SaikŌ Bistrot Izakaya - Montréal

Excellent food and service! Will definitely go back!

I guess I had higher hopes. I trully appreciated the birthday cake slice we were offered. The waitress was very kind but we waited a long time in between interactions depiste the fact that the place was empty. She also forgot to give us the containers to place soy sauce in so we took it ourselves from another table. We were hoping for more ambiance on a Saturday night. It was warm outside and sunny. Anyway, the food. yes, fish was fresh and they have some nice selection on the menu for sashimi lovers like me. Loved the shiso leaves. But I did not find this to be a good value overall. The rice on the nigri broke apart and was tiny. The roll looked like as if I had rolled it at home and was cut in pieces of variable thickness...for 38$ I would have expected the filling to be something other than surimi. Only 5 actual pieces of fish on the nigri and maki platter...rest was shrimp, surimi, clam, meh. 12 pieces for 38$ of which only 5 were to the level is not a good value IMO. Sashimi was fresh but here again, 12 pieces for $42. Had these all been top like, toro, kampachi, etc. then arguably worth it. Plastic plates, disposable chopsticks and paper towels...not the experience I was expecting for this type of place to celebrate two brithdays. My mistake perhaps for having expected more than a takeout-style sushi place. I would still recommend but with those caveats that it is not a fine dining experience.

Saiko means the best. The name means it as the best izakaya in MTL.

Went to the restaurant to celebrate my birthday and had the omakase. Chef and the team were wonderful, and very engaging! We had the omakase experience, which gave us the opportunity to sit at the counter, watch the chef prepare the food and explain what cut of fish is being used and where it was sourced from. Everything that was served to us was very fresh and great quality. He paced the food perfectly and was very patient with our questions, even though he was very busy making the plates for the other tables. Made my birthday dinner an amazing experience!

Truly enjoyed my meal. I sat at the bar and watched the chef make the sushi. Really enjoyed it.