Raisu- Review
Unacceptable quality from a past gem
Last year, the first time I went to Raisu was a joyous occasion. The fish was terrific, the toro was fatty, and the servings were big. The experience wasn’t as joyous this time and left me hungry for more.
The last time I visited Raisu I tried the tower of Toro and it was delicious the portions were large and best of all it was only $60 bucks. Fast forward to today, I had wanted to try one of their specials which was a bowl of Wagyu and Toro for $50. In my mind, I’m getting a bowl with Wagyu and Toro hanging off the side of a bowl of rice. To my surprise, it’s a bowl of chopped-up pieces of Toro and Wagyu. It kind of reminded me of a dog dish with kibble mixed in with chicken and rice. Also, the cook of the wagyu was mostly medium well to well done. There were barely any pieces of red meat here and when combined it barely made an ounce of meat. This goes for the toro as well. When combined it was one slice of toro. This dish was mostly egg and rice, not to mention that this bowl is deceiving as it’s actually half the container. If I had a spoon it would take 4 scoops to eat all of this. The quality of this dish doesn’t warrant its $50 price tag and left me unhappy.
Mad regrets when for $10 more I could’ve had 6 slices of fish that might’ve satiated my hunger. If you ever end up going here, never get these bowls.
That being said, my friends had other dishes that tasted decent, the agedashi tofu. The actual Deluxe Seafood tower with prawns, toro, uni, scallop, etc. It was packed.
I’m just so sour that my dish fell so short of my expectations. The best part of the meal was the soup that came with it. Also, the ice cream I got down the street. Despite my dish, this restaurant has a cool retro Japanese vibe, and it’s a cool place to visit to see for yourself and maybe get a drink. But definitely not worth the money at times.
Sal says: Just Try It (2.7/5)
Hawaiian had San Marzano tomato sauce, provolone, smoked tasso ham, IPA caramelized pineapple and jalapeno zhug. The one thing about this pizza was the ingredients were diced up so small in some areas that it reminded me of Pizza Pop filing. Little square chunks of ham and pineapple. It made it taste like the true taste of a Hawaiian pizza was minuscule in each bite. I needed that full pineapple taste. It wasn’t that hot either considering there was zhug on this and fyi zhug is a Yemeni hot sauce but didn’t seem present in flavor here
The Carne had the same San Marzano tomato sauce, fennel salami, mortadella, meatball, fior di latte, and garlic butter crust. This was a more full-filling and tasty pizza. The salami was a chef’s kiss and combined with the fior di latte (mozzarella) made a truly tasty pie.
Overall, the service was excellent. They were very accommodating to my grandma and her disappointment with the amount of ice in her drink. So I’m grateful they were willing to help. The location is in prime real estate of Westblock and would probably be one of the better food options. With a hit-and-miss pie and a lack of soda flavours, this is more geared toward an older and casual beer drinker demographic. At around $23 a pie per small-sized pizza is not great value but it comes with the location. My friend had asked me if I got the Caesar salad as it was “really good” but I came to a pizza place for pizza and no salad will be defining what’s in your restaurant name.
Sal says: Just Try It (2.8/5)
