Yama Cafe — Restaurant in Vancouver

I normally don't give one star to any businesses unless I had a really terrible experience. I came here on Saturday a few minutes before closing time for a take-out. While I was waiting for other customers in line, I looked around for other things & made my way to the cashier. My total reached $70+ altogether plus tips I regret to give. I didn't notice the time so I tried to sit indoor while waiting for my take-out because I saw there're still other customers there. The wife of the owner just yelled at me "COULD YOU WAIT OUTSIDE?!" No "sorry" or "please". Extremely rude. First of all, I genuinely felt that's a personal attack due to the fact that there're others who are sitting with their take-out cups so I'm suggesting they're not relatives or employees. Second of all, I'm waiting for a take-out, so technically I'm also a customer.

Last year, the same lady slammed my drink in front of me and I let it passed. Almost half a year, I wouldn't come back because of her. I had to travel an hour away by bus and I could find other places to eat in my neighbourhood with much better service. The owner, however, is always pleasant. The food and drink is also good. It's a shame when the overall quality of the food is overshadowed by the rude customer service. That's a huge no for me because this is not the only Japanese cafe run by Japanese family in the city.

To add salt to the wound, when I asked about a cake last year via Instagram, they told me to get a cake elsewhere simply because I asked "What kind of design you could make?". At the beginning of this year, they released a limited Osechi menu and I messaged them to ask if they are still available, they just blocked me. There's a different between a misunderstanding and being rude. I don't know if they get frustrated for communicating in English or something else, but the response is...

Yama is a nice and small Japanese café along the East Hastings neighborhood. It's a gem for this area. It's nice and quiet. Soft music plays in the background.

This is a family run business. They have kids that are around as the family works. It's incredible that the father works while carrying his son on his back.

Yama has been around for a couple of years now. The food is very good. And the staff isn't slow in preparing for the dishes either. It's a reasonable amount of time considering that it's only 1-2 people making the food for their customers. It does get pretty busy at the restaurant especially during the weekends. They're not good for large groups coming in (10+). This is a place for small groups 3-4 people. Ideally for 2 people at a time.

We ordered the Grilled Fish Set. It was actually surprisingly enough and we were full when we finished everything in the set. The other dish we ordered was the Pork Belly. That was great as well. The Pork Belly was tender and flavor-able! Nice and tasty!!

The ambiance was nice and light. Lots of Japanese decor. It's a nice and gentle environment. Nothing too overbearing.

We taking can be hard to find around the area. Not much else to say here. There is a few spots in front of the restaurant. Other than that. You'd have to walk quite a ways if you can't find a parking spot closer to Yama.

Price wise it's a little expensive. We ordered two drinks, a kids set meal, two set adult meals for $55 after this and tax. That's not cheap. We don't come here too often but when we do the food doesn't disappoint that's for sure. We don't mind paying for the price every now and again. But definitely jot something regularly. Too expensive. But every once in a while? Sure!

My breakdown: Food 4/5 Ambiance 4/5 Location 3/5 Price...

We got to this cafe around 11:30am or so. There was not a lot of customers. We could pick our seats and table randomly. We spent some time to look at the menu and decided what we wanted.

We ordered a cup of matcha latte, a cup of chai latte and a very pork belly teri combo. It took a while for the chef to cook the food. It was worth the wait though! We got the latte first. The matcha latte could be unsweetened or sweetened. We chose the unsweetened but it was so good! We were sure the sweetened one must be good! The chai latte was very unique and had some cinnamon flavour but it was not too strong to cover the latte. Excellent! And their cups were having a Japanese style with their special design.

The very pork belly teri combo was with rice, some salad, miso soup, some sour veggies as appetizers and a mini dessert. Oh my Goodness!!! The presentation was very pretty! We could definitely tell that the chef spent time and effort to cook the food and presented it on the dishes. It was unbelievable delicious! The pork belly was very tendered that it melt in our mouth right away. The sauce that went with the pork belly and rice was very unique that we had never tried anywhere else. The veggies, soup and everything were so good that we literally wanted to eat more and more. We could choose a mini dessert, so we had picked a small chocolate cupcake. It was not just a normal mini cupcake. It was crispy outside and chewy inside. It was so good and delicious.

The Japanese servers were very friendly and polite. We had al those compliments about this cafe especially the food. I could eat it every day!!

This cafe is right on East Hastings. You can find street parking.

We love to come back here in the...