A good friend sent me a Giftly at Christmas to have a Japanese meal. It’s for my partner and me, but my guy doesn’t like Japanese food -ooops. Is there a compromise, like a Japanese steakhouse or grill, anywhere? What can I expect?
There’s a Japanese Steakhouse on Bellair in Yorkville called Yamato that is quite pricey.
There’s a Muni Japanese grill with robata on St Patrick at Dundas which would be cheaper.
I think a Japanese steakhouse is a safe bet for someone who doesn’t really like Japanese food. You can basically get a steak, some veggies, and rice instead of potatoes. There is usually a throwaway soup and salad.
The prices at Yamato look reasonable when you compare them to a regular steakhouse. The full dinner for filet mignon is $47 for example.
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Agree.
(I don’t comprehend “doesn’t like Japanese food”. It’s in my top 5 
)
Another idea , @calam1ty - take someone else and don’t tell your good friend! 
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It’s my #1.
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Do you mean doesn’t like Japanese food or doesn’t like raw food. There are quite a few restaurants where you can have terrific raw and cooked dishes. My local, Nakamori, for one has great steak, beef curry, salmon, and chicken options.
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My uncle is a blanket statement person.
He doesn’t like Japanese food and he doesn’t like Korean food.
He likes Indian food, Chinese food, Thai food and Mexican food a lot.
No sense arguing with him or his rationale.
LOL.
I know he likes spicy food. I know he likes hamburgers. He is not open to trying a hot Italian sandwich (chicken, veal, meatball or eggplant) or corned beef on rye, but he is very interested in submarine sandwiches. There’s no accounting for taste.
I think people say things like that (i.e. “I don’t like Chinese food”) I think what they really mean is “I don’t like the food I have eaten at the Chinese restaurants I have been to.”
To say you don’t like all food from a country (like China) with at least 8 different major cuisines, and countless variations and evolutions of those cuisines, and a country made of around 1/5 of the world’s population spanning 5 different climate zones, it’s pretty hard to imagine anyone, your beloved uncle included, to have tried and sample all those cuisines, and all the variations within those cuisines, to be so adamantly sure to make such a statement.
Same goes for cuisines like Indian, Korean, Thai, Japanese, and all the European countries.
I mean, for example, I will just off-hand say something casually like “I don’t like Ethiopian food” but what I really mean to say is “I don’t like the food at the Ethiopian restaurants that I’ve been to, all three of them.”
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Mine too! I’ve taken him to try just about every style of Japanese offering and most were rejected as boring or bland. So we’ll go somewhere that has sashimi AND steak and both of us can be happy. I’m sure he’ll try a few of my choices if only to repeat the bland mantra.
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Agreed. I always say, maybe you just haven’t had a good…
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Oh I know, LOL. You know I know.
It’s easier to work around these preferences, I get it.
I have a British friend that doesn’t like soup, noodles, or dumplings.
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My friend married an American who wouldn’t eat soup because " soup is old people food", after I had included wonton soup as part of a big New Year’s Eve Chinese food take-out order. That was when he was 30. Now that he’s 51, I wonder if he has started to eat soup.
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Revisiting this one. Still haven’t gone. Too much aggravation trying to satisfy the not-a-fan guy. So I’ll go with my sister instead. Thing I forgot is my friend, the gifter, specified only one thing. Must be actual Japanese. He’s from Tokyo, has spent some time in Toronto and noticed that everywhere he went was run by Koreans with Korean chefs. Any thoughts on this? Where to go? Will be the week after next so thinking cap on.
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There are quite a few quality places run by Japanese people. The Korean and Chinese-run places tend to be cheaper.
I think there’s an IG profile that promotes Japanese business in Toronto. It will take me a while to find it.
Are you still focused on Japanese grill?
For Izakaya, I like Omei on Baldwin which might be Japanese owned.
Not sure of the ownership at Imanishi.
For Japanese-owned sushi, Shinobu is my favourite.
cc @Googs , @DrJohn , @THECHARLES
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Not focussed on grill. That was just because of the not-a-fan. Will check out the others. I also put a thread on Reddit so will see if anyone knows anything that I can add to the list. Thanks.
I’ll disagree with this. My favourite sushi restaurant for years was Omi. John Lee is Korean and was wildly popular. Too bad a sports injury ended his career. Quality is made with the choices one makes, not the ones you can’t decide.
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I used the words “tend to be” because it isn’t a rule. There are exceptions. 
This keeps changing of course, as the demographic keeps changing.
Korea has its own distinct sushi traditions and styles which are good in their own right.
There are plenty of very good Japanese and Thai restaurants that owned or run by Chinese or other people who are not Japanese or Chinese.
Most Greek restaurants run by non Greeks and Italian restaurants run by non-Italians might be pretty good but there’s often something missing.
That said, I know there is the a Korean chef that has a great Italian restaurant on the Corso Italia, and the Korean baker who owns Bricolage which makes excellent French, Korean and Japanese baked goods.
Mamakas is owned by a Greek, but he puts mangiacakes in the kitchen as pastry chefs who don’t have Greek pastry skills and re-invent desserts as modern Greek that already existed- and I wish he would just hire someone with the know-how.
I can see why people who are Japanese would insist a recipient seek out a Japanese by Japanese experience. I’d do the same if I was giving someone a Greek dinner in town.
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Surprised no one has mentioned Izakaya Ju in J-Town. One of the best spot for grilled items. I recall they had Wagyu steaks as well
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