Kawakubo Revelstoke — Restaurant in Revelstoke

First off, this isn't really a review of the Food. The Food is a solid 3 star (for the Sushi) / 4 Star (for the Donburi).

This is a review of the Service, which spits in the face of the wonderful hospitality you get in every other Canadian Restaurant. Let's start with the word 'Restaurant' as I'm not sure Kawakubo and define it the same way - for the staff at Kawakubo seem to feel they're operating a Fast Food service.

We rang to book a table, and were told on the phone that we'd have to return the table in an hour. Fine, it's Sushi you don't need much more than that. We arrived - and the rather rude Maître D' reminded us again "You only have the table for an hour", and again... fine.

Barely had we sat down when the (nicer but still pushy) waitress came to take our order. All the food was on the table within 5 minutes of ordered (all courses) - the server halfway back to the kitchen before the plate had left her hand - which was more than could comfortably fit on the table. Plates were taken before we were finished...

...and the bill was put down immediately. We had to ask for a Desert Menu (they didn't have one, but offered Ice Cream) and Coffee. Not that we were gagging for desert but it was the principal - no-one asked if we were ready for the bill and even by their schedule we had 20 minutes left.

We ate the ice cream, bill put down again and as soon as we'd paid the INCREDIBLY RUDE Maître D' flew by and told us the next people for the table were here and we had to leave. He didn't say "I'm really sorry, but the next people are here. Would you mind leaving when you're ready so we can turn the table around?" or something similar - he didn't wait for a response so I stopped him and made a point that we still had 2 minutes left... and sat there until the hour was up out of principle.

The guy was British I think (I'm British, but even by expected British standard of rudeness, this guy was someone else) and just so so so so rude. We won't be going back here again the next time we're in Revelstoke. To add insult to injury, many of the tables around us were empty. If you're going to book tables, allow time to turn the table around don't push your paying customer out of the door. A reminder, the customer pays for service - not the other way...

While on a weekend road trip my group and I decided to get some Sushi while staying the night at the near by three valley gap hotel. Now I will be the first to admit that my partner and I didn't have high expectations for good Japanese dining in small town BC. Boy we were wrong… upon entering the restaurant the hostess informed us that we would be getting our own dining room, given the size of our group and considering that the restaurant was filled on the ground floor being a Friday night it was quite busy. We were led to the upstairs and shown to our own private japanese dining room, we were asked to remove our shoes before entering, I was pleasantly surprised to see this in Canada and especially in the small town of revelstoke. Shortly after being seated our waitress brought the drink menu, we started with a round of tea, and the tea pot was huge, I appreciated that. While perusing the drink menu something caught my eye, the Asahi “mini keg” , this is something that I haven’t encountered in any Japanese restaurant, so I ventured downstairs and asked the waitress of I could see the mini keg. It was a quick yes . If your in a group order the mini keg it’s great for several people. Now onto the food my partner ordered the sashimi platter, and was blown away she compared it to our Goto place in Calgary in terms of quality and preparation, she was of the opinion that the chef was either Japanese or trained in Japan not a compliment she gives often, as for myself I ordered the chicken Katsu and cooked volcano roll. Both were quite good, I usually don't order a roll but I decided to give it a shot great combination and the spicy mayo tied it all together. All in all great experience I will...

Excellent Japanese food and atmosphere Wow! What a pleasant surprise to find this gem of a restaurant. Not only was the food above average, but the service (Thanks Ky) was so refreshing in a time when service is not usually even acceptable. The Food: We ordered a variety of things starting with a refreshing Sunomon salad and working our way into the rolls and cones. We tried different ones than what we normally order and were very glad we did. Another customer told us on her way out to give the "watermelon" a try and it was the highlight of the night. I had never had a raw roll before but it was fantastic. Several kinds of protein (eel, tuna, & salmon, paired with cucumber, avocado and unagi sauce) made up this colourful sampler roll. All of the food was fresh, tasty and not overly packed in with rice. Very good quality sushi and sashimi, rolls and cones for the price. The ice cream to finish was very refreshing too.

My faves were the Crispy Philadelphia roll and the Watermelon roll.

The service: Our server Ky was attentive, knowledgeable and looking around the restaurant, the staff all seemed happy to be there. Rare treat these days. It was our first "dine in" in a very long time and they made it very enjoyable.

Organized: From the kitchen to the table turn over, this restaurant has it figured out. We were called when our table was ready (from a wait-list) and walked over from our hotel. The walls separating the tables were easily moved to accommodate any size party and still offer privacy. Super flexible idea!!

My takeaway: The next time I'm driving from Alberta to the coast, I will be overnighting in Revelstoke just so I can go for...