Black Rice Izakaya

We came here Saturday (12/23), and man this place was a bad experience. The Korean girl working was rude and she couldn’t care less to answer our questions. We had to leave and look for another restaurant. Never coming back.

Izakaya type of restaurant, so you come here to drink rather than a full meal. That being said, the items we ordered tasted good. Sukiyaki, Raw marinated crabs (pre-ordered through Instagram), salmon nigiri and Uni. Rating 4 on food because for the price, I feel like I could have gotten a full meal elsewhere.

Simply loved the sushi. My family of 4 enjoyed the food and were grateful they closed at 11pm. The server even reminded us they were closing the kitchen and asked for any last requests.
Great place to eat.

Great atmosphere and good service. Food is tasty but the portions are very small. My pad Thai entree was more like appetizer size. Been here before when dishes were much larger. The Unagi signature roll was very good served on an open flame. Perhaps it is the sign of the times with food prices.

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Very good restaurant, strongly recommend everything with meat and the special black rice with eel.

My first time experience here is so amazing! Friendly staffs and they really take care of us I love black mentaiko. I’ve never try black rice before but it’s my favorite now. And I would recommend you to try Aburi Hakozushi platter that a good starter and you will feel more enjoy eating.

Had a good solid dinner at black rice izakaya last night. We got seated promptly and served some hot tea. We ordered three items to share between two people.

7 piece aburi sushi collection - $20 - 4 pieces of aburi nigiri and 3 pieces aburi hakozushi. All very tasty and a good assortment. My favorite is the salmon with the jalapeño on top.

Tataki rainbow sushi roll - $15.50 - tasty roll with crabmeat, cucumber and asparagus in the middle and topped with salmon and/or tuna.

Spicy chilli crab - $18.50 - loved this. Deep fried soft shell crab served with a sweet chilli sauce. Quite spicy but I loved it. Great crunch. Cooked perfectly!

We found this place online. We were downtown and after a massage we were looking for some good food.

When we arrived it was just at capacity and we snuck in with 2 seats at the bar.

The service was good overall, with a couple small glitches. My girlfriend asked for the resiling on the wine list and they were out. I asked for the Asahi super dry also out. So we each had to settle for something else, which was fine but obviously not our preference.

The food itself was good. We had 2 of their specialy rolls, a regular roll, squid appetizer, tuna tataki, and the beef sukiyaki. Portions were fair size and we left full. Presentations is excellent and the service fast. Our favorite was the jalapeño tuna roll, squid, and tuna tataki.

$$-$$$

The food is really good especially if you like fresh and good thick cut sashimi and the service is amazing! The combination of rolls is very delicious. Recommend dishes are hamachi sashimi; mentaiko roll; rainbow tataki roll.

Nigiri tastes like kimbap. Their food is a fusion of Korean and Japanese. Not really an authentic Japanese food. Overall, the food is good, but not my things.

Unfortunately the Sukiyaki wasn’t that good. Portion of the meat is small. And the ingredients don’t come together in a hot pot experience. And it’s not a cheap place in a cheap setting. The staff are great but just got disappointed with sukiyaki. Also tried the ceviche. Interesting, small and expensive.

Not many vegetarian options but the one option and the few veggie appetizers were worth it and the food was so good. The other food options with meat or seafood were great and had several options food and beverages. Very accommodating and great service.

Reccomend blue fin tuna nigiri and sockeye salmon sashimi! 10/10.i still think about this sushi at least 3 days a week and its been 9 months since I ate here

I love the sukiyaki here it’s really good and pretty big portion. The staff are nice and friendly. Place is very clean. And I like that they seat us right away even though we didn’t have reservations.

We wanted to order Gyu Katsu. It was sold out My favorite was Sukiyaki! I wish i had it in Winter. It was already good enough. But Imagine eating the soup when it's cold! Would be amazing! Highy recommend Sukiyaki! Cream Udon was a bit bland for me.

Ignore Michelle, I think she was there on an off day. This place was amazing, exactly what you want when you're looking for an izakaya.

My favourite Japanese restaurant in Vancouver! Try their Sanuki Cloudy Sake and Steak Bites! You won't be sorry.

Tried 6 dishes, all of them delicious. From staples to unique creations, this is a great option in the area. Falls short on cocktails options, otherwise amazing experience!

Young, inexperienced service and kitchen. Not a place to go for fresh cut sushi. Had to return the bitter sea urchin and tuna was fishy.
Honestly, they should drop the sushi aspect of their menu. Not worth it in a city like Vancouver.

Where to start. First time here. Love the vibe.such friendly and attentive servers. Everything we ordered ranged from pretty damn good to complete and utter deliciousness. Soy sauce is world class. The sushi rice is perfection. And can we talk about the music? There was chair dancing.keep doing how you do. Will definitely recommend and be back!

Service and quality of food is excellent. However, all the dishes were very sweet and excessive sugar was used. I’m not sure if they had an off night but I’ve never had Japanese dishes sweet like this. Had to drink lots of water and tea.

Oh my gosh this place has such delicious food! I came here for lunch and highly recommend trying out one of their lunch specials, it gives you a little taste of everything at a very reasonable price:)

Hands down one the best sushi places in Vancouver.
Friendly staff, nice vibes and quality food.
Prices are a little more expensive compared to other sushi places but keep in mind this is Izakaya, and the food has high quality.
I always brings my friends who are visiting from out of town, and they are all impressed.

Very average food and service for the price we paid.

Went there at 6: 45pm on Saturday. We ordered 5 items (4 on regular menu and 1 from special menu), was told 3 of the items were not available - we would appreciate you giving us a heads up before we start ordering.

When we were seated server immediately let us know about the 2 hours dining limit - which we totally understand! But server kept coming and rush us to order even though we only sat down for 5 minutes.

Will not return or recommend as there are so many other choices for Izakaya, especially downtown Vancouver.

Service was pretty sub-par. I sat for a good 10mins before they offered me water/tea. Then there was no check in's throughout dinner and then I had to ask multiple times for a tea refill. We ordered the unagi roll that had to be lit on fire and the person sitting right by where the roll was delivered at the table had spilled something on herself and had bent down to wipe herself and the server reached over and tried to light the unagi on fire. It was very chaotic and unsafe.

2/3 cocktails were out. Considering izakaya means drinks accompanied by food, one would expect all the drinks to be available. That was a bit disappointing. I would go back to try the stone grill beef

Unagi roll was my favorite. The black Rice really shone in that dish. The aburi was ok. Nothing beats Miku when it comes to doing aburi justice unfortunately.

Garbage food, I have to say. Tempura is over cook, all black, sushi taste terrible, no more next time

Helpful staff and fabulous food with great quality beyond my expectation. Definitely a good place to have a leisurely dinner.

It was great. Value for money and nice dining experience. I had a bowl of sukiyaki - it came with single serving pot with its own heating fire below the pot. Recommend to try

Nice atmosphere and even nicer food! The variety is solid and the prices are good as well. Not definitely not super cheap, but you definitely get a decent amount for your dollar. The lunch box specials were amazing! I had the Teishoku E and was full at the end.

Was told I can't order tofu or beef and rice because it's "to hard to make to go" I've ordered both to go before. I eat here alot and don't think I'll be ordering anymore

Is "whelmed" a thing? Like there wasn't anything remotely bad that happened - food was aight and timely, service was adequate, ambiance was fine, we had a good time - but I also won't say that it was anything out of the ordinary. They did what needed to be done. Period. They're an izakaya place, or heck, a decent respectable food establishment, and they succeed on what one can expect from such an establishment.

Will I return? Maybe, if the other person's paying - food's a tad pricey for my tastes but they have to pay the rent somehow (Blu Residences is next door and my ex paid quite a bit when he lived there iirc).

Would I recommend it to a friend? Sure, if I can even remember it and distinguish it from all the other izakaya places in the city.

And lest it be interpreted this way, this is not a knack on the hardworking staff in the place - they did what they had to do and they did it wonderfully.

(wow this is a lot of words to say something was ". Meh")

Great sushi! Drink selection is a little lacking. Our server missed one of our plates, but didn't charge for it, and we were a large group so nothing to get that upset over. We got so much food it was probably a good thing.

One of my go-to izakaya. They have really great valued lunch combos. And has a great variety of quality innovative eats, special, and also cheaper selections of donburis and hot pots. Also love their aburi sushi.

Awesome quality Japanese and Korean food. Servers also very attentive. Food is great. Will definitely come back.

Great experience, delicious sushi and tempura and beautiful presentation. Very classy restaurant. Service was excellent and very accommodating. Would definitely recommend!

My favourite japanese restaurant, period. Ordered the spicy Chilli crab to start. Amazing. From the crispy texture, and soft center, to the flavours. This dish is something you need to try.

The sashimi platter is in a league of its own. If freshness has different levels, I haven't tried anything higher than here.

The rolls are very good. Ordered different variations of snow crab rolls and was very impressed. Generous amounts of crab, in tightly packed rolls. From a simple snow crab California roll to a complex k2 roll, the flavours and textures does not disappoint.

Tie everything together with their extensive selection of sakes, and it's all bliss. This is a place you don't think too much and just splurg. You'll find an excuse to justify it.

A quiet dine in place near staifum Chinatown, the servers were attentive and polite. Food was great! The aburi is a bit pricey compared to other places but very well done. Menu said a 20min wait but we got the half platter and it was the first thing to arrive at our table. Nice experience overall, would come back for the specialty items. Recommend the chilli oil crab and Hamachi Kama!

Great food, love the salmon pressed sushi - my favourite in the city! The staff is friendly too.

Disappointed cod bento because the size is smaller than before and the cod is burnt. The cod probably had already cooked in advance and used the torch to burnt the skin upon order. The chicken karagari was quite dry.
The side order of oshi salmon sushi was still very good. Probably will order oshi sushi bento in future order.

Actually I was a bit disappointed the sushi served which costs about 30ish bucks cause the taste wasn’t good as much as I expected. But yakisoba (?) was quite nice that just savored sweet tho. If you have it with beers, it would be good for drinking

Our favorite sushi place. We drive from langley just to eat here. Alot of variety something for everyone. Amazing food.

Tried them a couple of years ago for lunch, then again for dinner recently. Korean run Izakaya, food was acceptable but not great by any means, and restaurant didn’t feel well maintained (spider webs on light fixtures, wobbly tables, disorganized cabinets). Service was not great either, hard to justify the prices. Definitely won’t be coming back.

The place is understaffed so the servers are too busy to refill on water and check up on you during dinner. The food is average for the price. However for a slightly higher price you could get much better service and food at Miku or Green Leaf Sushi. The salmon aburi here is not very good or worth the price at all. The ebi aburi was about average.

However the food selection is good so if your group has different cravings then this place isn't a bad choice.

Wow, I've never had such an awesome Japanese meal in my entire life! My wife brought some home from a company dinner and man.the food was amazing. Real wasabi, delicious chunks of beef and amazingly creamy maki rolls. I'm going to go to this place everytime I'm in downtown from now on!

Obscenely overpriced as I paid $50 for 4 regular roles and two miso soups with fancier names like volcano dynamite, double spricy tuna roll. It was decent sushi, fresh and no issue there just not interested in subsidizing their expensive rent by paying what should have been $25.

Food is delicious. Wide range of offerings. I thoroughly enjoyed the Saba and Bluefin Tun nigiri sushi. Skewers are incredibly juicy and flavorful. Angus beef nigiri was also great, try it with their freshly grated real wasabi.

A friend ordered the black rice sukiyaki, but I found it lacking.

Aburi sushi and the Black Mentaiko roll were delicious.

今天是聖誕節。很開心的預約了這間餐廳今天去用餐但下一次不會再去了
食物是可以的，但是服務員人品有問題。。。我沒有注意她的名字，她有染頭髮紮馬尾 耳朵戴了很多耳釘是一個韓國女生 態度極其惡劣。我用了open table 預定 直接秀我的手機給你看我的預訂紀錄 她直接給我否認 不知道她是不是因為聖誕節上班很不愉快？
她的不愉快出氣在客人身上 不給倒茶水連送上菜也大力 而且當我們放下筷子時桌上食物很明顯很多東西還沒吃 那女的直接走過想把桌子食物拿走 來問說要打包嗎 這是明顯趕客人走吧？
如果她心情不好大可直接跟老闆說不想上班 沒必要把自己情緒帶給客人 她這種人連當個服務員都不配
但對於其他服務員的尊重 我們還是給了很高的小費。
Today is Christmas day. I'm very happy to make a reservation at this restaurant today but not next time
The food is fine, but the waiter has a personality problem. I didn't notice her name, she had dyed hair and ponytail and ears and lots of studs and she was a Korean girl with a really bad attitude. I used open table to book and directly show you my mobile phone to show you my booking record. She directly denied to me. I wonder if she was unhappy at work because of Christmas.
And when we put down our chopsticks it was clear that a lot of the food on the table had not been eaten and the woman walked right through and tried to take the food off the table and said do you want to wrap it up is that a clear way to get rid of the guest?
If she's in a bad mood, tell her boss she doesn't want to go to work

But we want to show our respect to the other waitress whom was very nice to us we still left a very good tip.

Lovely food and great service. Different from your everyday sushi place. A bit pricey, but worth the visit.

I came with a large group of 14 for lunch. We had our orders taken promptly and food brought out swiftly. I had ordered the PadThai Yaki Soba while most of my colleagues bordered the lunch meals. PadThai is easily my favourite dish and I have been searching for exceptional PadThai in Vancouver. I did not expect a Japanese place to serve anything but mediocre PadThai, however it was easily the second best PadThai I have had in this city! Better than most Thai restaurants! Everyone else rather enjoyed their meals and we had a wonderful time! Looking forward to coming back!

Lightning quick service and great food. Loved the hot stone rice bowl with Angus beef and mushroom, assorted tempura, and the salmon aburi. Thank you!

We went to Black Rice Izakaya to try out the Gyu Katsu dish. Unfortunately, it was not available.
So we ordered two rolls (Unagi and Beef Garlic) and the assorted tempura. The Unagi roll has a fun presentation, the taste is just alright. The Beef Garlic Roll is just okay as well. The assorted Tempura has 3 piece vegetable and two piece shrimp.
The dishes will be served as they get ready so if you go there as a bigger group, some may just be sitting for a while. This makes it a bit uncomfortable.
Overall, for the same price you can find better quality rolls and tempura for a better price in downtown Vancouver.

Really nice little place! Six of my friends and I were looking for a nice little Asian restaurant to eat at with lots of variety and this little place popped up and it was lovely! Some of wanted bowls and some wanted sushi but everyone got a little bit of everything:) the only things I would say are: the menu is a little bit inconsistent in price ranges and the sushi selection was a little smaller then expected. Good waitress and decent wait time:) also the food we had was AMAZING which is why they got a 4 star from me!

Lovely presentation and selection. The atmosphere wasn't that lovely though. The chairs are incredibly loud when they were moved on the ceramic floor so it was distracting when you're trying to have a conversation. The servers weren't very friendly but i would go back for the food!

Although the food was good and well presented, the staff wasn't very friendly. One of the waitress was barely speaking to me. When you are asking $30+ for a a basic meal you might as well get a better service.