Tekkaba Omakase Restaurant — Restaurant in Vancouver

I only ever write bad reviews for restaurants that truly deserve one, and this one definitely made it to the top of my list. I apologize for this extensively long review, but fellow Vancouverites deserve to know and avoid being ripped off. I’ve never felt so cheated—don’t call yourself omakase when every single dish is premade or precut. It’s not even acceptable quality; honestly, you can get better quality premade Japanese food at any given supermarket food fridge.

Food: The first dish was chawanmushi, and it was a complete disaster. Instead of the jiggly, silky smooth texture you’d expect, it was dense and rubbery, more like an egg pudding. It was made with plain water, forcing you to drown it in overly sweet soy sauce just to give it some flavor. They topped it with some finely chopped nuts, but didn’t bother including even a small piece of shrimp or mushroom—a true insult to this traditional japanese dish.

Next was the so-called “tenderloin beef carpaccio.” What they served was chopped raw beef mixed with Korean gochujang, and a piece of store bought flex seed cracker. It was laughable.

Then came two soggy sushi rolls. The rice was overly vinegary, and the seaweed was soft and wet—clearly premade. Then two hand rolls followed, and one of them, the ankimo had a noticeable stench that made it obvious that it was far from fresh. I had to order white wine to cleanse my palate.

The sashimi was the lowest point. It was precut and thawed from frozen. Some pieces were still icy in the center when served—completely unacceptable. By the time we got to the nigiri, we decided to skip the rice altogether because we couldn’t stomach the overly vinegary sushi rice again. The fish for the nigiri was a repeat of the previously served sashimi, except every single piece was torched. They were clearly trying to put on some sort of show to distract from the lack of quality, but it only made things worse.

Dessert was the sad conclusion to this awful meal: a matcha mousse cake that had absorbed the smell of the fridge and had dry edges. It was paired with Korean yuzu tea, which felt completely out of place. Wouldn’t genmaicha or sencha have been more appropriate?

Chef: One of the other guests was celebrating a birthday, I pity this girl to have to endure this meal on her special day, and the chef decided it was our responsibility to sing for her. As an introvert, I found this incredibly intrusive. They even played the Happy Birthday song on YouTube, expecting us to join in. We didn’t, but we politely said “happy birthday.”

Throughout the meal, the chef kept trying to make conversation, repeatedly telling us, “This is very delicious.” No, it wasn’t. In fact, it was a disrespect to the food itself. The fish died in vain to end up served like this! Please, stop talking and let the food (or lack thereof) speak for itself. To make matters worse, the chef’s breath was unpleasant. If nothing else, consider wearing a mask to spare your customers from this added discomfort.

At one point, I heard him ask the birthday girl which was her favorite dish, and I prayed that he will not ask my husband, cuz he definitely will tell him the truth that nothing was tasty, and the whole meal was a big joke and a big disgrace to the Japanese food culture.

Premises: From the moment I entered, I was greeted with an unpleasant smell that lingered throughout the old building. It immediately set the wrong tone for what was supposed to be a premium dining experience.

Atmosphere: The atmosphere was anything but authentic or enjoyable. Between the intrusive birthday ordeal, the chef’s unwelcome small talk, and the complete lack of effort in creating a genuine omakase ambiance, it’s clear this restaurant has no understanding of what makes a dining experience special.

Conclusion: Avoid this place at all costs. Vancouver has so many better options for authentic and fresh Japanese cuisine—don’t waste your time or money here. Thinking back, I genuinely wonder if the chef has ever googled “how to serve food...

Overall: decent food and experience, but don't come here expecting a traditional omakase experience because it's not.

Like many others, I went to Tekkaba on their social media discount promotion. It still ended up being around 70pp because they automatically included a 20% gratuity, but I still expected to pay around that much. Just don't go expecting to pay 54pp as some people have been claiming online. It was still worth it for a nice date night, but not something I would seek out again.

The food was overall tasty, as long as you are expecting Korean fusion style Japanese food. Once I got in and heard all the waitstaff speaking Korean, I immediately readjusted my expectations. I feel as though social media didn't really represent that properly. Also, expect more of a set meal than an omakase -- it's more in line with what Western set meals look like.

Specifics about our food and our menu:

The chawanmushi was a bit under seasoned and boring, so it wasn't a great start to the set meal. The microseaweed in the soup was fun, but I expected more ox-tail flavour from the soup considering it was the more Korean dish on the menu. The sashimi and nigiri could have been thicker, better cuts of fish. The thinness of the sashimi was a bit disappointing. We were served tuna twice, one was said to be toro but it looked and tasted more like an in between of chutoro and akami. On some nigiri, they added this bean paste (my partner said it tasted like a spicy ketchup) and truffle (which was so strong, we could smell it before it was even served). I'll just say that any omakase place I've been to before with really good quality fish would not want to hide behind such strong flavours and would be aiming to showcase their fish.

Overall, the highlights were the fried shrimp tempura (baked and crispy to perfection) and the caviar uni truffle linguine (so rich and decadent, but also well balanced and not too heavy). The dessert, while simple and traditionally Korean, was also a nice way to refresh our palate at the end of the meal. I think they also did a good job considering the flow of the meal by serving some warm things, then cold, then ending it with a rich dish (the pasta) and a refreshing finish (the dessert).

Final thoughts -- I wish they would have leaned more into the unique Korean fusion perspective that they have. The bean paste nigiri and gochujang sushi taco would not have felt so out of place if that was the experience that I was sold from the beginning.

Other info:

I had called a week in advance to ask when the dining experience typically ends, as we had to make it to Queen Elizabeth theatre for a show at 7:30pm. They told me that the piano performance will be over by around 7:10pm, which I thought gave me ample time to walk over to the theatre. We ended up leaving near 7:20pm and were almost late to our show. Despite paying the bill early, which they also seemed reluctant to allow us to do and almost pressured us into staying for the show. Unfortunately we had to use the restroom before we left, so we ended up "trapped". I feel as though the piano concert is being used to "sell" the experience, when instead it feels very disjointed and almost like you're a parent at your child's piano recital. The pianist is talented, but it just isn't the reason I'm attending at least. Perhaps if the piano performance was moved to the beginning of the night, as food was being served, or just as an ambient...

OK I have to be completely honest here as I feel the other reviews are definitely giving this place way too much credit. I found this place on Instagram, and like all the other cheap Asians out there, I got baited by the 30% off deal. I booked a reservation right away and spent the next few days watching omakase videos on YouTube - which in hindsight, was probably a terrible idea because that totally hyped up my expectations. When we arrived at the restaurant, we were told we had to sit at the bar instead of a table - in my mind I was like what? but its omakase, aren't you supposed to sit at a bar anyways? We said we didn't mind and we sat down. First off, this is not real omakase. It is also not authentic Japanese food but korean fusion. There is no sushi chef at the bar making your dishes on the spot. Our dishes were made assembly line style in the open kitchen next to the bar and brought out one at a time. In fact, they fill the entire restaurant with people and everyone got the same dishes at the same time. The food itself was subpar. It was good, but nothing overwhelming. However, we were told everything was made by the owner - the soya sauce, salad dressing, etc etc - until we saw the soya sauce come out of a green packet? Got us a bit confused there. They give you the smallest amount of ginger, soya sauce and Wasabi and we had to ask for a refill countless of times. Kind of annoying really. I'm not hating, but I just feel like this whole experience was falsely advertised. Moving on - at the end of the dinner session, which lasted about an hour and a half, there was a live piano performance which neither me or my partner signed up for but we were told we were not allowed to leave until it was over. I didn't mind the performance but felt like the pianist really butchered Yiruma's songs. They felt very rushed. Who is this pianist we were forced to watch? I have no idea. Then came the bill - which was the biggest scam ever and I'm never going back even though they gave us 2 more 30% off coupons. Basically there is an automatic 15% gratuity included and they based that off the pre discounted price and then they charged us tax on the automatic gratuity. Literally the biggest scam ever. I'm not saying the service wasn't good, it was great, but I'm there for the food. They distract you with everything else - the piano performance, the over the top decor - in hopes that you'll look past the subpar food and ridiculous bill. This is the second time I've been baited by instagram and I think I'm going to stop trusting these "social media food bloggers" cos they're just doing it for the money and they're not honest with their reviews. If you're looking for an authentic omakase experience, this is not it. I feel like instead of focusing on an elaborate show, the owner should just focus on making good, individual dishes because there is potential here...