Yuji’s From Japan

Japanese food is sub par. Overrated signature dishes. Sushi cook
caught smoking cancer sticks outside with no hygiene as he rolls the lunch menus with his
dirty hands. Canned fish sushi .No thanks !!

I love this place… the staff are great, the sushi is unbelievably good! Definitely worth a stop if you are in the neighbourhood.

Food is ok, chicken meat ball soup is quite salty… And it’s really overpriced (100+ for two ppl), nothing special compare to the others Japanese restaurant.

They brought the wrong orders and made us pay for them anyways. Used canned fish. Just gross.

Excellent sushi! Great staff! It’s a gem of a place, could not recommend it more highly!

So this place just knocks it out of the park.
First off, this place is tiny, so I suggest making a reservation. We were there for an 8pm reservations, and the place was packed. When we left at 9, the place was still packed and more people were still coming in.
There wasn’t a single thing that was bad about this meal.
The grilled beef tongue was thinly sliced, perfectly flavoured and as tender as I think you can get tongue to be. The shio-​koji marinated grill chicken is soo well done. It’s got great grilled flavour but still unbelievably juicy. The assorted sashimi platter was some the best fish I’ve had in the city; you don’t need the wasabi or soy sauce with it at all. We also had a couple pieces of uni that came with a small dollop of wasabi on top. As I’ve been told, that’s the proper way to do it.
Everything was washed down with a bottle of locally brewed junmai nigori sake.
I can’t say enough good things about our meal there. This has to be one of the best restaurrants in Vancouver.

1. appetizers —
2. yakimono — grilled sablefish and chicken karaage
3. agemono — Deep fried vegetable tempuras. It had 1 prawn with cheap vegetables (peppers, beans,
4. mushimono — chawanmushi. Smooth with decent amount of dash. There was 1 prawn and 1 scallop in the steamed egg.
5. sushi — 6 pieces of sushi. I think this is the smallest piece of sushi I’ve seen in Vancouver. They were shorter than my fingers. Sashimi were fresh but still nothing outstanding. Beware that they came with wasabi already.
6. dessert — egg custard with whipping cream. All of us found it too sweet. I like it the best out of the 3 egg dishes. I would prefer if there was little or no syrup. It might be a better idea if the syrup was on the side.
Baked Eggplant with Mozzarella Cheese $ 7.5 ⁴⁄₅ — My favourite of the night. It might be a better idea ordering from the menu if I had to come back. The eggplant was perfect based. I would prefer if the miso paste was watered down and poured over the eggplant. The paste made the top bottom side of the eggplant too salty.
Service ²⁄₅ — We were left in one of the private rooms. Our server rarely came back to check on us unless she was dropping something off. Her English was not really good. She forgot that we asked her to bring us a pot of tea. She also had trouble explaining the dishes. Food was just okay and nothing was outstanding. With $ 50 and not being completely full, I would prefer going to Octopus Garden which is within the price range.

Yuji’s! Get on it, Kits friends! I don’t know how I’ve missed this gem for so long. We originally planned on going to the slightly more popular Irori Sushi across the street but it was closed and as much as I love that place, I’m super happy we ventured over to Yuji’s instead.
The prices are damn right (we got two rolls, two miso soups, and spinach gomae for under 20 bucks) and their service was beautifully speedy. They were also super accommodating when we walked in at around 9:30pm. The hours on their door just said «until late» so we weren’t sure if they would serve us because there was only one couple left but they gave us a warm greeting and made us feel super welcomed indeed.
Some highlights: The Salmon and Tuna Wasabi Tempura is one of the best gastronomical surprises I’ve had in a while. They take a couple salmon and tuna rolls, deep fry them, and then serve ‘em up on top of this wasabi-​fused sauce. Verdict: crazy delicious. So pretty much this dish reinforces the fact that everything is better deep fried… The Spicy Tuna Roll had a nice little twist with a slice of avocado offsetting the zing of spicy tuna.
The atmosphere is quaint and cozy, all while feeling very authentically Japanese.
Overall, this is a lovely spot for late night sushi and will definitely give you a great bang for yo buck.

Had chance to visit here while in Vancouver. Very authentic Japanese food. Had the 2 set menu which had a lot of interesting dishes. Overall everything was very tasty and fresh.
The only downside is that the portions aren’t that large, so you’ll need to order quite a bit — but it is completely the same portion size as you’d get in Japan. Recommend for those who love authentic Japanese.

Has there ever been a restaurant that you’ve been to, that the moment you step through the door, something magical was about to unfold? Yuji’s is one such restuarant. I am unsure about the history behind this restaurant, other than it being relocated a couple of times. Yuji’s is a small restaurant tucked away in a corner beside a bus stop, the only feature that tells you a restaurant is here is a white paper lantern and a sign that says Yuji’s.
When you walk through the door, you are greet with Yuji standing at the sushi bar, he is the only one at that station. There are not many tables available, maybe enough to count with your fingers. They have a set regular menu aswell as a daily menu which changes. The special fish in the menu are all sourced from japan, along with the wagyu beef used in the specials.
My friend and I, not knowing what to expect, ordered a plethora of items, usual fare and unusual. For an added twist, we let Yuji handle our sashimi via omakase. the sashimi was very tender and the pieces were the perfect size. The omakase usually takes ingredients from the daily menu, all the fish are imported from japan, other than salmon.
The sushi nigiri and rolls were very good, perfect size and decently priced per pcs. While the sushi may not be the most exciting part of the menu, it is worth adventuring into if that is your thing. The daily special for the wagyu was a ground wagyu croquette, which was super moist and crispy. One of the best croquettes i have ever had, even those in japan, and best of all, it was affordable.
The superstar dish of the night had to be the shio-​koji chicken. Shio-​koji is a salt-​mould bacterial mixture that is spread across the perfectly cooked pan fried chicken. The sauce mixture is supposed to bring out the umami of the food and boy does it. It has a distinct flavour, but it was perfectly edible and makes you want more. For us both, who are culinary professionals, still praise yuji’s chicken as the prime example of the perfect cook and moistness.
To describe Yuji’s, would be an oasis in a desert. A diamond in the rough. And one that certainly deserves praise and future visits.
A perfect Five, out of Five.

So happy this place opened back up in another location! Amazing sushi and great Japanese tapas. In my top 5 for sushi in Vancity.

For sushi nerds, this place is a must.
The service was lovely. Prompt, sweet and both people answered a few questions we had and also made suggestions. They were also quite funny!
The room is small and charming. It was full of regulars, including two couples who knew each other from regularly sitting at Yuji’s bar. So sweet.
The sea urchin and ikura here is off the charts and the various types of nigiri are incredible and expertly cut (hamachi, blue fin, toro… a wonderful selection). Also: we think it had the best rice in Vancouver — we are talkin’ better than Tojo’s. The tuna tataki and tuna & avocado crêpe dishes were showstoppers.
The soft John Lennon in the background was bang on — a little something extra that was «just right» and made us smile.
It was a real treat coming here. I am dreaming about our next visit!

Finally got a chance to try Yuji’s after being long time customers at his previous location on 4^th. The new location is easy to find on Alma and 4^th with a little black awning right outside Jericho village complex with lots of free parking in the area.
They were offering 2 set menu options, one for $ 30 (included sushi only) and one for $ 50. We opted for the $ 50 as we were celebrating a special occasion and it was a great selection with a LOT of food (see pics as it’s easier than describing!). I can’t even name everything that was included… the first course alone had 6 different items in it. If you are hungry and want a huge variety, this is great!
The restaurant itself is quite small. We counted 22 seats plus the extra room which they mention can seat another 6 – 8 people. What we like about Yuji’s is that you don’t get your ‘typical’ Japanese food, there’s some creativity without being too outside the box and everything tasted super fresh!

Food is good but service is soo rude! I have Been here many times before but on my last visit there was an employee probably in his 40s, bald, might be a manager. Didn’t ask us what to drink then after we ordered our food brings two waters. We wanted tea and he gave us a stare. Walked by many times and stated at the empty dishes on the table but doesn’t take them away. I actually had to say «were done with this» then he took it away. Never refilled our cups. Just a poor attitude overall… Must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed this morning! It’s too bad cuz the food that night was actually really good.

This is the best JP restaurant! Service is great and food there are full of creativity!
I love their set menu and it always surprises me when I order them. The only thing I don’t like is they only open mon ~ sat during the dinner time. But I will definitely recommended this restaurant to all my friends

The sushi here is excellent. However, the service was really lacking in my experience.
I got here at 6:15 — 6:30, and started ordering dishes with a warning to the kitchen that we needed to go by 7:30 for a play. Sushi stated coming out almost instantaneously (a plus since the restaurant was not crowded yet — man, so many reservations though! Get reservations if you come) and the fish was delectable. We sticked with all daily specials — bluefin tuna (remarkably meaty without having any trace of veininess which a lesser sushi chef would leave), filefish (our favorite — the same coloring as flounder or other white-​fleshed fish, it was amazingly light with a bit of a sweet flavor that was a pleasant surprise), grunt (deeper, almost snapper-​colored, but very lush), and young yellowtail (much lighter than hamachi with the same beautiful sea flavor). The salad nori rolls were excellent as well — fresh crab with zucchini, cucumber and the like was very tasty.
However, we had ordered a wagyu steak, and they had only one available when we came. We ordered it medium rare and the woman came out to apologize since she overcooked it «slightly»… it was well. Seriously? A steak that is $ 30+ was severely overcooked to our specifications, so this is already a significant disappointment.
Then there was the fact that we ordered tempura items from the kitchen, the gobo roots (which were excellent, and quite sweet!), but we had to remind them that we’d ordered it in order for it to come out. Then we also ordered at that same time tempura prawns in prawn chips, which we ordered at 7 and it didn’t even come out by the time we left, which ended up being 7:40 because of how late items came out!
The steak chef came to «apologize» by giving us green tea ice cream. Great, a real apology of a size of ice cream that was the size of 3 taster spoons from a gelateria. The ice cream was very good and had the firmness of an in-​house made ice-​cream.
Overall, the food is excellent but every facet of service that wasn’t Yuji was terribly lacking. The kitchen was beyond abysmal for responding on time on TWO instances, they tried to make up for their shortcomings with a gesture that looked like an afterthought (and a cheap afterthought at that), AND they severely overcooked one of the most expensive items they carry.
For $ 130 for two people before alcohol, this place was absolutely not worth it given this experience. I was torn because on the food side it gets five stars, but for everything else it gets about a –1. So it averages out to two.

We were regulars of Yuji’s when he had his location on 4^th Ave. So happy that he is back now with his new location on Alma St. Had a fantastic meal there last night.
–authentic
–very fresh
–excellent service
–good selection of sake too
–be sure to make reservations as does get busy there

Get ready Vancouver — Yuji is back and that means the best, freshest, most innovative sushi in the city — bar none — is here once again! It’s been two LONG years since high rents on West 4^th and travel saw him closing up our beloved sushi spot. But now he’s opened a gorgeous little space on Alma and we can all enjoy having him here again. Try anything on the fresh sheet, the salmon sashimi, the black and white tofu (a personal fave) and the norimaki salad roll (a beautiful roll sans rice!). Better than anything you will pay at some of the well-​known, high-​end sushi places in Van, you will be coming back again and again. Welcome home Yuji!

What used to be the great Italian deli «La Ghianda» is now Yuji’s…a fantastic and authentic sushi spot. The place is immaculate in its presentation of food and restaurant décor and the staff is very friendly and helpful. We tried the curry calamari, sweet potato tempura and a variety of rolls. All were delicious and well executed. The price was average but the food was far above that — we’ll be back for sure.