Wa’s Japanese Restaurant

Well we were seated in a room
With some screaming kids. Server could barely understand. Menu is most overpriced in all of calgary. I been to over 20 places in Calgary. I still paid triple to try this out since they have such good reviews. Lets just say I won’t be going there again was unimpressed.

I love Wa’s! First of all, they are usually extremely busy. Regardless of what day of the week you go, my recommendation is that you should make a reservation, whether it’s for lunch or dinner. The parking lot is quite tiny and fills up quickly, but there’s street parking right next to the restaurant so parking is never a problem.
Their fish is always fresh and the rice is always perfect! Not falling apart like some other sushi restaurants of lower quality. All their appetizers and main entrees are great as well, I would recommend the cold soba and the tonkatsu if you want to try something on the menu that is not sushi.
The price is definitely on the higher side — but for the quality of food you get, I think it is fine. If you do not care much about the quality of your sushi and more so about the bill, I would not recommend Wa’s.
If you are looking to try out Wa’s, I think the lunch specials are a great way to do so as the pricing is much better than the dinner menu. The lunch menus range from about $ 14~ but comes with a salad, soup, and your lunch entrée which can leave you very full. If you are extremely hungry, I recommend the deluxe lunch special for about $ 30~ as it is enough food for two and a half people — comes with the soup and salad, sushi, sashimi, tonkatsu, udon, egg pudding and dessert! Amazing value for the amount of food you get.
The place looks like a hole in a wall, but it is great. If you want legit traditional Japanese food of good quality, you should visit Wa’s.

I am frequent customer of this restaurant as my office is just 1 min walk to there. They have changed a new waiter at lunch time and his service is terrible. We have been wait for 20 mins, and he has no intention to serve us as we arrived at 1.15 pm and they are closed at 2 pm. What we need is a table clean up, so that we can sit down and start reading the menu. Is it a unreasonable request from us? Waiter told us that we have to wait for at least 20 mins before he can clean up the table, and indeed we are the only group (3 people) waiting…
Worst service ever, it suck. Will never go back again.

Sushi is ok defiantly Not great service is terrible

I had heard many times this is the best place for sushi in Calgary but my trip had been delayed since every time I made an attempt, it was closed for a holiday or other reasons.
So, today, without warning, I quickly drove on my lunch hour to Wa’s at the corner of 17^th Av NW and Centre St N, one small block north of 16^th Av NW (AB 1) and Centre St N.
As may have been previously mentioned, the parking lot, she is almost non-​existent with a 7 – 8 space parking lot but luckily, 17^th Av NW has street parking of the 2 hour variety.
Once I parked, I entered through 2 doors to the main eating area. It’s a small, cozy, reasonably quiet, and friendly sort of establishment. I was greeted very quickly though the waiter did not bother to rattle off the days specials but he saw me eyeing that as I walked in so he was smart enough not to repeat/​rehash that.
I chose to go with the 6 piece Stampeder Roll with ebi shrimp, avocado, and other assorted fish, a 4 piece version of the House Roll instead of the 8 piece which has tuna, imitation crabmeat, masago on the outside. I finished that off with a Spicy Tuna handroll or cone (pick your verbage). The best Spicy Tuna cone ever. ever, nice spice and flavour.
Good choice for a first-​time at this establishment.
It is a little pricy for the quantity but the quality is very high. You don’t leave feeling empty or non-​satisfied.
So far, the only sushi place that comes close in quality but it is about 25% cheaper is Towa Sushi on 4^th St SW.
This is definitely the premier sushi establishment in Calgary at this time; I would highly recommend this for a 1^st or 2^nd date.
My next trip will be more costly as I want to try some of their sashimi. I saw the customer behind me’s stash of sashimi and it look simply divine.
It is one hour later and I can still taste my prize. Hmmmmmmmmmmm.

Fishy-​tasting, mushy sushi (nigiri). Overpriced sake. Will not be back.

BEST! authentic sushi place. real Japanese crew, Mr. Wa is the chef for lunch, and he makes the sushi at night. Too bad, the place is small… reservations is recommended specially weekends…

This is a hole in the wall, and I say that as a compliment. The entrance to the parking lot is not even off Centre St — it’s off of a minor side residential street. More of your money goes to the food than to the rent, decorations, etc.
When I went, about 80% of the clientele was Japanese. It’s always a good sign when an ethnic restaurant has a lot of customers who are of the same ethnicity as that of the restaurant.
I got the lunch sushi special and added a few pieces like fatty tuna. All of the sushi was absolutely delicious. The fatty tuna is the bacon of the sea and melts in your mouth. The rice is exquisitely cooked. The side dishes — soup, salad, etc. — were also excellent. The food arrived almost instantaneously after ordering.
Overall a great culinary experience.

From a pure sushi standpoint, they have the most outstanding fish in town — as fresh and great selection as I’ve ever seen. Their vegetable tempura has more variety but is not quite as good as Globefish. Their hot dishes are okay; my wife loves their «sansai soba» — hot soup with vegetables and buckwheat noodles. Great sushi chefs — I go there at times twice a week for the past few years — slowed down a bit due to travel elsewhere (note my reviews of Las Vegas, Vancouver and Pasadena restaurants). Definitely recommend reservations — again another negative of living in Calgary where people make money but have no where to spend it. That’s why I leave town to enjoy life.

The staff here was über friendly; you get the feel of being at a real Japanese restaurant. However I didn’t really like the texture of rice on my sushi here. Also my one order was way over priced. I would come here again maybe order something different this time.

My favourite restaurant in the city.
The sushi chef has the most amazing skill — you can taste it in the way he slices the fish. I tried chirashi sushi don — wow! Sweet raw scallops, red and regular tuna, melt in your mouth salmon. Nice subtle touches like caviar, carved cucumber pieces, tamago slivers, etc. What a selection of incredible seafood. Also shared the tempura — never had tempura so fluffy and delicate. Drool. We’ve been at least one a month for the past 3 years, and we’ve never had a bad meal. The owner/​chef is there every day to ensure great quality.
Complimentary green tea is wonderful — you can taste the nuttiness of it.
Service is always a delight. Can’t wait to return. Worthy of every penny. I noticed most complaints revolve around the rolls. Personally, I can’t say to much about that because all I eat at Wa’s is sashimi.
Lunch is a fantastic deal. I would eat here every day if I could. Wa’s offers sashimi lunch box that includes a generous amount of assorted fish, rice, miso soup, salad and a daily special dish for $ 14.00.

Itadakimasu!
I’ve been carefully avoiding Japanese food since I moved home from Japan a few months ago since I knew it would only end in disappointment, but the time finally came one hungry night in Calgary. My husband had read good things about Wa’s, so we headed over and were seated immediately on a Sunday evening.
We only ordered nigiri sushi and maki, so my review is only on that, and I have to say I was quite pleased. For those ordering by the piece, note that unlike most sushi-​yas in Japan, the prices are by the piece, not for a two piece set of nigiri. Also, be sure to check the chalkboard for the day’s specials. Fresh fish of any kind should dominate your choices for the day, even above favourites.
The fish was fresh and flavourful, for the most part. The best item was the scallop, which we ordered more of immediately. The salmon left us wanting, which is not the case, but it was not as fatty as we like. The anago was tender and soft, yet very flavourful. Definitely recommend that.
As far as rice (shari), which is the real hallmark of a good sushi joint (let’s face it, in today’s global world, good fish is just an airplane shipment away), it was a bit dry and grainy — not as pillowy as I wanted. But it was well seasoned and not gummy or completely falling apart, so it was acceptable.
The maki rolls were imaginative, but some were not well executed. The «Flames» roll was a bit too spicy and overwhelmed the fish. The tempura in another roll was really excellent, and enough to make me consider ordering some on my next visit. But the nori was fresh on all of them, and proved that they had been rolled to order, or atleast not too long before they were served.
The service was up and down. We did not receive a «Irrashaimase!!» from the staff upon entering the restaurant like all the other patrons, and unlike all the other tables, we did not get hashioki for our chopsticks. They questioned if we knew the difference between anago and unagi twice… but the food spoke for itself, so I am willing to put up with some slanted service if they think we are sushi newbs.
When I lived in Japan I loved saying «This is pretty good… for Japan.» on western dishes. Now that I’m home, I find I say «This is pretty good… for Canada.» Wa’s definitely qualifies, especially with it’s better than average nihon-​shu selection. It’s good, but God help you if you need to find truly excellent sushi on the prairies. Best to book a flight to Narita…

Compared to Vancouver standards though I was in the craving so this pretty well is a nicer one with the décor, and Japanese-​operated which is always a bonus. Comffy décor.
Ordered the dynamite roll, which had a bit too much rice but tasted good w/​the prawn, avocado & mayo.
The tontakso pork ramen is more recommended, lots noodles and tasty soup base. Just one slice of pork. Good amount of onions & bamboo.
Egg tamago also nicely made in-​house, not too sweet.
Nice that it has its own 6 spaces for parking.
I’ll return.

What the blutz? Why haven’t I written a review Wa’s ever before?
Ridiculous. Anytime someone asks me to reccomend them a place to eat and their description includes «hole-​in-​the-​wall», «down-​to-​earth, «great price/​taste ratio», «place I can go to almost impress people», and «I need a bowl or ramen» I immediately force them into Wa’s
Really, much love goes to Wa’s. I’m not sure if I’ll ever see Japan in this lifetime, but this place comes close. They don’t have much for fancy original rolls, but they make up for it with amazing dishes. I suggest the following dishes:
–Chirashi sushi, they are quite generous with their fresh sashimi
–Ramen, different from other places like Shibuya or Muku, but just as great, more compact in ingredients
–Tonkatsu pork. Comfort food at a five start samurai level, I’m serious and wouldn’t lie to you
Over all Wa’s is a great place to hang out with friends, parent, family…
maybe casual dates… unless you have a history of being a «sushi snob» where the sight of someone performing chopstick surgery on a piece of gorgeously assembled sushi, thereby insulting a whole nation of…*deep breath*
:P
²⁹⁄₃₀

We had a bit of time so we decided to sit and chat and enjoy our meal. But that didn’t happen.
We ordered some sushi, and was thinking about ordering another round but the sushi was not very fresh (a bit expensive for the quality we got). What ruined it was the table right behind us was talking very very loud (this is a very small restaurant… even if you sat at the far end you would still hear them). To be fair, the noise was not the restaurant’s fault, but we went on Friday evening dinner time and the quality of the fish was pretty disappointing. We ended up leaving early (coz I was having a headache from the noise) with half-​empty stomachs and went to McDonalds after.

Enjoyed a very nice dinner here.
Parking lot’s small and tight. Restaurant’s equally «cozy.»
Decent array of menu items including a specials board to the right of the sushi bar. On our evening specials included oysters on the half-​shell 6 ($ 15), Amberjack sashimi ($ 30), Aji tataki ($ 20) and black sesame ice cream ($ 5).
Enjoyed the deluxe chirashi ($ 28) which included a scallop, dollop of krab salad, spot prawn, tuna, whitefish unknown x2, salmon x2, hamachi x2, albacore, smattering of ikura, egg omelet slice, shiso leaves x2 and two slivers of uni. A very good representation, and I’d recommend shelling out the few extra bucks for the better fish selection. Comes with gomokuzushi-​style rice. They will fry the botan ebi head for you; I’d ask for it at the outset rather than when you’re done dining.
Sampled the scallop handrolls — heavy on rice, chewy nori, could have used a touch more scallop. I’d recommend the creamy scallop over the spicy scallop (too much sriracha).
Tempura is well done and fairly «authentic» as far as the coating goes. Oil tasted a touch on the old side. Shrimp texture could have been a touch firmer. I’m just quibbling though, because once you’ve eaten at shops that specialize in tempura in Japan, it’s hard to compare.
If they’ve got the black sesame ice cream, I’d recommend giving it a try. It’s quite popular in Japan, and Wa’s rendition (don’t know if it’s house made) is quite good and hits the spot. Not too sweet. The strawberry wafer they include is a bit off though; It appears to be the same strawberry-​flavored wafers you get out of those giant square tins sold in Chinatown supermarkets. Doesn’t really mesh with the dessert. Perhaps they were trying to replicate the Japanese-​style Gaufre wafers which are more delicate and a better fit.
There are some fairly-​priced menu items, and some that seem just outrageous. Most of the specials seem highly overpriced and that $ 20 spider roll’d better be soft-​shelled Dungeness (why doesn’t that exist?).
Servers are courteous and attentive.
A really nice Japanese restaurant and quite close to downtown. I’d definitely recommend it.

Tucked away in the middle of nowhere, with seemingly no signs and no adverts aside from glowing word of mouth, this is the best sushi I’ve had in Calgary so far. I’ve been here twice and both times the flavor and bang-​for-​your-​buck has been off the charts. The sushi chef operates on the side of the tiny restaurant (maybe 40 seats), and is fully focused and dedicated to his craft of offering the freshest fish.
The first time I came here directly after work with my friends, still dressed in my finest white shirt and dress pants. I felt somewhat out of place, but as soon as the food arrived, I knew I was in good company. I ordered the katsu don (the litmus test of any Japanese restaurant), which was prepared perfectly, and the five of us shared the special unagi roll, which was like a giant snake of barbequed eel, very tasty. And of course the smoked salmon was as it should be.
The second time I went with my wife, and we both loved it; she ordered an army of smoked salmon and the katsu don, and I tried the Sunshine roll: a huge piece with two pieces of salmon with alternating dollops of avocado and cream cheese. It was huge, and the flavor was even bigger, a smoked salmon roll on ‘roids. Needless to say, we nearly redlined and went away very satisfied, though a little wiser as to the quantities we should order in the future.
The prices are average (not too high but not dirt cheap), but the quality of the food, and the friendliness of the service, make the trip well worth your while.

After my lunch here this weekend, I thought I’d check Unilocal to see the star rating and was surprised by the high stars. I guess my review will be against the crowd then.
My lunch here with my mom was not great. I was suspect of how fresh their fish was (and also the cross contamination factor as I am allergic to shrimp) so we didn’t order the sushi. Instead we got their yakiniku, and fried halibut lunch combos. Both come with miso soup, salad, & 2 sides: japanese pickles and what looked to be korean japjae. The beef yakiniku was sooo tough and hard to chew. The quantity was large but who cares when it’s tough. The halibut was overcooked so the edges were dry and hard. As far as the menu goes, I found it limited and some things stuck out for being extra pricey for what it is.

As someone who lived in rural-​ish Japan for 3 years, Wa’s is the closest to authentic «normal» Japanese cuisine in Calgary. The menu contains the kinds of dishes one could order at your average restaurant in your average Japanese city/​town. The décor reminds me of some of the frequented restaurants I ate at during my time in Japan. Love it here, it takes me back! I would recommend the Tonkatsu Teishoku (Tonkatsu Lunch Set). Tonkatsu is breaded pork cutlet and the set may include rice, miso soup, tsukemono (pickled vegetables) and a small salad. This restaurant truly has the taste and feel of Japan.

I have been going to Wa’s for years. It was recommended to me by my acupuncturist who spent 7 years in Japan who was married to a Japanese lady. He said it was the most authentic place in town. (unlike other sushi places who actually have Korean sushi chefs).
The service is always attentive, the menu is varied enough to please the most adventurous and cautious. I really like all the wonderful food served on the unique stoneware dishes. the Sake and beer always tastes better in a cup that I get to pick!