Teriyaki & Noodles — Restaurant in Vancouver

I used to like this location. My previous review would have been a 4. Here is what I like and don’t like about the location, with the main reason I dropped my rating to a 2-star below.

Likes:

Teriyaki sauce used for cooking has a good flavor Extra sauce is almost never needed Favorite is the beef teriyaki, beef is cooked just right, with the right cut of beef used so that it isn’t tough or thick Gyoza has good flavor Rice is properly cooked and tastes like rice from Japan Usually has sauced used for cooking sitting on top of rice

Dislikes:

Staff tends to not be as friendly, depending on who takes the order or serves the food (consistently same people who are/are not friendly), and I am RARELY given the price of my order at the end of my phone-in order conversation Meat portions vary depending on who is cooking, and the majority of the time the meat portions are not enough to properly match the rice portions Extra teriyaki sauce given with the food doesn’t taste the same as the teriyaki sauce the food is cooked in, like it was frozen or cooled and the water separated and evaporated, leaving it too strong of a flavor Extra teriyaki sauce is like a molasses texture instead of a runny sauce texture There is no beef teriyaki bowl like the chicken bowl, just a plate, and comes with a salad Teriyaki bowls come with vegetables mixed in with the rice and meat and are not separated completely, which is a highly improper practice in all other places I’ve lived or visited with higher concentrations of Japanese nationals Salad dressing has the taste and texture of being mixed with water, weakening the flavor Gyoza is deep fried instead of the common Japanese way of using water and sesame oil in a shallow pan and cooked on one side covered, so that the steam cooks the other two sides, and for this reason, I only ordered it once Consistently running out of food for the day at the end of the day or closing the grill before the actual closing hours of the restaurant (All these may be taste preference or expectations from my time in Japan/Hawaii/LA and having been married to a Japanese national)

My main reason for coming here was the flavor. The sauce used for cooking the teriyaki is phenomenal, even though the take-home teriyaki sauce is terrible (should be liquid like soy sauce and flavorful like what’s used to cook it with). I will admit that I don’t try other items on the menu. The reason is because I have spent over 2 years in Japan, over 5 years in Honolulu, HI, and over 6 years in Southern California (including LA and San Diego). Having been exposed to authentic Japanese foods, cooked by Japanese nationals, for Japanese nationals, (same with Thai and other ethnic foods), I have found that the vast majority of foods I eat here in Vancouver don’t taste the same as they do in the countries they were derived from. This is also the reason I eat the teriyaki here, because it is the closest thing to authentic teriyaki I have eaten in Vancouver.

The reason I dropped to a two star was because of my order today. I ordered 6 items, 3 teriyaki chicken bowls and 3 teriyaki beef plates. The normal portions I’ve received were two scoops of rice and the normal, lacking portion size of meat. Today, all the food in my order, including the salad, was half-portion. This is the first time I’ve finished my food and been left still hungry. There may be reasons for the half-portions at the same price, but regardless, the fact that the change in the portion size wasn’t divulged to me, prior to ordering, has caused me to lose respect of, and support for, the business. I would much rather see a price increase, with a verbal warning that the prices have increased, than to see portion size reduced. It is especially difficult because this was my favorite place to get teriyaki, even with the listed perceived dislikes. This may have been an accident, and so I will give the place another chance in the near future, but if the portion size hasn’t been fixed, I...

It's such a pity. The democratic noodle is one of the universal foods around the world. From the finest restaurants to the worst, from emperors and kings to people living in clapboard shacks. They all eat noodles and to some extent, those noodles form a kind of culinary foundation from which unlimited possibilities arise.

Before I launch into a bitter tirade regarding the food, I want to address their confusing menu. It is extensive and it's up on the wall with no explanations as to what each dish is. There are pictures to the right, but many of the pictures, if not most do not have names on them, much less ingredients.

I was confused by the number of options and didn't want to stand there blocking the next customer while I tried to sort things out. I suppose you that once you've come a few times, you just get your favorites, but I found it irritating and intimidating. Not even some little paper menus to look at while you wait.

So I get the Spicy Yaki Udon. I'll start by saying I wish I had n known it had shell fish in it or I would have passed. That gets back to the awkward and unhelpful menu. The noodles came swimming in a bland, sweet sauce that tasted like it came from a mix or a can. Just about zero spice, but worse, no character, no layers of flavor, no umami... nothing. It reminds me of cheap standard cantonese sauces I used to get at restaurants when I was a kid 60 years ago. All of it, too sweet and utterly uninteresting and painfully dated.

What the place is, is a bad fast food joint with regular restaurant prices. It's clean, and open and boring, the Mcdonalds of Noodles. The space cries out for a more authentic, more remarkable place. Maybe their teriyaki stuff was better, but the "Spicy" Udon...

First of all I'm really dissatisfied with the food, customer service, skill in the kitchen.

I ordered the chicken teriyaki off their menu.. upon arriving out of the kitchen to my hands mind I haven't even had it for a minute... the food was cold & the chicken was burnt and bland... the rice was over cooked & hard.. as if they were using all the left overs to get by.. I didn't even finish my food.. wouldn't even feed it to my dog.

I know this Isn't a 5 star restaurant but Jesus take pride in your work and open your eyes & wake up lads! Get a grip... food Is hideous.. where's the presentation!? I would recommend all to just go to Hawaiian Style Grill for some killer teriyaki! This place Is a joke.

Also with their customer service.. it's terrible like.. it's not even a thing here they treat you like "Get In, buy today and get out" & at one point the worker that was handling food was touching other stuff with the same pair of gloves! THAT'S COVID... The Owner is clueless and doesn't know how to run a proper joint & these people have excuses for everything.. if you want to succeed you have to look at yourself in the mirror and take accountability for all the wrong you're doing... the staff are a bunch of muppets. Such a waste of an establishment.

Piece of advice for The Owner, HANG UP YOUR APPRON & leave lad. Leave it to someone else that likes to run a restaurant to take over you're pointless here, Nobody likes your attitude, if you weren't just doing this for the money you'd be happier. CHEERS :)

Won't be coming here anymore & I hope you won't as well for the sake of your Saftey & comfort.. you can find better elsewhere.

Once...