Applause Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Vancouver

It was New Year’s Eve the night I ordered for my partner and I and I was hoping to treat her to a nice sushi dinner. Since the roads were fairly icy, I figured I should order from somewhere my partner was familiar with and she suggested Applause since she lived in the nearby neighbourhood a few years ago and although she had mentioned it was a bit on the pricier side, she also mentioned it was still good for the price.

I had ordered the sushi scheduled for pickup at 7:15pm. Upon arrival at 7:15pm I was told that the order would be ready in 5 minutes which I was fine with but it was actually 10 minutes late, which is understandable since it was New Year’s Eve and I’m sure online orders were relatively busy as I was seeing others picking up their orders while I was seated waiting on the bench at the entrance. I also noticed that the server wished others a happy new year as they left with their food but hadn’t said anything to me other than a goodbye which I felt was rather odd, so I said it back anyways.

I returned home, unpacked the food, and was pleasantly surprised with the presentation. Together we had ordered the Double Fantasy Battera, Rainbow Battera, Crossover Roll, 7 pieces of Toro Sashimi, two of the Ikura Nigiri, two of the Hotate Nigiri, and six of the Uni Nigiri.

My partner and I started eating the Toro Sashimi and were really pleased with how smooth and flavourful the cut of fish was. Definitely a great choice for anyone!

Eventually we decided to try the Uni Nigiri. This would be my partner’s second time having Uni and she was really excited to try it again as the first time she had it was at another restaurant. Together we each took a bite out of the Uni Nigiri and while I thought my piece was fine, I noticed a look of discomfort on her face that I hadn’t seen before as she spat out the piece. She then told me that smelled like pee and tasted bitter which I found odd because I thought that the piece I ate tasted perfectly fine. I then asked her if I could smell and try the unfinished part of her piece of Uni Nigiri and I noticed the same thing she did… it honestly smelled like pee and tasted off. We figured that maybe it was only a single bad piece and decided to give the Uni Nigiri another try. This time we both noticed the smell and taste was off. She spat out the piece and decided she wouldn’t have anymore. I decided to power through the final two pieces because I didn’t want to put the rest to waste considering the price of each piece of Uni Nigiri at $3.80 per piece. I honestly was pretty upset considering I’ve had uni many times at many restaurants both in Vancouver and Japan and maybe 2 out of the 6 pieces were at least okay compared to the other 4 that tasted off. I genuinely don’t think that these pieces were fresh and if I could have a refund for the Uni Nigiri I think that would be ideal…

I’m not so sure that I’m in a position to provide feedback about food since I’m not a chef, but I don’t think that the Uni was fresh at all. For the price it’s being sold for on the menu I would have expected fresher and better tasting Uni.

As for the experience in the restaurant, I think greeting and wishing a fond farewell with the same level of enthusiasm and delivery would have been nice along with more accurate wait times or a disclaimer on the website (where I ordered from) which states that there might be slight delays. The only reason I chose pickup rather than Uber Eats was because I’d rather not pay a delivery fee when I can pick it up in 6 minutes from my home.

The rest of the order was honestly great. No complaints about anything other than the Uni Nigiri which we rigorously washed down with Prosecco before proceeding with the rest of the food. I’m not sure if I’ll ever order a delicacy like Uni again from here but I think I’m okay with ordering sushi rolls again from here.

I’m not come off as a Karen or be offensive, but this is my honest experience.

tldr; Stay away from anything Uni related. The rest of my...

First time trying this place because other places were closed.

I called to order takeout since they were closing in 30min. When placing my order, the lady on the phone spoke rudely and sharp, at this point, I was already debating if I should continue with my order, but decided to give it a try.

Customer service is important, as it shows a lot about the environment they work at.

Upon entering the restaurant, a short brown/dark blonde haired lady gave me a glare and didn't even bother with a simple hello. Did I do something wrong? Did I dress inappropriately? Or is she just having a bad day?

Anyways, when paying with my credit card, she just placed the machine down and walked away, without even telling me the total amount. She came back afterwards, took the machine, asked if I needed a receipt in which I said no thanks, and she turned around and left.

I'm assuming my order wasn't ready yet but there was no communication. She came back approximately 5minutes later, walking very sloppy and lazily, placed my food on the table without a word, and left. I didn't even bother saying thanks at this point.

Food was average, nothing special. I wouldn't mind coming back here, but that was one rude attitude I had ever had to experience.

Service:...

went here with my friends because i heard it was good when i ordered the chicken karage took a bite of it and saw it was way undercooked it was still very much pink so i spat it out and when i told the waitress about it she said its because of their marination process and told me shes 100% sure its cooked but ive never had chicken karage pink before?? and my friends were inspecting it too and there was this pretty big spot that was like purple jelly the waitress still made me pay for it so i just wasted $8

ps. never liked reviewing places because usually im like whatever and but the chicken was obviously pink inside and out and had that raw purple part and very angry that she made me pay for it every one of my friends were saying it was undercooked but the waitress refused to take it back I expected more from this place because it has some pretty good reviews but I guess i shouldn't have...