Shizenya — Restaurant in Vancouver

I visited Shizen Ya last night with some friends. Of the 4 of us, 2 ate a regular diet and the other 2 were vegan. Shizen Ya has an extensive vegetarian/vegan menu, which was great. The veg menu was creative and fairly decent.

Their regular menu, however, left quite a bit to be desired. We had their signature sakura blossom roll, and dynamite, spicy salmon, and negitoro roll. Starting with the spicy salmon roll, the spicy sauce was simply sriracha sauce, which was pretty lame. The negitoro roll was a typical negitoro roll, nothing special there. The dynamite roll was probably the best, and lastly, the 14 dollar sakura blossom roll came played in the shape of a flower, which was interesting. The roll itself was okay.

Note that all the rice they use in the restaurant is brown rice; however, the brown rice I felt was undercooked. It was often hard, and they didn't add enough vinegar to the rice for sushi, resulting in their sushi being bland.

Their service was alright, after the whole party arrived, we had to wait about 15 minutes before they could take our orders. They were fairly quick with filling up water and tea, and REALLY quick when it came to bringing us the bill.

All in all, I felt my experience there was fairly mediocre, and at the price range they're charging, I feel like better can be had...

At ShinZenYa, dining is like starring in a foodie blockbuster on Hornby Street in Vancouver, BC. The Miso soup broth was so light it must've taken a yoga class, giving the vegetables their time to shine like veggie celebrities in my mouth. Umami hit me like a flavor ninja, especially that onion – so cravable, it's the rockstar of the broth.

Now, the Gomai dance – not just a saucy blob on top, but an integrated performance. The spinach pirouetted with a bright flavor, blanched to perfection and refusing to get all Chewbacca in my mouth.

Enter the Sakura roll – a delectable movie, not just a roll. The salmon kicks off the scene with a rich, fatty profile, followed by the creamy duo of crab and avocado, then a spicy tuna explosion that's more intense than a plot twist. And oh, the cucumber? It's doing a crisp, refreshing tap dance in my mouth. Brown rice plays the supporting role, adding an earthy note – a grounding experience that shouts, "This is a nourishing meal, not just sushi roulette!"

And applause to the kitchen crew – their intentionality deserves an Oscar. They're like food architects, constantly looking for ways to serve or prepare for the next guest. Forget Michelin stars; ShinZenYa deserves a red carpet for making dining a...

Found Shizenya on Yelp and we came to here for breakfast because of the review and the price. The price turned out to be not much cheaper than other restaurants, but their ingredients seem healthy.

We ordered an eggplant appetizer, chicken udon lunch combo, tuna nigiri and shiawase for dessert. The eggplant might be the best out on all, because the sauce was nice (a bit too much). The udon flavor is a bit lacking and I think it might be because they are going for something really healthy. They used chicken breast in the udon and it's just chicken breast tastes like chicken breasts, nothing special (although I've had really good chicken breast from Costco). The shiawase was misleading because on the menu it looks like jelly, but it's just pudding. The nice thing about the pudding is that it's vegan and made out of pumpkin.

Overall the experience is okay. Healthy ingredients but I do expect slight better tasting food as I'm eating at the restaurant. It would be nice if they figured out how to really balance their sauce and flavor (ex. Eggplant sauce and syrup for pudding was too much, udon is too bland). If you want to come here, I would recommend coming during lunch time and get the lunch combo special. It has...