Taro’s Fish

Holy shiznits this place is the real deal. Its clearly not the cheapest option out there, but the fish here is amazingly fresh and well worth the extra dollars spent. I will admit that when we entered the place, we were completely overwhelmed. It is not a restaurant — it’s more of a shopfront, so we kind of just stood around gawking for ten minutes before we knew what to do. We finally figured it out (not before asking the gentleman behind the register on what to do), and picked out some fish from the freezer for the chefs to slice up for us.
We picked up two slabs of salmon (one from Scotland and one from Iceland), half a mackerel, and two fat pieces of uni. Plus a cali roll (my favourite), and a wakame salad, the total came out to just over $ 50. You can choose atlantic salmon for a cheaper price, but we wanted to try something else. You pick your fish, you pay at the register, and you can bring it to the chefs to cut up for you, or you can take it home to cut it up yourself if you want. There are about 10 seats in the store — all bar fronts.
This place is fantastic. Like, I would come back here every weekend if I had the dollars. I’m still dreaming of the fish now. If you’re looking for something different — this is where you should go. Right off of Bessarian station, and there’s a small parking lot that seems to fill up quickly.

Taro’s fish is a Japanese owned place with the best quality sashimi in Toronto! They have limited seating for dine-​in, but a great selection of fish for sashimi or grill to takeout. Highly recommended!

Amazing quality sashimi. This isn’t a restaurant, you can eat there if there’s space but it’s better to take it to go. It’s a small fishmonger with some other japanese products. It’s too bad it’s out of the way or I would go there more often.

this place is freaking amazing, and i love how close it is to my home!
Now i dont’ usually buy their rolls — on occasion I do and it’s always super amazing.
But i come here for the fish, because I usually make my own sushi. I’m not gonna put up pictures because it will confuse people since the platters are made by myself, but what I can say is you pay for what you get. Yes their prices for fresh fish is NOT cheap. But their quality is AMAZING. I would say it’s as good as some of the restaurants you will get in the city (JaBistro, Miku, etc). So for those who know how to cut fish, or know how to make sushi and want GOOD amazing quality ingredients for your dishes, you definitely need to come here. Their selection always varies, and they always write down the countries where the stock comes from (salmon, tuna, grouper, mackerel, squid, scallop, etc). For those who like the inari or wanna make their own, they also sell the skins here too :)
Anyway, great little place, not much for sitting, but if you want take out, or buy your own ingredients to make japanese sushi, definitely THE place.

Love this place! Went to it on New Year’s Eve based on other Unilocalers’ reviews. So very accurate! The place is super clean and there’s a washroom for customers too! It’s basically a super market where you can buy sashimi, uni, raw fish, tempura, sushi ingredients (no sushi tools though like the sushi Mat etc), and other various things. They even have already made sushi rice that you can buy for $ 2.50 a bowl. You just have to ask the cashier for it. The cashiers are very friendly and helpful. You pay first and then can get your sashimi cut.
You can also pre-​order sushi plates and tempura for take out. You can do it on the spot too, but they weren’t taking anymore orders for New Year’s Eve. They have limited seating if you wanted to buy food and eat there.
The salmon sashimi was delicious. The rice was a bit too soggy for my liking, but favoured nicely. We made two rolls with two bowls of rice. The uni was pretty good, but pricey. I paid $ 17 for 3 pieces. I think Diana’s seafood sell it for cheaper, but they didn’t have any on New Year’s Eve.
The prices seem comparable to j-​town, maybe a bit more expensive, but worth it because it’s closer to me.
I will be going back when I decide to make my own sushi again or have a sushi party!

Taro’s Fish has been at that address for something like five or six years and the locals should be happy. Also, all the Chinese folk who always attack Japanese restaurants should be happy… but hold on… there is something… it is not a Japanese sushi restaurant. It is a fishmonger. Or should it be fish monger?
They have fish, they have rice, they have the refrigration, they have the space so they also serve you sushi and sashimi of the most authentic kind which you could take out or sit on a stool and enjoy.
It is not cheap because this is not one of those fake chinesekoreanthaiphillippines wanna-​bes. But not only the quality is amazing, you also save 12−15% because there is no table service or tipping. Aside from sushi and sashimi (and selling fish!!!) they also offer clams, mussels and tempura. They also have limited Japanese imported goods on sale. I bought some frozen noodles I want to make this weekend.

Sometimes I realize that I forget to review places that I go to the most — Taro’s Fish included.
There are not many places that provide sashimi-​grade fish and Taro’s Fish has been my family’s go-​to spot. Being Japanese, my family wants to eat different types of fish other than the typical salmon and tuna that can be easily attained elsewhere. Taro’s Fish offers a various assortment and their fish are typically really fresh! My parents cannot bear the AYCE-​quality sashimi nor can they justify splurging on an excessively decorated platter with only few slices of cheap cuts. Hence, this place solves it all. They provide simply sashimi that is fresh and reasonable.
You can also ask them to cut the fish into slices for you for free of charge!

Our favourite fresh authentic sashimi shop.
Not really restaurant per say, more like a grocery store with seating inside.
Large selection of sashimi in their fridge.
Pick what you like from the fridge, pay at the cashier, one of their sushi chefs will cut it for you, garnish it to make it pretty, and then … enjoy.
We also always order Futomaki, which is large yummy roll.
They are so flexible, you can tell them your budget, they will make you a tray with a little bit of available fish /​seafood available at the time.

My husband and I come here whenever we are in the area. Fish is very fresh. We love how you can customize your own plate by selecting various fish from the large refrigerators then having them plated to enjoy in the store. Also we have done a name your price and chefs prepare you a dish, you can point out specific fish you like and don’t like as well. Jumbo prawns and scallops are our favorites!

Taro’s fish has been one of my go-​tos for a few years, even before I moved to new york and came back. This was the first time back since I moved back and it was as good as I remembered.
Went to the fridge and grabbed a slab of salmon and had the chef slice it up for me. About $ 11 and it was a pretty healthy serving. It was refreshing, fatty and delicious. Would definitely recommend. For those who are wondering, it wasn’t a yellow sign today.

This is my second time here. It’s in a small strip plaza across from Canadian tire at Sheppard and Leslie. The first time I came, I just walked around and looked at everything they offered.
After reading all the reviews from Unilocalers, I wanted to try their assorted sashimi. Went there around 7pm, and good thing they still had assorted sashimi in the fridge. There were 2 selections. A small for 31.00 and larger one for 43.00. Since it was just my bf and I, decided to grab the small sashimi with a salmon skin roll.
There was a sushi chef there making sushi to order, however seeing how he put time making each piece, we were hungry and just grabbed things available from the fridge.
There were about 28 pieces of sashimi, which is about a dollar a piece! Complete steal considering they gave some premium sashimi! The quality was very good and fresh, and variety offered kept my tummy grinning.
I noticed the larger sashimi had uni. I’m sure there’s even more variety!
The salmon skin roll was pretty good, would probably taste better fresh and crispy.
Overall, definitely a great place to come and have some fresh sashimi/​sushi at a reasonable price!

Known this market for a long time back in J town. This year found it again at this new location. All the seafood from Taro’s are always fresh and tasty.
Especially like the blue fin toro, not many places offer sashimi grade blue fin toro. Being able to pick, with this quality, it’s a much better deal than having it in restaurants.
Also love their salmon from different places, can do a salmon tasting around the world.
The black cod from Alaska is a must too, I use the nobu recipe to make miso black cod (gindara), it’s so delicious! The texture is different than those I got from st Lawrence market, guess the Japanese dishes has to be from a Japanese fish market.
Even it’s far from my home, it’s worth it to drive all the way here to get those sashimi to fill my cravings!

This fish market was recommended to me by a Japanese sushi chef friend as a place I can buy good sashimi grade fish. Everything I bought was excellent. The fish is labeled so you can see exactly where it is from. It is mainly a take out place but you can also eat at the small counters inside the store.
If you don’t care about the ambiance and just want good fresh sushi for a reasonable price, this is the place for you! I go back to Japan every year and am very picky about my sushi. I’ve dined in and also tonight tried take out sushi, both times the food was excellent. I just wish it was closer so I can o more often!

Came here for a friends bday. We ordered 2 party trays and shared among 8 ppl. Very fresh nigiri and rolls. It was a little pricier than most places but it’s mainly a seafood market that happens to serve food as well. Very limited seating because of this but not a big problem. The quality of the fish is amazing. Highly recommended place if u want authentic, fresh, clean sushi/​sashimi

I walked by this place so often, because the plaza that it’s in is a small one, and it’s store front is fairly unassuming… But at the recommendation of a friend, I walked in to discover what everyone in the area already seemed to know: this is THE place to get the freshest sushi/​sashimi in the neighbourhood. I think it’s even fair to go so far as to say the best in all of North York! You can order different rolls off their menu, or peek into their fridge for a selection of fresh fish that you can buy by weight for the chefs to slice up…
This place also serves as a mini grocery store for select Japanese items: sauces, pre-​made food and desserts. It’s not cheap, but it’s certainly worth the money for the value you’re getting!

Came here a few weeks ago after work with my boyfriend for dinner. This place is near Bayview Village tucked inside a small plaza.
Taro’s Fish is a small store/​supermarket that sells Japanese goods as well as ready to eat foods and fish for sashimi. There’s maybe some counter spots to sit and a small table across the window of the shop.
My boyfriend and I ordered the sushi for 2 — I think it was around $ 50.00. The fish is pretty good and fresh. The only thing I didn’t like about it was that I thought the fish wasn’t cold enough. It was a bit too warm for my liking. Other then that, it was pretty decent — would definitely come again in the near future.

This is a fish store, so don’t come in expecting a resturant experience. No one will serve you tea or hand you napkins when you decide to eat there. However, the fish here are amazing!
I got the sushi special, kamikaze roll, anago nigiri and the chutoro nigiri. The sushi special was around $ 20 for (~15pcs) the kamikaze $ 6 (6pcs) and the anago and chutoro were $ 8 for two pieces.
Overall, the environment is not great, but the fish is really really good. The salmon was plump, the chutoro had a good balance of fattiness and meatiness, and the anago had a strong, but tasty smokey flavour.
I would recommend to get your fish here, but only for take out!

Taro’s Fish is a small fish market/​sushi spot in North York, close to the Canadian Tire off Leslie/​Sheppard. The plaza that houses this little shop is also tiny itself, but ample parking still to be had. Despite the size of the shop, it’s rather spacious inside with frozen, refrigerated, fresh, and cooked foods. They have sushi grade fish, seafood, and various other packages made for your little sushi date nights and such.
Store: Among many of the options that they have here, most of it is sushi grade fish for you to buy and make at home (or eat sashimi style). They have some standard items like imitation crab and fresh salmon. However, they also have interesting items like Uni and Toro (Tuna Belly) and will actually tell you which area they come from.
Dining: They actually have a small menu where you can order rolls and sushi platters to eat in. I saw a couple eating at the countertop facing the shop, so I thought I’d grab some rolls and go to town. I ordered the Sushi Special, which was a salmon roll and 7 pieces of nigiri. The gf also got a large order of Uni (from BC) from the fridge to eat in. The Sushi Special ($ 20) is worth every penny and I thought it tasted so damn fresh. The salmon roll was jam-​packed with salmon chunks and it was so fresh that I could smell the seaweed and rice vinegar, without any smell from the salmon. So good. The nigiri were larger pieces of fish, 3 of which were seared. Love the seared fish on top of the small rice balls and they were fresh and tasted so great.
As a sushi grade fish shop, it does it’s job because it houses every ingredient needed to make sushi at home. For me, it excels because it also offers some of the tastiest sushi I’ve had in the GTA, which is both a compliment and a bit of a knock on actual sushi restaurants. First time actually eating here but definitely will not be my last time.

⁸⁄₁₀ for the quality, ⁸⁄₁₀ for the services, ⁸⁄₁₀ for the value. ⁸⁄₁₀ overall.
I live in the area, and I come here quite often when I just want some take out sushi/​sashimi.
Quality:
In terms of quality, they can be some of the best, but there has been some misses. For example, I’ve had a sushi set that had some stringy salmon pieces that came from some low quality cuts (I remember one of them may have came from the tail, as opposed to the better cuts from the top loin or the belly).
However, in most cases, the quality is above average. From time to time, you will see the fattiest Blue fin tuna belly sold here (see picture, but Unilocal’s reduction of picture quality doesn’t do the pic justice) for 40 – 60 dollars per 100g. I’ve never bought it before (one entire piece came to about 80 dollars).
The best bet, I believe, is to choose your cut. You can see the refrigerator and choose the cut you want. Recently, I’ve been purchasing mainly the salmon belly and the yellowtail belly for the fattiest, melt-​in-​your-​mouth sashimi.
Value:
In terms of value, it can also be either way. For example, Uni (sea urchin) sold in the little plastic sections is 5 dollars a section, and the least you can buy is 2 sections. This is cheaper than most restaurants, which is good. For the monk fish liver here, you can get a big roll of the liver for about 7 dollars/​100g, where one liver comes to about 8 – 12 dollars. At Aoyama, you get 2 small sections (which is about ¼ of a liver or so) for 8.50, I believe. Again, this is a good thing.
However, other food don’t have as great value. For example, they have pre-​fried shrimp tempura, fried soft shell crab, grilled yellowtail, etc wrapped and sold as takeout. I’m not sure I understand how they can sell cold, soggy food items at the same or higher price than restaurants outside when the restaurants will give it to you fresh off the frier.
You will also find a variety of Japanese products here, like calpis drinks, itoen green teas, kirin afternoon milk tea, and mochi ice cream here, but often at a premium price. Often you will find the same item elsewhere (T&T, J-​town, etc) for just a tiny bit cheaper.
Service:
Not too much to say here. After you choose your sashimi fillet, they will slice it into piece for you. Also they will give you a bag of ice (like they do in J-​town). I’ve been told they also shuck the oysters for you when you eat at the restaurant. So that’s pretty decent.
Also if you call ahead to let them know what kind of fish you want and what budget, they can create a custom sashimi platter for you that’s often better value than the premade sashimi platters that they have. (I used to kinda know a guy who works there, and I ordered from him. I don’t know if he had any «pull» to make the sashimi platter a better deal than normal or not, but anyway…)
Overall:
Great place to get sashimi/​sushi takeout, but sometimes has its misses. I think the quality is not as impeccable as when it first opened, but still definitely much better than most places (it destroys any takeout sushi T&T and Galleria can offer in terms of quality and variety, but of course T&T and Galleria are cheaper).

A friend was nice enough to take me here for lunch. Located in a dodgy plaza lies a hidden gem. The layout inside is pretty identical to Jtown’s food market. Pick your seafood and grab a seat! I was skeptical at first since it wasn’t a traditional Japanese sushi restaurant but I was so wrong. The rolls and sashimi was amazing. Had the soft crab roll with assorted sashimi and uni. Delicious. I guess the only thing missing was some sake lol Portion was not a lot, but that is expected. If you wanna fill up an empty stomach like you would in an ayce sushi place, get ready to pay up lol
Would not recommend this place for a larger group than 4. You’ll have a tough time finding bar stool and window stool. It is really just a place for you to enjoy some amazing sushi or get some take out and gtfo =)