I made a reservation here to celebrate my friend’s birthday and now Shozan is my favorite izakaya in town. With an extensive sake selection and many non-alcoholic options, this bar caters to all audiences. I had Yamagata Masamune sake 山形正宗 - a beautiful blend of crisp and mellow - by far the best sake I’ve ever had. My friend had a sweet and refreshing non-alcoholic yuzu drink imported from Japan.
We had the pork belly skewers, chicken kara-age and fries with Mentaiko mayo (so good oh my god) the food was excellent and *locally sourced * I also ordered Goma-ae veggies. Delicious. A menu made for epicureans.
Just when I thought things couldn't get any better, the lovely lady who served us surprised my friend with a slice of birthday matcha cheesecake! 🍰
The business is family owned and you can tell the crafmanship and eye for detail that is invested into this heart-warming Ossington bar.
Overall an amazing experience.
Elyshia John
I cannot say enough good stuff about this place. The server was absolutely lovely - he was so polite and welcoming it was heartwarming. The food was fantastic! Plate after plate was an absolute hit, with each bite you could tell the care and attention that went into making the food. Everything tasted fresh and light, I felt full in the best way possible This is going to become a staple for me whenever I visit Toronto.
Babe
Expensive and portions are very small. The food is ok but the service is very poor! Many better options with better price and quality.
H. Ayuntamiento
The food is honestly not bad (portions are very small though) but the service is soooo terrible that I will avoid this place at any cost.
Erika Villavicencio
So I asked for more soya sauce and the waiter rejected to provide any in a sushi restaurant, also chopsticks mistakenly fell on the floor and server did not want to replace them. The service is horrendous. This is not a place to go to relax and enjoy but a very frustrating and sad experience
Marissa Morales
This was the worst experience Ive ever had unfortunately. When it came time to finally place our order— all 4 items I wanted were unavailable, everything else I tried to order wasn’t available either.. we settled on some other things. Over an HOUR passed and we never got drinks or food. No one even asked or followed up on the order- and turns out nothing had been rung in for us.. this is a small restaurant so its quite shocking when you don’t seem to care a table has been sitting without anything for that long. Disappointing and a waste of 1.5 hours of my life
Amine
There is an hour wait for one sushi roll. No ginger is included with the sushi. The service is terrible and the food is ok. Not worth it!
Coraline Smith
website and poster on the doors are misleading. If you don’t have brunch anymore, remove the info about it
Yvonne G
Honestly speaking, I think this place is a little bit overrated. We went for dinner, there were not much selections on the menu with a few dishes crossed out … Sashimi was fresh but other warm dishes were just so so… ordered a bottle of sake 🍶 which was good
Went here with my lover and had a lovely time. Very nice sake selection and the cocktails looked good (although I didn't have one). Staff was very pleasant and knowledgeable. Food was so satisfying and very tasty, everything was nicely prepared and cooked. I felt the portions were fair for the price and quality but they are not categorically large.
Benjamin Kyle
My partner and I were on a stroll down Ossington because everyone raves about it having the best restaurants. We peeked into Bar Shozan and immediately could tell it was a cozy hidden gem. The chicken karaage was easily the best I’ve ever had and so we ordered second’s. The eggplant appetizer was also sweet and special. One minor thing was that the server had forgot about the sashimi we ordered, but that’s ok. The food prices were super reasonable and we ended up spending almost as much on alcohol. This place rocks!
Alan
The dishes were flavourful and well-executed for the majority of the dishes, and the service and restaurant’s atmosphere with the decor made a pleasant dining experience.
However, the portions were quite small, and the prices felt steep. We ordered seven tapas for two people, and we left feeling hungry.. The bill including drinks came to almost a total of a hundred dollars per person.
A.J.
Braved a snowstorm to have dinner here. Had a pretty good experience overall. The food and drinks are great. Service was also good. Their dining room is cozy, and I like the vibe with the decor. One complaint is that the food is definitely on the pricier side for the amount that you get. I get that these are tapas, but you're paying quite a bit for something like three bites depending on what you're ordering. If you're really hungry, you'd have to order a lot (which is expensive), or probably just eat somewhere else after.
The shrimp and corn skewers were an interesting texture - kind of like fish/ squid balls where the meat is homogenous within like a fried dough. It was seasoned well and was tasty.
The shime saba was also really good. I like mackerel a lot though. Wasn't expecting it to be raw, but it was good either way.
The agedashi tofu was described on the menu was crispy, but it was actually pretty soft which was unfortunate.
I didn't know what burdock root was till I tried their kinpira gobo, but it was a tasty veggie dish with a lot of crunch.
Their pork belly yakiton was very soft and fatty as expected with the cut of meat. It had a kind of spicy sauce on it.
I enjoyed trying out their food and drinks, and I think it is worth giving the place a try for sure. Really it's just about the value for me that's a flag.
Amazing place!
I made a reservation here to celebrate my friend’s birthday and now Shozan is my favorite izakaya in town. With an extensive sake selection and many non-alcoholic options, this bar caters to all audiences. I had Yamagata Masamune sake 山形正宗 - a beautiful blend of crisp and mellow - by far the best sake I’ve ever had. My friend had a sweet and refreshing non-alcoholic yuzu drink imported from Japan.
We had the pork belly skewers, chicken kara-age and fries with Mentaiko mayo (so good oh my god) the food was excellent and *locally sourced * I also ordered Goma-ae veggies. Delicious. A menu made for epicureans.
Just when I thought things couldn't get any better, the lovely lady who served us surprised my friend with a slice of birthday matcha cheesecake! 🍰
The business is family owned and you can tell the crafmanship and eye for detail that is invested into this heart-warming Ossington bar.
Overall an amazing experience.
I cannot say enough good stuff about this place. The server was absolutely lovely - he was so polite and welcoming it was heartwarming. The food was fantastic! Plate after plate was an absolute hit, with each bite you could tell the care and attention that went into making the food. Everything tasted fresh and light, I felt full in the best way possible This is going to become a staple for me whenever I visit Toronto.
Expensive and portions are very small. The food is ok but the service is very poor! Many better options with better price and quality.
The food is honestly not bad (portions are very small though) but the service is soooo terrible that I will avoid this place at any cost.
So I asked for more soya sauce and the waiter rejected to provide any in a sushi restaurant, also chopsticks mistakenly fell on the floor and server did not want to replace them. The service is horrendous. This is not a place to go to relax and enjoy but a very frustrating and sad experience
This was the worst experience Ive ever had unfortunately. When it came time to finally place our order— all 4 items I wanted were unavailable, everything else I tried to order wasn’t available either.. we settled on some other things. Over an HOUR passed and we never got drinks or food. No one even asked or followed up on the order- and turns out nothing had been rung in for us.. this is a small restaurant so its quite shocking when you don’t seem to care a table has been sitting without anything for that long. Disappointing and a waste of 1.5 hours of my life
There is an hour wait for one sushi roll. No ginger is included with the sushi. The service is terrible and the food is ok. Not worth it!
website and poster on the doors are misleading. If you don’t have brunch anymore, remove the info about it
Honestly speaking, I think this place is a little bit overrated. We went for dinner, there were not much selections on the menu with a few dishes crossed out … Sashimi was fresh but other warm dishes were just so so… ordered a bottle of sake 🍶 which was good
Restaurantji Recommends
Top quality
Went here with my lover and had a lovely time. Very nice sake selection and the cocktails looked good (although I didn't have one). Staff was very pleasant and knowledgeable. Food was so satisfying and very tasty, everything was nicely prepared and cooked. I felt the portions were fair for the price and quality but they are not categorically large.
My partner and I were on a stroll down Ossington because everyone raves about it having the best restaurants. We peeked into Bar Shozan and immediately could tell it was a cozy hidden gem. The chicken karaage was easily the best I’ve ever had and so we ordered second’s. The eggplant appetizer was also sweet and special. One minor thing was that the server had forgot about the sashimi we ordered, but that’s ok. The food prices were super reasonable and we ended up spending almost as much on alcohol. This place rocks!
The dishes were flavourful and well-executed for the majority of the dishes, and the service and restaurant’s atmosphere with the decor made a pleasant dining experience.
However, the portions were quite small, and the prices felt steep. We ordered seven tapas for two people, and we left feeling hungry.. The bill including drinks came to almost a total of a hundred dollars per person.
Braved a snowstorm to have dinner here. Had a pretty good experience overall. The food and drinks are great. Service was also good. Their dining room is cozy, and I like the vibe with the decor. One complaint is that the food is definitely on the pricier side for the amount that you get. I get that these are tapas, but you're paying quite a bit for something like three bites depending on what you're ordering. If you're really hungry, you'd have to order a lot (which is expensive), or probably just eat somewhere else after.
The shrimp and corn skewers were an interesting texture - kind of like fish/ squid balls where the meat is homogenous within like a fried dough. It was seasoned well and was tasty.
The shime saba was also really good. I like mackerel a lot though. Wasn't expecting it to be raw, but it was good either way.
The agedashi tofu was described on the menu was crispy, but it was actually pretty soft which was unfortunate.
I didn't know what burdock root was till I tried their kinpira gobo, but it was a tasty veggie dish with a lot of crunch.
Their pork belly yakiton was very soft and fatty as expected with the cut of meat. It had a kind of spicy sauce on it.
I enjoyed trying out their food and drinks, and I think it is worth giving the place a try for sure. Really it's just about the value for me that's a flag.
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