Too expensive for what you get. Always a line for the sushi bar. Used to go there all the time, but I decided I like other places better.

Tonight, I went to the old standby sushi place in Lake City, Toyoda Sushi on Lake City Way. The food that I had was competent, but nothing extra special. My friend and I decided to share a chef’s choice of sashimi and beef sukiyaki. We started our meal with complimentary miso soup and noodle dish with imitation crab and cucumber that was drowning in a mayonnaise based sauce. We then had a spider blue crab, which was deep fried. I always thought that blue crabs had more flavor. Anyway, the sashimi was plentiful and had a large variety from surf clams and tuna to shrimp and abalone. I wished hamachi was included. However, there were some pieces that were a bit stringy, but the flavor was still ok. The sukiyaki was not too bad though a bit salty. Unfortunately, the beef was out and we had to settle for chicken. The grilled chicken somewhat tainted the flavor of the soup base but the glass noodles had a good consistency. Too bad there wasn’t more noodles in the sukiyaki. On previous visits, the sushi was fresher. Perhaps I came on a bad night. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt tonight…

My all-time favorite Japanese place in the area. It’s small, it’s kind of in an odd place, and the line can be long — but the sushi is worth the wait!