Minato Sushi Restaurant (Vancouver, BC) — Restaurant in Vancouver

----Apr 25 2025----

I wanted to try again to see if they have improved. There was a bogo deal on their combo 8 spicy combo. $20.99 for 2. Original price is $14.99 for 1.

When I opened it, it was the smallest rolls I've seen. Usually the rolls almost fill up the box, but this box had a lot of room still. The size of the tuna is about the size of those $3 tuna maki. I liked the tastes of the spicy california because the imitation crab was mixed with spicy before putting it in. Other places just make a regular california roll and add spicy sauce on top. The spicy tuna had no spicy sauce to be seen - it was just the non spicy version. The hot minato roll was also just regular tuna and not spicy tuna. The rice was overcooked and mushy. The miso soup was also small but was tasty.

Overall, it was super disappointing. You can get a 3 item combo for $16.95 with bigger rolls elsewhere.

------2021---------- I ordered from them for the first time because they have 50% sale on the Fantuan delivery app. Firstly, if you check the prices on the app vs their website, the prices are different, so you aren't saving 50% but more like 20%. That's still okay as the prices were still cheaper than ordering from other places.

I think this place would probably be good if you dine in, but they don't do take out well. For the box set, they threw in the tempura on top of the chicken teriyaki rice and it was so soggy and soaked with tempura sauce when it got here. Other restaurants usually have the tempura in a small separate box with a hole cut on the box so it doesn't steam. Their chicken teriyaki rice was supposed to be part of the box set and indeed the chicken portion is the right amount, but they put so much rice in it. I'm not complaining because I saved the rice to make other meals. They either forgot to give, or don't give you the ebi sunomono if you do take out. The tuna and sashimi pieces were ok. The salmon didn't have much flavor.

The oyako don also had too much rice compared to the stuff on top, but the flavor was good.

However, the sushi was not bad. I had a dynamite roll and several negitoro rolls. The negitoro was quite small and only came in 6 pieces as opposed to 8 which other restaurants do. For $2 something, it was still a good deal. The dynamite roll had 1 prawn, and some I think sweet soy sauce soaked tempura bits which turned out soggy.

If I were to eat here again, I would only wait for it to be on sale and only order sushi. Anything you can crispy, they would not take...

When eating at a place like Minato, your expectations should be tempered to begin with. This is a relatively small sushi joint that specializes in cheap, convenient dishes. You're not going to get the same quality as somewhere like Miku or Tojo's, but if that's what you were looking for, you're looking in the wrong place. Minato is a budget sushi place through and through, but they excel at occupying that specific niche. The advantage Minato has over others is its value proposition. Regular rolls like California or spicy tuna are dirt cheap, and even the specialty rolls rarely breach the $15 range that so many other restaurants fall into the trap of. Their $48 sushi platter's been a reliable way for feeding groups larger than advertised on the menu, and the combos, while somewhat unusual in their lineups, do show solid value as well. None of this would matter if Minato ultimately cut corners in quality, which thankfully, they don't. BC rolls, which are so often soggy and rubbery at other budget places are crispy and smoky as they should be here. Even fattier cuts of fish like the Toro used in some rolls don't taste fishy, another common pitfall of budget restaurants.

If I had to level two recurring criticisms of Minato, it'd be that, Despite the sushi tasting good, the construction leaves some room to be desired. Rolls feel loosely put together and can sometimes fall apart. Projected ordering times given by delivery apps or on the phone are not always accurate, especially on busy days. It's not uncommon to see aggravated Uber eats drivers waiting around longer than they expected to in front of the door.

Aside from those two caveats, Minato's consistently delivered in quality and value for me, and as a broke student, I can appreciate that they make for a welcome, but affordable treat every...

Hidden Sushi Stop I came by with a good friend for dinner. Since my favorite Japanese restaurant Kiso River closed several months ago. I've been on the lookout for a new replacement place.

We decided to try a selection of items to test their kitchen. We ordered the Golden sushi roll, prawn tempura appetizer, gyoza, the tofu teriyaki steak and the salmon tempura teri bowl. According to my girl friend, the golden roll was good. I thought the gyoza was only average, it seemed to filled more with veg than meat so the texture was very loose and had a cabbage aroma.tge prawn tempura was excellent tender and very predictable. My salmon tempura teri bowl was overwhelmed by too much salty teryaki sauce! The salmon was in several scrap size pieces each in their own tempura batter. I was expecting the salmon to be a single piece but I guess these little pieces were the remains left over from making sushi. Not what I was expecting.I was expecting there to be egg in this bowl too since it was listed under the Don Buri section but it was not to be. This rice bowl was accompanied by a miso soup though. My mouth felt so salted out that I had to drink numerous cups of tea to cleanse my palate.

Service was efficient. The place was quiet since we arrived after the dinner rush. Small area for seating arrangements divided between booths and tables. Well lit overall. Bus stop is conveniently right outside the door. Might return with my family to try their other dishes like their Bento boxes in the hopes that these dishes will...