Update: changed the chef and the staff. We were all disappointed in our last experience, found it pricier and less tasty. We didn’t like that they force the service fees AND charge you fees for credit card now.
One of our favourite place in the city. Went twice and can’t wait to go back. The place is low key but has so much to offer! Each plate is a bomb of flavours and quite unique. We enjoyed every little plate we shared but our favourites were tartare, tonkatsu and I can’t say enough of the yakiudon. What a surprise, the texture and taste blew our mind! Desert is exactly like I like: sweet and salty. Great service. Fabulous sake. A must!
M N.
Great food and lovely staff, love the ambiance. Portions are very small for the price. Beef tongue and buckwheat dessert were phenomenal
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Mark Hong
Very disappointing experience. This restaurant automatically adds an 18% gratuity, even for a table of two, and then tacks on an additional 2.5% credit card fee. For that kind of mandatory tip, you’d expect excellent service, but our server was just average at best.
We only ordered four dishes and the total was over $90 for per person, yet the portions were small and we left still feeling hungry. On top of that, the food took a long time to come out.
Overall, it was overpriced, slow, and not customer-friendly. I would not recommend this place.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
VV Chen
Very disappointing experience. This restaurant forces an 18% gratuity, even for a table of two, and then adds an extra 2.5% credit card fee on top. The server’s attitude was average at best — definitely not the standard you would expect for an automatic 18% tip.
We ordered only four dishes and the bill came to over $90, yet the portion sizes were small and we left still hungry. On top of that, the food took a very long time to arrive.
Overall, it felt overpriced, slow, and not customer-friendly. Would not recommend.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Anthony Deoliveira
Came to the restaurant before closing got there at 9:25 I traveled from Richmond hill with my girl who has been dying to come to this restaurant just to be denied at the door being told they closed early today. Mind you when I searched it up the day before because I’m very ocd with my timing… it said they closed at 10pm and I clearly showed up before closing and I was refused service at the door the restaurant was busy so not even sure why they would close early.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Polina Dubik
Food was incredible, thank you.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Morgan Poteet
Such a cozy and friendly spot with a delicious and unique menu !!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Brittany Tilstra
Food was delicious. Vibes were immaculate. We sat at the bar and received excellent service from Kyo. This place hits all the right notes. I felt transported back to Osaka, thank you!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
BSJ Parker
I recently visited Sakai Bar in Downtown Toronto and tried several dishes along with a highball and beer. The bar is known for its extensive selection of drinks, sake, and spirits, and it delivered a cozy ambiance with an authentic Japanese atmosphere.
For food, I ordered the Potato Salad, Katsu Sando, Cold Soba with Oyster, and Beef Tongue. While the flavors were generally good, the portion sizes were extremely small for the price. I understand that smaller portions are common in Japanese cuisine and fit the bar-style dining experience, but here they felt excessively small given the cost. I would recommend coming after a meal if you are mainly looking to enjoy drinks.
The Potato Salad was my favorite as it offered a unique and creative mix of mashed potatoes, daikon radish, and ikura that worked beautifully together. The Beef Tongue was decent, though it seemed to be made with mid-quality cuts. The Katsu Sando was disappointing because the tenderloin was not tender at all and contained noticeable sinew, making it difficult to chew. The Cold Soba with Oyster was also underwhelming in both portion and flavor, so I would not recommend it.
One major issue I had was with the 18% gratuity. It was noted in small print on the menu but never mentioned verbally, and when the bill arrived, the payment machine still prompted for an additional tip. This practice felt misleading and left a negative final impression. If an automatic gratuity is going to be included, especially for bar seating, it should be clearly communicated to customers.
Overall, Sakai Bar is worth visiting for its drinks and atmosphere, but I would not consider it a full dinner destination.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Warm Potato Salad
Manuela Acosta
Please update your google hours to reflect when your kitchen actually closes. People travel and to show up half an hour before your “supposed” closing time and be told that the kitchen is closed is very unprofessional. Please have consideration for people’s time.
Def my new favorite sake bar and Japanese food restaurant in Toronto! 🙈
I fell in love with everything I had and i LOVE the VIBE ✨
I will def com back to the more different kinds of sake and their beef tongue is to DIE FOR! 🤌🏻
Also, they offer JIKON Sake, which was on my list for a long time, so lucky to finally tried it!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Henry So
I went on a solo mission to Sakai Bar because I have no girlfriends. Holy shit. This is a culinary masterpiece. Best restaurant i went to in a minute. A place where a love for food and genuine craftsmanship takes place. Chefs were meticulously working their craft in a small shoulder-to-shoulder kitchen. Began with the house umeshu. Sweet liquor on the rocks to start it off. Spectacular. Every dish was an absolute superstar. The grilled beef tongue, amazingly tender and flavourful. Just the right amount of fattiness. Warm potato salad was crazy rich. It was like a mash with ikura, and some tiny crunchy bits, with an assortment of herbs. Great texture and flavour. But the real generational umami bomb was the seasonal special. A bluefin tuna collar that takes three days to prepare. It was nice to hear a backstory of where the bluefin was caught too, in Nova Scotia. Soaked in a mirin, soy, sake glaze, this bad boy is smoky, a little briney, and crazy tender. The tenderness is kind of similar to a fall off the bone braised short rib, but instead its a real fatty flavourful bite. The collar is one of the most prized cuts on the bluefin, and i was glad to enjoy it. To finish it off, a buckwheat cake. Sweet, decadent, great integrity from the cake. Didnt fall apart, and I was able to enjoy a slow dissection of this dangerously sugary treat. Tad too sweet for me, but a great play with the texture. Again, no flaws from Sakai.. love you will be back. I spilled my drink accidentally and service poured one back up for me. Easily a top 3 restaurant in Toronto and it isn’t 2 or 3. Great vibes, attentive service. Definitely a place to impress your date.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Kenta Matsubuchi
The beef tongue was the best I have ever eaten. They had a good sake selection. Highly recommend!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Mariko Tajiri
An OG gem of a bar. It’s a sake bar but it’s so much more! A community hub and just a comfortable, yummy place. Great sake program, food and energy. Stu’s personality shines through in every aspect!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Janis Hudon
We had a trip to Toronto, and a family member recommended this place. It was AMAZING. The food was delicious. The way they described what was on the menu was like they were telling a story. As a table we talked about ordering Sake (not when there was a server around) and magically one appeared. Stuarts knowledge of sake was unparalleled to anything we've ever experienced before. If you ever are in Toronto you need to check out this place. It's definitely on the list for a must do in Toronto!
Update: changed the chef and the staff. We were all disappointed in our last experience, found it pricier and less tasty. We didn’t like that they force the service fees AND charge you fees for credit card now.
One of our favourite place in the city. Went twice and can’t wait to go back. The place is low key but has so much to offer! Each plate is a bomb of flavours and quite unique. We enjoyed every little plate we shared but our favourites were tartare, tonkatsu and I can’t say enough of the yakiudon. What a surprise, the texture and taste blew our mind! Desert is exactly like I like: sweet and salty. Great service. Fabulous sake. A must!
Great food and lovely staff, love the ambiance. Portions are very small for the price. Beef tongue and buckwheat dessert were phenomenal
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Very disappointing experience. This restaurant automatically adds an 18% gratuity, even for a table of two, and then tacks on an additional 2.5% credit card fee. For that kind of mandatory tip, you’d expect excellent service, but our server was just average at best.
We only ordered four dishes and the total was over $90 for per person, yet the portions were small and we left still feeling hungry. On top of that, the food took a long time to come out.
Overall, it was overpriced, slow, and not customer-friendly. I would not recommend this place.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Very disappointing experience. This restaurant forces an 18% gratuity, even for a table of two, and then adds an extra 2.5% credit card fee on top. The server’s attitude was average at best — definitely not the standard you would expect for an automatic 18% tip.
We ordered only four dishes and the bill came to over $90, yet the portion sizes were small and we left still hungry. On top of that, the food took a very long time to arrive.
Overall, it felt overpriced, slow, and not customer-friendly. Would not recommend.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Came to the restaurant before closing got there at 9:25 I traveled from Richmond hill with my girl who has been dying to come to this restaurant just to be denied at the door being told they closed early today. Mind you when I searched it up the day before because I’m very ocd with my timing… it said they closed at 10pm and I clearly showed up before closing and I was refused service at the door the restaurant was busy so not even sure why they would close early.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Food was incredible, thank you.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Such a cozy and friendly spot with a delicious and unique menu !!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Food was delicious. Vibes were immaculate. We sat at the bar and received excellent service from Kyo. This place hits all the right notes. I felt transported back to Osaka, thank you!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I recently visited Sakai Bar in Downtown Toronto and tried several dishes along with a highball and beer. The bar is known for its extensive selection of drinks, sake, and spirits, and it delivered a cozy ambiance with an authentic Japanese atmosphere.
For food, I ordered the Potato Salad, Katsu Sando, Cold Soba with Oyster, and Beef Tongue. While the flavors were generally good, the portion sizes were extremely small for the price. I understand that smaller portions are common in Japanese cuisine and fit the bar-style dining experience, but here they felt excessively small given the cost. I would recommend coming after a meal if you are mainly looking to enjoy drinks.
The Potato Salad was my favorite as it offered a unique and creative mix of mashed potatoes, daikon radish, and ikura that worked beautifully together. The Beef Tongue was decent, though it seemed to be made with mid-quality cuts. The Katsu Sando was disappointing because the tenderloin was not tender at all and contained noticeable sinew, making it difficult to chew. The Cold Soba with Oyster was also underwhelming in both portion and flavor, so I would not recommend it.
One major issue I had was with the 18% gratuity. It was noted in small print on the menu but never mentioned verbally, and when the bill arrived, the payment machine still prompted for an additional tip. This practice felt misleading and left a negative final impression. If an automatic gratuity is going to be included, especially for bar seating, it should be clearly communicated to customers.
Overall, Sakai Bar is worth visiting for its drinks and atmosphere, but I would not consider it a full dinner destination.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 4
Service: 3
Recommended dishes: Warm Potato Salad
Please update your google hours to reflect when your kitchen actually closes. People travel and to show up half an hour before your “supposed” closing time and be told that the kitchen is closed is very unprofessional. Please have consideration for people’s time.
Restaurantji Recommends
Food 5/5
Service 5/5
Vibe 5/5
Def my new favorite sake bar and Japanese food restaurant in Toronto! 🙈
I fell in love with everything I had and i LOVE the VIBE ✨
I will def com back to the more different kinds of sake and their beef tongue is to DIE FOR! 🤌🏻
Also, they offer JIKON Sake, which was on my list for a long time, so lucky to finally tried it!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
I went on a solo mission to Sakai Bar because I have no girlfriends. Holy shit. This is a culinary masterpiece. Best restaurant i went to in a minute. A place where a love for food and genuine craftsmanship takes place. Chefs were meticulously working their craft in a small shoulder-to-shoulder kitchen. Began with the house umeshu. Sweet liquor on the rocks to start it off. Spectacular. Every dish was an absolute superstar. The grilled beef tongue, amazingly tender and flavourful. Just the right amount of fattiness. Warm potato salad was crazy rich. It was like a mash with ikura, and some tiny crunchy bits, with an assortment of herbs. Great texture and flavour. But the real generational umami bomb was the seasonal special. A bluefin tuna collar that takes three days to prepare. It was nice to hear a backstory of where the bluefin was caught too, in Nova Scotia. Soaked in a mirin, soy, sake glaze, this bad boy is smoky, a little briney, and crazy tender. The tenderness is kind of similar to a fall off the bone braised short rib, but instead its a real fatty flavourful bite. The collar is one of the most prized cuts on the bluefin, and i was glad to enjoy it. To finish it off, a buckwheat cake. Sweet, decadent, great integrity from the cake. Didnt fall apart, and I was able to enjoy a slow dissection of this dangerously sugary treat. Tad too sweet for me, but a great play with the texture. Again, no flaws from Sakai.. love you will be back. I spilled my drink accidentally and service poured one back up for me. Easily a top 3 restaurant in Toronto and it isn’t 2 or 3. Great vibes, attentive service. Definitely a place to impress your date.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
The beef tongue was the best I have ever eaten. They had a good sake selection. Highly recommend!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
An OG gem of a bar. It’s a sake bar but it’s so much more! A community hub and just a comfortable, yummy place. Great sake program, food and energy. Stu’s personality shines through in every aspect!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
We had a trip to Toronto, and a family member recommended this place. It was AMAZING. The food was delicious. The way they described what was on the menu was like they were telling a story. As a table we talked about ordering Sake (not when there was a server around) and magically one appeared. Stuarts knowledge of sake was unparalleled to anything we've ever experienced before. If you ever are in Toronto you need to check out this place. It's definitely on the list for a must do in Toronto!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
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