Sake Café

TL;DR: Food is gross, service is terrible. even for the cheap price. If you want GOOD Japanese food in the neighborhood «Sushi Bang» down the street 2 blocks away by Cambie has EXCELLENT food for around the same price! I would highly suggest going there instead!
Since they’ve changed the name to «Sushi_​Nism» the quality has gone downhill. it was always a 2 – 3 star Japanese Restaurant that had meh food but it was cheap so you got what you paid for, I only go there for pure convenience when I’m in a rush… But recently since I’ve been back (a couple times since I live in the neighborhood) the food has been terrible! They ran out of sushi rice the last time I was there, which is odd considering they’re a small sushi-​bar kind of café, so I ordered their Udon. the soup base wasn’t like any udon soup I’ve ever tasted (i would know, as I’m Japanese and have been raised on this food), it tasted like soy sauce and sugar. it was grossly sweet and the broth was a dark dark brown. which I’ve never ever seen before. usually its a clear light brown like the colour of miso but clear broth. They also put some weird mushy stir fried veggies in it which was another odd choice considering since it’s in soup you’d want crispier veggies so they wouldn’t get soggy in the broth. Customer service always hasn’t been great so we usually take-​out but now they just seem outright rude. Needless to say, I won’t ever go back.

Just based off the food, this was a good choice. I would have also rated them higher if not for the service.
First, I stood by the door where u was not greeted and seeing everyone busy and no menus by me I walked to the counter. I stood at the counter while servers walked around me and seemingly ignored me for a few minutes. Finally, a guy who kind of looked like he was in charge took my order and I waited for about twenty minutes for it to be prepared. I had to stand myself in the corner to wait because there was no waiting area available. The guys behind the counter looked annoyed at me, but didn’t offer me a place to sit or anything even though I was a little in their way. I tried to get out of their way as much as possible, but it didn’t seem to help much.
When my food arrived it was missing my miso soup, and when I mentioned it the man who took my order tried to charge me extra. The lunch special was supposed to come with it, which I politely reminded him, but his argument was that I didn’t specifically say I wanted the lunch special. This should have been obvious since I ordered three specific items off the lunch special menu. If it was unclear he should have confirmed if that’s what I wanted. I assume he saw an opportunity to charge me more and serve me less, but maybe he was having a bad day.
Three stars overall, four for the food, and two for the service.

Only had the chicken udon here. Taste ³⁄₅ the tea cup smelled like chlorine. I didn’t dare to take another sip. Servuce is okay. The restaurant is clean and tidy looking but I’m not sure I’ll be back to try their sushi…

Update — service has declined, I’ve noticed they are purposely no longer handing out the 3 items for 9.99 lunch menu, and instead only giving customers the pricier a la carte menu. I myself and 2 other tables had to specifically ask for it after being seated, and they are begrudgingly handing it out. If it is being advertised on your street sign, it’s a little annoying that you are trying to trick customers into ordering from the more expensive menu! And they no longer give you salad & miso soup, just miso soup.

Lunch specials are great here. Quite a variety. Coke during lunch time. Not as busy and good service.

I have come here many times over the last few years and can’t recommend it enough. You can get any 3 items from a huge list of selections for $ 10 and it includes miso soup. Great place to check out for lunch (can get quite busy) or go during dinner when it’s much quieter.
Rolls are a generous portion and the tempura is excellent.
Always clean inside and friendly service.

Sushi in Vancouver is a must. I probably have sushi twice a week regularly. I don’t consider myself an expert but I am definitely informed.
Today I ordered the sushi combo. It includes a California roll, salmon roll, and tuna roll. This is not my usual intrigue preferring to order sashimi.
The rice was a little on the dry side. I like my sushi rice a little less so. All the fish was good quality and the salmon was red, I’m pretty sure it was wild. The California rolls were, well, cali rolls. For the price point you can’t go wrong with that combo. If your looking for massive portions and bad quality you might want to look elsewhere.
The location of this place is what makes it perfect. If you work in or around VGH your going to love the option so close and on a flexible budget.

Service at this Korean-​operated sushi joint was good and smiles were given freely. Items ordered included sushi rolls, sashimi, and appetizers. It was found that the rolls especially the original non fancy ones were nicely done with good rice and ingredient ratio. The appetizers were less satisfying. Ebi sunomono, while nice looking, was diluted and barely acidic. Tuna in tuna gomae was slightly fishy but the sauce was tasty. A slight increase in volume would have allowed the last few pieces of tuna and the last ¹⁄₃ of spinach to be enjoyed better. Nevertheless, the best appetizer ordered was the yam tempura. It was nicely battered and did not taste overly greasy. Unlike other places, the oil from the tempura was drained VERY WELL before the pieces were served. That was impressive. Overall, I would say that if you’re in the area, go try it.

I guess I’ll never try the food as they declined my online order because they were ‘too busy’. No point in making a big thing about being able to order online if you come back to me AFTER I place my order and pay by credit card to say you are ‘too busy’. Thanks for TAKING MY MONEY THOUGH… now instead of eating dinner I’m chasing my payment down. Joke.

This is probably the worse sushi restaurant experience I ever had! My mom and I decided to have a quick dinner after visiting VGH and we were seated promply by one of the chefs behind the bar. The female waitress didn’t bother greeting us or smile, she just handed our tea and menu.
After we decided what to eat, we were waiting for her to get back to us, which she didn’t. Instead, i told her that we’re ready to order… and she ignored me. (we were the only customers) and the two chefs behind the bar were socializing.
So after 15 minutes, she left the counter and was checking herself on her Ipad… and thats when my mom and I decided to leave.
Bottom line: these people do not understand customer service nor do they really care.

I come here quite often during my lunch break.
The restaurant is clean — I’m huge on hygiene when it comes to dining out!
They offer a wide variety of choices on their menu and they have a lunch special where you can pick 3 items for $ 8.99~. This can be a mix and match of sushi rolls, appetizers, and sashimi. The portions for the special were bigger than I thought.
Quick and fast service. You can dine in and get out right before your lunch is over.

Ordered on foodler. It came 30 minutes later than estimated time (in total, 1 hour and ten mins after I placed the order), no call. Not a good start since it’s only 5 minutes away!
Food was average, but good deal for the price. I got 21 $ worth of sushi, delivery included, and it fed me for two meals. Sashimi was good, maki was bland, rolls were okay. But cheap! I’ll try other places though before I come back to this one.

This is THE sushi joint to visit if you’re on Broadway. Quick service, quality sushi, competitive prices, expansive menu. Try one of their specialty rolls.

Probably won’t kill you.
The reasons I come to this place are,
–geographical proximity to my workplace
–they’re on just-​eat
–they’re cheap-​ish
It’s pure convenience, the quality and taste is just decent on the best of days. Yeah the woman who handed me my food is nice, but it’s an ongoing struggle to let her know that I do not want miso soup.
It’s kind of a disappointment every time but the lazy person in me keeps ordering their food on rainy work days.

I visited it with my dad this noon.
Service: Definitely good, attentive staff for someone like me who’s more than sleep deprived and almost zombified. They are quick to ask for drinks. They got our bill right away despite the lunch rush.
Space: I didn’t scope out the entire restaurant, but our table and booth were clean.
Food: Lost some points here. I ordered the Sake Café Roll, which I don’t recommend for a few reasons. Soybean wrap isn’t tasty and I had hoped that the rice vinegar would stand out in the rice, it didn’t. Also the asparagus was hilariously thin, so I got a whole glop of imitation crab, rice, bit of avocado and a tiny prawn tempura piece in each slice. The eel sauce was very little. :/​For a house roll, I was expecting a bit more finesse instead I drowned it in soy sauce.
Spicy salmon sashimi was good for five pieces chopped into manageable bits.
My dad tried the Sake Café Special Ramen in beef. He said it tasted bland but that’s understandable because they’re more geared towards sushi/​nigiri/​sashimi/​donburi.
It’s a convenient Japanese restaurant to stop by for a quick bite.

I work by this restaurant, and am so glad that it replaced the previous restaurant. I come here for lunch fairly regularly and am incredibly pleased with it.
Pros:
— The employees are pleasant and attentive
— The daily special menu has a lot of variety (90 some-​odd options, I believe)
— The cost of the daily special menu is incredibly low for what you get
— Clean (cleaner than the previous place)
Cons:
— The quality of the food is average
This is one of my favourite «go-​to» sushi places for take-​out because of the quantity I get for the price. This is definitely a quantity over quality type of place, with a cheap price!

3.5
–Chinese owned, very nice and great service
–very generous portions
–Chinese-​quality sushi
–good value, alright to subpar quality
— I always love the 3 items around $ 10. Price point– they do that here WITH decent miso & salad
–they got my order wrong, but that’s alright. Not worth the complaint.
I’d come back. I’m a sucker for good value. And this place is alright.
Glad to see this place around.

Sake Café, thank you for replacing the terrible restaurant that was here before.
Your miso soup isn’t watered down, your salad fresh and bright. Your willingness to accommodate my dietary needs (sauces on the side, no rice, extra veg) are greatly appreciated.
Lunchtime rush is chaotic but your servers always manage a smile for me. I’ve brought numerous colleagues by to lunch… your $ 8.95 trio lunch specials bring all the social workers to the yard!

A vast improvement over the place that was there before. The look and feel are great.
This is the closest sushi joint to my office and wasn’t bad. My go-​to will still be Dragon Sushi up the road. I found Sake to have great portions, but the food wasn’t quite what I was hoping for.
Best of luck to them. Check this place out, it’s just not my favourite.

It appears this place has gone under new ownership or have completely replaced all their employees after being recently closed for two weeks. This is unfortunate because things have changed for this place. They no longer give you green salad with the daily special. I had to wait over 20 minutes for any of my food to show up, my sushi rolls came first and I had asked about my appetizer tempura ordered and he advised it is coming. Five minutes later they bring the tempura and it was cold, greasy and soggy, especially the shrimp. It seems the sushi rolls have also gotten smaller, and the yam rolls used to have hot yam tempura inside. Not anymore as it is cold and tasteless now. This is so disappointing as I used to love this location during my lunch hour.