Nori Japanese Restaurant

Always amazing. Just go. BBQ tuna is a must (also a spectacle!), fish and chip roll was surprisingly delicious

This place is pretty good, the stirfry was great and the 6-pack of sushi was also not bad. The torch pressed sushi was a little mushy but maybe its just not my thing and the quality was perfectly fine. They have upscale luxury sushi pieces too that get set on fire in front of you so there's some novelty there if you're willing to fork over a bit of extra cash. Ambience is nice, modern and clean and no complaints about service. You can make reservations in advance on their website. Overall the food was fine, nothing mind-blowing and just ever so slightly more expensive than I wanted.

You can always tell when people are happy where they work. From the moment I was greeted to where, I was seated and served.

The care and attention to detail is obvious here.

The food is amazing, fresh, the quality is great and it is fairly priced.

I would not hesitate to come back when I am in town again.

I had to stop myself from finishing to take this photo. Such a generous & juicy avo roll! I also tried the edamame with black bean sauce for the first time and it was 10/10. Nori is an absolute gem of a restaurant.

Probably one of my favourite sushi experiences ever. The atmosphere staff and food were A+. Fresh and delicious. Very reasonable pricing.

Always amazing food of the highest quality. Never disappoints, absolutely love this place!

This place is awesome. The miso soup really hits the soul. Super friendly staff. I would've given 5 stars but the salmon they use isn't very good. I've ordered more then once thinking it might've been an off day but alas no. Everything else has been spot on.

Very fresh and unique sushi. Probably the best I've had, Highly recommend the waygu smoked. Nigiris are really good. And love the mini sake keg!

We had dinner today at Nori. The Flaming Viper, Toro sashimi and AMA-Ebi sashimi are good. We decided to order a Ebi Oshi Sushi for to-go. We requested two sets of chopsticks and it was written on the package bag. However, only one pair is inside. This is wired.

Nori hits every time. The food is to-die-for, and the restaurant atmosphere is urban, smoky, and exciting. Service is always quick but caring. I love the chashu pork bao buns, and the Strawberry Crunch Roll.so good! Can’t recommend this place highly enough!

Consistently the best sushi I’ve ever had in my life. And always served so quickly. The customer service is flawless. Must check it out.

I love Sushi. Have only eaten from here once when they had take out only but it was really and truly some of the best I have ever had. A bit pricy but so good. Had the Chirashi Don which is my go to test for any Sushi restaurant. Was hands down in the top two, best or second best ever. Looking forward to eating in-house this Friday.

Nori is always the place to go when I make a trip to Nanaimo. Good quality, good portions, decent price

Amazing food. Super fresh and everything is delicious. One thing is very pushy servers trying to get people in and out this has happened everytime for the past 2 years but the food is worth it.

Excellent food, but atmosphere and aspects of the service have gone downhill over the years.

The food here is and always has been excellent. They have a variety of innovative dishes that will please most people, even those that don't like or are wary of sushi.

However, I've recently noticed that the atmosphere has gotten appreciably worse. There always seems to be loud pop music playing from the kitchen area, and it's loud enough that conversation is a little challenging across a table because you almost have to yell to hear each other. This really ruins the mood when you have to struggle to talk to the people you're with.

On top of that, they are very aggressive about ushering people out. I've had multiple occasions where a waiter/waitress would ask if we wanted anything else, immediately return with a bill and machine, then not-so-subtly imply that we should get the heck out. Look, I understand that they want to filter in new customers because they're busy, but the degree of urgency with which they're nudging people out literally as soon as they put down their chopsticks is a bit rude. I can't really think of a previous restaurant where I was pushed out quite so aggressively. Sometimes people just want to sit and talk for a bit, y'know? But I guess it doesn't really matter, because it's hard to talk over the too-loud and unfitting music, anyway.

I'm not going to tell them how to run their business, I understand that they're very popular, and for good reason (again, the food is excellent). I'm just not interested in waiting in line (and there's ALWAYS a wait) to be rushed while paying for dinner. Just wanted to put my opinion out there.

If you're going to Nanaimo call them early and make a reservation if you're going for dinner. However if you can make lunch it's a little less busy and likely you wouldn't need a reservation.

I was really impressed with Nori. The quality was exceptional - the sashimi beyond compare! The best dish was the braised pork belly.wow! The price was bang on what I expected to pay, neither too high nor too low.

This place was full at Saturday night. I saw people are shoulder to shoulder sitting inside and there was no window that was open for air circulation (good luck not getting COVID) so I decided to order a take-out. Be careful, even you order a take-out, there is still a minimum 15% tip you have to pay. I’m always fine with paying tips but a big, forced tip for a takeout gave me weird gut feeling.
The presentation of food after 10min driving, even I held the brown bag very carefully, was not appetizing anymore.
The food here tastes ok, not the most delicious Japanese food but definitely above the average.

First time to go to this restaurant with my friend. Really enjoy food here. Highly recommend sake (the middle one) and west coast salad (the right one).

You don't just come here for the food, you come here for the experience. We had the grilled Tuna along with many other rolls and they flame seared the tuna right on your table. Everything we had was amazing and they are so creative with rolls I've never seen anywhere else like the Black Angus Tenderloin or pressed Sushi or smoked Unagi bowl. You just have to go see for yourself and I can't wait to go back and try different ones.

Been to Nori a couple times and normally have had a good experience and typical enjoy it, but I went last night was unfortunately surprised to find a fish bone in my tuna roll. The bone was quite large, sharp and could’ve been quite dangerous.

This restaurant is a spectacular place to grab sushi.

I am confident that in 2021, this is one of the top 5 sushi restaurants on the island. The menu is very well thought out, with a variety of choices that rides the cusp of being interesting but not overwhelming.

Temaki cones were a great portion with tasty chunks of marinated salmon.

Specialty rolls were gorgeous and very tasty. Attached is the spicy salmon roll.

If you are in Nanaimo, especially at the Nanaimo Costco- do yourself a favour and walk across the parking lot to eat at Nori.

True story: Two months ago, my sweetheart showed me Instagram photos from my cousin's food posts (I don't use that platform but my boyfriend and my cousins do) when she came up island with her fiance. Since then, he is sold on making a trip with me to check it out.

It was well worth the 2 hour drive in each direction for the meal. You definitely get what you pay for the value in taste & sizing portion. The server for our table and the rest of the restaurant staff were extremely attentive, making frequent refill and quality checks. For a place that claims best sushi in Nanaimo, it is definitely on par to knock out most joints in Victoria and Vancouver.

There are plenty appealing items to choose from but with such a large menu variety & selection, it's not possible for me in this review to discern and single out one entree to call my favorite on an initial visit. My usual top favorite list of restaurants will leave me with a positive impression of guaranteed return, but Nori had me walking out the door with a decided pre-planned order of different dishes to try for subsequent visits.

The sushi rolls were some of the best I’ve had in Canada. Prices were very reasonable and the quality was outstanding. We unfortunately didn’t book early enough to dine in, so we had to settle for takeout. If you are interested in dine in be sure to reserve early!

First and foremost, Nori is a popular place to eat! I was recommended it multiple times, and today I finally bit the bullet and went. And I must say, I can see why people like it. The service was AMAZING and the chefs and waitresses alike were ridiculously prompt. They were always checking up on my well being, giving me a refill (of green tea, not coffee! An important distinction when you're half asleep like I was), and I got my food so quickly I actually had to laugh. The appetizer (takoyaki, a fav of mine) actually took longer to arrive than the main course!

The food was good. I went on the cheaper end of things myself, being your typical millennial, but there's certainly some very high quality (and higher priced) items if you're looking for something more suave. The atmosphere was a bit noisy, but who can blame them; I came in for lunch on a Friday and it was PACKED. I'm surprised they managed as well as they do when they're literally wading through customers! On that note, I could only get a seat at the sushi bar (not at all a problem for me personally). If you want a table, make a reservation. It can definitely be a bit tight in there.

There's only one real gripe I could dare make about this wonderful place, and it's more of an issue for the managers to address. I noticed bluefin tuna on the menu, and it was certainly pricey.which is because of its rarity. Bluefin tuna is listed as a critically endangered species. I suppose it's not up to me to decide if its ethical to even serve it or not. However, I do feel justified in complaining that its endangered status was not made immediately obvious on the menu. Just like how some restaurants have little pepper icons to indicate the spiciness of a dish, I think this restaurant would benefit heavily from a menu redesign that made this fact far more apparent (little fish bones perhaps! It would be both cute and obvious!). I love Japanese cuisine, I like this place, but as a concerned millennial I'm not sure how to feel about a place that feeds you nearly extinct species and doesn't particularly bother to tell you about it.

To be fair, maybe I missed something when skimming the menu. Maybe by the time you read this review, they'll have addressed the issue. And again, to be fair, just because it's on the menu doesn't mean you have to order it. But in terms of pure ethics, I'm not sure I'll ever be going back. Which is a shame as it's a genuinely nice place.

This was the best sushi I have ever had. So good, that the at times inattentive servers didn’t matter. The place is always very busy. We got a variety of specialty rolls which were fantastic- great flavors and fresh seafood. They boxed up our food and accidentally sent us home with someone else’s takeout order instead of our sushi. When we went back to point out the mistake, they offered to remake our rolls (we over ordered and had a TON of leftovers) or refund half our check which I felt was very fair. Highly recommend this place.

An excellent sushi restaurant with a small Korean section. All the food is delicious and affordable. The #1 sushi spot in Nanaimo.

A large menu with the freshest ingredients ensures you can have something different everytime you go for months.

A perfect spot for date night, both classy and romantic, with a modern vibe.

Best sushi I’ve had on Vancouver Island. This place is always busy. Food comes very fast. Tempura is nice and crispy. Rolls and fantastic. Must try for islanders everywhere!

John is the man! Felt very welcomed from the moment I walked in and the food was superb! Quality customer service staff. Best sushi bar I've ever been too.

Definitely one of the best Japanese restaurants on Vancouver island, food was worth the 1.5 hour drive from Victoria. However, I reserved a table the day before we went. I called to inform the restaurant that we’ll be a bit late due to traffic the day we went. I was told that I did not reserve a table because they can’t find my record. I had a hard time communicating with the server, probably because the restaurant was too loud and she can’t hear me. We end up making a new reservation that day. If there were not a empty table, we could have waited very long.

The food is great. We’ve eaten there several times for casual dinner or special event, birthday. The only down side is getting in trying to get a reservation or taking your chances and hopefully getting in when they first open. They are that good. This is our favourite sushi restaurant. Great food and good service. Alaska roll and Island fever roll are my favourites. Spicy Agadashi Tofu is very good.has some spice to it! I tried this dish and now it’s my go to appy.worth trying.will be back in a few weeks,

Sushi is really fresh and delicious! They had great service especially the sushi chef who was really welcoming and offered us free Tuna samples to try as we were having trouble deciding what to eat. Island fever taste really good. They have huge portion of pork tonkatsu. I was surprise they had such good sushi restaurant on Vancouver Island. Highly recommended!

I drive 20 minutes past 4 sushi places just to get takeout. Amazing food, and generous-sized rolls. Eating here is well worth the asking price, which is rather reasonable. The chef is friendly and creates a welcoming atmosphere that gives the restaurant a sense of sincere authenticity.

Solid, competent serving staff as well. Yes, it can be busy. It's busy for a reason. And rather obviously, this can mean service isn't always immediate, but such are the laws of physics. Simply be patient; the staff are doing all they can to get to you. It's worth the wait.

On a business trip in Nanaimo and found this place as more than 4.7 stars, thus gave it a try.

Very poor arrangements - noisy and extreamly confined. Servers are not attentive. Waited more than 15min to get some basic teas after seated.

Funny - as I am writing this, server was just checking if we are all doing okay - not a true attention to the customer but rather just saying it for ‘tips’.

Foods came out one at the time and took so long to get next dishes. Terrible!

Perhaps ‘good gathering’ place for locals.

It was ok. Went on the recommendation that it was one if the best sushi restaurants in Nanaimo, coming from Vancouver though you can get better for less. It wasn't bad, except I told our server I couldn't have tempura and if my roll had tempura in it, she said no.but it did: (
I don't understand why it's so busy, but again, it was fine. I probably wouldn't go back though.

Best sushi experience I’ve ever had. I moved here from Vancouver and did not expect to find such a gem of a sushi spot in Nanaimo. Pheneomenal food, efficiently run, overall delicious and fun experience.

This sushi may be the best we've had, and we have had a lot of sushi. The sashimi is fantastic, and this is one of the only places in Nanaimo to get fresh, raw oysters. They are informed and helpful about gluten free items as well. I recommend adding a half hour to whatever time you are quoted to pick up your take out in the evenings, however.

My favourite sushi restaurant, especially for special occasions. Actually, it's probably my favourite restaurant in nanaimo! The new renovations to the place look great as well, it gives the place an open concept feel.

It's definitely a good sushi place, I like to order sashimi. I usually order the deluxe sashimi for me and my business partner, this is a great value for the money. Good atmosphere, great friendly staff!

The best sushi places on the island.
But service is awful. If you are waiting to be seated, and they tell you that estimate time will 30mins, it’s not true, it can be as long as 2hours and your name might be skipped while you are waiting, even if you leave your name and phone number.
Great food, but service is no where near.
Disappointed

Fantastic food! Excellent take on sushi/sashimi. Impressive presentation of flavorful dishes. Very busy place and not the fanciest decor but the food is worth it

We had the most delicious wild salmon sashimi and real crab California rolls. I would have given them all 5 stars but the we had to wait a while before we had any service. Our waitress sure made up for it with her lovely personality. Definitely recommend this place!

I love the food in nori and the servers. They always be ready to get costomers order and very fast. I always see all the costomers are happy in Nori. It's the place where my family celebrate for special things.

Sashimi Salad, so fresh and so good. Staff are friendly and when we asked about the salad dressing. She offered to make some for us to take home. Delicious!

Perhaps the best Japanese restaurant on the island. Next door to Costco makes it easily accessible after shopping. Try any of the soups, the service is great as well. It tends to be busy however and can be disappointing as even lunch time it can be full with a wait list.

Nori has some of the best sushi on the island. Rivals some of Vancouver's standouts. Fish is consistently fresh and rice is very good. Worth the wait.

Great atmosphere and delicious food. Last time we were there the chef sent around a little appetizer for each table to try, which we appreciated. It was a nice way to try something new and we'll probably order that appetizer next time. Reliably great and always busy.

I have been to Nori many times before and always loved them, however, with my last experience, I may not be returning. I went with my sister a couple weeks ago. Food was good, like always, however, the service has gone downhill terribly. While having my meal, I noticed a couple servers bringing out complimentary "snack dishes" to nearly every table except mine. I would understand if they were very busy, however it was only 4: 30 and not very busy. Seems a little unfair that everyone got free samples except us. Our server didn't seem very friendly towards us either. To add to that, when we were done our meal, I sat and wait for over 20 minutes for a server to come to our table. Not one person came to clear our plates, ask if we wanted desert, or give us the bill. One woman came to fill our tea quickly and then left without saying anything. We were clearly done our meals for quite some time and not one person came to check up on us. After waiting well over 20 minutes I figured I would have to get up and go to the front counter to pay. I have been a loyal customer for a long time and the fact I was served that terribly is very disappointing, especially considering it wasn't busy at the time. Unfortunately will not be returning