I walked by this Kyoto House many many times but I didn't visit either it's a long lineup of people or the decor doesn't look appetizing.
However, today, I finally decided to give it a try after playing some outdoor app games with my friends.
AYCE lunch here is $20.99 CDN + tax which is very reasonable at today's inflating pricing around all restos and if a bowl of pork bone soup down the street is $19.95, I rather have the AYCE lunch.
Mind you, I checked the Dinner AYCE here, for the price of $29.95 CDN + tax, just $9 more for dinner, I rather have dinner as you can order sashimi, shrimp tempura, BBQ short ribs.
For lunch AYCE, they don't offer any of the aforementioned items, it's purely sushi, hand roll, sushi rolls, udon, fried rice, miso soup, the basis. Anyhow, I was there at around 2:00 PM, which is long way from dinner time, so I ordered the lunch AYCE.
To my surprise, the hand rolls were very good especially the BBQ salmon skin with avocado (although I prefer they put less seafood sauce in it). Fresh sushi rice, hot steamy miso soup, really clean crispy fried pork cutlet, teriyaki chicken soup udon was great as well. Ice cream were great.
I have to emphasize how attentive the staff were, they were all very competent, responsive, hardworking. They takes your orders right, always check if you have enough water or hot tea and they automatically fill it up without you asking.
I do have to say that the resto somewhat does look a bit like a cafeteria with not much a vibe or atmosphere. There are no music being played, super quiet where everyone just sit & eat, which is fine.
Food comes quick and they don't miss your order.
Of course, the quality of the raw fish and sushi are better quality at other AYCE uptown such as Richmond Hill or Markham but then again, those charges almost double, so you get what you pay for.
I would say this, if you have no expectations but just want a standard lunch that fills you up with rice, udon, sushi, this is the place, you have the peace of mind to order whatever you want and at $20.99 CDN, it's one of the cheapest AYCE lunch offered in the expensive Toronto city.