Yang's Izakaya & Japanese Cuisine

Date: December 21, 2012

Location: 8432 Leslie Street, Unit 110

Website: https://www.facebook.com/YangsIzakayaJapaneseCuisine

Unofficial specials menu: http://yangs.uberflip.com/i/85972

Cuisine: Japanese

Meal: lunch

 

My thoughts:

I had heard of this restaurant a while ago, and had been looking forward to finding how out if it measures up to Guu, especially because it is so much closer to me than Guu. So when my sister mentioned she'd bought a voucher off on one of those deal sites and invited us all out to lunch, I jumped at the opportunity.

Glancing over the menu did make me reminiscent of Guu. (On the topic of the menu, it was filled with random anime cartoon panels, which I found both amusing and odd - more so odd.) Anyway, Yang's carries your typical sushi fare as well as izakaya items, including my favourite okonomiyakis and takoyakis.

We didn't order either of those things, though. Here is what we had:

EEL PANCAKE ($12) - pancake topped with eel and bonito flakes. This was the first thing that came, and I was immediately disappointed by how thing the pan cake was for that price point. I held high expectations for the quality as I took my first bite, and... it really was nothing more than just a plain old pancake with some eel. Definitely not worth that price!

 

OYSTER MOTOYAKI ($8.50) - cream-baked whole oyster. I was excited to try this because the one I'd had at Guu was to-die-for. But this fell short of my expectations. It was very plain and it tasted like a whole lotta mayonnaise on an oyster, and then baked.

TERIYAKI CHICKEN ($13) - teriyaki chicken with a side of rice (not shown). My sister ordered this and she really liked it. I thought this was nothing special.

RAMEN ($9.50) - ramen in soup. I like the ramen at Nine Up Sushi better. It was cheaper, too.

GYOZA ($5.80) - pan-fried ginger-marinated pork. Ew, these were gross. The filling tasted weird and didn't resemble meat at all.

SASHIMI 5 KIND ($19) - assorted sashimi platter. I only had the salmon, which was good.

SMOKED GUY-TAN ($8) - hay-smoked ox tongue. Salty and dry, but better than most of the other things we ordered that day.

 

All in all, this was a huge disappointment. The prices were outrageously expensive for the portion sizes and quality of the food. Even if I were given a voucher, I wouldn't come back. This is definitely is no Guu.