Tipsy Samurai Bar + Charcoal Grill — Restaurant in Regina

Our kiddo went for a sleep over so we had a preciously rare date night ahead. With Deadpool booked for a 9:30pm show we headed to the east end and at my partner’s suggestion headed to The Tipsy Samurai.

We were welcomed from behind the bar as soon as we entered and were offered a seat at any available table. We took a 2 seater at a small round table against a large, North facing window. Large windows surround us with Samurai and Food themed graffiti pieces decorating the walls.

It’s a very nice atmosphere, cozy with room to still be in your own space. My partner and I discovered a small menu of folded paper with paper drink menus rolled up in a glass cup. It was fun to unfold and unroll them while checking out the specials.

There was an Omakase tasting that we will be coming back for as well as some specials and desserts. Tempted by the tempura sweet potato as it’s a favourite of my partner I opted for the the tomato salad with sake pickle and jelly yuzu dressing which had me sold instantly.

Had we not eaten so much I definitely would have had the house made ice cream sandwich with mochi wafers. My wife wanted to get the cheesecake to go but because they are baked in house in a glass container we had to save it for our next visit.

It’s rarer still that my partner and I find so many options we would both want to order!. I’m gonna stick to the ones we actually tried but honourable mentions and planned return visits will go both to the sushi and ramen sections of the menu.

For my wife and I we shared the Tomato Salad from the specials, Marinated Charcoal Grilled Pork Belly Skewers, Crispy Fried Gyoza, a Veggie and a Tuna Taco, some coffees and I also had a house made mocktail.

Simply put the food was all just super tasty. The tomatoes were blanched and peeled with the salad offering a myriad of textures. I found the acidity of the jelly dressing mixed with the richness of its texture paired nicely with the sweetness of the tomato with the bit of crunch and heat from thinly sliced radish. It was a small tasting sald and for $8 was a well suited starter.

I have a love for pork belly so it’s something o consistently order. We also wanted to try something off the charcoal grill and it was great to see many veggie options also available. The belly balanced the sweet and salty components nicely and at $3 a skewer you could just spend an evening sipping sake, Japanese whiskey, or some of their great mock tails and snacking on rounds of skewers.

The gyoza were crisply fried, crunchy, tender in the center and full of flavour. At first I though that maybe they could use a bit more kick which would have been out of place given how flavourful the sauces were that came with them for dipping. Cara and I both really liked these and will be having them again.

The Tacos were crunchy with a nice blend of textures and and tastes, I helped Cara finish hers.

The presentations were all cute, the coffee was freshly made and delicious. I really like my mock tail and would lean on trying some more. I was driving or I would have loved the Omakase with matching Sake flights.

Service was a great balance of attentfullness with enough time between visits for Cara and I to enjoy our space. We don’t have any dietary restrictions but it was nice that we were prompted by both staff who attended to us before we ordered any food or drink if any adaptions were needed.

Service was courteous and well executed.

We have to drive out east so it’s nice it was easy to park. A large portion of two primary exterior walls are windows which look out into the surrounding businesses. We were pretty engrossed in our meal, loved the natural light, and didn’t even notice the surround.

I liked that I there were varying table size and positions allowing you to choose some different experience. Whether a four top in the center mof the dinning room, a comfortable spot at the bar or own dk the cozy two seaters we took near the window. If I had any knock it’s that the cute table we had could barely contain all the...

March 21st, 2025: Friday night was an 8 Course Omakase Dinner ($58/person) for my friends and I.

Immediately I ordered a Takasago Plum ($12). It’s a Japanese plum/apricot infused with junmai sake from Ishikawa, Japan. It smelled like whiskey, but I throughly loved it. It was sweet and fruity, a great drink to sip on. Now into the 8 courses:

🥒 1st course - Agebitashi: We thought we’d be getting eggplant, but think it was zucchini. Either way, it was soaked in what tasted like light dash and soy sauce based broth. We really liked this.

🍠2nd course: Japanese sweet potato tempura with maple ginger cheese sauce and almond slices. It tasted really good, not greasy at all. True Japanese style tempura.

🐟 3rd course: Two slices of Atlantic salmon sashimi and two slices of yellow fin tuna sashimi. We were impressed with the light flavour, wasn’t super fishy tasting at all.

🦪 4th course - Kaijiru: Claim miso soup with Asari Manila clams. Very flavourful.

🐓 🐖 🍅 5th course: Their signature grilled Yakitori skewers. One was chicken, one was cherry tomatoes and the other was pork belly. The pork belly was melt in your mouth, one of our favourites.

🍣 6th course: Aburi Salmon rolls with cream cheese. It was fire-tourced in-front of us. These were bigger than expected, we were getting full by this part.

🍜 7th course: Half size tonkotsu ramen. It was topped with a chain pork slice, half egg, bamboo and nori seaweed. This was my favourite. The depth of flavour in this bowl is astounding. I also whole heartedly love warm, marinated eggs.

🍨 8th course: Hand made vanilla icecream. Good finish to the night. We were very full by the end and were happy for a light finish.

All of us were left extremely happy. Service was great and attentive. All in all, took us just over 2hrs for everything. We were very full by the end of it. I highly recommend this dinner if you love Japanese food.

March 14th, 2025: It’s been awhile since I visited Tipsy Samurai, so I was really glad to get the chance to return tonight. We ordered a Chicken Karaage Bowl ($18), Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen ($19), Sapporo on tap($8.50), Hello Kitty cocktail ($12), and Hoji-cha cheesecake ($7.50).

So note to self, Friday night is very busy and you need to reserve a table in advance, even if it’s for 2 people. We luckily only had a 30 min wait, but the restaurant was quite full.

It was quite busy, so we ended up waiting at least 15 minutes for our drinks. We weren’t offered nor brought water. But when we did get our drinks, I was very happy. I absolutely loved the Hello Kitty cocktail. It was made with apricot brandy, peach schnapps, lemon juice, milkis, grenadine, and sprite. I found it fruity but not too sweet. As for the Sapporo, I’m actually really liked it too. I don’t like beer, so I find this beer light and refreshing.

Now on to the food. If you love spicy ramen, this is a good place to eat. And as for the Karaage Bowl, I’m obsessed. It truly reminds me of Japan. The chicken is moist, light and flavourful. You can tell it was marinated. It’s served on top of a salad tossed in a sesame dressing and beneath that is Hokkaido rice. Everything tasted high quality and light, allowing you to enjoy a drink and even a dessert. Which is exactly what I did.

The hoji-cha cheesecake was small, but it was home made and a great finish. It had a deep flavour that I couldn’t place, which is the nuttyness of the hoji-cha.

I have to mention, that we felt the service was really lacking. Like I said, they were busy, but we didn’t get water, had to ask for utensils and was never checked on while we were eating.

But, the food was extremely good and reminds me so much of Japan. If you want truly unique, high quality, Japanese flavours and food, this is the place to go.

I will be returning for that 8 course dining experience, but I’ll definitely be making a...

I will preface this by saying I DO NOT leave reviews...ever. I think this is my first restaurant review. For the most part, if I have a subpar experience, I just shrug my shoulders. In this case, I had fairly bad experience, and was also prompted to provide a review.

I was initially excited to try this place out, as I read good things about it, and love Japanese food. While the taste was pretty good, I was terribly disappointed with the portion size and cost. I expected it to be a somewhat expensive meal, but was pretty shocked when it came time to pay.

I ate with my wife and my young son. I am a fairly thin person (150 lbs), my wife is petite, and my son is only 5 years old. We ordered the kinpira, sweet potato tempura, 6 yakitori skewers, dynamite sushi roll, and salmon sashimi. With one child's drink and 2 waters, this came to a total of $75.

Below is a breakdown on portions. -kinpira ($5.00): tiny bowl -tempura sweet potato ($12.00): large portion, but quite mushy -yakitori chicken thigh ($3.50): small strip of chicken, 1-2 bites -yakitori pork belly ($3.50): 2 very small cubes -yakitori tsukune ($3.00): 3 very small balls -yakitori bacon wrapped qual eggs ($3.00): 2 pieces -yakitori zucchini ($2.50): 4 tiny 1/2 slices -yakitori bessa mushroom ($2.50): 1 large piece -tipsy dynamite roll ($15): large, but couldn't be picked up without falling apart (even with hands) -salmon sashimi ($8.50): 4 good-sized pieces, but tough, with some browning on edges

What this amounted to was a bunch of starters/Hors-D'Oeuvres. None of us were filled, and we had to stop on the McDonald's across the parking lot on the way home. I was familiar with how small yakitori can sometimes be (I've been to Japan), but this was a bit extreme. My friend ordered the cherry tomato yakitori, and he got 2 small tomatoes...for $2.50. That's quite the markup.

Perhaps the ramen is a better value ($14-15 small, $18-19 regular), as we saw that most of the other patrons were having it. I may go back again to try it out, but can't see myself ever having the rest...