Sushi Mura — Restaurant in Vancouver

The amount of development that’s going on in southeast Vancouver is crazy. Marketed now as “River District” due to the close proximity to the Fraser River, there’s been a big influx in the number of condos recently and they’ve just started to add some of the much needed services such as eateries. Sushi Mura is one of the new restaurants that have opened up (near the Save On Foods).

This second location for Sushi Mura opened up about a week before we visited and it was fairly noticeable with the service level. The interior is one giant square box with tall, exposed ceilings and polished concrete floors (I’m sure this floor will get pretty slippery in the rainy Vancouver weather). Immediately upon entering, we could see that there were plenty of empty tables but no one to greet us. There appeared to be a waiting list (but no pen to write our name down). As more and more patrons entered the restaurant, it was unclear what we were supposed to do. Some people headed straight for the back to pick up their take-out orders, others milled about the entrance.

After we were seated, we wound up ordering the Deep-Fried Oysters ($6.95) and the Chicken Karaage ($5.95). The oysters were small and kind of flattened (reminded me of aji fry) and the karaage was bone-in chicken wings… really wish they would just call this “chicken wings” on the menu because I prefer the boneless chicken karaage.

We ordered the Deluxe Assorted Sashimi ($25.95) which sounded kind of expensive but came with 24 pieces of sashimi… 3 pieces each of salmon, tuna, hamachi, surf clam, tako, wild salmon, spicy tuna tataki, and tai. I was actually quite pleased with this dish as the sashimi seemed fresh and the slices were generous in size.

We had also ordered up the Spinach Gomaae ($3.95) but we had to ask them for this dish because they forgot to bring it out.

Impressions from our first visit: it might be a good idea to wait to try this place out so they can work out their issues. But the sashimi was quite good.

So, we decided for a return visit in late August and all that I can say is that they still need to work on their service here. This place was pretty busy (I think it had more to do with inefficiencies and some of the staff which didn’t seem like they were really hustling).

We ordered the House Roll ($5.95), Rainbow Roll ($6.95), Teriyaki Beef ($9.95), Gyoza ($4.95), and Spicy Agadashi Tofu ($5.25). To their credit, the kitchen stuff came out relatively quick. I thought the teriyaki beef was a bit skimpy in the amount of beef in the dish.

The agadashi tofu was fairly spicy… like Korean-style spicy (which shouldn’t be a surprise). It wasn’t bad but I found it very difficult to eat from the bowl that it was served in because the top pieces couldn’t get to the dashi broth below.

The gyoza were nice but they weren’t very hot when they got to our table.

And then the big wait came for our sushi items. It took them another 30 minutes before the rest of our meal arrived. It wasn’t just us either… we could see all of the tables that ordered before us were having to wait a long time for their sushi orders as well. When our sushi finally arrived, I was underwhelmed… the sushi rice was too gummy and they used too much in the rolls. Both rolls were fairly basic and nothing stood out aside from my wonderment in why we waited so long for these.

So, there you go… I know there aren’t that many options for Japanese food in this particular area but I would definitely avoid coming here during their busy peak hours because service is way too slow. The quality of the food (aside from the sashimi that we had on our first visit) was mediocre at best.

Update: December 2024 - It's been about 5 years since my last visit to this Sushi Mura. Ordered the House Roll - it's not a bad roll and it came out really fast. The Gomaae was a large portion. Also got the Half Order Okonomiyaki which was really big. It had a nice crunch on the bottom while the rest was creamy. Also got the Beef Teriyaki on a sizzling plate. They use a tablet system...

As a few weeks have gone by, I still can’t believe how rude the staff were to me, especially since I come in there on a regular basis and order food… And the more expensive things on the menu as well with one being $25. I am a regular customer And I live in the neighbourhood as well. As I usually do, I came in and I ordered two pieces, a smoked salmon and cream cheese roll, and the other as you can see in the picture. I paid for it and told the clerk I would be back in about 10 minutes. She smiled and said OK!. I came back 10 minutes later and sat down… I thought it would be ready or ready shortly, I sat there for exactly a half an hour as other people came in and picked up their takeout orders and food was being made and brought to people’s tables!. I literally watch the clerk putting bills for orders to be served and food being bagged and taken out by other customers while I sat there with nothing for again a half an hour, which had me feeling more and more frustrated… I asked somebody do you know when mine is going to be ready and explain. I’m sitting here for a half an hour… She said oh yeah they’re working on it. It’ll be ready in just a minute… As I sat there for another 10 minutes watching people pick up their food it is now almost 40 minutes!!… So I approached the clerk again and told her you know what I just want to refund. This is ridiculous… As I’m explaining to her when I paid if it was gonna be 40 minutes, the clerk should have told me and I would not have even ordered I would’ve gone somewhere else, but I told her I’d be back in 10 minutes and she said OK pleasantly… Even the other customers waiting behind me as I explained this looked disturbed by what I was saying then the clerk says oh well we have your one roll and the other item is almost ready so I said to her I’ve been here for 40 minutes honestly, I should be getting them both for free. Where is the customer service if one is done and one is almost ready what are you gonna do throw them out you should just give them to me and refund my money… She says to me no we would be throwing them out

WOW!!!! so you would rather throw food in the garbage and have a customer sit there for 40 minutes starving and wasting their time and anchoring them and having the customers behind them looking absolutely shocked that you would treat a customer this way and waste food rather than retain a customer that’s what you’re telling me and she’s like well. We would throw it out yes… As I continue to push back on how absurd this was and how bad the customer service aspect of this is she finally agreed to give it to me… and wow when I got home with it, look at this salmon, avocado roll. It was horrendous no garnish or anything salmon not even covering some of the rolls. It was put together so poorly, and the other dish looked about a two out of 10 to how it’s usually presented… Which leads me to believe neither were even close to being ready, and they threw them together in a rush and absolutely no care… Thank goodness I never paid for them because I would’ve been even More irritated paying for such a sloppy meal that is not cheap….. I also asked for extra ginger and look what they provided me with lol

I get it you’re busy… But this was horrible customer service at its best!. Every customer counts and every customer pays your bills I should’ve never been treated the way I was and it’s beyond disappointing and I have not been back since because of the way your service at the front counter treated me . I had a similar experience at Romers River District and I did a review, I also prefer and do reviews when service and food is great… However, Romers reached out and apologize and issued me a gift card… Sushi M River District didn’t say a word… They either don’t read these or don’t care about bad service as it’s been months later now And I thought I’d...

I’ve been here a few times and while the service is mediocre (hard to communicate with the waitresses due to language barriers) but the food was good enough to come back while I’m within the area. I went earlier today and was not happy to say the least. We literally arrived there within 5 minutes of the restaurant opening so there were a lot of seats available. I had a party of 5 with two kids and while they were trying to combine two small tables, I asked if it was possible to take the slightly larger table at the back or the one beside it. The two workers rudely said uh noo those tables are reserved. Besides, just letting you know you can only dine for 1.5 hours after placing your order because we get really busy. Being here a few times even during their busiest hours, I’ve never had anyone tell me there was a limit. Most restaurants that have a limit usually have a sign somewhere to notify customers beforehand anyways. The time limit is fine but the tone that was used towards us was very condescending and uncalled for. When our food arrived, they kept spilling the sauces and miso soup and made a mess on the table without any effort to say sorry or clean up. When I asked for them to please put the other dishes on the side as the middle section was full, the waitress just stood there and didn’t pay attention to what I was saying. They brought a pot of tea to the table instead of pouring it for us and not once did anyone drop by to ask how the food was and if we needed anything. Seeing that we had two kids, no one offered to provide other utensils like a spoon or fork. Yes, we could ask for it but this is common courtesy at any restaurant. It wasn’t until we were almost done that they started coming by to take away the empty plates. Also, we ordered the Korean Chirashidon which is normally good but today the cuts of the tuna were really big and hard to chew. It was so overwhelming and hard to finish. Also, at other restaurants even the chiefs take the time to greet people as they come in go but these people can’t even bother to smile never mind greet anyone. Such a terrible experience that I would never go back. I’d rather eat at another sushi place that actually makes the effort to cater to their customers, treat them with respect, kindness and professionalism. I’m not spending my hard earned money at a place like this. Even the one time I was at the Richmond location, the service wasn’t...