Sushi Masaki Saito builds a night around a 200-year-old counter.
Behind a Victorian facade on Avenue Road, Edomae sushi at the top of the guide’s price scale.
The 2026 MICHELIN Guide Canada lists Sushi Masaki Saito at 88 Avenue Rd. with one star and a $$$$ price band. Its inspectors describe the same 200-year-old hinoki counter our earlier story did, and fish that comes exclusively from Japan.
Behind an unassuming Victorian brick facade on Avenue Road in Yorkville, diners step through a sliding cedar door into an intimate eight-seat sanctuary dominated by a single, glowing 200-year-old Hinoki cypress counter.
Chef Masaki Saito works with uncompromising Tokyo Edomae discipline: catches flown in three times weekly from Tokyo's Toyosu Market, aged to peak umami on cedar planks, and paired with warm shari seasoned with aged red akazu vinegar.
The room hums with theatrical intimacy; knife strikes on cypress create a rhythmic metronome, punctuated by Saito's booming laughter, candid banter, and generous explanations of vintage sake pairings in handmade Edo-kiriko cut glass.
Anchoring Yorkville's historic residential fabric, Sushi Masaki Saito proves that austere Japanese culinary asceticism can find an enduring home in Toronto's premier dining district.
- Masaki SaitoChef, Sushi Masaki Saito
From the MICHELIN listing
- Distinction
- One MICHELIN Star · 2026 Canada
- Price band
- $$$$
- Cuisine
- Japanese
- Address
- 88 Avenue Rd., Toronto
Sources
- MICHELIN Guide · Sushi Masaki Saito (2026 Canada) · checked Sep 28, 2026
Distinction, address, cuisine and price band come from the listing above. Descriptions of rooms and dishes are from Dine Digest’s earlier reporting and were not re-checked for this issue.
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