Zen Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in West Vancouver

Had the omakase for lunch. First, it's great that they offer omakase for lunch. This doesn't seem to be common.

The starter was amazing. Two rounds of crispy fish, dumpling, oyster, ... all incredible little morsels. Then there was their take on a fish taco made with rice paper and some weird salsa -- it was pretty terrible. Then the sushi main (you have the choice of nigiri, sashimi, or grilled fish) which was okay. I think most sushi I've had elsewhere was better, but my wife thought it was particularly fresh.

The sashimi main was the first time in ages I've had octopus and it was quite nice (not too chewy), but I still don't like octopus. Same for the squid. I don't get sashimi much so maybe it was a mistake to order it (a sashimi lover may have loved the shrimp head presentation and tentacles but I just wanted simple fish).

Overall, I think the sushi was a disappointingly weak part of the meal considering it was a sushi place, but wow those appetisers were great.

They're running a promotion GlancePay to give you $10 off if you sign up to pay from your phone. (Nov 2016)

I heard about this place from the BC Living's "Where Vancouver Chefs Go for Sushi," which I think set me up for lofty expectations that...

Nice looking Sushi Restaurant with a lot of good food options. This is definitely on the pricey side and this does affect how I rate this place. Pro: Our server was very knowledgeable and very attentive. The presentation of the food was very nice. The rainbow role was very good. All the food was very fresh. My Sashimi plate was very good with about 12 pieces, which also included two marinade Sashimi options in a small bowl Con: Neither my soup or my wife's tea appeared with out asking for it again and again for a spoon. They have a different servers to deliver drinks and food, maybe the source of the missing items. Portion size is on the smaller side . The spicy tuna role was a little too spicy to taste the tuna. The miso soup was a little too much miso paste and hence too salty. The octopus and clam pieces were very small on the Sashimi plate.

The ocean view through the forest, a lot of people commenting about, is very limited and I would not report that there is ocean view. Overall a very nice restaurant but in my opinion you can have a equally tasty and satisfying Japanese food experience for much much less than what you pay here. See my other reviews for...

While the host who greeted our family at the entrance was very warm, inviting, and sweet, I felt that our server considered our family with two young children more of a hassle and inconvenience. The service once we were seated felt slow, sporadic, and that we were not really welcome. We were, strange considering that this is a Japanese style cuisine, the only non-Caucasian customer we saw around us, and even wondered if that had something to do with the poor inattentive and passive-aggressive feeling we experienced. We certainly do not want to haphazardly make any serious accusations, but felt open comment would be helpful to bring awareness. Didn't enjoy the way we were treated at all, but the host seemed like she genuinely wanted to provide good service for us so I will not leave a...