Kokoro Tokyo Mazesoba - Downtown — Restaurant in Vancouver

A very spacious and clean Japanese noodle shop with a twist! Soupless noodles you say? Definitely worth a shot. Our party of 4 adults and 3 kids had to arrive early at 5PM as they didn’t take reservations. Luckily, seating wasn’t an issue because they have ample space for a place located downtown.

We pretty much all went with their bestseller and chef recommended options. Not exactly sure what the differences were other than some additional eggs, bamboo shoots, or sheets of seaweed but taste wise was very similar. Two of us ended up turning ours in combinations by adding some side bowls of rice with minced and pork toppings for around an extra $4.

The taste. What can I say other than it was too salty for most of us. You are supposed to mix everything together so the sauces pretty much everything. After you make it through the noodles, you can get a free bowl of rice to get the rest of the sauce at the bottom of your bowl. I ended up not doing it because it was too heavy and salty for my liking.

To chase the sodium, I thought it would be good to try their Hokkaido ice cream cone. It was like a soft serve inside a Hokkaido cookie shaped in a cone. This dessert turned out to the best part of the meal as the ice cream tasted just like Hokkaido milk and the cone was just like the cookie.

If you’re in the mood for trying something different, this place definitely fits the bill. They even say it on the menu that it’s not ramen or udon. Even though they do have some noodle soup options, you’re probably best to try elsewhere if craving more traditional...

I've been meaning to try this place for months and have gone twice in the past week (oops). It's a 2 minute walk from Granville station, close to the 711 near the Dunsmuir exit. The restaurant is quite spacious and the service is fast. Both times I came around 11:30 so I was seated right away. I got the Niku Mazesoba (their Bestseller) which has slow-braised pork chasu, spicy minced pork, raw egg yolk, minced garlic, green onion, seaweed flakes, ground saba fish, chives and their multigrain in-house made noodles ($15.49). For those who can't tolerate spicy the Mentaiko Mazesoba is a good option. I had to scoop out some of the green onion and chives as I felt like there was too much, but otherwise it was really good! Very flavourful and noodles were tasty (kinda reminded me of udon). I was a bit hesitant to try it with vinegar as I'm not usually a vinegar fan, but the flavours blended really well together. Don't skip out on the free scoop of rice, it's the perfect portion to finish off any leftover meat/sauce.

I tried some of my friend's Tokyo Milk Tea which was good but nothing too special. I opted to try a Hokkaido cone ($5.99) instead. The soft serve itself is a little bit icy but still has a very good milky flavour. I really enjoyed the cookie cone! I have not tried Cremia in Japan so I unfortunately cannot compare the two.

The price is a bit steep in my opinion which is why I knocked off 1 star, I would still come back for sure as the food is...

I used to love this place back in high school, so I was excited to bring my boyfriend here. Unfortunately, the experience was a huge disappointment from start to finish.

We arrived at 9:14 PM on a Saturday night, well before their posted 10 PM closing time, but the first thing the server said was “we’re closed.” Only after I pushed back did they reluctantly let us in, rushing us to order before we could even sit down. It was clear they just wanted to go home.

The service was unfriendly and inattentive — no water until we asked, no napkins until we asked, no check-ins, no basic hospitality. The atmosphere felt like we were an inconvenience.

The food was just as bad. My ramen was dry, bland, and completely different from the quality I remembered. The takoyaki was barely sauced and tasted like it had been reheated in an air fryer. The karaage was unseasoned and dry. Prices have gone up, but the quality has gone way down.

It was obvious the kitchen was already cleaning and closing while we were eating, which probably explains the poor food and rushed service. To top it off, they told us at the end that they wouldn’t accept cash (after closing the register), leaving us scrambling because they never mentioned it beforehand.

This used to be a great spot, but the management seriously needs to step up. Poor service, poor food, and no respect for posted hours — I won’t be...