Visited May 2013
Atmosphere: 4/5
Service: 4/5
Food / Taste: 4/5
Portion size: 3.5/5
Take reservation (via phone and on open table). Street parking, Green P nearby, or back street near little Italy.
Would I recommend friends to go / go again? Yes!! especially for their mochi ice cream
Izakaya in Toronto are very fusion based. If you are looking for traditional Japanese Izakaya, then we have not yet encountered one in Toronto. (We have been in Tokyo and Izakaya there is nothing like the one in Toronto).
Regardless, the restaurant is located in little Italy. The atmosphere is great, especially in a nice summer day, there is an option for sitting outside too. If you are an early bird dinner eater, tapas are half priced before 5pm.
Selection of beer is fair. They carried some Japanese beer, such as Asahi. Price is average.
Service is somewhat slow, maybe we went on a busy night.
We enjoyed some of the food, and some are somehow missed the mark.
We enjoyed the scallop tartar, Bibimbap (Korean style stone bowl rice), the grilled fish neck, Aburi saba, and the homemade / handmade green tea ice cream mochi. Those are surprisingly delicious. There were the wow factors for each of these dishes. I love dessert so much and having a homemade / handmade green tea ice cream mochi was very satisfied. The Japanese restaurant usually provides the store bought ready-to-serve ones, which does not have the gluey/chewy texture to the mochi. The one at Hapa was worth to try.
The rest of the food was ok. The buttered lobster was a bit on the pricier side. The pork belly was as dry as bacon (without the crisp), but the Yuzu (grapefruit) sauce was good tho'. The shrimp salad was above average, portion size was pretty big too.
Overall it was a positive experience.
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