Located in the heart of the plateau in Montreal, Kitano Shokudo is a cozy and delightful Japanese restaurant that serves you quality handmade dishes, amazing unique sakes and wines as well remarkable service. This amazing bistro gives you a Japanese experience that you won’t want to miss!
At Chef Hiroshi Kitano’s Plateau restaurant, precise technique meets inventive twists on classic Japanese dishes. Made with top-tier local and Japanese ingredients, the fresh fish donburi and chirashi bowls stand out as some of the city's finest, while dishes like the uni carbonara, which weave in French and Italian influences, leave a lasting impression.
Kitano Shokudo is widely praised for authentic Japanese cuisine in Montreal with fresh sashimi, uni mazemen, duck mazemen, well balanced miso soups, and a mix of sushi and other dishes that keep flavors interesting. The kitchen emphasizes quality ingredients like bright seafood and carefully prepared karaage and Brussels sprouts, while some dishes stand out for texture and aroma and desserts such as yuzu tart can be divine. The atmosphere is intimate and cozy with a minimalist look and a lively vibe, and reservations are strongly recommended because seating is limited; the service can be attentive but occasionally slow or impersonal with a small team. Overall many guests consider it one of the best Japanese spots in town and it is worth the price for many even though a few meals did not hit the mark especially the ramen.
The best sashimi value for your money....the tuna maki roll is a mix of tuna cuts & the closest thing to eating at fish market in Japan. Noodles are also always perfect & the octopus salad is a great balanced bite to start a meal
First dish was the Karage (fried chicken): $9 ($3 a piece) 8/10 nice tender & felt like a wonton based on the coating.
Chirashi: $42 lots of different types of sashimi & soy rice with salmon roe. 8/10
Uni Mazemen: $58 Uni with salmon roe, chili oil, fried scallions was probably the main dish to try. Overall I give it an 7/10 nothing special, was creamy & oily a little too oily basically ruined the texture of all the ingredients combined. Had a nice kick & an umami flavour but definitely a bit disappointing based on the hype I read beforehand.
Futomaki of Bluefin tuna: the last dish & probably the best dish 9/10. Fish very fresh & the rolls held up well. $46
Overall 6.8/10 the experience lacked one waiter one chef, I will note the food was good but the value was not there for me. If you are looking for a place to try some good food & something maybe a little different than the norm & want to be left alone like at home this is a good spot. But if you are looking for a WOW factor in service & being wined & dined this isn't the spot. I wouldn't go again especially if you are at a price point of $120 a person for this kind of experience.
To add: being one waiter & one chef isn't to say that it's a bad thing but you can tell that it was awkward &'cold' as it felt like you were taking time away from the server when they should be there to really make it an experience for every party dinning there.
Jan 31, 2026
on Google
🍽️
Know where to eat in Montreal before everyone else.
Get the first look at the hottest openings, secret menus, and RestoMontreal.ca's weekly top picks. Join 50,000+ foodies.
Everything was excellent. The sashimi was incredibly fresh, the service was attentive, & their chirashi is one of the best I've had. The portion size was just right - very satisfying without being overwhelming.
Incredible in all of the ways.
The miso was a hearty blend of seaweed & enoki, the brussel sprouts were super tasty, & the assorted sashimi was perfection. The yuzu tart was divinely decadent, & the sake recommendations fit beautifully in between it all. Fantastic service & atmosphere; such a gem
Hands down the best Japanese food!
The sashimi platter was amazing, we also enjoyed their miso soup, the uni carbonara & the mapo tofu.
Can't wait to return for more sashimi!
The waiter was nice & I love the cozy vibes.
Kitano Shokudo is an incredible restaurant with a a warm & minimalist atmosphere, clean wood, soft lighting, & the faint sound of sizzling food from the open kitchen. The staff are incredibly kind & attentive which makes the experience feel personal.
The food truly sets Kitano Shokudo apart. Every dish feels like a small act of care. The miso soup is perfectly balanced, the sashimi melts in your mouth, & the duck noodles are perfection. The presentation is so thoughtful it feels almost too beautiful to eat. You can tell the ingredients are fresh & prepared with care.
We had the sashimi, Maguro Don, & Uni Carbonara-everything was so good! The Maguro Don was my favorite-fresh, flavorful, & perfectly done. The vibe was awesome too, with a DJ spinning great music on turntables & stylish decor that added to the experience. Highly recommend!
Jul 22, 2025
on Google
🍽️
Know where to eat in Montreal before everyone else.
Get the first look at the hottest openings, secret menus, and RestoMontreal.ca's weekly top picks. Join 50,000+ foodies.
Incredible food, service, & spot. We got the sashimi, octopus salad, Brussels, & crab mazemen. Everything was just deeeeeeelicious. Oh, & the matcha tiramisu. I don't even like tiramisu but I saw another table trying it & it looked fantastic. So I ordered one & bloody hell it was good. I'll come back to Montreal just to eat here. Well done!
Very disappointed about it. We had high expectations because of its high rating on Google, but a $78 sashimi set, the most expensive sashimi set on the menu is so tiny portion that even for me, a New Yorker would find it unreasonably priced. The chirashi bowl, which was ordered by our neighbor desk & is only half of the price, has no significantly less quantity of fish. The marinated spotted prawn tastes good, but one shrimp is not as fresh as it should be. The only reasonably priced maybe the ramen. We eventually paired over $80 person with stomach half full.
came for random lunch, was pleasantly surprised by how GOOD everything was!! nice vibes too & great service
what we got:
duck leg confit mazemen $32
mushroom mazemen $24
chirashi bowl $38
kani hotate ikura don $46
so yeah everything was rly good. if i had to pick i would say chirashi bowl & mushroom mazemen were my top. the crab/scallop don was good too if you rly want crab but the chirashi bowl is less $$ with more variety & the tuna!! the rice is perfectly seasoned & w the wasabi & ikura w ur sashimi ugh perfect bite. the duck mazemen was okkk for me, but the mushroom mazemen just stood out way more, i feel like it had much more flavour & depth
Exceptional high-quality dishes. The sashimi melts in your mouth, the gizzards are tender & "earthy". Really appreciated the originality of the ground boar+tofu dish - nicely spicy with strong lemongrass-y aftertaste. They didn't have matcha tiramisu so had to settle with the custard which was nice & silky, but just not that special. Will be back!
One of the best Japanese restaurants I've had in quite a while, although the amazingly high quality of ingredients & cooking techniques (for all traditional Japanese, fusion, & entirely Western dishes) were beset by the rather small portion sizes. The stars of the show were both the chirashi & à la carte sashimi orders. Every slice was decently thick, at a suitable cool temperature, & was cleaned appropriately with not a single bone or fish scale in sight. The short-grain rice was perfectly executed, al dente & seasoned just right. Would highly recommend the chu-toro tuna belly, rich but delicate & melt-in-your-mouth. The sudachi lime, shiso leaf & shiso microgreens were a nice touch for the sashimi, & so were the crisp nori laver squares for the chirashi. The sea urchin & salmon roe mazemen (which I assume is part of a limited time-only special menu) was delightfully creamy, & while the sea urchin was not raw (& appeared to be either cooked or tinned), it paired surprisingly well with the springy alkaline noodles coated in a carbonara-esque sauce that was not too heavy. The confit duck (?) gizzards (also part of the special menu) were remarkably well-done. Tender but not overcooked, fully immersed with herby undertones, & the parmesan on top was balanced by a refreshing zing of lemon. The seasoning elevated the natural umami of the gizzards while not masking it entirely. I finished every single drop of the remaining emulsified sauces at the bottom of the plate. The waiter was very helpful & attentive, & made me feel at home. Service was understandably a bit slow as it was only one person servicing a fully-packed room, but the food arrived at the right temperature & at acceptable intervals.
Kitano Shokudo is truly one of the best in Montreal. This two man show restaurant takes great care in the quality of their ingredients. The sake selection is also on par with the food & they know to recommend what would fit best with your meal or your preferences. I usualy get their sushi or sashimi since the quality is not something you find on every corner in Montreal but everything is excellent. The staff is impossible to dislike as well as their food. Do yourself a favor & go try this Japanese restaurant for a traditional japanese taste with a twist.
Dec 22, 2024
on Google
🍽️
Know where to eat in Montreal before everyone else.
Get the first look at the hottest openings, secret menus, and RestoMontreal.ca's weekly top picks. Join 50,000+ foodies.
A cute little place that I've passed by a dozen times on Mont Royal & never noticed, until a friend in the neighbourhood said we had to try it, his favorite Japanese restaurant in Montreal. We had the sashimi for two (very fresh & tasty, although a little lacking on presentation), & the brussel sprouts smothered (in a good way) in a soy-balsamic sauce. Then we had the wild boar mapo-tofu, very good although the portions were small. Having a little more atmosphere & a friendlier vibe would contribute a lot to this place.
Cela faisait longtemps que je voulais découvrir ce restaurant ! Nous y sommes allées à 2 & nous avons bien mangé ! On était assises au bar avec vue sur la cuisine. J'ai pris un hotaru ika mazemen qui était très bon ! Je n'avais jamais vu ni manger de hotaru ika ce fût une excellente surprise. On a aussi pris des sashimi en entrée &... à tomber ! 🫠 Une excellente expérience !
20 stars if I could. One of the best meals I’ve ever had in my life. Came for lunch & came back for dinner the same day.
Ordered the:
Niku noodles
Mushroom noodles Sashimi for 2
Everything was incredible.
