Tekka Japanese Restaurant

A couple of nights ago we had a chance to visit Tekka Japanese Restaurant located in east North York just across the street from Fairview Mall Drive.  This restaurant is somewhat new and when we got there, the restaurant was empty but it filled up rather quickly shortly thereafter. 

When we got there we actually had a $40.00 coupon which was actually printed from the previous year.  Since the coupon did not have an expiry date we figured what a great time to use it, however when we presented it, the waiter said it was not valid because the coupon could not be applied to the "all you can eat" menu.  He was telling us that they would be losing money and that it could only be applied to the a la carte menu.  After five minutes of going back and forth they finally relented and allowed us to use it. 

The all you can eat menu on this weekend was $21.95/ person however they added an an extra dollar so we could have some of their other special items including the uni sushi. 

Beef and Chicken

Salmon Belly

Shrimp Tempura

Rather than going through every single item that we had ordered as there was plenty, I will again just highlight the good and the bad.  With respect to the good, the pan seared eggplant and salmon belly were pretty good.  Both dishes were able to capture the items' true taste and then each dish was further enhanced with some extra flavoring. The eggplant layers were skinned and "floated" and "waved" while sitting on its hot plate.  The salmon belly were quite fatty but tasty and did not have that deep ocean taste to it.  Both dishes were above average. 

A couple of dishes that I thought could have used some improvements were the bean sprouts and the cook beef.  The cooked bean sprouts, although plenty, were a little bland and somewhat difficult to eat.  I am not too sure whether it was because it was received by us at the end of all our meals or whether it was just plain bad but what you see in the picture was pretty much what was thrown out at the end of the day.  Although there were six adults at the table, none of us felt the bean sprouts met the minimal standard.  Despite mixed with carrots and cucumbers, the dish lacked appeal, taste and that desire to want more.  The other dish that did not make the cut I thought would have been the cooked beef.  It was way over cooked and was quite difficult to chew and eat.  This dish also lacked taste to it and personally was probably my least favourite of the night.

Sushi and Sashimi Boat

Egg plant

Bean Sprouts

The boat contained many of the sushi, sashimi and hand rolls that we had ordered for the evening.  Despite the numerous pieces on this boat, personally there wasn't really anything that would make it a wow factor.  Even the uni sushi rolls lacked that wow factor.  The rolls, sushi and sashimi were satisfactory at best as there was again certainly nothing to brag about.

We ordered tempura, hand rolls and desert as well and despite ordering a ton of food tonight there really wasn't anything spectacular about the overall food.  I had read a lot of reviews about this place before attending and although there were a lot of positive reviews, I have to admit I was probably a little disappointed tonight simply because I personally thought it really did not meet my expectations.  To make matters worse some of the fish were very poorly cut to the point where we were grabbing two or three pieces of sashimi at a time.  My suggestion is that one should either stick with the a la carte menu or better yet, go on a weeknight and get a better deal for its all you can eat.  For this night, I give it a 3 out of 5. 

Tekka Japanese Restaurant
107 Parkway Forest Drive  Toronto, ON M2J 1L9, Canada

(416) 496-2685