Nori Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Nanaimo

It’s been over 10 years since I first went to Nori Sushi. Opened by a friend of a friend—Jon, I was always impressed by the food, service, and atmosphere. For Central Island, I considered Nori one of the best in town. I almost always brought visiting friends here—either dining in or ordering takeout. Writing this review took effort because I’ve had a soft spot for Nori for years. It was where my friends and I would go every time someone visited. And whenever I went to Vancouver, I’d buy a big platter and bring it them —because during college, this was what we looked forward to on weekends.

But today completely changed my view. And I have to say, this will be the last time I ever step into or order from this restaurant again.

I came with my girlfriend, our toddler and infant, and our moms visiting from out of town. The phone reservation went smoothly. When we arrived, the table wasn’t fully set and there was no high chair, but we did arrive slightly early. Our server Alan was kind, helpful, and gave good suggestions. We ordered about $185 worth of food for four adults and a toddler. One dish was the B.C. Cone—Nori’s signature item. I ordered four pieces, one per adult. I’ve had it many times, though my family hadn’t.

Since we were taking care of the infant, I didn’t eat mine right away. But the others did, and they told me it tasted bitter. I figured maybe it was just a smoky or charred note. But when I finally took a bite—it was bitter. Not smoky. Not grilled. Burnt. Overcooked. It was unpleasant to have at all. I flagged a waiter (not Alan) and explained: “I’ve had this before. This isn’t how it should taste.” He agreed said it should taste unpleasant. Then the chef—who, honestly, single-handedly destroyed Nori for me. I could hear the waiter telling the chef and the sous-chef, “The customer said it tastes bitter and wasn’t satisfied.” I couldn’t hear the response from the chef because I was talking to my family. Honestly, I didn’t expect much—I’d always trusted Nori’s food and service.

But what happened next really shocked me.

The server came back and told me, word-for-word: “The chef agreed to take one cone off your bill.” I was stunned. For a restaurant that ranks among the best in town, that was their resolution? They didn’t care about the quality. They didn’t care that a loyal, long-term customer told them something was off. They thought $8 off the bill would make things right. That’s their judgment of customer service? I repeated: “Did you say the chef AGREED to take one cone off?” The waiter confirmed. I just shook my head and sent him back.

I passed my cone to my girlfriend and said, “Taste this. Is it the same as yours? Because this is horrible—and I’m 100% sure this isn’t what it’s supposed to taste like.”

And here’s where things went from bad to horrible.

While my girlfriend was eating the cone, I heard the chef, and kitchen staff talking about her behind the counter. They said, loud enough to hear: “Look, look, look—she’s eating it.” I can’t explain how angry that made me feel. But I kept calm. I didn’t stand up. I didn’t yell. I didn’t want to ruin a perfect for my family. I just hoped they hadn’t heard the comments.

I stopped eating. I just can not eat any nori’s food after THAT! If not considering Jon is my best friend’s friend, I’d make sure everyone in the restaurant at the time knows what is going on .

When the bill came, I told Alan to make sure the cone was not taken off, and add it back if it’s been, also I did not appreciate the kitchen staff talking about my family while we were eating. I didn’t want a discount. I didn’t want any pathetic “make-up” for how we were treated. She went to tell the chef. He didn’t even come over—just sent a message through the server asking if we wanted any ice cream or drinks. I turned everything down. Their actions said everything about what Nori Sushi has become.

I felt bad for Jon—he put so much heart into this restaurant. But if this is what Nori has turned into, there’s no turning back.

A loyal customer of 10+ years has walked...

Every time we've asked a local about sushi, Nori has always come up, but we've avoided it because it appeared to have a lot of rolls that were their own twist and was absent the classics you look for in a sushi joint, but on a rainy Tuesday evening towards 9pm, we ended up there because they were the only ones open, and I'm glad we did.

The evening got off to a bit of a rocky start as it was about 15 minutes between being seated before anyone acknowledged us to take our order, and that was only after my partner caught the eye of the chef. Once that happened, though, things were nice and quick.

We started with an order of the vegetable croquettes, which basically seemed to be sweet potato tater tots. They weren't bad but they were in no way mindblowing.

We also tried the appetizer tempura - which was a prawn, a sweet potato, a green bean, acorn squash, and a yam. As tempura goes it was good and crispy, but no different than anywhere else.

I was tempted by the Ramen but opted to just try their pork chashu appetizer instead. For the price, it's a good serving of super delicious pork belly, though the sauce it's served in is a bit too salty/teriyaki for my tastes.

As the rolls started to be delivered the waitress brought by a plate of panko crusted tuna compliments of the chef (I suspect as a gesture due to our wait), and it was quite good, though we're both raw tuna fans.

Roll wise, we ordered the following: Negi Fry - Deep Fried Negitoro - Tasty, not too much onion, which is a plague of most negitoro rolls. Avocado Ginger - Stand out roll. For the price, you can't beat it. I'm pretty sure you get more than an entire avocado worth of avocado in this order, and there's just enough ginger to make it interesting without overpowering everything. Salmon Maki - Your standard salmon roll, but the pieces of fish are a decent size. Veggie Dynamite - This roll didn't work for me, but my partner liked it. Order was huge. Yam Tempura - Another great bang for your buck. Very tasty and very large. For a roll that a lot of places seem to not do well, they did it great. Spicy Tuna Roll - Average sriracha spicy tuna roll, but lots of fish and good flavour. Fish and chip roll - this one is a "specialty" roll but it was terrific, and also huge.

For the first time in a long time at a sushi restaurant, we were unable to run the table, and actually brought home about a roll and a half of sushi (which is probably closer to 2 or 3 rolls from most other places.)

On the way out, completely full, we got a fist bump from the chef.

Though the evening started out rough, by the end, Nori has cemented its place as our go to sushi joint in Nanaimo, and we'll definitely be back. (Plus, I really gotta try their Ramen.)

All of the above came to $64 before tip (no, that's not a mistake, and yes, everything was on the bill, I...

Update - re-visited the place. We sat at the counter this time, which they told us was also reserved. I think they say this to simply try and get turnaround for their seats. This time staff weren't friendly and far from attentive. Sushi was OK for the price, nothing spectacular. Still excessive use of mayonnaise. I don't think the servers enjoy working there. It gets busy very quickly and although they have quite a few staff working, it is almost impossible to stop one to take your order. They seem to spend far too much time at their computer screens or delivering food and not enough time addressing the needs of the patrons. If they want better turn-around of seating, they should have people available to take your order. We could have been out in 20 or 30 minutes, but it took over an hour for a simple order. I won't go back.

Staff are reasonably friendly. Service was okay. I didn't like how they sat us at a seat that was "reserved" and basically said we would need to leave in an hour. We had showed up just as the place opened and if every seat was reserved, we could have sat at the counter. The place does get busy very quickly though. Prices are what I would expect for a Japanese Restaurant on Vancouver Island. I'm mainly interested in the sushi. They use sesame oil in the rice which immediately makes me realize it isn't Japanese. Probably Korean. The sushi was sized nicely and the display was good. Too many sauces used on their rolls. Especially mayo. Rice was a little too dry, even considering the sesame oil, but it had good flavor and wasn't starchy. I would go back and give them another try to see if it can live up to the 4.6 star rating that it currently has. Definitely worth checking out if you are in the area. Wouldn't hurt to make...