Ten-Ichi

Some people might think I'm crazy for saying this but... I don't like Ten-Ichi. There, I said it.

A friend raved about how she loved the sushi buffet, Ten-Ichi. I decided to take my inlaws there for dinner on a Saturday night. Thank god my father-in-law couldn't make it otherwise he would've been disgusted with my restaurant choice.

The earliest reservation I was able to make was at 8:15pm. When I arrived, the place was super packed. Luckily, I didn't have to wait long to get to our table even though my friend kept warning me that even with reservations I might have to wait at least 30 minutes for our table.

The tables were pretty close to one another. It was hard enough trying to squeeze through to get to our seats. They really maximized the space here.

Here was the only dish I actually ordered twice, aside from the sashimi, the beef skewers. It was very tasty and well seasoned. After this dish, everything else went downhill from here.

Here was some sort of sushi I just can't remember the name of. It was not appetizing at all. Just too creamy.

Here was the shrimp and sweet potato tempura. It wasn't fried long enough so it didn't have that crunchy exterior you would expect from it.

This was the white dragon maki with crispy kani roll topped with tai tataki, teriyaki sauce and bonito flakes. I don't remember how this tasted. I just remember eating one roll and that was it. Didn't want to touch it again.

Here was the roll my friend insisted that I try, the rose maki with avocado kani roll drizzled with fresh mango dressing topped with tobiko. It wasn't entirely horrible but just ended up being too sweet. It tasted more like a mango drink with rice bits in it than a sushi roll.

Here were the salmon roses. It was salmon sashimi wrapped around chopped ika. It was edible but that's about it.

The spicy tuna roll was a different story. With tuna it has to be bright red to be fresh, this was purple. Not the color you want to see. Needless to say, I only ate one just to try it out and what you see here is what I tasted in my mouth...BLAH!

Here was the amebi sashimi which is only available on weekends. The shrimp was sweet so it wasn't too bad.

Here was the worst dish of the night, the avocado seafood salad with guacamole-style avocado mixed with assorted seafood baked golden brown. A Ten-Ichi special which required 25 minutes of prep time. Almost every table that ordered this, hardly any of it was touched. All the waiters returned to the kitchen with practically full plates of these mushy green stuff. I don't understand how it took 25 minutes to prepare this avocado mayhem. Did they have to mash the avocados with one finger or something? Unbelievable.

For desserts, I had the green tea ice cream and mango yogurt. The ice cream was full of green tea flavor however, I was not fond of the texture. It was too grainy. Surprisingly, the mango yogurt was a delight. It was milk pudding topped with fresh mango puree. It was refreshing and delicious.

I did order a lot of food but I was so disappointed with the dishes that I wasn't even inspired to take any pictures at all. The pictures I have here was the first round of food. The second round I just gave up. By the way, it was a sushi buffet so of course I did order the sashimi since that is where you get the bang for your buck. The salmon sashimi was actually fresh however, the snapper was definitely frozen a bit too long.

Now a lot of people I have talked to, they rank this place as one of their fave sushi buffets but to me, this is at the bottom of my list. I think after this experience no more sushi buffets for me. From now on, I'm choosing quality over quantity.

TOTAL BILL $27 per person...ONCE IS ENOUGH!!!

Ten-Ichi Japanese Buffet

4810 Sheppard Ave. East, #213

(east of McCowan)

416-297-5787