Don Don Izakaya

Recently there seems to be a hype for this place. I personally think this place is a bit over-rated, it's more of a Guu replica (as my bro calls it). My brother took me there for lunch on a weekday, his friend was one of the managers. The place is owned by 5 owners, a mix of Japanese and Mandarin people.

Starters, miso soup and salad.

Their salad was not great. Normal salad dressing, not home-made dressing or anything special which most Japanese restaurants usually do have. I didn't like how there was a lot of water at the bottom when I reached near the end of my salad. Clearly they should have made sure the lettuce wasn't soaked before serving it and adding dressing on top. Or should I be glad they washed the lettuce?

My bro's friend suggested us trying this: Don Don Special Black Corquette.

Basically it's creamy potato mix in a piece of bread crumb dipped in octopus ink sauce (which is why it is a black). I must say it's not quite appealing. I really liked it though, but I think $7 for this dish is still a bit expensive. I actually think this is the best dish I had for this meal.

Shrimp sashimi. ($10.50)

It was alright, I've had better.

I personally thought this was a scam. It was one of the group orders having your fish torched. They only let you pick one fish, meaning 8 pieces of only salmon. 

I know the style of this type of sushi is supposed to be rectangular, but does the piece of fish actually have to be that thin?? That's a huge amount of rice there.

They had a sashimi combo, which we ordered.

Sashimi is fresh. The shrimp sashimi was different from the one we ordered separately. Weird to say but this one tasted better, even though the other shrimp was bigger in size.

Fried chicken. It is what it appears to be.

Nothing special, I think Cafe de Nichi makes it better. My brother said last time he went for a late lunch it was worse, the chicken was overcooked.

From what I remember, when I went the menu was only a white sheet of paper with only text and no pictures. But judging from the online menu, the food looks so appealing. Seems like there are a few things I would want to go back and try. The "Atlantic salmon egg salad" and "tokyo style hotdog" looks delicious. But then again, pictures can always be misleading.

Food: Alright

Service: Very friendly.

Price: Expensive

Atmosphere/Decoration: Really nice. The environment is really similar to Guu, but the place is more spacious. 

Overall: I thought my experience was disappointing, I was expecting something better.  But then again, we tried more of the raw fish selection. I suppose their hot food is a lot better but if you ask me, I would still prefer Guu over this place. Even though they have more sushi/sashimi selection, I would suggest trying their cooked food instead. They do seem to have quite a few creative dishes. One thing I know for sure is they serve more variety during dinner time, so if you were to pay a visit here, go for dinner.

Don Don Izakaya

130 Dundas Street West