Sushi California — Restaurant in Vancouver

We've passed this place umpteenth time and never really paid attention to it until one evening after 9:00 pm when we were driving back from the valley to Vancouver. Unlike Kingsway Avenue, the number of restaurants along Broadway is actually quite limited. We became more and more hungry until finally, we saw Sushi California. With limited choice, we decided to try it. We ordered salmon sashimi, agadashi tofu, and nabeyaki udon with a side of broccoli. The sashimi was just right in temperature. The udon soup was delicious. And best of all, the bill was very reasonable. Since then, we’ve been back to try different things. This place is very busy around lunch and dinner hours. There’s usually a wait of up to 30 minutes. But the tables turn quite regularly. Their patrons tend to order a lot, eat and leave. They have a tremendous number of take out orders. This is quite encouraging to us because what we really care about is the “freshness” of the raw fish. I put “fresh” in quotes because the BC Centre for Disease Control require freezing of raw fish to destroy parasites (at temperatures of -20°C or below for 7 days or – 35°C or below for 15 hours or -35°C until frozen and held at -20°C for 24 hours.). The popularity of Sushi California means that the raw fish will typically be served at the perfect temperature, i.e. just thawed but not long enough to sit around and deteriorate. Like many Vancouverites, we’ve made this place one of our regular kitchens. One Saturday, we had friends over for lunch and were looking forward to digging in right at 12 noon. Unfortunately, they open at 12 on Saturdays, which made it really awkward. Of course, they had so many orders lined up that we had to wait longer than the customary 20 minutes. But the food was great and I finally got to try the spicy salmon sashimi. One or two pieces tasted great. But when we ordered it again for just the two of us, we couldn't finish it because the heat from the spiciness keep building up!!! Whoa! I have to say that dining there was a bit problematic because they tend to play some recorded music over and over again which takes away from a tranquil dining experience. I wish they would just play...

Called ahead to place an order and the girl seemed a bit rude on the phone but I thought it might be because they were really busy as she said our order will take 20 mins. We get there and decide to pay for it and wait. Walked in and there were only 4-5 tables filled so it wasn’t their usual business at all. I tried asking the girl who was helping us how long it’ll be and she was very dismissive and just told us to sit down without even giving me an estimate. We waited past 20 mins and a table of people that got there after us had already gotten their sushi! So I went up to her again to ask and she just rudely said it’s not ready yet and to get out of her way because they’re busy. I then asked one of her coworkers who was much nicer and she actually went to look at all the boxes that were just sitting on the counter waiting to be put into bags. Then the first girl comes back and starts to fumble around the area with the take out boxes and the girl that was helping me tells me the first girl is packing my order now. I see her put three of the boxes that was already sitting on the counter for at least five mins into bags! And then she took her time tying the bag and handed it to me with a glare and just said “here”. I thought maybe she was having a bad day but noticed she was being really friendly and polite with other customers. I’ve never experienced such rude service from this place before. This girl should brush up on her customer service skills. Will definitely think twice about going...

My mother and I called and ordered pickup yesterday at 2:30pm for lunch while painting my sisters apartment. They said it would be ready in 15mins. We got there about 20minutes later and had to wait ten minutes for our food. We got the order and it was already tied up nicely so I didn't think to check it before I left. We get back and unpack our lunch and my moms roll is not there. So the five of us are are all not eating as I call the restaurant to find out how we can fix it. Our options are to come and pick it up or to get a credit next time we come in... my mother paid and is visiting town so she won't be coming back again so the credit was not an option. We asked if someone could deliver it to us and they said it was not possible. After asking to speak to a manager and being put on hold for 5 minutes without being warned about being put on hold, she comes back to the phone and says there's no manager to talk to. She asked for my information but then got distracted and never took it down. We eventually went to pick up the roll but in the end none of us ended up eating our lunch together. I am very unhappy with the customer service I received. My mom was visiting from Portland for only one day and I had to leave for work before she...