Ryu - the restaurant - no Hadoken here....

As anticipated, Annie will always say yes to sushi.... which gave me the opportunity to try Ryu Tapas restaurant.

I found out about this restaurant when friends were posting it on facebook and also when I walked by the restaurant when I was heading to Greasy Spoon....

I'll break it down into 5 category: (Ambiance, Decor, Service, Food, Pricing)

Ambiance: 7

Well... This place feels like a sushi place you'd find in NYC for yuppies. You gotta have that swagger and dress like you're the coolest shit since the MC HAMMER pants. Upon entering the restaurant I could feel for a moment as if the restaurant went silent and the crowd was staring at both of us. WHY? Maybe because we look young or they had the OMFG Asians are eating here look. Clearly the people here are either European or french folks from the plateau. They play a blend of house lounge music, trying to mimic some kind of weird supper club ambiance.

If you are ready to act like a snob and be snobbed by others.... this is the place for you :P

Decor: 6.5

Err... lots of purple and pink neon hues all over the place with black walls and white tables and chairs. I can't help but wish there was a dance floor with dancers on top of the sushi bar. Kind feels like an after hour at 7 am.... you know when everything is a blur. The place is trying really hard to have this PLUR feel to it. The only note i'd say is that the space is really cramp and we were pretty close and sandwiched to other tables.

Service: 8

Our waitor was alright, clearly he had some issues translating things in english as he was more french. He took our orders, made recommendations and chatted with us a bit. He was a good guy. The only thing I can complain about is that drinks take a while to be served. I guess the bar is too small and there's only one bartender. Dessert, they messed up the order but they didn't charge for it so that was a PLUS!. The table beside us asked to doggy bag the leftovers but it never came. They didn't eat 3 rolls and that is prolly about 40$ worth of food.


Food: 7.5

Some plates are hits or miss.... so I went for a variety of things to measure it on freshness of seafood and creativity.

Jalapeno Hamachi Sashimi:  Yellowtail was fresh, jalapeno was cut a little too thick. The sauce is some ponzu blend but didn't taste deep or robust

Red Snapper Sashimi with sauce: Tasted pretty standard, had cracked pepper and grains of sea salt on top. Nothing special and pretty forgettable.

Salmon Sashimi: It was fresh, cut really thick and oddly priced. I ordered 6 portions. I got a plate of 9 salmon sashimi for 18$. Tho the 9 slices is easily equivalent to 18 slices at other places. lol so I felt like I got my moneys worth.

Club Ryu: Sushi Burrito/Wrap cut in half. It was a pretty tasty treat, its like a giant kamikaze roll with extra seafood wrapped in soy paper. Reminded me of a food truck in the West coast I saw on food network.

Beef Tataki: Tasted more like a warn seared steak. Came with a fresh kimchi style coleslaw. Too sour for my taste, clearly it didn't ferment long enough

Kyo Roll: This is there most expensive roll, comes with different fishes and lobster. at 25$, I expected alot out of it. In the end it tasted like a glorified rainbow roll. Not worth the cash.

Godzilla Roll: Eel and etc type of roll, that tasted good and I would definitly order it again.

Sauces: They provide 5 different kinds of dipping sauces for their sushi. You can ask for soya sauce and wasabi. That was a nice touch.

Cocktails in general: Their cocktails are great and I would definitely go back for just drinks and a few appetizers.

Dessert Sushi Roll: Strawberry and blueberry with alot of tempura bits in a soy paper roll with a bit of rice. Came with some watered down nutella to dip with. It was surprisingly good and much better than Shodan's romeo and juliet. (that roll is by far the weirdest shit I ever ate)

Price:
Well - I was pretty full by the end of the night and the total bill was 200+ for two with 4 cocktails and sparkling water. Do I think it's overpriced... Absolutely. Can I justify why the overpriced it? Yep. Comes with Valet parking and I assume that rent is expensive on Laurier.

Some of the rolls are over priced by 30% or so. If the pricing overall would be about 20-25% less, this place is a clear winner. Not good for groups tho. I would recommend a maximum of 4 people. There's no way the kitchen, bar, sushi chef, waiters can properly execute for a greater group.

Conclusion:
- I would go there to impress a girl
- I would not go there for a group outing
- I would probably go to NYC next time for a restaurant of that style
- I doubt I would come back to this place
- I think they are trying to hard to look like a super cool trendy restaurant
- I wish there was some kind of homage to street fighter on their menu :P