Kitcho Izakaya — Restaurant in Richmond

Up close and personal??

Been to the old location a couple of times a lifetime ago but first time to this new location.

It is located on the ground floor on the corner of Garden City and McKim Way. There is a parkade at the back and paid street parking along the street (if you are somewhat lazy like me after a long day, it’s $3/hr right out front lol).

The inside is greeted with a fish tank of koi fishes, bar and sushi bar along with the kitchen to the right and tables to the left as you walk in. A small but comfortably spaced out dining atmosphere.

Upon arrival and told over an hour wait but sushi bar is available. Opted out at first but my friend didn’t mind the UP CLOSE and personal experience so sushi bar it was.

Here were the food I ordered;

Unagi tamago. Decently okay, nice little appetizer to begin the meal with. Usually if just tamago, I prefer it at the end as almost like a dessert. Tako wasabi. Nice texture but lack the wasabi taste (actually I can barely taste the wasabi). Soft shell crab. Very nicely done and the crab was of good size plus came with a nice fresh salad! Oyster motoyaki. Nicely cooked and tasty. Finally a place understands how to cook a straight to the point good motoyaki. Foie gras toast. The foie gras was seared nicely but the toast was over toasted, the sauce was too much and overpowered the beautiful buttery taste of the foie gras. Kimchi mentaiko yaki udon. Added the kimchi sauce while pan frying it, good! Didn’t add the masago too early good! Ingredients were generous and didn’t over cooked, good! BUT cooked the kimchi cabbage together, resulting in nothing but warm sour cabbage,not good! Deluxe sashimi added Hokkaido uni for $58 extra. Everything was fresh and tasty. Bite size as I preferred them (some of you who preferred over sizes then you will be disappointed lol). But I am bit disappointed with the selection for $65. The uni was fresh but $58 for 9pcs whereas the each of the uni nigiri has 3pcs in them for $16. The uni nigiris are perhaps a better deal than the uni sashimi?!? Engawa nigiris. Lightly torched and a nice light sauce, very tasty. O-toro, kinmedai, shima aji, chopped scallop nigiris. Everything was fresh and tasty but wish the O-toro nigiris were just a tad bit more generous in portion especially for the price.

This is a nice little place with a warm and cozy vibe. They do have a selection of creative dishes that most likely you don’t find at other places, but the price tag is a bit higher here than your average Japanese restaurant. I assume the goal is quality over quantity.

The food was fresh and of good quality, no doubt about that. All the sushis were bite size just the way I liked them but like I said earlier on if you are those who prefer bigger portions, this may not be for you. I would put this place on an option to repeat if I am in the neighbourhood but for the same price, there are similar or better options throughout the lower mainland.

Overall the service was friendly and attentive, but I did wish I got a table instead of the sushi bar because there was an empty table throughout the duration of my time there. Nevertheless, up close and personal once awhile is okay at long as good food and...

When it comes to high end eateries / restaurants, I have very high expectations. So my 5 stars are only if it's basically perfect and flawless.

I brought my family over to try this place, expecting to pick the mid to high tier items (ie. Uni otoro nigiri sushi and such). The quality did not disappoint.

Uni Otoro Nigiri: Anyone that orders uni combined with raw rish and rice knows the strictness of the combination needs to be precise, or one side of it will be too overpowered by the other taste. This piece did not disappoint. The freshness, portion of each ingredient, and the sauce was just right and you can taste the flavours well-balanced. Foie Gras Toast: perfectly seared. Not overly oily or dry or too saucy. Toast is crispy and on point that mixes well with the Foie Gras. Assorted Sashimi: great portions. Fresh. Served at perfect temperature. Other Nigiris: ordered Hotate, Engawa, Shima Aji, and Saba. All really well made and spot on. The stood out one is their saba, which is not the traditionally salted and smoked version, but actually torched lightly and still raw and fresh inside. In-house ice cream cone: remember those big free ice cream cones from hotpot places? This one is hand size so you don't feel bloated after. Matcha flavour is superior to specialized ice cream stores you can find around town!

All in all, an absolute must go place if you want to go for high quality Japanese food.

And if there's one thing I wish they can improve on, is the outside of the restaurant since it is hard to catch the place just from driving by. The unfortunate aspect is that they are probably restricted by strata or government on how much they can put up outside.

Other that that, will come back often...

Horrible business practice at Kitcho. We went as a party of 2 and was seated near the entrance. After we made our food order, one of the waiters came by to ask us if we can move to a different table as there is a “party” coming in. We complied as we were sitting at a 4 person table and had assumed the party they were mentioning required this size. We were then asked to stand up and wait by the door which confused me. Upon waiting 5 mins. We then saw the waiters start to move food from the inner room to our table and then seated a party of 2. I was very shocked. I could instantly tell that the party of 2 are “known customers” therefore preferential treatment. When our table at the inner room was ready, we were then seated to another 4 person table. We were confused to why we were moved at the first place. After about 2 mins, the private room adjacent to us became very drunk and rowdy to the point we could not have a conversation nor enjoy our food. We found the reason as to why were moved... because the previous party was annoyed by the same disruption therefore the restaurant management chose to shove us to deal with it as opposed to their frequent guests. This review is not about the quality of the food but really a shameful business practice that has left a bad taste to my mouth in terms of their ethics and decision making. It seems that satisfying their one customer is more important than...