Valerie Toronto

The three of us had a mediocre experience. Great wait staff. Food could be better given the location. We ordered 8 of the 15 warm appetizers plus 3 sets of rolls. The edamame, soba salad, Brussel sprouts and the grilled gai lan were very good. Redeemed the meal actually. Great balanced flavours and cooked to perfection. We’d give those solid 8/10. Maybe a 9 for the brussel sprouts. The waygu skirt was ok. It was tender but shouldn’t rely on the sauce for flavour. 6/10. The udon carbonara was the most disappointing. It was a thick mess of a glob and extremely salty. The saltiness drowned all the fragrant mushroom and bacon flavours. 3/10. We ate maybe 20% of the bowl. Presentation was bad. The fries were average. The aioli dip had good flavour but tasted mayo-y. 5/10.

Then the sushi rolls.

The vegan roll was decent. Good presentation. 7/10. The Yumi rolls had 3 fish and no rice. With a load of little roes on top. The sauce was at the bottom of the plate and added no flavour to the rolls. The $22 dish came with 4 rolls. It was so fishy two of us each had one and abandoned the rest. 0/10. The Valerie (their “best selling”) rolls were ok. It came with wasabi and ginger but no soy sauce. We had to ask for that 5-10 minutes after the plates were delivered. The mixture of the sushi was good. The rolls were mostly redeemed by the tempura shrimp 6/10.

Also we identified our kid had an anaphylactic allergy to peanut and we went back to our hotel room get his epi-pen after seeing all the peanut items on the menu. Yet the food came out with the peanut sauces next to the food. Thank goodness our waitress rushed over to stop me from pouring the sauce on the waygu skirt rice. I nearly fed that to my kid. Please ensure you label ALL dishes with peanut ingredients on your menu. This could be life or death.

Overall good warm dishes. Not for sushi. Go for drinks and ambience.

Valerie was amazing to us!!! we loved the ambience, the food and the service. I have no idea why this place has negative reviews. We were seated within 5 mins of our reservation time and the hostess (Anissa) was very accommodating. Their prices are reasonable, loved chicken yakitori and lobster dumplings. Also, the rooftop view is breathtaking.

Always fully booked. We did walk in and we luckily got in! Nothing much on the menu, but definitely a great place to chill plus they have an amazing view.