Octopus' Garden Restaurant — Restaurant in Vancouver

The place was very nice. We went for my mum’s birthday and father's day, and had the Omakase, which my parents had before and I was really excited about. The first course was spinach salad, which had a bitter flavour to it but the scallops were amazing. Next, the uni shooter - a restaurant specialty - was delicious but had a slimy texture. The mushroom soup was wonderful with a brown colour and little black dots of goodness - delicious. Next was the sashimi. There were four types of fish. The snapper was pink and white, really chewy and had no taste - it was the only thing I didn’t like. The sockeye salmon was very nice and perfectly red although it did have lemon and seaweed on it, not my favourite. The yellowtail was very interesting. It tasted like a mixture of tuna and salmon and was red with white but rusty coloured unlike the creamy coloured snapper. The bluefin tuna was very great with a red colour and nice belly feel of dissolving in your mouth. The next course was cooked yellowtail with a tempera shiitake mushroom and an okra bean. The yellowtail was very nice with a salty flavour and lovely fishy flavour. The shiitake mushroom was slightly slimy but otherwise pretty good. The okra bean was a nice addition to the art, and I let my mum eat mine. The thick and dense leaf underneath was very pretty. Next was nigiri. The salmon was great but it had large roe (about 3 millimeters) and they were weird. They were filled with juice that had a very strong fishy taste. The salmon however was delicious and went well with the rice. The octopus was chewy but otherwise pretty tasty. The bluefin tuna was better than before, and served with herring roe. The mackerel was pretty good. Finally the spicy tuna was nice but really crunchy and felt like chewing on coral. I didn’t like that too much. The smoked salmon nigiri had an amazing texture but the salmon tasted a bit too smoked. Finally we had dessert. I was worried that it would ruin the taste of sushi but it was so exceptionally delicious. It consisted of a tiramisu cake made of green tea matcha cake and it was amazing. It tasted unbelievable. It didn’t even taste at all unhealthy. The homemade ice cream was good but nothing like the cake. Afterwards we were given a gummy octopus. Even that was high quality. The place had a very nice ocean theme. The metal pipes above it were shaped like an octopus. That was an experience to...

I called to inquire about making a reservation for two people on. The woman who answered the phone implied that a table was available, responding with “sure” when I asked about availability for the date and time. However, after I mentioned I would be accompanied by my guide dog, her tone shifted. She said she would need to “check with the owner” — an unusual response, as bringing a guide dog should not require special approval under federal and provincial accessibility laws.

When she returned to the phone, she stated that only patio seating or a small private room were available — no longer the implied regular table. During this same call, I overheard her say “mendokusai” in Japanese, which translates to “what a hassle” or “too troublesome.” She likely assumed I would not understand, but I do — and this comment was deeply offensive and clearly related to my guide dog.

Later, I called the restaurant again. This time a man answered and repeated the same response: only the patio or private room was available. But after I calmly stated that denying access to a guide dog is a violation of federal law, a regular table suddenly became available. When I questioned why the availability had changed after I brought up the law, he offered no clear explanation. I asked to speak to the manager, and he claimed to be the manager himself. However, when I insisted on speaking to someone else, the original woman came back on the phone and told me he was not the manager.

This situation raises several serious concerns: Why did the staff feel the need to check with the owner only after hearing about my guide dog? Why did a table that was previously “unavailable” suddenly open up after I mentioned the law? Why did a staff member falsely claim to be the manager? Why was an offensive term like “mendokusai” used when referring to a person with a disability?

This experience made me feel unwelcome, singled out, and discriminated against. As someone who relies on a guide dog for daily access and independence, I should not have to justify my legal right to enter a public restaurant. I am currently preparing a complaint with the BC Human Rights Tribunal and sharing this story to raise awareness for other service dog users who may face similar treatment.

I hope the restaurant reflects seriously on this incident and takes steps to better train its staff on disability rights...

I want to go into detail a little bit because I feel like my usual breakdown isn't enough. I am pickier than most but for the price this place charges ($100 pp), my expectations are definitely going to be higher. Here are some pros and cons I found with this restaurant.

Pros: Fresh ingredients Unique presentation Fresh wasabi Manager and servers tried really hard and always had a smile on

Cons: We've made a request at the very beginning to have no wasabi on any of my finances dishes, but from the uni shooter, appetizer sashimi and the fois gras there was wasabi on all of them and they had to bring them all back. I also wanted to point out that they simply just removed the wasabi and brought back the same dish. Luckily it's just a preference for my fiance and not an allergy. The delivery and timing for each dish could of been better. We got our first 3 dishes one after another with maybe 5 minutes in between which was great. But then there was a 20 min gap with no food and suddenly the rest of our omakase all came at once. Our grilled dish, sashimi, nigiri and soup all showed up at the same time. By the time we got to the soup it was all cold. After finishing our hot dish (king crab motoyaki) I asked for a plate change to have my sashimi and nigiri. It took quite a while and a couple tries before that happened. When it finally did, they gave us both freshly hot plates. Not exactly what I would be looking for when eating sashimi. The manager and server were really nice through out the whole process. But it just seemed like they weren't able to handle this many customer. Perhaps a few additional servers are needed. Though the ingredients were fresh there were a few things that bugged me about the food. For a higher end sushi joint, I would expect more from there ice green tea. I attached a photo of what I got. The ginger could also use some improvments. Lastly is the nigiri rice. The rice was too cold and the texture of the rice was quite hard. It tasted like it was taken out from the fridge from the night before or early morning.

We've been to this place a few times over the past 5 years and it has definately gotten worse. This is likely the last time we go back.

Overall Food: 2.5 Service: 2.5 Ambiance: 2 Value: 2 Recommend...