Tozen Sushi Bar — Restaurant in Vancouver

Elevated or elevator?

For the last couple of days, this restaurant kept on whispering to my ears via media. Tom sushi’s sister restaurant opened up on west Broadway? And the word, “elevated”, kept being used by the foodies in describing this place. Or maybe they meant to say they took the elevator from the underground parking up to ground level of the restaurant?

This restaurant is located on the north side of West Broadway and Oak Street, drove passed it cause they haven’t replace the previous restaurant sign with theirs yet. Due to construction on the area, there are paid parking on the inside side streets and paid public parking garages.

Inside, the restaurant seems very spacious and vibrant with the sushi bar and kitchen at the back. The layout and furnishings outline the restaurant’s modern look, creating a comfortable and elegant atmosphere.

Here were the food I ordered;

Kani sunomono. The salt and vinegar were well balanced and the noodle was good texture but real crab meat would’ve been nicer than the imitation crab being used. Oyster motoyaki. The onion was too raw which it was a bit too overpowering, sauce was on the sweeter side. I know… there are many takes in doing this dish but would preferred fresh oysters on its shell more. Assorted tempura. All the ingredients were very fresh, nice light crunch and generous size. Tozen special sashimi. Wanted to add some bafun or local uni but unfortunately all sold out. Yes everything was very fresh and bite size. However would’ve been nice if I was informed the Akami was replaced with the hamachi. Also if going mid to high end, elevate the culinary presentation a bit? Negi kanpa Hama. Nice blend of the 3 ingredients but whoever was making the roll, calm down a bit or stop working out at the gym! No need to press the sushi rice till it all mush together like paste lol let the rice retain its texture! Salmon, ikura, toro, tamago, foie gras, chopped scallops, madai nigiri. They were fresh and the rice were nicely seasoned and good texture. Anago nigiri. Nice and buttery, whole anago. Mentaiko yaki udon. It was okay, maybe lack a bit of high heat to bring the flavour out, added the fish roe a bit early and stir fried the green onions together would’ve given it that nicer aromatic flavour. I mentioned about this dish when I reviewed Guu with Garlic. Yakgwa and ice cream. A simple yet nice little dessert to finish the meal with.

Overall, I really like the restaurant’s interior layout; spacious and comfortable, clean, simple yet elegant. The services were very good; the staffs were very attentive, welcoming and friendly (P.S. but try to have a staff or someone to say thank you and bye to the customers when they leave, it’s the necessary icing on the cake in terms of customer service). Nevertheless, the restaurant did a good job on the staff uniforms. As for the food, I personally think it has the potential to “elevate” itself up a level in terms of refining the taste and culinary presentation because the price tag is gearing toward mid to low high range. Now it sounds like preaching at church on a Sunday with all the “elevating”.

In all honesty without all the unnecessary dramatic exaggerations as I read from others, I did have a decent and exceptional dining experience here. May my comments be just positive criticism in possibly helping this highly potential place in taking it to another level. I’ll probably be back when it all settles down.

Good luck and wish this business...

For an establishment that opened just days ago, I think it’s really worth a try! There’s room to improve but overall great experience.

Ordered okonomiyaki, miso grilled sablefish, tozen special sashimi, and salmon aburi roll. Food came out swiftly, perhaps because we went during slow hours or maybe that is how it is normally also.

Okonomiyaki was really good; crispy on the outside and filling had lots of ingredients. I really enjoyed the texture of the onions — in a lot of other places the okonomiyaki is purely just mush, but this one is not.

I enjoyed the sablefish; it was cooked well, tender and rich. My only issue is the miso sauce that’s on top is a bit too salty, perhaps diluting it will be a good idea. I normally quite enjoy saltier than the average person but it was too much and I took some of it off with my chopstick.

Aburi has potential. The rice was nice and firm; didn’t fall apart when picked up. Good ratio of salmon to rice although rice can be reduced a little bit. Due to the lack of sufficient torch to the salmon, the mayo sauce on top felt overpowering.

Sashimi plate is well worth its money. You get a really good variety of different fish and cuts, comes with authentic wasabi. It seems not all of the dishes are served with authentic wasabi, perhaps only sashimi/nigiri? Fish seemed to be good quality, fresh, and prepared well. I think it could be interesting to add also a different sauce also instead of just regular soy to elevate further.

We also had the yakgwa and icecream. It was my first time having yakgwa but it paired really well with their (milk-flavoured?) ice cream. The chewiness of the yakgwa alongside the creaminess of the ice cream paired quite well.

The service is really friendly, different servers attended and were quite attentive. I’d say they probably check in a slight bit too much but I understand the gungho of grand opening. I probably didn’t need to be asked 7 times for tea is all I’m saying, haha. I didn’t mind but I can see that some people may.

All in all, I’d say these are reasonable prices for an elevated sushi experience. We spent ~$100 per person due to wanting to try variety but you can definitely have a good time with $40-60 per head. You can tell that there was thought put into the interior of the restaurant. I’d love to see the menu evolve and become more unique, including perhaps more cocktail and dessert options.

For parking, since it’s by the hospital, street parking can be quite tough/unavailable. I recommend parking around the corner at the paid impark lot.

Definitely...

Had the pleasure of having Tozen for dinner yesterday. I went by myself and was sat at the bar. Luckily, I was the only person at the bar so I had a nice conversation with the head chef, Hoon, who was making the delicious sushi. We talked about how I was trying to slowly introduce myself in to sushi and what dishes he liked from his menu- super nice and friendly guy. We also talked about how I found out about Tozen and I said through TikTok/instagram. I came here to scope out the place before bringing my dad here, as I had the vibe that this place a bit upscale and my dad usually doesn’t enjoy upscale dining. Nonetheless, the vibes and aesthetic here was immaculate. Date night, catching up with friends seems like the vibe. Service was very good with waiters coming and going swiftly but softly, never really interrupting my meal. Tea served was very delicious, lacked that super strong flavour that other Japanese restaurants have which I actually appreciate. I ordered: Miso soup it was alright, I’m not a huge miso soup person but it definitely tasted a lot lighter than other Japanese restaurants Tuna and salmon aburi very good. The dish was not fishy at all, the fish was buttery and smooth, very good Spicy salmon roll very spicy! I told chef Hoon that I like spicy salmon/tuna rolls. He laughed and apologized when i said that the roll was spicy. I said don’t apologize! I’m just a weakling when it comes to spice! Otherwise I like that it wasn’t huge chunks of salmon. It was carefully chopped salmon and the fish tasted very fresh. Tuna bomb I get it… the dish was tasty but the crunchy rice was a bit annoying when it got stuck to my teeth to be honest. Otherwise a fun dish!

Housemate yakgwa and ice cream Got this dessert as my mouth was on fire from the spicy food. Ice cream was delicious and the powdered peanut was a nice touch. I personally was not a fan of the Yakgwa cookie though. It tasted kinda stale and I felt like it was very heavy as it was oily. The heaviness clashed with the ice cream in my opinion. Kinda feel like if chef just made an Apple compote with ice cream, it would just be perfect. Another thing I didn’t like was the bowl used for the dessert. The material was scratchy and when you’re scooping your ice cream, there’s just too much friction with the bowl it feels like you’re scratching a chalk board. Otherwise a decent dessert, could be better though.

Would I come back? Probably, to impress someone maybe, but I wouldn’t bring my kids or my parents here, not really the...