Masa Japanese Restaurant

This place has changed ownership so many times over the years. The original Masa owner has now moved onto Yujiro on Grant Avenue. There’s nostalgia associated with this place as it was one of the very few Japanese restaurants back in the day before sushi became mainstream. I remember trying sashimi for the first time here many moons ago and of course, I had my first dinner date with my boyfriend here. Ah, the memories… but I haven’t been back in a long time so I wasn’t sure what to expect as management had changed some more times. The place looks exactly the same which means it looks a little tired. There are the traditional tatami seats, regular tables and the sushi bar.
On the weeknight I was there, it wasn’t that busy but it was nice as my friend I got to enjoy a nice long dinner. I like that they still offer piping hot towels to clean your hands with — not many sushi places do that anymore! For two people, we ordered yam tempura, spicy tuna appetizer, tropicana roll, kamikazi, masa special maki, another roll I can’t remember and tuna toro sashimi. It came to $ 70 after tax but before tips. Not bad as we were both pretty full afterwards.
The service was good and not overbearing. Food came at a good pace and the overall items were good. The spicy tuna appetizer was really good, great spice and lots of onions but in a way it kind of overpowered the tuna as opposed to complementing it. Still, a good starter dish though. The toro sashimi was rich and butter so that was delish. The rolls were pretty decent as well.
I would go here again if I was in the area as it provided good value.