Sushi Bar Shu — Restaurant in Vancouver

ATTENTION!!!!!! READ HERE BEFORE YOU GO TO SUSHI BAR SHU!!!!!

Background Information: Before I go beyond to the information about the food, I would like to explain the background information about the restaurant first. Sushi bar shu offers omakase for $138 for 22 dishes. Omakase refers to the gastronomy in Japanese world for your information. Therefore, you would get your food one by one. Please have an empty stomach since you’ll be very full to eat the omakase. 2 seatings/day 18:00 and 20:00

*VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION: PLEASE READ: YOU MAY WANT TO BOOK HERE 1 MONTH IN ADVANCE SO THAT YOU CAN GET SEATS. IF YOU ARE BOOKING FOR 2 OR LESS, YOU CAN USE YELP, BUT IF YOU ARE BOOKING FOR MORE THAN 2 SEATS, PLEASE CALL THE RESTAURANT! YOU WOULD NEED YOUR CREDIT CARD TO RESERVE THE RESTAURANT WHICH I THINK MAKE SENSE SINCE A LOT OF PEOPLE LIKE TO CANCEL LAST MINUTE, AND OMAKASE IS SOMETHING THAT NEEDS TO BE PREPARED BEFORE SERVING, SO PLEASE CANCEL BEFORE 24 HOURS OF RESERVATION.

ALSO, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE READ! IF YOU COME HERE MAKE SURE TO NOT SPEAK LOUDLY DURING YOUR TIME OF EATING AND TO FINISH ALL YOUR FOOD!!!!! IT IS VERY DISRESPECTFUL TO THROW AWAY OMAKASE FOOD AND SPEAK LOUDLY DURING OMAKASE. THEREFORE, PLEASE MIND YOUR VOICE AND VOLUME!!!

The experience: I love all the food and the experience. Chef Brian and Chef Kevin were very helpful explaining the dishes and how they presented and made the dishes super well. HEAR THIS OUT BECAUSE I STUDIED COOKING (SUSHI SPECIFICALLY): I love how the chefs order the food as followed as the photos attached from first to the end. The order was super awesome that I was shocked as well. Giving lemon zest midway and and orange zest at the end were smart and amazing. It gives you a fresh mouth, so you would feel good, especially the serbet, its just right!

I don’t blame Chef Kevin for speaking not loud enough explaining the dishes since the other customers speak so LOUDDDDDD and I can’t hear what they said. They were so helpful explaining the dishes 5x to me since it is so hard to hear. Chef Brian and chef Kevin are so reliable and nice! They are talkative and conversation starters as well; these traits are very useful for being chefs at the sushi bar.

Summary: In summary, Sushi Bar Shu is awesome! Recommended and super worth your money. I would definitely come back again!! Totally recommended. For more reviews, keep reading.

About Bad Reviews: I saw a lot of bad reviews with this restaurant, and I am not so sure why??? I am trying not to be bias here, but the bad reviews sound stupid and idiotic. If you think this is not worth the $138 for the experience? You must be a backwater at omakase. I have tried omakase all around the world. For $138, this is such a good price to experience it. This is the best and most worth it in Vancouver!! For those who think there are tables on the side, you must be a backwater too at omakase. Do you think omakase would be a good experience to eat at a table instead at the sushi bar? Think again before you make a review. The reservation review. I have no comment stop being an idiot and check your restaurant before you go For the alcohol review, you must have not eaten omakase before you backwater!! For those who have eaten omakase, you know that people usualy bring their own alcohol to the omakase. Moreover, you need a liquor license to sell alcohol at the restaurant.

In summary for the bad reviews, you guys must be significantly backwater at eating Japanese food. Think again before you make stupid reviews you idiot sandwich. You guys must have only tried backwater sushi in Canada. I bet you guys eat horseradish wasabi and don’t even touch the ginger HA HA HA.

Thank you for reading my review! Cheers! I hope this would be a helpful review for those who want to go to sushi bar shu! Thank you sushi bar shu for the wonderful...

I had one of the worst restaurant experiences ever in Bar Shu the other night for my 7th year anniversary dinner. A huge disappointment since I was raving about this place to my boyfriend weeks in advance after reading all of the good reviews of Chef Kevin being warm, inviting and knowledgeable however, this was sadly NOT the case. My boyfriend is a huge food fanatic - loves to cook, loves to try out different types of food and cuisines, but more importantly loves to learn, which is one of the main reasons why I suggested trying Bar Shu out. The restaurant itself is quite small, where only 6 people at a time is seated at the bar where Chef Kevin (owner) and Chef Bryan were at the front creating our dishes. Every time Chef Kevin would bring out a plate, we could hardly hear him explain the dish due to him being very soft-spoken (the mask and thick accent didn't help either), so my boyfriend would clarify. Aside from clarifying what exactly we're putting in our mouths, he'd also ask if the fish was local and how to determine whether it was considered sushi grade. Chefs condescending and uncalled response was: "it seems like you have a lot of questions, why don't you email me instead"; a chuckle could then be heard from the other side of the bar table, embarrassing my boyfriend who couldn't hear or just wanted to make conversation (after all it is such a intimate setting...). We paid $460 for the chef to make us feel extremely uncomfortable for the whole duration of the meal. I couldn't even look at him after that point because I was so appalled from his unwarranted reaction to such a simple question. I myself have worked in the industry in an extremely busy, high-turn over restaurant on West 4th, serving up to 16-20 clients at once, but have never shown to belittle a customer because they needed clarification. If I were busy I'd simply say, "give me a second, I just need a moment to finish what I'm doing", rather than being so dismissive. To be clear, Sushi bar Shu was NOT remotely that busy to even warrant such a response, PLUS the couple beside us seemed to be family friends of the chef judging by how they talked for most of the 90 minute duration, yet my boyfriend can't ask a question without being shut down 1/4th of the way? When I'm paying $460 I imagine paying not just for the food and service, but for the experience, ESPECIALLY FOR THAT PRICE. Chef Kevin then came to us to save face by saying he was busy, without even apologizing. For an owner I think you're in the wrong type of industry if you feel like you shouldn't interact with your PAYING customers, especially since you're preparing them right in front of us. You may as well have a restaurant where you're hidden in the back. Thankfully, chef Bryan and the hostess kept the experience more positive for us, they were extremely friendly and receptive when we asked questions - I asked where Chef Bryan had his formal training, what type of cuisines he specialized in, etc, and he eagerly answered. So overall, I will NOT be coming back, and I DO NOT RECOMMEND this place. For $460, I would've had a better experience somewhere else that made me feel more comfortable and more enjoyable for...

Valentine’s Day during COVID is quite a different experience dining at Sushi Bar Shu. Limited seating so my hubby made reservations waaay ahead of time. Only 6 seats at the sushi bar with plexiglass dividers between parties.

Omakase includes a variety of dishes: 3 appetizer size of saw seafood, 3 appetizers, 12 made in front of you sushi, 1 miso soup, 1 tamago egg, and 1 dessert. This omakase comes with more than just sushi, and I appreciate Chef Kevin put the thought in creating the menu.

Starting with the chawamushi that was so flavored with the dashi (stock), the consistency was perfect, not too watery and just solidify enough to taste both the egg and dashi. I really love the dashi, really well made!

The 3 raw fish starters were very delicious, each was perfectly paired with its own special sauce to bring out the freshness of the unique fish taste, absolutely heavenly! ChuToro was soo very fatty that my lips were soo glossy!!

Out of the 3 appetizer, the braised beef tongue stood out for me cos it was so very tender, I didn’t mind kiss it other than my husband tonight. 🤣

When it comes to the sushi, Chef Kevin hand presses the sushi rice each and everyone of them in front of you with different seafood on top. A few of them were paired with specialty salt and citrus juice or yuzu zest to compliment the seafood, and amplify the unique taste of each of the seafood. Personally, I absolutely enjoyed the hamachi with fresh yuzu zest and the ChuToro. Out of the 12 pieces, only 2 pieces were paired with specialty salt and citru, and the rest were brushed with soy sauce.

In the future, I hope to see Chef Kevin can play with more specialty salt and the seafood to enhance flavors. For example, pair with different kind of specify salts, other exotic fruits/veggie. Just to stimulate the palette.

The one thing I love most is the sushi rice! Yes, the rice! The temperature was just warm, not room temperature but warmer, very so slightly marinated with vinegar and mirin. Chef Kevin is very skillful when hand pressing the sushi rice, everyone of the sushi I picked by hand, yes, hand not chopsticks, I can feel the sushi rice were nicely held together very so lightly and not mushed. Chef Kevin has the perfect pressure that when I hold onto my sushi, none of the rice fell off!

As for the tamago, it was sooo delicious!! Dense on the bottom and bubbly fluffy on top

We also ordered the A5 Miyazaki Wagyu to share on top of the omakase, it was soooo worth it!!Burst of juice and fat in every bite into the wagyu steak! Enjoy every piece of it!

The dessert was absolutely perfect!! It’s a shiso sorbet with shiso jelly on the bottom with a shiso flower on top. Shiso usually use as a palette cleanser and capturing that light refreshing taste and turn it into an icy sorbet was just genius! Love it so much!!

Definitely will come back for more!!

The tamago was...