Toro Sushi Bar Lounge

I love this place. It’s my second home. Probably my first for bars… I plan around their schedule.
Easily in the top 3 sushi places in Pasadena. Their ONLY handicap is the location. I can’t really judge the waitstaff (I know most of them) I don’t remember anyone ever over/​under pouring. Settle down Mr$ 8 underpouring!

Awesome atmosphere, food, and happy hour price!
We accidentally came in 10 minutes before they closed. I hate when people do that, but they took our order and were totally cool about it. Our waitress told us they were almost closing and I told them we could leave and come back another day and wouldn’t hear it. She was super friendly and made us feel welcomed.
The prices were unbelievable! I wanted to go back the next day lol but they are closed on Tuesdays… Bummer

Did anyone know toro sushi shut Down!!!
Just got here and it is closed and up for lease… Nice!

Came here ard 10pm for a friends birthday party. Kitchen was still OPEN!!! Yay! I was still full from dinner but I wanted something to munch.
I tried the tempura fries, sooooo light, crispy and tasty. Cheap too at $ 3.50. Big portion. I think it’s $ 2 during happy hour. The salmon skin hand roll was YUMMMMMMAY!!!
Topping off my «snack» with the free ice cream u get when u check in. I chose green tea and they gave me TWO HUGE dollops of it! Hit the spot and I’m good for the night!
Drinks are affordable, service was good and I was surprised coz the reviews on service at this place are bad! Lol! Not a lot of crowd eventhough it’s a Saturday night. The dance floor and music, meh. Not my cup of tea.

I had reservations and when I got there with my party of four they took me to my table and either Allan or Chris took our table away AS WE WERE STANDING THERE because they had friends coming over to sit where we were going to be seated. Can you say effin rude! Terrible customer service. I had such high hopes for this place but terrible experience as soon as I walked in. Make sure when you come that none of the bosses’ friends are coming. What a shame.
The only friendly person was Cindy she was great!

TORO SUSHI FAIL LOUNGE
So check today was Vday a special day to spend with your love ones and shizz!
And I wanted to go somewhere with good happy hours in Pasadena
AND BAM! here I was at at Toro Sushi Fail Lounge!
First things first place is quite huge and the interior is very nice!
For vday there werent a lot of people only about 6 tables and plenty of seats open…
Then this is what happens.
I ask the lady at the counter I made reservations and she goes okay and theres like 12 tables open and it took her 8 minutes to sit us down.
Im like ok w/​e so I order the 220z sapporo beer and 1 dollars sakes and those arrive very quickly and I was very pleased. I give her my order it was only like 6 appetizers…
She starts saying o its so busy Im so tired… im like okay…
After 25 minutes or so finally the oysters arrive. Oysters were okay, its not your typical clean washed oysters its very raw. now before I came here I did read reviews of how super slow the food comes out… so I waited patiently. Then I asked for a glass of ice…
30 minutes pass still doesnt come… and again theres only 6 tables its not like a hundred…
then Finally I see another group sit next to me. then I see like 4 appetizers come. on there side and they only sat for 30 minutes and I was like wtf…
At this point its 1hour 30 minutes with 1 appetizers and drink…
I ask another lady if our foods cooking and the stupid asian chick that served comes back and starts apologizng saying she forgot… and here I am still waiting for the glass of ice.
Then I tell her its fine just give me the check for the drinks were leaving. and then what pissed me off the most was it took her another 20 minutes just for the check… jesus christ
They were kind enough to give a 20 dollar coupon and I didnt have to end up paying but wow this was the worst FAIL SUSHI ever.
Dont ever come here seriously… The reviews are true its bad.
PEACE

Our first time here was for the Unilocal Ugly Sweater Party in December. On that night, we were each given a $ 10 off $ 20 coupon, so of course, we had to come back to try all the foods we did not get to sample at the event.
With the coupons, we ordered so much food. My boyfriend and I really love sushi/​sashimi so he chose the Colorado Classic and I had the Chiriashi. Both came with salad and miso soup. In addition, we ordered tempura fries and edamame from the happy hour menu, as well as hot sake. This was so much food and everything tasted so good. All the fish cuts were fresh and incredibly delicious. I unfortunately could not finish the rice from the chiriashi, but I eagerly devoured all the sashimi haha. It was a ridiculous amount of food.
With that said, the price for the entire meal would have come out to roughly $ 45, but with two coupons, we paid only $ 25. I’m not sure I could afford such amazing sushi otherwise. However, their happy hour menu is quite diverse and the hours are pretty amazing: all day on Sun. and Mon., 5 – 7 pm Wed.-Fri., and 3 – 7 pm on Sat., so I would definitely come for happy hour to get my fulfil my sushi craving.
Overall, the atmosphere is really nice, and the restaurant is spacious and clean. When we visited, our server seated us in the corner so we had a view of the entire restaurant and bar. I’d say it’s a great place to come for happy hour with a bunch of good friends.

Came here for lunch with my mum this past Saturday. Parking is easy – they have an underground lot accessible from Colorado or a street-​level lot accessible from San Gabriel. Maybe it’s because we came a bit late (around 1PM) but the place was pretty empty. There was one girl at the sushi bar and only one other table occupied. So we pretty much had our pick of where we wanted to sit; we opted for a corner table (which our server recommended) which was nice since you had a good view of the entire restaurant.
It was a bit strange for the restaurant to be so dark when it was so sunny outside at 1PM, but I guess that’s the atmosphere they’re going for. This venue seems like a place that is more suited for dinner/​late night due to their «ambiance» and décor. I wasn’t a big fan of their artwork, and my mum immediately pointed out that they had a dead plant on their windowsill and their Christmas decorations were still up. They should probably do something about that… It was a bit nolstagic eating here because they were playing music from when I was in high school. Although there was this one period when the music just suddenly shut off for about 5 minutes… weird…
As for the food, we got the following:
(mum) CHIRASHI: Assorted Sashimi on a Bed of Sushi Rice. Served with Miso Soup, House Salad and Steamed Rice.
– My mum loves chirashi but she’s also very particular about it. This is how she judges Japanese restaurants. I thought the toppings that came with this chirashi were pretty good: three different kinds of fish eggs, tamago, salmon, some white fish, octopus, sliced radish, maybe more? My mum did like the fish eggs and the octopus, but she said there wasn’t enough fish. She also didn’t like the rice – it was too dry and chewy. She said good chirashi gives you a lot of fish (and toppings) and not a lot of rice. This place did the opposite – there was SO. MUCH. RICE. We both have never seen a chirashi with so much rice before and she ended up not being able to finish the rice (the ratio was off!). So she felt like the chirashi here was just meh.
(Esther) BENTO LUNCH: Choose from the following: Vegetable Tempura, Shrimp Tempura, Shrimp+Vegetable Tempura, Chicken/​Beef/​Salmon Teriyaki, Chicken/​Pork/​Salmon Katsu, California Roll, Spicy Tuna Roll; one item $ 9, two items $ 11. All lunches served with miso soup, steamed rice, edamame and house salad. Free soft drink or tea included. No substitutions please.
– Since I’m on a wheat-​free diet (for the month), I chose Chicken Teriyaki and California Roll. What is interesting about this bento is that it is not served in a bento box, all the different components come out separately. My mum and I were both presented with miso soup first (as usual) and then we were given the house salad (which sometimes is one of the compartments of a bento box). The salad was good; they give you a good serving and there are fried wonton pieces on top (which of course I took off even though I wanted to eat them). Then I got my chicken teriyaki with a scoop of steamed rice. The chicken was just okay, and I also felt my rice was a bit too dry. But they give you an extra container of teriyaki sauce, so that helped. Then I got the California Roll. It was just average. Never got my edamame… I kept on waiting, and then finally I asked our server about it. He said he forgot that my meal came with it and apologised; I told him it was fine and I didn’t want it anymore. I was too full of rice: P
Even though the flavours were not great, my mum and I both had a very filling meal. Our server was friendly, even if he was forgetful, and checked in on us from time to time. The best part was that I had a coupon for $ 10 off a $ 20 min purchase (thanks to Unilocal’s holiday party here) so our bill went from $ 31 to $ 21 (before tip). Yay! But since our meal here was just okay, I think I would only come back here for Happy Hour. I enjoyed their appetizers from the holiday party and would like to try those again :)

Diner’s Report Card:
Service/​Workers: F
Food: B
WORST DINING EXPERIENCE EVER!
Service: My friends and I decided to give this place a try. We walked in around 7 pm and had two parties who walked in later than us get seated before us. But I haven’t even gotten to the juicy part yet, the worst is yet to come. There was a new trainee serving us today and we had a bit of a miscommunication, we wanted two handrolls from the happy hour menu and he thought we wanted to get the actual rolls. When the rolls were delivered to our table, we had to send them back because they were not what we asked for. Upon receiving the two plates of untouched sushi the sushi chef behind the counter began to make a big commotion about us sending them back and basically put us on blast in front of all the diners! It made us feel super uncomfortable, so I said we can just pay for the rolls then. However, he insisted to make the change. After 5 – 10 minutes we got our handrolls and the sushi chef said sarcastically «did you want soy paper with that?» That already ticked me off, but I just ignored it. However, I got angry when another male worker who was not even involved in the situation began to give us attitude and rolled his eyes at us. I can’t believe both of them had the audacity to do so! At the end of the day, I felt really bad for the trainee though. He was told off by the sushi chef in front of all the customers. Where is the professionalism in that! You could not pull him to the side and speak to him privately about the matter? I feel like both individuals I wrote about need to be retrained in their mannerisms!
Food: the food was mediocre at best. The prices were pretty steep for the small portions.
In conclusion, I AM NEVER COMING BACK! There are plenty of other sushi restaurants in the area that provide me with better food and service than yours.
Sidenote: I actually wrote ¾ of this review while waiting for my check to come, SERVICE IS EXTREMELY SLOW HERE!

I love this place. The staff is always friendly. The vibe is chill. I can go with friends or alone and still have an awesome time. The sushi is amazing.
I love how well cooked the teriyaki salmon is when I order it. The bar area is great to watch the games and interact with chill people. I also like the outside area with the bar.
It’s a preferred place!

I’ve only had a taste of the menu at their Unilocal Elite holiday event — which was awesome! I had a piece of the Sexy Mexi roll which was fantastic. I’m coming back here to sit down and actually eat a ton of sushi here. The event itself was super fun — Katie is great and even hooked a sister up with a light up Christmas necklace! YES.
The staff was super friendly and they carry little sumpin’ which is a great beer.
Thanks for hosting the event Toro! Excited to come eat a bunch of sushi soon :)

This place is great for happy hour specials! My bf and I come here every so often. We just can’t get enough of their delicious spicy tofu, crispy, non-​greasy sweet potato fries, refreshing salmon skin salad, hot sake taken with imported beer-​can feel the warmth and coolness to your body, and tasty, fresh rolls, etc…
The waiter/​waitress are very friendly and helpful! No doubt this is one of our favorite spots!

We ordered the Green Bay, Diablo Roll, and seaweed salad.
Out of the three, I liked the Green Bay the most. It tasted fresh, and there is lemon on top… it tasted so good and refreshing with the fish!
The salad had maybe four types of seaweed and lettuce with a light dressing. It was a bit too much seaweed for me. I was just expecting the bright green, thinly sliced seaweed that has somewhat of a crunchy taste, but in addition to that there was dark red little tentacles seaweed, dark brown little branches seaweed, and the dark green one that was cut into strips. Something was bitter, I think it was the lettuce.
The Diablo roll was ok. It is one of their signature rolls, but I think they overcooked mine. Some parts were a little burned at the top, and overall felt dry. Maybe it would’ve been better to get the super diablo? I was also expecting scallop on top, but I think it was chopped and mixed in with the crab. If that’s the case, you can’t even taste the texture of the scallops. That or they did not put any on mine.
The servers were really friendly and helpful here. Great service.
The inside of the restaurant is nice. There is a dining area, a bar area with couches, and an outside patio. This reminds me, I wanted to make a reservation for about 50 people for a dinner party a few months ago but they wanted a $ 1000 deposit… I went elsewhere.
Hmm I wouldn’t mind going back. Their other food looked pretty good.

Ehhh had high hopes on this place. After all, a sushi bar made for drinking, chilling with friends, and eating good sushi is a dream come true! The black-​red atmosphere was definitely nice… as was the bar in the back, which looked oddly and almost awkwardly contrasted with the more «family» dining area. Service… well, it seemed a bit understaffed. Two waiters for the night, though it was not exactly super busy either. Food came out way too late… we got:
Seaweed salad: Tasted almost fishy… though the salad dressing was light and refreshing.
Kobe sliders: Beef was soft and juicy… very flavorful. But do you really need to stack them on top of buns that could be the thickness of FOUR buns?! Ratio was off, which definitely affected the overall taste.
Hawaiian roll: I think that’s the roll… bf and I saw it on Unilocal,and it looked awesome! It was some sushi roll engulfed in a blazing inferno! Turns out, the fire lasted literally 5 seconds, and the roll was overly cooked/​dry fish on the inside with a ton of rice and way too much sauce on top. Woop de doo. A roll I wouldn’t even pay $ 3 for in a 5 second firestorm. Not worth it AT ALL.
Orange something: Yea, I don’t even remember the actual name. Appetizer… sounded amazing. Seared salmon with avocado and crab meat? Yummm… unfortunately, you couldn’t taste the salmon due to all that sauce on top (which made it look like a dog vomited on a plate), the avocado was unripe and hard, and the crab meat was DRY and clumped together! I have never had crab meat taste that awful! Definitely avoid this dish!
Last, we got a free dessert that you get with a check in. It’s essentially a fried twinkie sundae topped with crispy cinnamon strips. Ice cream tasted super cheap, and the rest was really blah. At least it was free.
Overall, nothing was all that great about this restaurant. I left unsatisfied and thoroughly disappointed. I actually considered getting another dinner, which I think I did… at Yogurtland. Not a good place to lounge, guys, much less eat!

I’m really torn between a 3 or 4 stars for toro.
Boyfriend & I are huge fans of the green bay roll because of the thin slice of lemon they add to the roll. My girlfriends on the other hand weren’t really feeling it. My boyfriend and I ordered the sexi mexi which just really reminded me of a Vietnamese sandwich because it had schicha aka rooster hot sauce and a small piece of cilantro. I thought it was just okay, nothing too awesome. The boyfriend liked their gyoza because we ordered like two orders of it. When I went with my girlfriends we got the ⁵⁰⁄₅₀ which was recommended by a staff & I just thought once again it was okay tasting. It comes with peppered salmon which I’m not quite sure what that means. I wouldn’t personally order it again. Baked mussels were definitely a must order!
Free dessert with a check in. It’s two pieces of fried twinkies a scoop of vanilla ice cream and some whipped cream on top. Miso soup was on the salty side. Both times that I came the oysters were sold out. Which was a bummer.
Parking here is a pain because the lot is small. There’s another small underground parking lot as well but there’s a funky smell down there & I’m not quite sure how safe it is if you’re walking alone.
Service was fair. My second time here the service was better. The first time, even with warning that they were a bit backed up it just seemed like the sushi chefs were all new and taking a long time. Personally, I didn’t think they were super packed/​busy. So service could have been better.
Bathroom was clean. There’s a bar. There’s TV. The outside patio area plays loud music on the weekends.

Bar review ONLY
Can’t go wrong with having a small dinner with your girlfriend on a Monday night! Especially can’t go wrong when it’s all day Monday happy hour.
Service was great, just because it was a Monday. It felt really nice sitting at the bar because you don’t need to WAIT for your drinks! The good stuff is at the bar. For sure I’m coming back again and sit at the bar!

Another day, new dishes to review=yummy in my tummy.
7÷17÷2012: Party of 7 8pm packed house, my last sushi dinner before my move to FL and of course i come to toro to celebrate my leave. Oh and it was happy hour all day= score!
Happy hour menu
2 orders of edaname spicy salt and garlic salt simple but pretty flavorful.
Chilitaki wings (⁵⁄₅) bomb. The right amount of spice and kick, my party had like 4 orders.
Dynamite mussles (⁴⁄₅) everyone like it but i did find it lacking meat in it.
Loveulongtime roll (⁴⁄₅) everyone including me dug into this roll and it disappear within a min literally. Prefer lighter on the sauce. other then that it was good.
Gyoza (³⁄₅) unfortunately i have to say that this dish did not make it to my list of yummy. It was really oily.
Salmon Carpaccio (⁵⁄₅) seriously their sashimi fish cut is soo good.
Regular Menu
Colorado Classic sashimi & nigiri plate (⁵⁄₅) For some reason in Pasadena this place really do have one of the freshest fish quality in the area. Everyone in my party agreed.
Volcano Roll (⁵⁄₅) served on fire! it was good and i liked how the white fish on top did not burn to a crisp
Super Diablo (⁴⁄₅) My party rave about it, i liked it but i prefer to stay away from the super fried stuff
Salmon skin hand roll with soy and seaweed wrap (⁵⁄₅) can’t no one tell me different on this roll. Love this.
Scallop roll (²⁄₅) least favorite of the group, it was fresh but something about raw scallop and us did not do. Not the restaurant fault.
Dynamite roll (³⁄₅) second least favorite.
Stir fried seafood udon (⁵⁄₅) really good, i love stir fried udon. Yum.
Overall enjoyed my going away dinner here. I do have to say my server was all over the place but then again it was a packed house yesterday. Other then that yummy food, good drinks, and happy customers.

Cheap happy Hour! How did I not find this place before? With an underground and outside parking lot, this spacious restaurant has an extremely cheap happy hour, in my opinion.
The Foods:
$ 2 Tempura Fries. It is what its title says. Fried in tempura skin. Cheap and good.
$ 3 Gyoza and Dynamite Mussels. Gyoza comes in quantity of fours. Your averge Gyoza. Dynamite Mussels was delicious and mouthwatering. Also comes in quantity of fours. The mussels was, no doubt, one of my favorite on the Happy Hour menu.
$ 4 Toro Popper and Seaweed Salad. My friend really liked the Toro Popper. Tempura fried jalepeno with crab meat, at its best of taste while it’s still hot. The seaweed salad was a bit disappointing. The amount of actual seaweed salad was a minimum and on top of a bed of salad underneath the bowl. But for $ 4, it’s understandable.
$ 5 Ceviche. Full of fresh chunks of raw fish and crispy wonton skin. Worth the $ 5 spent. Never had Japanese style Ceviche, it tasted very fishy, if I may say. But in a good way, of course.
$ 6 Spicy Albacore Roll and Oysters on Half Shell. Cut rolls of spicy albacore which is a steal considering the pricing. The albacore, too, was fresh. The oysters came in quantity of 3. Not small oysters either. It was of decent size. Pretty surprised by the portion.
#7 #16. I really wanted a special roll so I ordered this. The presentation was really nice and it tasted as it looks, good. This was my favorite one of them all, I would have to say.
The Drinks:
$ 2 Sake bomb served with Bud Light beer if it makes any difference.
$ 7 for my Finding Nemo. Pretty blue drink that’s sourly fruity and covers the bitterness of alcohol very well for you girls, and guys.
I absolutely love the happy Hour prices and the service was great too. Very attentive staff in refilling our waters and clearing the empty plates. I think this the new HH spot for my friends and I.

I heard through the grapevine that a regular customer of Toros in Monterey Park decided to open his/​her own joint down in Pasadena. I’m sure both establishments get the question all the time, «Any relation between you two?» Toro has a very similar ambiance as RA Sushi. Dark, loungey and fun. I stopped by for lunch on a Saturday. With the exception of 2 other parties, the place was empty. They were blasting 80’s and 90’s music which I thoroughly enjoyed the entire time.
Just like RA Sushi, I’d probably only come to Toro for lunch or for Happy Hour. Their sushi is average at best and their drink menu seems to be more attractive. Their gyoza comes with 4 pieces. Decent. Wasn’t overly oily and filled with beef and vegetables. The Maki Combo comes with 2 pieces of salmon, 2 pieces of yellowtail and 2 pieces of tuna. The fish was obviously not the freshest nor of the best quality but I guess it did the trick. You could just tell the nori wasn’t all that great. Took a bit of work to really sink your teeth through it all. The Roll n Rock was easily the highlight of the meal. Perfectly baked unagi stuffed with cucumber, lightly sprinkled with eel sauce and sesame seeds. If you’re looking for something light, stick with this roll.
Service was great but then again, how can you flub great service when there’s only 2 other parties there? Our drinks were always filled and they frequently checked on us to make sure everything was okay.
Would I ever come back? Eh. Only if I wanted alcohol with my sushi. Their main advantage is the full bar.

3.5 stars — –
I was excited to try Toro for the first time. We went here to watch football at the bar. The place is huge and the bar is great for watching games. We ordered the chicken & beef skewers, sesame chicken, and spicy salmon roll. The skewers were tasty and the spicy salmon roll was good (but it was on the mushy side). However, the sesame chicken needed some help. It was hard – like cardboard. But given the ridiculously cheap prices, I can’t really complain. Food was not bad considering the awesome deals during happy hour. Highlights were the atmosphere and good service. I’ll be back to try more food items!