The General Public Sushi Lodge — Restaurant in Vancouver

It's been a few years since I had been to the General, but always remembered I liked the sushi there. We arrived for dinner on a Tuesday, and we got seated right away, as it wasn't very busy. It took maybe 5-10 minutes for anyone to come to our table to take our order. Our group is used to using the QR code for the menu, but were busy catching up so didn't really pay attention. When the server came to take our order, we said "can we have a menu?" and she looked annoyed, muttered QR, gestured towards the table, and walked away. We decided on what we wanted, and she returned maybe 15 minutes later (it wasn't particularly busy there). She got our food order, and never asked for a drink order which we didn't even realize until she left. We just all decided we were fine with water anyway. The food took about 20ish minutes to come, but the server practically threw the plates on the table, without a word. She was anything but welcoming and kind. Since the first time she visited our table, she acted as though we were an inconvenience that she wanted to go away as soon as possible. When we started eating our food, I was so disappointed. We got a couple rolls that had mango and avocado. The mango was rock hard (not ripe) and the avocado was flecked with brown, and tasted awful. The flavour combinations were really bad, and the rolls were just blah. I can't recall the names of them, but they were all bad.

We probably had to wait another 20 minutes after eating to have our plates cleared (maybe they thought we weren't finished because we left a lot behind - but they never asked), and then another 15 minutes until the bill came. Altogether a horrible experience, and I won't be going back. There's a ton of amazing sushi places in the city, and just because this place has an interesting aesthetic, it's...

Just looking at it from the outside, I always thought the aesthetic of this place was kind of garish, which put me off from visiting, but my friend lives nearby and recommended it for a big group of us, and when I actually was made to go in and give it a chance, I thought the look was actually genuinely eccentric in kind of a fun way. And they were able to seat a party of 8 immediately on Sunday night which was great. They have so many rolls it was hard to choose, but I ended up going with the Popeye Roll and the Yoko, two veggie rolls. The Popeye was basically gomaae in sushi form and as a gomaae fan I really enjoyed this. Unusual but simple. The Yoko had a lot more going on but was also really good. I liked this because it had lots of layers of flavour which is sometimes hard to find with vegetarian sushi (at least at places that aren’t specialized). The house rolls (6-8 pieces) come at a pretty good price! The veggie rolls are all under $10 and the non-veg are all in the $8.5-$11.5 range. Basic rolls are even cheaper, the oshi are all $15. The entrees are also a great deal, everything is under $20 with most plates being around $15. I ended up getting a cocktail too, the Coco Colada. Definitely could have used more rum, just from a flavour standpoint to cut the sweetness of all the juice, although I didn’t get as much of an effect as I usually do when I drink so I doubt there was a full 2oz in there. Our waitress was good. Friendly enough and attentive without being overbearing. It seemed like they mostly brought the dishes out as they were ready, so there was some staggering. Maybe that’s just part of the deal when you go out as a group of 8, but one person ordered donburi and it didn’t come out until everyone else was done or almost done so I felt a little...

Went here due to numerous good recommendations (mostly take out experiences). I hope when I say as a 32yo with over 10 years experience as a server/bartender you’ll trust when I say this was the worst dining experience I’ve ever had and mostly due to our server. It took over 25 minutes to even be greeted by them, they forgot to put in a part of our order (totally fine I’ve done that many times) but they were confrontational and said “you only ordered one” when we inquired about it. They did then remember and acknowledge it afterward and take it off our bill. Overall they ignored us and forgot a few things we asked for. (Sides, napkins, and that we didn’t want the forgotten item at all due to the wait of the kitchen) they had a general ambiance of violence and negativity. I now work in healthcare so have a high threshold for that. They scolded another server for talking to us when they realized we would like assistance saying they had it when in fact they did not have it. Food was slow but understandable due to it being busy (Saturday night). Hostess and other staff were friendly and our water was always refilled, 10/10 on water service. Wait time communicated for seating was accurate. 7/10 for rolls and nigiri 2/10 for chicken karaage worst I’ve ever had (meat was cooked, batter over cooked and tasted like the fryer oil was 10000 years old) I’ve never tasted fryer oil from 10000 years ago so you can say I’m full of it for that. With a different server and no chicken karaage probably 4 or 5 stars, wait time is no issue. Overall wish we went elsewhere. I could not find a manger email on their website to communicate this otherwise would have gone that route before...