Kadoya Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Vancouver

Feeding the table late night…

I passed by this place probably for more than a decade yet I have never been here before. I probably didn’t pay much attention until I was looking for some really late night sushi. And as far as I know there are less than a handful that opens past 12am so this place got me intrigued when I saw it opens til 1am.

Upon entering, casually greeted by the staffs and seated. Inside is small; about 8-10 tables on each side, sushi bar and kitchen to the back, simple and older decor, furnishings maybe needed a bit of an upgrade.

The menu was pretty straightforward, serving pretty much the basics with a few Korean items. Here were the food I ordered;

Prawn sunomono ($2 extra for prawn). I literally fed the entire bowl of it to the table when I accidentally tipped it over. From the corner of my eyes I saw the chef (owner?) immediately told the kitchen to make me a new one and the server came to tell me they are making a new one for me. I insisted no but at the end they replaced a new one for me (Did they just earned a brownie point with me?). The vermicelli had a light chew to them, the seasoned vinegar was on the lighter side but the portion was generous. Appetizer tempura. The batter and fluff was more of the older tempura style, could use an upgrade in this one for more of an appealing look. But they tasted pretty decent. Spider roll. Very nicely done, and wasn’t over powered by a large amount of rice like a lot of the basic sushi places do. Plus the softshell crab was quite meaty. Salmon, red tuna, saba, toro nigiris. Everything was fresh except for the red tuna, it was a bit on the dry side. The rice texture was perfect however a more noticeable seasoning on the rice may be a good idea. Chopped scallops and ikura nigiri’s. Very fresh especially the ikura and the portion was quite generous. Assorted sashimi. Everything was okay but once again the red tuna was a bit dry also why one piece of tako? If dining with a few people, someone is going to have a black eye or missing a tooth fighting for it?

Where do I begin? First of all, there aren’t too many late night sushi places and as most know that no late night sushi places are good? Therefore I didn’t have much expectations when I stepped into this place, HOWEVER, I was surprised and blown away by its sincere and genuine services not just to me but to all the diners from the beginning till the end. I have been to probably 5000+ restaurants in this globe and had all kind of memorable experiences but seldom what I called a genuine service experience. And I can add this one to my book.

Honestly, I always appreciate the sincere, genuine gestures and services more than the rehearsed 5 star service. This kind of attitude will always be blessed with success. It appeared this is new ownership and staffs, wish you all much success in the new venture together. And many thanks for the great hospitality in such a simple setting.

P.S. food has room for improvement so mainly rating for its humble genuine...

Good food, poor service. Your server needs more training. She seems young but you need to be aware and help her or people will complain, which is a shame because the food is very good.

Issues:

1. Waited way too long for our menu on arrival, had to flag down server for the menus.

2. 5-10 minutes after we finally got our menus we flagged the server down again and she seemed confused. No pleasantries, just an awkward look. We were ready to order but it seemed like she didn't know how this worked? I'm guessing she's new but still it's quite basic to just say 'Hi, what can I get you?' which wasn't asked.

3. We asked for green tea and water for 2 of us. Only brought 1 tea and 1 water out. We asked again for the missing half, reminding her twice as she was writing it down on her phone. Still forgot and needed to be prompted a 4th time. Then only brought tea and no water.

4. When the food came our order for person A) was Gyoza and a roll. Order for person B) was Gyoza and 2x rolls. She mixed up our sushi rolls and I ended up with half my partner's order on my plate. Also there was only 1 gyoza sauce for 2 people's orders of 2 gyozas.

5. The worst part honestly was when it came to payment and she stood over us in silence. Didn't ask how our day was/what we were up to later. Just awkward hovering over us, felt very unprofessional especially as another customer was trying to flag her down and she said '1 second please'. If only she had been this attentive to us about our drinks/sauces, since the restaurant was basically empty. In upscale places they will leave the bill and say 'no rush' and come back when you're ready and maybe make small talk. Or leave and come back shortly after the payment has been made.

I really think you can do better here with some training. I might return if I see better reviews in future about the service since the food was really great. Please take this feedback constructively so your customers and staff can have a better experience. I mean this to be helpful and not have your staff be reprimanded but instead properly trained up to a...

I had really high hopes for this place. All the reviews I saw seemed to tell a story about fantastic sushi at great prices with friendly service. All 3 were untrue. I've indulged in a variety of sushi restaurants in Michigan (my home) and I've had the very bad to the very good (for Michigan).

Quality: I will say that Kadoya is of low-medium quality compared to what I've experienced in Michigan. I had a massive plate full of all the different varieties of nigiri and everything but the Eel was disappointing; especially the fatty tuna. Even some of the lower quality fatty tuna I've had melted in my mouth, but this fatty tuna was so not worth what we paid.

Price: First off, the prices currently are $1.75cad for tuna, salmon, mackerel, and similar pieces of nigiri. I've had better fish for $1(USD). It's over priced. If you're going to eat here, stick to the sushi rolls as they don't rely heavily on the quality of fish and instead are more flavorful in other ways.

Service: The service was the worst I've experienced in a very long time. I'm not a shy person and I'll speak up for what I want, but the average person isn't like that and after realizing we were being ignored I wanted to see how long it would take for them to give us service without me "firmly" requesting it. They only gave us one glass for water and after waiting 10 minutes I got up and had to go refill the glass myself. I literally walked up right next to our server, grabbed the container of water, looked her in the eye and poured myself a glass of water. I did this 3 times (about 20 minutes) before she finally started asking me if I wanted water and if we wanted to order. So we didn't even order for about 30 minutes after sitting down. Yes, I could have told her to get me more water, a second glass, and to take our order, but I really wanted to know what the service would be like without me holding their hand. After receiving our food they never came back, hahaha. One of the worst service experiences I've had.

In summary: Order takeout sushi rolls and this might be your...