I have no idea if Masa was the first place in town to offer all-you-can-eat sushi, but it was certainly the first I was aware of. I remember several years ago -- before there were AYCE sushi joints every other block -- seeing it and thinking it was a novel (if somewhat worrisome) concept.
Luckily, I've had 2 weeks to recover from overstuffing myself on Mariko's all-you-can-eat sushi. I tried to keep things a little more under control this time. A little.
Despite being located in a not-so-luxurious hotel (at Charles and Yonge), Masa boasts one of the swankiest rooms you'll ever have all-you-can-eat sushi in. It looks like the kind of place where you'd expect to pay more than 16 bucks for your meal. Impressive.
Unlike most AYCE sushi places, you can actually order single pieces of maki, not just rolls of 6. This would be a great way to sample a variety of different things, if not for the fact that they only have like 10 rolls to choose from.
From Masa's very limited sushi menu, we ordered... just about everything. On the upside, much of what they do have is right up my alley (BBQ eel, tempura shrimp, fake crab, etc.). They offer somewhat more variety on the non-sushi side, including noodles, dumplings, and various things deep-fried in tempura batter. The yakitori was particularly tasty.
With it's classy decor and good quality at a (very) reasonable price, Masa could be a pretty great destination for AYCE sushi... if not for the woefully tiny card. But hey, if you're not into trying weird things and just want to fill up on standard sushi items -- and there's nothing wrong with that -- Masa's a pretty good deal. I hear they also have one of those things where you sit at the grill and the chef whips up your meal in front of you, which might be fun (in a 1990 sort of way). I didn't check it out though... after all, this is Sushipalooza, not Teppanyakipalooza!
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