Wasabi

270 West Beaver Creek
Richmond Hill, Ontario
(905) 881-6288

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Date: November 25, 2006
What's on the menu: Japanese buffet with a small selection of Chinese dishes and dim sum
Drinks: Tea's, fresh fruit juice, pop
Atmosphere: hip, modern, casual
Cost: $14.99 for lunch on the weekends, Dinner $17.99 and up


What’s the saying? If it looks like a duck and it quacks like a duck… Wasabi falls into a long list of All You Can Eat (AYCE) Japanese restaurants popping up in the Scarborough/Markham/Richmond Hill area. After we had sworn off AYCE restaurants (except for our favourite, Sushi on 7… shameless plug ), there was something about Wasabi that drew us back. What exactly made it stand out? Well for one thing, it’s big… Wasabi, the Home Depot of AYCE Japanese restaurants - no longer should long lineups be a problem. The other thing is décor – sleek lines, dark wood tables, cream coloured chairs… almost hip and modern enough to make us cool.

Food at Wasabi is served buffet style. At the front is the sushi/sashimi area. Behind that is the salad and cold foods area, serving anything from D.I.Y. salads to mussels and peel & eat shrimp. Another section serves up Chinese buffet foods – sweet and sour pork, black pepper beef and the like. You’ll also find a noodle station, dessert platters and ice-cream, chocolate fountain, and the deep fried area (tempura, french fries, spring rolls, etc., but no deep fried banana was in sight). CFO notes that there is also a small section for Dim Sum (Har gow, siu mai and a couple of others), nice touch, but not much to choose from. Rounding out the buffet is the Teppanyaki area - line cooks slice and dice meats to order over an iron griddle.

From the foods we sampled everything was decent. Sushi and sashimi was fresh, but choices are extremely limited unlike made to order AYCE restaurants (there were only 3 types of handrolls at lunch). Other Japanese staples such as pork cutlet and katsu don were also not available. Tempura shrimp was first served in a popcorn shrimp batter, but we later find out it’s just a case of mislabelling (There actually is “real” tempura). One barometer we use to judge an AYCE restaurant is by their seaweed salad and Wasabi’s is good, but we're beginning to think all AYCE places buy in bulk from one supplier.

If you’re used to AYCE places with drinks being included in the price, Wasabi doesn’t do that. Tea costs $1/person, soft drinks an even more ridiculous $1.99. On a positive note, the good thing about Wasabi is that you don’t have to worry about time restrictions, ordering too much food or hiding food you can’t or don’t want to finish for fear of added charges (not that anyone does that).

So it’s official, we’ve sworn (for real this time) no more AYCE Japanese restaurants unless we’re going to Sushi on 7. Nothing against Wasabi and others, but the consistency we’re looking for is just not there. If you’re into the free for all style of eating with a good overall selection of foods (not necessarily good tasting), then Wasabi is your place. For us, we’ll continue our stubborn ways and stay away from AYCE restaurants for as long as our stomachs can… usually till the next “new” place opens up .

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