Zakkushi Dining on Main — Restaurant in Vancouver

I am reticent to write this because, in my overall experience with Zakkushi over the past 5 years, their food and service has been exception, but the simple fact is that it has all been dropping off over the last 2 years culminating in our last two visits (both for lunch).

We visited for lunch back in March or April. It wasn't busy (only 3-4 tables) but somehow one of our meals didn't come for nearly 15 minutes and arrived with a temperature indicating that it had been sitting waiting for that entire time.

Today, we came by for lunch assuming that whatever issues they had with their lunch service had been resolved. We also happened to be seated by where the final prep onto trays was being done. Only one of our meals arrived. After 10 minutes of waiting (I actually was keeping an eye on the time this visit) we got attention of a server and it became clear that the second meal (both orders were meal sets) hadn't even been started and we were told that it would take 10 minutes. They just asked me if I still wanted the meal (no other options were give such as a alternate meal which could be ready faster). Hungry and frustrated I accepted their solution since the only choice apparent was waiting for the my partner to finish their meal and then go looking for food elsewhere. 10 minutes later, I was brought 'complimentary edamame'. 10 minutes after that, my meal finally came, but not until after the hot items from the kitchen sat on an incomplete tray for nearly 3 minutes (no effort was made to expedite the meal that I could see). I didn't get any kind of real offer of alternate food option until after I finally received my meal (I was only then asked if I'd like some sashimi or if I'd like some dessert after). Other than the edamame, nothing was comped on the order which just solidified that I won't be coming back any time soon. Two coupons for a free appetizer or dessert just felt like adding insult to injury, saying to me that they only cared about how much they screwed up if I ever bothered to come back.

Honestly, from what I saw today, Zakkushi's quality just isn't what it used to be. It especially disappointed me to see that they were taking plates of hot skewers from the pass and having them sit on a tray while they took 2-3 minutes to get around to add the miso soup, rice, salad, mustard greens, etc and not the other way around. Most of the side items are cold and should have already been waiting...

Food was delicious. Pricey, but I’d be willing to come back and pay again if it wasn’t for the service we received.

When my wife and I arrived, there were only three other tables with patrons. So we expected our food to come within 15-20 mins after ordering.

Now when we placed our order, our waitress asked if we wanted all our food to arrive at the same time. We said “yes,” because we were in a hurry, so we explicitly requested our three mains to arrive together, and our one dessert to arrive after. Our server acknowledged our request and said they’d do it.

But after waiting 30 minutes (and feeling utterly famished), our first dish arrived, alone. We were shocked, but expected our next few dishes to come very shortly after because we were TOLD it would be done. But after waiting another fifteen minutes, there was still no sign of our food.

So after waiting over 45 minutes, we called a waitress and asked when the rest of our food was coming, because we had an appointment later that night we didn’t want to be late for (and we did not expect to be waiting for our food for 45+ minutes). The waitress (who was kind) kindly informed us that our entrees would be ready in 5 minutes. So we thanked her, and asked her to bring our dessert at the SAME TIME because we were in a hurry (a scoop of sesame ice cream and a spray of whipping cream). So she acknowledged our request and said it would be done.

But after five minutes, nothing. Almost 15 minutes later, our two entrees arrive. And when they did, one of our dishes which showed seaweed pictured on the menu came without any seaweed. But even worse? The dessert we requested and were TOLD would arrive with our food wasn’t there. It was at this moment I decided I was never coming back here again.

I had high hopes for this restaurant. We received zero apology or any acknowledgment for their inability to deliver on their word. We had to ask for the dessert AGAIN which took even more waiting, and when we arrived at our next appointment we were 25 minutes late.

Meanwhile, the “table of two” next to us was ordering dozens of items and receiving them five to ten minutes after they’d order. A table of four patrons behind us arrived AFTER we did, ordered, received, and ate all their food, then LEFT before we had even received ours. My wife and I felt utterly neglected, ignored, and overlooked. Not sure how they got...

Very disappointed. I came here with my family for my birthday, and the service was absolutely terrible. As we were served our second batch of skewers, the waitor came and asked if we want desert. With food in my mouth because I literally just took a bite and he saw me took that bite, I said that we want to finished our food first, then we will order desert. In a pretty rude manner, the waitor said that was not possible and we had order right now or we wouldn't get desert. We were 47 minutes into the meal. So of course we order the desert. We didn't really mind it at first as we thought there might have been a time limit for dining in. Fast forward to desert, when our Macha ice cream was served, literally, as each of us took one bite (there was 3 of us) the same waitor came over and said he would give us the bill, so we can pay. We were 1 hour and 20 or 25 minutes into our meal. We were kind of shocked, but we paid anyway. After paying, we kindly asked the waitor if there was a time limit and if there was what was it. The time limit was 2 hours.

Besides, the terrible service the food was pretty average. Some skewers were really bland and under seasoned. I usually don't mind under seasoned food since I quite enjoy the original flavours of food, but I felt like I was chewing on smokey air with texture. The only thing I found that tasted really good was the daikon in the assorted Oden and anything with mochi, such as the pork wrapped mochi and the ice cream with mochi.

I also got pretty bad rashes on my face on my way home, and I was not happy as I did not order any shrimp. I am sometimes allergic to shrimp especially the unfresh ones, but I have not reacted this badly in a while. I literally had spot prawns a few weeks ago and I was fine.

In general, I had a pretty bad experience dining here for my birthday, and I don't think I would ever be coming back. I would not recommend this...