Daio Japanese Restaurant

Definitely one of the best chicken teriyaki I had in a very long time!
I was advised by one of my clients to come and try this place, and knowing that he’s one of my pickiest clients I knew it was going to be good!
I had been to this place twice since then and every time I have something different.
The first time I had sushi platter and it was really good last night I had chicken teriyaki and it was to die for!
The service is really good and the owners are super friendly.
The décor is very authentic and I love the traditional Japanese music playing in the background.
I definitely recommend this place you won’t be disappointed.

Wonderful, traditional family-​owned Japanese restaurant. All of the sushi is fresh and expertly prepared and presented. Lots of traditional dishes which are hard to find in Toronto (e.g. ikura don), charming bamboo wood booths and Japanese music playing in the background.

Had their sashimi lunch and the portion size was too small. Left hungry.
Service was ok though.

Rice was cold.
Fish was dry.
Sashimi was delicious.
Ambiance was very authentic.
Service was super friendly.
Wouldn’t mind going back.

Pros:
— server was super friendly! This may be the only redeeming factor about this place, haha
— pretty clean and nice inside (despite the outside appearance)
Cons:
I wish I had paid more attention to the negative reviews already here…
— food is overpriced compared to other options nearby and for what you get; quality of the fish is not that great, as the flavour of the fish gives the impression it isn’t fresh
— the flavouring of the rice used for the sushi is poorly done /​nonexistent; the temperature is also off (too cold)
— tempura was pretty good but some parts were soggy
Won’t be returning and can’t recommend to others :(
If you’re in the area and looking for sushi, try «Epicure City Mt Fuji» — better value AND quality!

Service is good. Unfortunately that’s about the only thing that’s good about the restaurant.

I absolutely loved this restaurant, I was looking for something fresh, fast, and delicious and definitely found it. I had their crab meat seafood salad and the spicy salmon roll. The salad was incredible, it was a mixture of seaweed in a fresh dressing and I was more than impressed. I am only here in Toronto for a week and will be going back for the salad alone. The crab meat was perfect and I actually could not help but drink the dressing left at the end. They were out of the spicy tuna roll but suggested I try the spicy salmon. There was not too much rice and it was prepared perfectly. They are very generous with the amount of salmon and it was spicy and kind of sweet. I was not anticipating the spicy roll to be sweet but was not disappointed. I will definitely be going back. Thank you to this amazing family owned restaurant, try and get a private booth, absolutely delicious and great atmosphere.

Fantastic semi-​traditional Japanese style environment with traditional music playing and a real Japanese chief. But the serving is quite expansive for it’s size which is really small. But the food does taste good there. Recommend the dark beer there.

Quite medium size place on Carlton and Yonge.
The atmosphere is a calm Japanese traditionally decorated. A soft jap instrumental is played in the background which gives a smoothing relaxing effect while you are eating … !
I had the chirashi at lunch. For $ 16, it could be cheaper I guess, but the quality was decent.
They brought me my food with a fairly long day, but at least they warned me beforehand and kindly brought me a complimentary seaweed salad.
Would come back if I’m around and craving good quality jap food.

A hidden gem! I am so glad my friend recommended me this place.
Venue: It looks average but clean and it has some nice private booths. To be honest, I passed by Daio on Carlton Street many times but really never gave it a second look. $$$
Food: Wow! We had many appetizers and sake. Some of the excellent dishes are Black cod, Agedashi Tofu, very very fresh tuna, salmon and Hamachi sashimi, soft shell crab,… Presentation of food was beautiful and inviting. $$$$$
Service: she was very friendly and pleasant. $$$$
Conclusion: I definitely like how good/​fresh the sashimi were. Freshness is what I look for in a sushi place. There are way too many sushi joints in Toronto and some really serve plastic rubber sushi. Daio Japanese Restaurant serves amazing and serious food.

A hidden gem. It doesn’t look like much from the outside but their sashimi is delicious. Ask them what is fresh and you won’t be disappointed. They only have Uni when it is in season and it’s delicious!
The Chirashi and Sushi is good and their Nebanyaki Udon is perfect when it’s cold outside.

Parked nearby for food and saw a sushi sign, walked in. It was a small restaurant with tables and private booths. Saw the menu — everything was overpriced. I felt too bad to walk out. Order a $ 25.00 Bento box… most expensive bento box I’ve ever had. Maybe I’m too accustomed to the cheaper sushi places like Sushi on Bloor, but I just can’t seem to feel good about paying $ 25 for a bento box!
Anyways, food came. Portion sizes were small. Food was mediocre. I’m not sure what the other reviews are referring to about the ‘authentic Japanese’ experience because I’ve been to my fair share of Japanese restaurants all around the world and I would categorize this as the lower end of the ‘authentic’ scale.
I came here with my SO and we each got a bento box… spending $ 60 on what was supposed to be a casual quick bite… and I’m still hungry!
On the plus side: décor was nice, clean, server was very friendly.
Would I come back? No.
Would I recommend this place? Sure — if you want to splurge and impress someone on a first date.

Great quality. Friendly service. Reasonable prices.

They have great uni sushi in winter which is greeeaaaatttt! I’ve been craving for it for a long time! Twin pieces of uni sushi is just about $ 9 which is quite impossible in Toronto. Uni is extremely fresh and sweet, and reminds me of the one I had in the seafood market in Japan. The service is also really nice. I also had the chirashi sushi, in which the sashimi are really fresh and yummy. I’ll definitely go another time!

The sushi is made by an actual Japanese sushi chef. I ordered Sushi B (I think it was $ 24…), of which there are a lot of pictures posted by other wonderful Unilocalers. The sushi rice is perfectly cooked and it is not sweet like the other places, it is more on the salty and savoury side. The sushi is made with much care.
We also ordered the cold soba with tempura (I think it was $ 15). The tempura was light and crispy, and I THINK they use fresh shrimp (dead, but not frozen) for their shrimp tempura, because the texture is definitely different compared to other places. The soba noodles are the proper kind that break easily and have a bit of a slimy texture when you chew. The bonito broth it comes with is awesome too.
Even their miso soup tastes like they use higher quality miso, and their salad is not sweet like other places.
Also, the service was impeccable. We had a really nice and pretty Asian lady with her hair tied up and wearing glasses. She was always smiling (not the fake kind either) and made us feel so welcome.
Interior and atmosphere is pretty good. You can hear classic Japanese instrumental music. It is clean and like many other have said, they have these really cute private booths.
Overall, very authentic food, great service, and well worth the couple extra dollars.

Been here a couple times since my first visit. I’ve been hesitant to try it for years because it looks fairly quiet but that was a mistake. The food here is fresh, the chef puts effort into everything he makes.
Awesome food, a bit pricier than others in the area but you get what you pay for — — slightly higher quality.

Truly authentic Japanese cuisine and service is great.
Grilled Saba was from Norway and was amazing. The spicy salmon roll was also pleasantly different. Slight smoky flavor with just the right amount of spice. Unagi rolls were delicious with a perfectly grilled and slightly warmed rice.
Highly recommended.

This is legitimate Japanese food. The service is excellent, the atmosphere is lovely and the food is astonishing!
I thought I had good sushi before but this stuff was fresh, perfectly flavored and worth the the price.
Had spicy tuna roll and sunomono salad, both had fresh seafood and were amazing for my taste pallet.
Definitely bringing friends and coming back!

Despite living in the vicinity for many years, we never really tried out this place till recently. I think the main reason is that it looks like a regular run of the mill sushi place, and the fact that it is next to a chinese restaurant with a similar looking sign does not help with that image.
Well, one night we decided to try here out because it was like 10pm on a weekday and many places were closing, we were pleasantly surprised by the atmosphere inside and by the food quality. One of the few restaurants that we misjudged due to its outer appearance. We have been back quite a number of times since and have pretty much made this our regular neighborhood sushi place.
Inside japanese music is playing and there are actually about 5 semiprivate booths available, every time we have been back we have been able to score a booth. The décor inside is not typical of a run of the mill sushi place, it feels very peaceful.
The first time we were here we both had the Chirashi and it was excellent, they give you almost 2X the amount of fish as most place and the rice was well seasoned and cooked. The fish was fresh and had a nice variety ranging from salmon, clams, tuna, butterfish, tai, ebi, etc. The rice was not mushy or overly vinegary, it was nicely balanced and well cooked, grainy but not hard. The Chirashi also came with garden salad, miso soup, pickled vegetables and seaweed on the side. Very nice presentation. We were both starving and was quite full after this (note we are both pretty hearty eaters). The Chirashi was $ 26 which is more expensive than most places but given the quality and quantity of food provide, we think it is very reasonably priced.
I have also returned with a friend and was working in a booth discussing work for almost 3 hours and they were also very patient with me. No complaints or intrusions except with the occasional tea or water filling.
The other things that we have ordered are the Sushi B which consisted of salmon rolls along with a nice variety of nigiri sushi pieces, all very fresh, it also came with a soup and salad for $ 26.
The Salmon Ikura Don comes with the same sides as the Chirashi, but of course only has salmon and ikura on top of the rice, the salmon was fresh and plentiful, also great if you are craving salmon only as I was. This was only $ 20.
Overall, my husband and I really like this place, it has definitely been our go to spot when we want sashimi or sushi in our neighborhood.

The outside doesn’t really look like much, but the inside is very cool. It’s a small little restaurant with a bunch of tables and then some private booths. I thought the booth areas were a nice touch. Although the seats were kind of uncomfortable, they were nice enough to give you pillows to sit on. The seats are pretty far away from the table/​the other side, so I had to lean in a lot to talk to my date. You may want to sit on the same side of the table when you go.
The sushi was good. I thought It was a little pricey, but I’m always willing to pay a bit more for good sushi. The fish seemed pretty fresh, and the rolls were made very well. What more can you ask for?
The server was completely awesome! She was very concerned about pleasing the guests and it showed. She was so nice and always helpful. And she apologized whenever anything was even a little off. Like when she gave us different sized wine glasses, or when part of our sushi took a couple minutes more than the rest. I thought it was sweet that she was so worried about it, when I probably wouldn’t have even thought about it if she hadn’t mentioned anything. I know I would not have noticed the subtle difference in the glass sizes on my own.
Overall Daio is a pretty good sushi experience and I would go again if I was in the area.