Dake is a newly opened Japanese restaurant in the former Zeke's building, just off of King St. and Moore.  As you enter the restaurant you will see a tremendous change from the previous Bar and Grille.  The décor is tasteful in the oft understated Japanese way.

We went for lunch and found the restaurant mostly empty.  The service was excellent the waiter expertly explained things.  I would like to try it in a more busier time to fully judge service levels.

The offering of food is incredibly diverse, from tempura and sushi/sashimi/rolls to bento boxes and meats to tepanyaki - fried meat on a grill in front of you.

We got an appetizer of seafood tempura.  The batter is light and tasty and not oily at all.  The sauce was delicious and the contents of the tempura were delish.

I had the miso as well, fairly standard and nothing too impressive, but tasty non-the-less.

We ordered the medium sushi boat, which came with 3 8 piece rolls, 14 sushi and 9 sashimi.  The presentation was a feast for the eyes. The pieces of sushi and sashimi were HUGE.  The first thing I tried was the salmon sashimi.  This was positively the most delicious salmon I have had in Kitchener!  It melted in my mouth and I wanted to hold onto that moment for as long as I could.  

All the sushi and sashimi were fresh and delicious.  The rice was fresh and delicious.  The octopus, which is certainly NOT standard fare in KW, was quite good, not rubbery at all.

The soya sauce was not Kikkoman, and while that is not really a detraction from the taste it was enough that we noticed it.  The wasabi was that perfect blend of flavour and spice.

This is quite upscale when compared to Ye's or even Niko Niko and the price is a reflection of that.

In the end the miso was $1, the cokes were $2 each, the tempura was $6, the medium sushi boat was $59.  Overall the bill, with $10 tip, came to $86.  Well worth it.

Is this a weekly outing, it could be, we decided to go full hog on the sushi, but there are many other reasonably priced lunch options.

The Good:
Selection, delicious fresh fish, service, environment

The Bad:
Really nothing bad.

The Ugly:
That goddamned Jazz music!  Couldn't stand it.

Bottom line: this is my new favourite Japanese restaurant in KW!!!!!  Visit http://www.dakesushi.ca/ for more info!

I personally still prefer the sashimi at Nagano, but that's In Cambridge, so I may not be actually disagreeing with Hawkeye.    Yes the Dake pieces are bigger, but I find them too big.  I find the cut of the sashimi at Nagano preferable.

The spicy sushi rolls at Dake are very nice.  I like when there's a little crispy crunch in there as well.  It just adds to the texture.

Btw, the small sushi boat at Dake is huge too!

I've been to Dake twice, both times I used a coupon to get a discount on the price   Watch those Kitchener business catalogs that come free in the mail with all kinds of local coupons and discounts.
I was quite happy with the food both times.  One time was dead (possibly three or four tables other than myself) but the second time was definitely busy.  Service obviously wasn't as attentive as the slow day, but I didn't feel it was lacking either.  And as Hawkeye noted, the servers seem very informed and don`t shy away from conversation like Ye`s (the one exception is when we bring Zoe, then the servers won`t leave us alone, every time they walk by they have to stop and say hi (to her only
I would return to Dake anytime (with or without coupon

<Sigh>  If only we got that kind of attention from women in university eh Shabadu?

Yah its unfortunate that we were never into the kind of women who pay you more attention if you're willing to pay them to do so... of course the quality of women we might have had paying us attention for the measly 15% of our food bills might not have been what we were looking for back then either