Toyokan Bowl — Restaurant in Vancouver

Absolutely amazing experience and the staff were very accommodating. Both food and ambience were great. Kind of kid friendly. Ok for groups, but the restaurant is really set up for groups of 4, maybe up to 8. There is one vegetarian bowl option. They take American Express/AmEx. Walk-in only. No reservations.

The entrance is past some blue curtains up the stairs. There are two chairs at the top of the stairs to sit on while you wait to get in.

We came with a group of 11 people. 9 adults, 2 children. I had called two weeks ahead of time to ask if they could accommodate 11 people and they said they could, but could not save me a table (since they don't take reservations). No problem, understandable. We showed up at 10:30AM on a Sunday (not long weekend), knowing they open at 11:30AM. The first group of people who lined up after us came at 11:13AM. After that, another group came around 11:16AM. By 11:30AM, there were maybe 5 groups after us in line. Needless to say, we showed up too early.

There's a big table in the middle that you can see in the photo with high chairs. Apparently they do not normally use that table due to the placement of it. They gave us a couple of options about where to sit which we were ok with, but they ultimately decided to accommodate us by putting us at that table given we kept in mind their flow, leaving space for them to walk around the table and access the door.

There's not really space for a stroller. They don't have a high chair. They have a booster seat for infants, but no booster seat for older children.

Other reviews have said that this place is small, but it isn't in my opinion. There's maybe around 7 tables of 4 plus bar seating for about 7. It is true about what the other review said that they will leave tables empty even if there is a line outside in order to manage the flow of their orders. If you want to minimize your wait, I recommend you come before opening.

Parking availability at the time we arrived was ok. Street pay parking is abundant, but maxes out at 2 hours. Just past the restaurant is free unlimited street parking. Just pay attention to the signs. Most of the available street parking is on the south side of 1st street.

The food was incredible. One bowl per person is enough, but it is more fun to add something extra to share on top. The $3 miso soup was really good and can be added to any bowl as a combo. The Luxury Box ($100) comes in 2 options: Wagyu and Blue Fin Otoro. I had the Blue Fin Otoro luxury box and added the Miyazaki A5 Wagyu Box ($63) to share. The blue fin that you get in the luxury box is a different cut than 3 Kind of Bowl. The luxury box is a more fatty cut (belly vs body?). There is also an udon ($8.80) that can be added to any bowl as a combo. I absolutely loved the rice under the Miyazaki A5 Wagyu Box. They flavour it and have a lot of stuff on top. I don't know what it is, but it made the rice so good. The luxury box rice does not have anything added. The wasabi is real fresh wasabi and it's delicious.

The other menu of the bowls that I have a photo of has bowls which are meant for 2-3 people to share. They give you a lot more rice than other bowls. I thought it was interesting, but didn't get the chance to try it.

They only sell 10 of The Grand Ocean & Land Treasure Box ($58) each day. Someone at our table ordered it and it was very pretty. Kind of like a cute bento box in a bowl.

Cost-wise, I assume that most people who come probably end up spending about $45 - $80.

This restaurant is part of the same group of Raisu, Kingyo, New Fuji, Suika, and Rajio. I love Raisu and Suika. Toyokan is another...

Tried the Double uni bowl - it was really good. However, I am taking 1 star off due to inaccuracies in the menu.

The menu said that the Double had bafun uni and a daily selection uni. However, when the Double arrived (but not when our waitress went through the menu with us or when we ordered), we were told that there was Aka uni and yellow uni.

Of course, we asked about the lack of bafun uni. While they explained that "bafun uni" was as example of the "daily selection" uni, this was not made clear. The image shown has bafun uni and the daily selection pointing to two different types of uni. They said that this was due to them serving fresh uni directly imported from Japan, but the menu showed no indication of bafun uni just being an example of daily special and not a permanent part of the dish. I am confident that most people looking at the menu would come to the same conclusion (you can see the menu from other people's photo posts, it's the one with the menu with the bowling ball and pin.)

Also, when another table arrived after our exchange, when going through the menu with them, they did not mention this discrepancy between their menu and what would actually be served.

Them wanting to serve the freshest and tastiest uni is commendable, but the misrepresentation on the menu and lack of correction after being made aware of it doesn't really sit right with me.

Will definitely go again, the food is great and the service was great - they did make things right for us by swapping the yellow uni for bafun uni. I just hope the menu will be clarified the next time I go.

edit: a bit of research gave me prices of yellow uni (or kita murasaki uni in japanese from what I found, much easier to search with this term) is approximately half the price of bafun uni (around the same price range as aka uni). This makes the menu situation even weirder - why put a famous type of uni on the menu and then serve something half the price? I'll probably wait for confirmation of a change to the menu before going back and trying the other dishes.

Edit edit: after sleeping on it, I'm lowering to 3 stars and will raise to 5 stars if the...

Food is good but its price isn’t justified. It’s mostly expensive just because of the “name brand” of the company. The price matches up with all their other sister restaurants. But all these prices are so high for no reason when you can get the same if not better quality food elsewhere for cheaper and bigger portions. Portions are small at this restaurant and all of its other sister restaurants. The bowls aren’t too bad in size but the appetizers are actually pathetic. The line is so long and slow for no reason. Waitlist and reservation should be allowed. What’s the point of waiting in your car a block away with your name on the waitlist and 5-10 min grace period versus having a giant line of people waiting in the current weather conditions blocking the sidewalk? I’ll tell, you the difference: the feeling of prestige. The line blocks the sidewalk. There is no system from the restaurant to monitor the line whatsoever. Giant groups form a circle within the line, blocking the sidewalk for passerbys. Pedestrians had to walk off the sidewalk, into traffic, to get around the “line” (it was more of a pile). What if someone with a stroller or wheelchair comes? Sure people could move over but it’s so crowded that there’s no where to even move to. I couldn’t find any info online that specifies what the difference was between the upstairs and the downstairs. There wasn’t any info on the building either except one is called Toyokan Plaza while the other is called Toyokan Bowl. Same building, upstairs and downstairs are connected, the name is the same…but different food and different menu…confusing no? The only reason I even realized there was a difference because I saw people “skipping the line” and heading straight into the plaza. Additionally, the line not only blocks the sidewalk but also blocks the entry AND exit for the upstairs. It has to be some sort of safety/fire hazard. They should combine menus and combine the upstairs and downstairs. I do like how their last call is closing time though. Many restaurants do last call an hour or half an hour before...