Sushi at The Inn at Tough City Tofino BC

My girlfriend and I were on a recent a trip out to BC and spent about 3 days (2 over nights) in Tofino. While there, we went for sushi at the Inn at Tough City.

Before I get to the review itself, I will first give some context on my own sushi eating experiences. When I lived in Toronto (1992-2000) I used to eat sushi once and often, twice a week because it was relatively easy to get inexpensive sushi that was of a reasonable quality. A few years back (2002-2005), I was visiting Toronto about every second weekend and ate Sushi at least once each weekend – often getting takeout sushi at the Sushi Inn on Cumberland in Yorkville (1 block north of Bloor and a solid block and half west of Bay). The Sushi Inn is my model for how good an affordable sushi restaurant can be. Unfortunately, sushi in Ottawa is far over-priced and the quality varies a lot so I would say I get it now maybe once or twice a month (usually out of desperation in our cafeteria). Perhaps 2-3 times a year I will go to a good sushi restaurant in Ottawa. Whenever I am in Toronto or another city with good sushi, it’s on the menu at least once per visit!

The best sushi I have ever had was at Tojo’s in Vancouver in July of 2005. Tojo’s is the only sushi restaurant that would make it onto my list of the top 10, and probably top 5, meals I have had in my life. I have also eaten at some other high quality sushi restaurants in New York (Blue Ribbon Sushi in 2003 and Sushi-Ann in 2006) and Boston (in 2004 - I believe it was Suishaya but I am not 100% sure).

Overall, I would say that the Inn at Tough City is not in the same league as Tojo’s but its close to be on par with the restaurants in Boston and New York and its much better than the Sushi Inn in Toronto – though it’s a little pricier than the Sushi Inn.

If you are looking for a restaurant with an air of professionalism and over the top courtesy (and I do like that when I go to a top flight restaurant), this place is not for you. The atmosphere is very relaxed and the owner, “Crazy Ron”, lives up to the billing. But its one hell of a fun night out. When we arrived, we were initially greeted by a server and then Ron stepped in and said to her/us we’re just telling people to sit wherever they want right? – and then handed us our menus. The restaurant itself is filled with Ron’s, often bizarre, collection of items many of which are antiques. Crazy Ron is how he bills himself. I ended up doing a shot of Sake with Ron before the night was out!

On to the food, I started with oysters which were of good quality but not spectacular. We had a variety of sushi and sashimi that night. The sashimi and nigiri sushi was very good. I particularly liked the salmon. However, I would say that while it was much better than a place like Sushi Inn in Toronto, the quality of the fish is not quite as good as one might find at certainly Tojo’s or the restaurants in New York and Boston that I mentioned.

The star of the show at the Inn at Tough City are the rolls! We got the Tofino roll (Tuna, salmon, prawn, scallop, avocado, cucumber & masago) which was excellent and their Spider Roll which was very good. But the not to be missed roll is the Smiling Buddha Roll. The Smiling Buddha Roll (Tuna, avocado, & spinach, breaded & topped with tropical fruit & sauces) is by far and away the best roll I have ever had in my life. It was incredible.

We arrived in Tofino after spending 3 nights at my in-laws where we had to be reasonably well behaved. I read reviews online before going and heard about Crazy Ron and thought to myself, this is a place to get drunk! So our meal was flowing with cocktails, beer and sake. It was a great night.

Normally when we are on holiday we try to sample as much variety as possible and we rarely repeat unless its for a functional meal like a quick breakfast. However, that night we decided the food was so good we would come back for dinner the next night too! That night we certainly had a few drinks but we were not swimming in alcohol. We’re we fooled by our drinking the night before? Not at all. The food was just as we remembered it and we were very happy we went back for a second dinner!

If you love sushi, love a relaxed atmosphere and you are in Tofino – Go to the Inn and Tough City! If you like to drink and are a fun drunk – bottoms up!