toast: Nice but could be bigger. The raspberry brought an expected nice sweetness to the nice liver taste. A little more raspberry would be nice. Tuskune and egg yolk dip: It's ok but not that big a deal. Cheese momo: Fantastic. The swiss cheese is an excellent pairing to the chicken. Skin-Kawa - Delciious. Crispy. Must have, Hiza (knee cartidlidge): nice and crunchy Beef short rubs boneless: Was enticed due to the tendon part. It was nice but not incredible. Beef tenderloin + Chimichurri: Wife's favourite. We always order several of these. P-toro: Another must repeat. Great pork belly taste. Cherry tomato bacon maki: New and delightful. Bacon wrapped cherry tomatoes provide a delightful burst of tomatoey sweetness wrapped with the unctuousness of bacon. Lamb rib chop: Excellent and tasty. Once again everything was cooked perfectly and the amazing binchotan smoke made everything delicious. Fun fact, they put charcoal in the free water carafes as well.

    Good food that hurts your wallet…read more Japanese izakayas are few and few between in Markham - that's why I got excited to see Sumoki pop up! It's not on the main street of Unionville, but its presence on a side road matches the quaint nature of the restaurant. It's not the biggest inside, but it gives off a Japanese aesthetic with the wood trim throughout. We made reservations in advance to avoid long lines, if any (thankfully it wasn't packed the night we went). Orders are made via QR code, which seems to be the norm now. I like it since you don't have to waive down waiters in a low-dimmed izakaya. Their main offering seemed to be skewers. We ordered a bunch of them to try - notably, all of them had a nice smoky fragrance to them (maybe that's why it's called Sumoki). We especially enjoyed the Grilled Chicken Skin. Perfect crunch from the initial bite leading to a slight chew throughout. The seasoning was spot on as well. Other honourable mentions include extremely succulent Chicken Thigh meat, Gizzards and Beef Tongue. You could really taste the meat juices from each skewer since the chefs don't overpower it with seasoning. Other local skewer places tend to have the same seasoning across different cuts of meat, so Sumoki felt like a breath of fresh air amongst the growing market. Coincidentally, it's also the first place I've been to offer Giant Rooster Testicles. Now...don't be alarmed. It sounds exotic and might not be everyone's cup of tea, but this dish is extremely creamy. Give it a try if you have the courage! We came to celebrate my brother's birthday, but quickly realized our bill was racking up really quickly despite a small number of orders. Sumoki is definitely a place where you don't want to come on an empty stomach, since each order is 1 skewer (unlike other local restaurants). Other menu items, from what we saw of neighbouring tables, didn't fare much better in terms of portion sizes. We left quickly to avoid some serious financial damage for the 6 of us, but also quickly drove to another impromptu restaurant to get settle our hunger down. Sumoki definitely isn't cheap. I wouldn't recommend this to be a formal dinner - moreso if you wanted a light snack after dinner. But then again, with these prices, Sumoki tries to make itself bougie without delivering 100% satisfaction so maybe try at your own risk.

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    Sumoki - Inside the restaurant

    Inside the restaurant

    Sumoki - Sumoki - matcha beer

    Sumoki - matcha beer

    Sumoki - Age Mochi (6 pcs deep-fried sticky rice, topped with house-made sweet soy sauce and nori)

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    Age Mochi (6 pcs deep-fried sticky rice, topped with house-made sweet soy sauce and nori)

    MiKi Sushi - Small Sashimi and Sushi Tray

    MiKi Sushi

    4.1(154 reviews)
    5.8 kmUnionville Mainstreet, Unionville
    $$

    A cozy Japanese spot in Unionville for Toronto's in-between weather…read more With Toronto's weather going back and forth lately, it's one of those times where you just want something warm and comforting. Miki Sushi feels like the kind of place you can casually stop by and settle into a simple, satisfying meal. Spicy Seafood Udon This is exactly what suits the weather right now. Loaded with shrimp, mussels, scallops, mushrooms, and other toppings, the broth has a Korean-style spicy kick that's both warming and comforting. Salmon Pressed Sushi Generously sauced and rich in flavor, each piece feels indulgent but easy to enjoy in one bite. BBQ Ika (Grilled Squid) Despite the chili on top, it's only mildly spicy. The squid is tender with a slight chew, served with bean sprouts and vegetables, and finished with a savory glaze. It comes out on a hot plate, so just be a little careful. Overall, it's a relaxed, comforting spot that works perfectly for days when you just want something warm without overthinking it

    We had an awesome experience here. It seems they are a…read moresmall family run business And They provided top notch service. On to the food, it too was amazing. We ordered 1. Deluxe seafood tempura 2. Chicken karage 3. Salmon pressed roll 4. Miki lobster roll 5. Philadelphia roll 6. Mushi roll 7. Salmon lover set menu dinner special Everything came out fast and fresh The rolls were soft and delicious. The appetizers were hot and crispy. Overall this place is fantastic and deserves 5 stars I love supporting local businesses like this and I highly recommend you try this place out. Note: parking is hard to find. We got lucky and found a spot right in front.

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    MiKi Sushi
    MiKi Sushi - Assorted tempura

    Assorted tempura

    MiKi Sushi

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    Izakaya Ju - japanese - Updated May 2026

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