Another Japanese restaurant… Daikoku Sushi & Ramen Bistro near Woodbine and Apple Creek. (For the meaning of Daikoku, click here.) Friday night after work, me and two girl friends of mine decided to come to this Japanese Ramen place. I remember this place… It was still under renovation during my first visit to Royal Teahouse early this year. At around 8pm, the restaurant was about 1/4 full, which wasn’t so good for a Friday night. When I first stepped in, I quite like the atmosphere there – a bit of a fusion – lounge feel – also depends on the music they play.
Here’s what we ordered…
墨汁拉麵 (can’t remember the proper English name), Skewers, Daikoku ramen (miso base), “Black curry” ramen. I think I like the 墨汁拉麵 the best. All the other stuffs were just ok. The texture of the ramen wasn’t that good – it becomes a big soggy after 5 minutes. We also ordered a “wild rice vinegar w/ honey”, which is quite nice – vinegar is good if you drink it once in a while. JL ordered a “house-made” apple calpis.
It was nice to chit chat with the girl friends, can’t remember when I had a girls night out last time. Since we were talking and chatting all the time, the waiting time didn’t seem that long. We stayed there til about 10:30pm. The service was ok. The waiter was good in terms of filling the tea.
Saturday night – went to Daikoku again, this time with my bf. I didn’t intentionally to go there, but we just ended up going there coz he didn’t feel like Thai/Viet, and there were only 4 major restaurants in that area (Woodstone, Mini Viet, Royal Teahouse and Daikoku). Looking at the sky… It was so beautiful.
At around 8:30pm, there were more customers in this place – much better than Friday night. I also noticed that the people who went there tend to be younger. The waiters/waitresses were the same ones as yesterday’s.
Friday night while we were tasting the food, JL mentioned that this restaurant is run by the same group of people who ran 橫綱 (Yokozuna) at Commerce Gate. I think she’s right, especially after looking at their dessert menu and trying their ramen. Quite a long time ago, we’ve been to Yokozuna, and found their egg-wrapped rice quite good. Although there was only the “egg-wrapped ramen” instead of rice on the menu, we still ordered that anyways. The taste was good, but the portion was small. We also ordered the Philadephia roll and U571 maki – $7-8 for a 4 pieces roll, well… the taste was quite good, but it was a bit pricy (don’t you ever underestimate your customers… we know the price range!!!). I ordered the Teriyaki salmon rice… however after a long wait, when we have finished all the egg-wrapped rice and Philidephia roll, the waitress came and told me they ran out of rice!!! God. That’s unbelieverable for a restaurant to run out of rice!
Therefore, I had a ramen instead of rice. The portion of the teriyaki salmon was also relatively small. Overall, the experience wasn’t that great – a bit pricy for what you pay for & not too professional service. The first night, 3 person paid $18.5/person (after T&T); second night, the total was around $40.
I don’t think I’d go there again.
FYI: Daikoku Sushi & Ramen Bistro
8865 Woodbine Ave Unit #D5 in Markham
Tel: 905-307-3328
I was there on Sat night too. It was my first time there and was quite disappointing. As soon as I walked in, my hubby said to me ‘what is that smell?’; it was the smell of bamboo shoot which he hates. Anyway, I had the basic Chai Shou ramen, it was okay but the chai shou was too thick to bite on; they should cut into thin slices. I have had much better ramen at other places. For sure, it was my first time and last time there.
I like your site, loads of neat stuff.
Hey Mary,
Wow! What a coincidence! I didn’t smell the bamboo shoot, but the experience wasn’t that good. I guess they should really rethink about their business, otherwise, I’m sure it’s gonna turn out badly. btw, thx for dropping by my site 🙂
i remember hearing some awful things about the ramen at yokozuna .. i hadn’t planned to going to daikoku — and especially knowing the “no camera” and “no outside food” policies, they are completely off my list. what horrible, horrible policies.
it was such a mistake that we went there…..the food is totally SUCKS…..I won’t go there again!!!
Seems like no one has been satisfied with this place…
Hi Marz, I don’t remember if I had ever mentioned it before. The best ramen place I’ve been to, is Konichi-wa, on Baldwin St. The quality has declined somewhat, since they renovated and changed the menu a bit, but it’s still the best ramen I’ve found in Toronto. I used to love their Tampopo ramen (a reference to the movie)! Anyway, if you know of other good ramen places, can you post about it? I just love ramen.
Hey! I don’t think you’ve mentioned that before… but I’d love to try that out. I’ve been to another noodle place (not really ramen place only – coz there are other types of noodles as well) – will post it up here later.
Ramen and chocolate milk are just so comforting…
There’s a ramen place in Vancouver that I like… but it’s hard to go there again :\
“Ramen and chocolate milk are just so comforting…” I find that so funny but so true. A story about chocolate milk:
Three weeks ago, I travelled to Calgary to go hiking with two other friends. Our first trip involved hiking the Plain of Six Glaciers trail at Lake Louise. It’s a 15km roundtrip, but very doable because it’s very well-groomed. But because we started late in the day, we had to hurry. The views of the mountains were spectacular; the air was crisp and clean, and the end parts of the trail were fearsome. We even saw an avalanche on one of the mountains as the powdery explosion of snow came down (we were far, far away from it to be in any danger). The result of a very vigorous hike, was that we were very hungry. Fortunately, my friend B. had booked a table for us in the Fairview Dining Room at Chateau Lake Louise. We all agreed, that the first thing we would order, would be chocolate milk! Boy, was that tall glass of chocolate milk ever refreshing!
BTW, if you remember the name/address of the ramen place in Vancouver, could you please post it? Chiquita and I are going to Seattle in October and we’ll be stopping by in Vancouver. Thanks in advance!
HAHAHA! Chocolate milk rocks!
Not a problem. I think I still have the names… I can post some restaurants that I’ve tried in Vancouver. There’s a cheesecake place that you should try if you like cheesecake 😀 HAVE FUN!
A) why would you wanna bring outside food to a RESTAURANT?!?!? you go there to EAT the food THEY make!
B) not everyone hates the smell of bamboo shoots
C) the cuisine is of high quality, it’s difficult for people who aren’t used to it to develop a taste for it
D) 18.50/person for 3 people is nearly the same as 40 for two people total…basic math ppl, guess that 1.50 really took a toll on ur pocket book!