Dozo (Closed)

Review Location:
230 Commerce Valley Drive East
Richmond Hill, Ontario
(Major Intersection: Hwy 7 & East Beaver Creek)





Under a month ago, a dozen of my friends and I came here to celebrate two birthdays. Not exactly the best place to come before a night of drinking, but this was the close by to where we were going after. I also suggested this place because the atmosphere is really nice here. The decor of the restaurant is fairly trendy, and gives off a calming ambiance with its comfy padded booth seats and dim glowing lights. With it's pink and purple colour scheme, and scattered strands of beads hanging from the ceiling, it almost reminded me of a lounge.
I guess this wasn't surprising because this restaurant doubles as a bubble tea house with its large assortment of drinks on their menu. Because we did have a relatively large party we ended up getting a nice party room. It was semi-secluded so it was nice and quiet, perfect for chatting.

Party Room

After sitting down, the waitress comes by and gives us some tea. They serve their tea in these little tiny teacups holding not more than a large gulp. It was novel at first, but later became a hassle to keep refilling it. All of their dishes actually ended up looking a little funky and stylistic.

Teacup

The menu basically had two parts. You have your regular a la cart menu, and a set dinner menu. For a small cost, you can upgrade your dinner to an 8 course meal. Not feeling too hungry at the time I opted not to upgrade. But later actually seeing the dishes that it came with from other people's orders, I really regretted it! Definitely going to upgrade the next time. The table also ordered a couple rolls to share.

"Cucumber and Lobster Roll"

"Red Dragon Roll"

"Spider Roll"

"Black Dragon Roll"

As a general statement, I thought the rolls were  nicely plated and had a lot of attention to presentation detail. Taste wise, they were nothing to really get overly excited about.  The cucumber lobster roll with it's replacement of seaweed with cucumber was the most interesting to taste, but the lobster and other ingredients turned out very dry. The spider roll came was nicely fried with cutlet batter giving a nice crunch, but aside from the crab there was really nothing else in the roll. A little more cucumber or fish roe wouldve made it much better in my opinion. I was however, pleased with the Black Dragon roll. It came with cooked yam inside and eel on top, and somehow the 2 two mushy ingredients just worked. 




After the rolls were devoured, our individual dinners were served.

Left: Salad, Right: Miso Soup

Pretty standard soup and salad that was served with dinner. We spent a good deal of time trying to decipher the dressing, and concluded it tasted like ketchup and peanut butter. 

"Miso Black Cod Dinner"

While the portions of this dinner might not satisfy an average stomach, the impressions it leaves on your tongue definitely makes up for it. Black cod is actually one of my favourite fishes because it has a velvety, almost creamy texture. The black cod at Dozo had a very savory miso glaze on top, and  was cooked to perfection.If you are a bigger eater, I would advise ordering the Cod and Steak dinner which will give you more substance.

"Creme Brulee"

At the end of the meal, if you ordered the 8 course meal you get a dessert. I think because we had some birthday people, the waitress brought us some creme brulees on the house for those who didn't order the meal. Good thing, because the creme brulee here is absolutely amazing! They don't come in a very large portion, but it was just enough to hit the spot. The custard is cold but thick, and has a very crunchy layer of sugar on the top. So yummy! Easily the best part of the meal after the cod.

Overall, I didn't mind my experience here. The food was quite good, service wasnt' terrible, and the atmosphere was pleasing to be in. It's a more upscale place to have nicely plated sushi. The only thing that the food is quite pricey. At the end of the meal, there were definitely some of us who weren't full! If you're ever interested on coming here, you'd best either bring a fuller stomach, or a fuller wallet!