Fat Tuna — Restaurant in Coquitlam

We don’t find ourselves out in Coquitlam very much so I’m not really sure how we managed to wind up at Fat Tuna other than the fact that the name sounded interesting. Fat Tuna is located in a mini mall on Brunette and Lougheed Hwy and it’s not something that you would really notice by driving by.

We showed up for lunch on a weekend in November and it wasn’t very busy but the restaurant itself is a bit small. We wound up ordering from their Fat Tuna Lunch Special menu which includes miso soup, 3 pieces of thick-cut veggie tempura, and 1 piece of prawn tempura.

The Assorted Sashimi Lunch Special ($16) came with 2 pieces of tuna, 2 pieces of salmon, 1 piece of seared scallop, 1 piece of sockeye salmon, 1 piece of big eye tuna, and 1 piece of hamachi. Overall, I liked the variety of sashimi as many places only offer regular tuna and farmed salmon.

The assorted sashimi also came with a bowl of Crispy Crab Rice. I was actually surprised at how satisfying this dish was with the contrasting textures of the crispy bits and the creaminess of the spicy mayo sauce mixed with the crab and rice.

The Black Cod Teriyaki Lunch Special ($13.50) sat on a bed of cabbage, onions, zucchini, carrots, and broccoli but was a bit too saucy for my liking.

One of the misses here, in my opinion, was the Beef Tataki ($10). Perhaps it’s because I always think of tataki being thinner cut. The thick-cut beef tenderloin that they use here is seared and served with mixed greens, dry garlic, and a wasabi mayo sauce.

Last up to the table was their House Roll ($7.75) made with tuna, salmon, seared salmon, cucumber, avocado, imitation crab and tobiko. As expected with a house roll, the roll itself was fairly large.

Overall, there were some hits and misses here but I really enjoyed the crispy crab rice and...

Aways been happy with the takeout food here. Decided to eat in today and we were asked to wait while a table was cleared. Not a problem. Only one person waiting tables and she did not have a tray so had to make about 5 trips to the back when a single tray would have allowed her to clear the table in a single trip.

As we are patiently waiting the phone rings. She abandons clearing the table for 5 minutes to take a food order. Goes back to clearing the table. Phone rings again and she again prioritized a phone order over us again.

The first order was for a Dynamite Roll worth about $6 the second order was for about double that for two items.

We walked out when she said it would only be another couple of minute after we’d been waiting for a full 10 minutes already.

It’s understandable that patience is required during these unsettling times but if you’re going to reward patient people who still want table service by treating them like this then you’re not going to survive the challenges of COVID.

The restaurant effectively allowed two phone customers to push past us while we were waiting.

There goes $100 worth of sushi business a month because of 2 ‘priority’ orders worth less than $20 total.

Shortsighted and $1,200 less business for them over the next year.

Save your money and shop elsewhere is my suggestion, especially if you’re...

I love this place! This location is literally a hidden gem. We almost went to the wrong sushi restaurant. The staff here are nice and it feels very much like a "mom and pops" kind of restaurant. There were nobody there save a small family, and we took up the biggest table. The server was very nice as she treated us with good customer service. The menu was not so nice though. It was quite expensive. Especially when I saw how puny the gomae was. But, while we were waiting for our food, they gave us free edamame to munch on! This almost made me give them a 5 🌟. The price HD me back though. When the food came, it was so delicious. As usual, korean owned sushi places use sauce for main flavor sources. It was still good though. The truffle rolls was kind of sour as they use lemon juice and a vinegar like sauce that wasn't very pleasing to the tastebud. The sashimi however, were HUGE. now I know why they call this shop "fat tuna". When it was time for last call, the server told us she had to go home. I think to pick up her child. But she told us if we needed anything, tell the staff. And to hurry up lol, but in a polite way.

I wouldn't come back alone, but with a group, to save costs as it's a bit on the high side. However, it will be...