Zipang Provisions

Not bad. Came here Sunday for lunch for the first time, and was pleasantly greeting by a super hipster modern setting for a Japanese restaurant. The menu seemed pretty standard but had some interesting items on it.
I tried the special unagi don. It is served chazuke style so you are provided tea to pour over it. Taste is… delicious. The tea dilutes the saltiness of the sauce.
We also tried some rolls, and these were mediocre and not that special. I probably wouldn’t order these next time.
All the food combos come on a really well assembled tray. It is very neat and tidy, but takes up too much space on the tables.
Not sure if I would come back since there are so many sushi options. The restaurant was almost empty on Sunday lunch

Excellent. Their spicy tuna sashimi is some of the best I’ve ever had. They sometimes have kombucha Caesars which are great. The ramen bowls are awesome. Service can be slow sometimes but the food is so good and they are always so gracious.

I really like this place! I don’t live in the neighbourhood, so I make it here a few times a year.
I’ve always had a good experience and good food when I go to Zipang. Love the restaurant look and feel, and sat on the patio once which was nice as well.
My faves are the sashimi combo, pork cutlet mille feuille (so good!), karaage, grilled beef tongue and a kale gomae off their daily fresh sheet which was hearty and delicious! The kale was perfectly tender/​chewy, and the dressing was light and slightly sweet. I also really enjoyed the Zipang roll which is scallop, salmon, cucumber and tofu sheet because of it’s simplicity. I’m not one for all the sauces and toppings, so if you prefer that style, you will be disappointed. The menu is large so I look forward to exploring more of it.
I also appreciate that it is run by Japanese people.

We were looking for a good sushi place on Main street, Zipang had pretty good reviews so we decided to give it a try. The décor inside is really nice, but unfortunately that was the highlight of our meal. We ordered the poutine, chicken udon, oyako don and a negitori roll. Portions are small for the pricing, so be prepared to leave hungry or order more food. The poutine was not good at all, probably our fault for ordering poutine at a Japanese restaurant though. Udon was very salty, too much rice in the oyako don, and the negitori roll was average.
We would not recommend Zipang, there are so many better sushi options out there.

Stopped by here for lunch today at just past 1pm. Seated almost immediately. Décor here is nice. Very hip. Wooden tables, transparent filament light bulbs. Ordered the salmon tuna sashimi, a beer and a curry katsu rice. My sister got the sauce pork katsu donburi. Sashimi was alright. Medium sized pieces, fresh tasting. Nothing to write home about. Pork katsu curry was generous on portion size. Also interesting note was that the pork cutlet was actually layered slices of pork and not one big piece. This made it very juicy. Food took forever to come though. Don’t come here if you are starving. Will be back of I’m craving pork katsu curry for it was delicious.

+
outdoor seating
cozy interior w/​fire place
like: beef udon, avodcao roll, bc roll, chicken karaage poutine was interesting
nice owner
good candies for $ 1
never a wait
-
more variety
I get it, east meets west, interior says it all

So my initial review which was back in December 12 a 4* and at the time it really was that good. However, last night after my experience at Zipang, I’m changing it to a 1*. The food itself is fairly decent, with what I said last time regarding the eel don buri (eel rice bowl) being the best thing on the menu. However the amount of time sitting around waiting for food, and just the service in general really soured my experience at Zipang. So the manager took my order and when I did my initial order I asked for a take out of the eel rice as well (lunch the next day!) and it seemed like it would be ok, no probs. After that it kinda went downhill. I kept trying to get the waiters attention and nobody really came over (when I say get attention, I mean waving them down). The food took forever to come out, and we spent a lot of time just sitting around waiting for the next dish to come out. So as we get close to the end of the meal, I ask them to bring out the eel rice to go. They have no idea what I’m talking about, but the worst part is, nobody comes over to explain to me what happened. We’re done eating, and they’ve just started making the rice. So essentially, because it was so slow, we waited around for another 30 minutes (roughly) waiting for this take out, that we ordered at the beginning of the meal. Sorry Zipang! First bite was really good! this time not so much.

This is the best sushi place in East Van BUT don’t expect their best on a busy Friday or Saturday night. You’ll wait quite a while to be seated, you’ll wait at least 30 min for your food to arrive, your miso will come with half-​frozen tofu, your gyoza will be luke warm, and your sushi might just sit on the counter in plain sight for over 15 min as your server walks past it 10 times without noticing. And don’t expect refills on your water. Go on a quiet weeknight and you won’t be let down. The food is top notch, reasonably priced, and the staff is really friendly. They just haven’t figured out how to maintain those standards when it gets busy.

My stomach is turning just thinking about the meal I had here. It’s such a shame too since I had fond memories of Zipang’s old location further up Main St.
The first turn off was how busy they were and in turn how much that affected the service. It was so hard to get attention from the staff and I saw plates of sushi just sitting at the bar waiting to be served. At one point, I actually was tempted to go up and deliver the plates myself (or at least snag our order).
The other major disappointment was the aburi sushi — it arrived at the table with a thick white sauce that looked slightly congealed, not torched. I was skeptical by its appearance but decided to try it anyway… and then nearly spit it out. Whatever it was, it tasted like thick Alfredo sauce that was hardened. There was a tiny wedge of salmon in the middle of the rice block. I couldn’t eat anymore of it, I was just so turned off from the topping.
The rest of the sushi rolls we got tasted so-​so, average at best. The rolls were sloppily constructed so when you picked a piece up, it was already falling apart.
We came here wanting a good, solid meal but somehow Zipang turned into a «budget» sushi restaurant. The prices, service, and reviews don’t match that at all.

This place is amazing. It is modern, authentically Japanese and tastes great. It’s obvious the owner has put a lot of time and care into the restaurant and the food. The fish is fresh and there are a lot of unique items on the menu.
A must have is the Nasu Dengaku, eggplant with miso that is baked. It is always delicious and worth it!
Vancouver is inundated with sushi restaurants, especially on Main Street but if you want an excellent meal, you have to try Zipang. Nearby sushi restos to Zipang are pretty inferior. Don’t trust random lineups of people; it doesn’t always mean good food!
Zipang is my go to for sushi and I will be back.

This Japanese restaurant is located on Main Street in Vancouver. When it hits busy hours, it’s impossible to park on Main Street. Although we can park on the small streets, many streets require permits for parking, so parking further away from the restaurant and walking to the restaurant are needed.
Food wise… It’s interesting to order different types of appetizers that regular Japanese restaurants don’t offer. For example, I had a dish of agedashi mochi, chicken karaage poutine, and taro and lotus roots karaage. They were all unique. I ordered a house roll. I expected the house roll would be very special as it would be their signature dish. It looked special with the tofu skin wrap instead of the seaweed one but it didn’t taste special. I liked the black cactus roll with black sesame that I forgot to take a picture of it! Haha…
Overall, this Japanese restaurant is alright. It is not bad but not excellent.

This restaurant was pleasant and very modern. The good was good. I would recommend sticking to sashimi and cooked items more than sushi rolls or nigiri.
The sushi rolls have a bit too much rice and lack more flavour. The cooked salmon however was very good and tender. Overall the experience is ok and for the price it has its value.

Meh. Just meh.
With 200 000 000 trillion sushi joints to choose from, you would think these guys would do their best to gain a competitive edge. Here’s some advice — take out is horrible! Dine in is meh. For take out, I ordered a big platter for some guests and specifically asked for brown rice. Instead the entire platter was white rice with a cup of brown rice on the side. Wtf?! Also, I had ordered some vegetarian roles, but all of my order was wrong and full of non vegan friendly sushi. Today is the last time I will ever order from here again.
This place frankly sucks ⁴⁄₅ balls.

Meh. That’s all I have to say. Coming from California, I was expecting sushi to be good in Vancouver. This place definitely doesn’t represent good Vancouver sushi. The fish was flavorless and did not taste fresh. I could tell the quality wasn’t up to par. I also got a teriyaki beef plate and the meat was too salty. The prices were also somewhat too high for the quality. I should have expected this after looking at the reviews for the restaurant but it was a suggestion from a local. Next time I’ll make the suggestion using Unilocal instead. This place just didn’t hit the spot for me. I definitely won’t be coming back and will remember this place as a bad memory, kinda like the crazy ex girlfriend.

PROS
+ Nice interior
+ Outdoor seating
+ Good presentation
CONS
— Food is tasteless
— Sashimi lacks quality and flavours
— Too much rice in rolls
— I’d prefer the street takoyaki over Zipang’s
— Unknowledgeable server
RATING
Food 2.0÷5.0
Ambience 4.0÷5.0
Service 2.0÷5.0
Price $$
I found this place in Super Sushi collection on Zomato and their nice interior décor really caught my eyes. I didn’t hesitate a second to make a reservation. It is located on Main Street between E 14^th and 15^th Avenue. When you see JJ Beans, you know you are close by. They have a nice outdoor seating so it is a good idea to enjoy your meal outside on a sunny day (only if you don’t mind the cars passing by). I personally don’t like to eat at patio close to road, so we sat inside. They have good combination of small and big tables, good enough for a large group of people as well. While ordering I realized our server was not knowledgeable about food at all. When asked how many pieces were in Chef Special Sashimi she said 7 instead of 16. She had to go back and forth to answer my simple questions. I asked her to bring us sashimi first and confirmed with her twice, but then we got our SALMON CARPACCIO first. Since the carpaccio is considered as an appetizer I didn’t mind it that much. It «looked» really delicious, but it was nothing more than just smoked salmon with some sprouts and onions. I personally don’t like smoked salmon, so I wished they highlighted smoked salmon on the menu.
After carpaccio, I expected getting our sashimi, but we got our AGEDASHI MOCHI ($ 4.5) AND TAKOYAKI. Takoyaki was very disappointing. Again, it looked delicious but it was very hard (not crispy) on the outside while it seemed uncooked on the inside. J’s favourite Japanese dish is takoyaki, but he hated this one so much, he had only one of them. Agedashi mochi is a simple Japanese appetizer which is basically a deep-​fried gooey, sticky ball of rice cake. It didn’t taste good to me although J found it tastier than takoyaki. Finally we got our CHEF’S CHOICE ASSORTED SASHIMI ($ 24 for large) which consisted of sockeye salmon (3pcs), red tuna (3pcs), toro (2pcs), hamachi (2pcs), hotate (2pcs), ika (2pcs), amaebi (2pcs). It was visually appealing, yet most of pieces lacked flavours except for the sockeye salmon. I gave up at this point but just wished the rolls tasted okay. ZIPANG ROLL ($ 6.8) was alright but there was nothing special about it. It had chopped scallop, sockeye salmon, cucumbers, avocado, wrapped in soy bean paper and topped with tobiko. SALMON OSHIZUSHI ($ 11.8) tasted nothing like what it was supposed to be. There was too much rice yet having only small pieces of salmon in it reminding of AYCE sushi. I couldn’t taste salmon at all so that I had to remove a half of the sushi rice. Even worse, the cream sauce didn’t go well with the sushi. Overall, it was very disappointing dinner and felt bad that I dragged J to come here with me. I still don’t understand why it is listed on Zomato’s Super Sushi collection. Should I give it another try? I don’t think I want to… The whole experience at Zipang Provisions was definitely not worth $ 80+.

This place be pretty good, but let’s be real here for a hot minute. This is where y’all come when the lineup at Toshi is too long. Still, the food is solid, The interior is cool, they have 33 Acres beer on tap and they give you a little creamy Japanese candy when you leave.
You aight Zipang.

I was craving for some sashimi so I ordered their Toro Sashimi, which is tuna belly. It was amazing! One of the best toro I’ve had. It just melted in my mouth and it was very refreshing, leaving no fishy aftertaste. Zipang Provisions is a little bit on the pricier side for Japanese food and the portions aren’t very big but it is good quality, especially their raw fish. I would definitely recommend trying out their sashimi and the hitsumabushi! :D

We’ve been here quite a few times, and it’s worth a try: the food is consistently good, the décor is nice (although they theme is a bit unclear — fisherman meets hipster?), and the service very friendly.
It’s large enough that they usually have a table without any wait, it’s open fairly late, and they are licensed. The biggest downside is that It’s a bit more expensive than average, but I would say quality and portion size make up for it.
With trying is their sunomono, which is full of shrimp and octopus. I’m also a big fan of their spicy cactus roll, but I wouldn’t recommend it if you don’t like sesame seeds.

I really liked this place. Nice ambiance especially for dinner. The service was really friendly and attentive. The food was really very good. They offer brown rice, which made me really happy. So I would definetly say check it out. It’s a nice place and worth checking out.

Zipang Provisions calls itself as a restaurant for its fusion of Vancouver with the best of Japanese – East Meets West. Although it’s not really a new concept, the location is on Mount Pleasant on Main, which isn’t the first place I would think of an area known for sushi. As a matter of fact, I remember the time when there wasn’t a single Japanese restaurant in this neighbourhood.
This Japanese run sushi restaurant has some interesting items on its menu, but be warned that items with the hot pepper symbol didn’t have much of a spicy hot taste to it, just being very mild. Rolls with the word «cactus» don’t contain any actual cactus as an ingredient.
The Spicy Cactus roll with (imitation crab meat, tempura bits avocado, tobiko roe, mayo, sesame with spicy sauce), Spicy Scallop roll with (chopped scallop masago roe cucumber, spicy oil, mayo), Spicy Tuna roll with (spicy tuna, mayo, tempura bits, cucumber) definitely tasted mild, but in a good way, as I could taste each individual ingredient and I must say that each one tasted like they used fresh quality ingredients.
The Kairan roll which has scallop, salmon, and avocado had missing avocado on top for several pieces; therefore, its presentation could have been slighter better.
As a savoury pancake, the seafood okonomiyaki, was good. There was definitely a seafood flavour, especially with the dried tuna flakes. It’s covered with a lot of okonomiyaki sauce with a drizzle of Japanese mayo, so if you like pancakes with a lot of savoury Japanese sauces, you should try it.
Chicken Karaage with garlic mayo was really good for someone like myself who isn’t crazy about deep fried meats. It was lightly fried, tempura style, with a light tasting batter.
For this neighbourhood, this is good place for Japanese food!

The BBQ eel hitsumabushi (fancy for BBQ eel over rice + broth) was delicious! I also tried the chef selection of sashimi which was yummy and the presentation was beautiful over a bowl of ice. The Happy Bean roll was interesting because it used cornflakes which gave it the texture and crunch of tempura without the fried in oil part. Overall decent food and a fun experience in an interesting neighborhood.

I really like Zipang Sushi. The new location is great. I love the open space design and the patio is great. I went already a few times for dinner and I really really like the menu. Great specials of the day, fresh & delicious food and the staff is super friendly. All in one i highly recommend it to everyone!

Probably more for its ambience, outdoor patio, service and being in this up and coming Main St. area. Food’s still above average.
Ordered 3 rolls:
Zipang roll: passable… salmon, scallop…
California roll: yes, it’s imitation crab but plenty of it, and great rice too
spicy roll: crab, avocado and best of all, all rolled outside with fried sesame, so the texture no doubt was fabulous.
Sat on the outdoor patio, with the bar seating. A few sit-​down tables there too, on a gorgeous Sunday.
Worth taking a date to.

**3.5 stars**
***3 stars for food
****4 stars for atmosphere/​décor/​service
Our server didn’t speak much English but tried very hard to please and made some good recommendations. We were pleasantly surprised that they offered 33 acres beer on tap. The menu is mostly sushi and sashimi but there is a selection of grilled food and hot pots. The black cod was quite good but portion was small for the price. We also ordered the chef’s choice nigiri and it was fresh but nothing to write home about. One piece was just roe and rice. we also had one of their special rolls — black cactus. It was interestinh and I think in the end it grew on me but the toasted black sesame was a little dry. No wow factor to the food. They should consider adding more tapas-​like dishes.
However I would go back because the space is nice, roomy and pleasant to bring out of towners to. Tastefully decorated and surprisingly quiet for a Japanese restaurant.

I never visited the original Zipang, so I can’t really compare this new incarnation to what it was before. That being said, I really enjoyed myself here.
It is a spacious location (you won’t be sitting on your fellow diner’s laps — yay!), with attractive wood, rope, and brick details. Service was attentive, even on a busy Saturday night.
They have a nice selection of beer and cocktails in the $ 5 – 7 range, which I found quite reasonable. I sampled a selection of their specialty sushi rolls, tuna tataki, sablefish, and a bacon and tofu salad. The fish was fresh, and overall everything was very good. The only miss was the Taiyaki dessert (those little fish shaped deep-​fried filled pastries), which tasted a little too much like what was in the deep-​fryer before it — the yuzu ice cream that accompanied it was delicious though! Food prices were totally affordable — dinner including drinks, dessert, and leftovers for lunch the next day ran me about $ 25-​$ 30.
Overall, an great spot that is on trend, without relying on gimmicks to overcompensate for its food (ahem… unlike it’s competition across the street).

I must admit, I miss the original Zipang. Gone is the small cozy space and now replaced with a more industrial feel, with wooden beams, thick nautical rope, a brick wall, and a large communal table as the centerpiece. The attentiveness in the service has also seemed to dwindle.
I am glad to see that they kept majority of items from the menu, with additions of more cooked dishes. I did have a favourite prosciutto roll from the previous location that they have now removed.
One highlight of our meal was the Hitsumabushi. It’s a dish with chopped grilled eel on a bed of rice. Essentially a unagi don, but the rice had more flavour. There’s also
two alternative ways to consume this. Mix the dish with green onion and wasabi, or pour a broth over the eel and rice and enjoy it as Chazuke. It was warming, and quite delicious.
The rest of the meal was good, with the nasu denganku, just the way I remembered it, and a couple of regular rolls that were average.
Despite the brand new location, the prices seemed to have stayed the same more so. I anticipate to return to Zipang, with better service and bring back the Zipang pasta!