November 7th, 2025
Fast, affordability, variety. You can have a job done quickly, a job done well, and a job done for a good price, but you can’t have all three. That is, until you try Sapporo Sushi on 96 Main Street East.
Bento Box & Torched Sushi
Shooting out for a hard-earned lunch on a tough workday filled with grey skies, broken tools, wifi outages, concrete not setting, dough not rising, or harsh client feedback, used to a great way to bring light into the day. Nowadays, the task of picking up a delicious meal from across the road can often feel just as daunting watching as the dollar that enters your wallet or bank leave just as quickly as it arrived.
It’s hard to think of someone that hasn’t denied themselves this pleasure and settled for the crusty peanut butter sandwich on stale bread they threw together in twenty-four seconds flat amongst the rush of the school drop off, the dog walking, the work commute, getting the bins out, you name it.
But why? Whether it’s saving the money to pay the bills, the groceries, for date nights, to make sure there’s enough to contribute to the school fundraiser, lunch just doesn’t cut it anymore. The price is too high, the portion too small, or your lunch break is almost over by the time it’s served to you. That is, until you head to Sapporo Sushi.
What We Tried
While many might know Sapporo for it’s all-you-can-eat delights, it is one of the best spots in Hamilton to get that lunch fix and not break the bank. Firstly, their Bento Box is a midday favorite and will only set you back one banknote, the green one with Queen Elizabeth’s face on it. When the box was brought out we were shook to the core by how large it really is, packed with two pieces of shrimp tempura, five pieces of vegetable tempura, two pieces of deep fried tofu, three pieces of salmon sushi, 6 pieces of salmon roll and a salmon cutlet, the size and variety of the Bento Box was incredible. We especially enjoyed the shrimp tempura and salmon cutlet. The best part though? It was served to us in ten minutes flat!
Torched Sushi
While any and all dishes can be made to go, we had the opportunity to dine-in today and appreciate the atmosphere of this amazing restaurant, the decorations are a mix of traditional paper lanterns mixed with contemporary, moody colours and wall paneling with lovely seating and comfortable lighting.
Our second dish we tried was the elegantly presented Torched Sushi. We had four different varieties on the plate, salmon, white tuna, beef and snapper. It’s very hard to go wrong with snapper, and we were as expected, delighted by the flavour of the white fish. It was so delicate and tender to the touch we would have asked for more had we not filled ourselves with the Bento Box! The beef stood out on the plate with it’s own sauce and toppings and was the real winner of the dish, the blowtorch had fired each piece perfectly. While we wish we could have tried a third dish, and a forth, our stomachs were full and our cravings satisfied. It’ll be up to you to try the rest of the menu!
Sapporo makes a hard earned lunchtime treat worth it
Whether you’ve dined at Sapporo before for dinner, or have never experienced this culinary delight on Main Street, we highly recommend coming in for a lunchtime bite. This affordable and delicious restaurant has one of the biggest menus in Hamilton, with an incredibly wide variety of Japanese and Thai dishes. Options such as the Bento Box are flexible to fit every budget, so there will be something for everyone. Whether that email didn’t send, that dough didn’t rise, or that concrete didn’t set, treat yourself to some light in your day with Sapporo Sushi.
📍 Sapporo Sushi, 96 Main St E, Hamilton
🌐 https://sapporohamilton.ca/
📱 Tag them on Instagram: @sapporohamilton
For requests to feature in our next blog post, please email Joseph at joseph@downtownhamilton.org.