Zakkushi on Denman — Restaurant in Vancouver

Came here for a Bachelor's party flying in from Toronto. I had gotten in touch with someone in charge (Not sure if he's a supervisor) but his name was Tsubasa. This was about 2-3 weeks before the event and I had explained to them that we were on a very tight schedule since we had a decently packed itinerary so everything had to go on time and we were heading to Whistler.

That being said, Tsubasa was very understanding of our situation and beyond that, even though they were listed for closing at 12AM, he made me feel very comfortable that we would be able to stay a bit after that time if we were strapped for time. My girlfriend works in the industry within the kitchen and the last thing I want to do is to be that guy but there was a very special reason we picked this restaurant.

We stayed about half an hour later in the end and we didn't even know about it because they never heckled us or made us feel we needed to go. They were welcoming from the beginning and Tsubasa would personally come out to greet us from the kitchen to say a few words to the groom. It has seriously been a wonderful trip and up until that point, it was the cherry on top of the cake.

I haven't even gotten to the food yet which was absolutely amazing and on time, and we have tried the Toronto location and the standards are just amazing as they are able to keep that high level of quality and maybe it was just our good moods, but it was better than what I had tried in Toronto. The food really speaks for itself but the customer service provided on this occasion was seriously top-notch. Whenever we return to Vancouver, we will surely return to this restaurant again and I would just like to give a personal shoutout and genuine thank-you to Tsubasa and the staff members on the night of July 28, 2018 for accommodating us and giving us such a special memory that contributed to an unforgettable trip. Can't wait to return...

美味しい！！！we made a reservation right at opening on a Saturday night, at 5pm, and got seated right away. This joint is pretty tiny, but you don’t need much space to enjoy delicious skewered meats and izakaya food.

We ordered multiple skewers, multiple sides, and some delicious gyoza that felt like a main dish with its grandeur (teppan gyoza is served on a sizzling plate glazed with teriyaki after deep fry).

My favorite skewer is the mé maki, which is thin sliced pork belly wrapped around garlic scapes, salted and grilled until the pork belly is lightly charred, with a delicious smoke flavor from the fat drilling on charcoal- perfectly tender garlic scapes. Close second would be the sea salt chicken hearts- nothing seats up like a delicious chicken heart- perfect marbling and texture. The only thing that would make it better is dry brining the hearts- salt a day ahead and the moisture balance will allow for a deeper crispness the next day. This may be a tradition, either way what they serve is magnificent and delicious.

The chicken skin sounded delicious, and I would order that next time- I did order the horumon, pork intestine, which wasn’t as crispy as I expected from previous experiences with pork intestine- but it was still delicious, with a texture similar to chewier pork belly. That reminds me- the pork belly skewer is probably tied with second place for my favorite skewer- so crispy and delicious.

Order the jellyfish salad! Taste profile similar to seaweed salad since the sauce is identical- sesame, mirin, soy. Super delicious.

Can’t wait to go back.

Pro tip- if you can’t get into the one on denman, there’s another one further south, I think on main st. Don’t not go!

Also for those who go for the first time, the little cup on the side is the repository for your used skewers! Put them in there, not the pen. I...

The food was good . What really got to me was after ordering our dessert around 8pm (we still had almost 45 minutes left to your 2 hour dining policy) There was one waitress with short hair immediately brought us our bill, and proceeded to bring the machine to inform me to pay without giving me the time to even finish my dessert and take a good look at the bill. This action really caught me off guard, I was definitely offended as I felt like she wanted us to get out of there as soon as possible (mind you throughout this entire time she had her own attitude ). When she brought me the machine, I had asked her “don’t you have a two hour dining policy?” - thinking that I still had a half hour time frame left to finish my dessert and then pay… so what’s the rush? Had she kindly asked us to pay first (since I know it will speed up the process of clearing a table to serve the next customer) I would’ve definitely been so much more understanding.

I have never in my lifetime experience something like this at a restaurant. I understand that if you’re busy and you need to wrap up a table before you can serve another one, but there were empty tables around and there are so many ways to approach a respect seated customer versus. It was honestly unfriendly and unprofessionally and unpleasant.

This is definitely not the level of service that I expect from such a big food group like zakkushi. Me and my friends will come not coming back on...