We were vacationing on Vancouver Island and came here for dinner when in Nanaimo. We had made…read morereservations a few weeks prior to our trip and I would highly recommend making a reservation if you plan on coming here. The restaurant was packed and the kitchen was hustling. There were so many beautiful and creative dishes passing by our table all night long; if I lived here, this would definitely become one of my regular places to go. The service was quick and friendly. The food was incredible; really fresh and presented beautifully. We had met up with a neighbour who had moved to the area and we ended up staying until the place closed. It was just a lovely evening overall. I would definitely recommend Nori for delicious Japanese cuisine but be sure to make a reservation!

=== 1. VERDICT/VALUE If you've a hankering for Asian…read morecuisine in Nanaimo and there's only one place you could go to, Nori should be one of your top picks! Good food, good service, and in a place with good vibes. === 2. FOOD When dining at lunch, the lunch specials offer incredible value; each option includes 4-piece California roll, small green salad, 2-piece gyoza, 2-piece prawn tempura, a miso soup, and a side dish ("okazu") of the day. Some thoughts: - The portions are decent even if you're hungry! - The prawn tempura (at least today) feel more batter than prawn. - The okazu (at least today) was fried - a fancy spring roll - which is interesting as side dishes in Japan in this context are often fish-based?). - Overall, the food quality is good. Buta Shoga Lunch Special ($22) Shoyu, ginger-marinated pork on rice - a good heart-warming combo as any! Sashimi & Sushi Lunch Special ($23) 6 pieces of sashimi (salmon and tuna) and three pieces of sushi (also salmon and tuna) make this lunch special one of the healthier options on the menu. Chashu Miso Ramen ($18) My little guy loves noodles, even if it comes in piping-hot pork bone broth. Depending on your little one, kids 6 and under in age may need a grown-up to help finish this dish! === 3. SERVICE The place is POPULAR and so be prepared to wait. One the most recent visit during lunch, we were lucky to slide in fairly quickly and the servers were fairly prompt and professional. === 4. ENVIRONMENT It's basic, yet has a modern open-view environment with a view of the bar/kitchen from across the restaurant. It's similar in vibe to its sister restaurant nearby (Horang) but the service is better and diners with small children will find more appealing seating options here. Wheelchairs and baby strollers would fit just fine and your chance at finding a place to park in the shopping complex lot outside is pretty decent!

Delicious and authentic food. We ordered a bunch of different dishes to try, the beef ribs are a…read moremust have! The dak gal bi and stir fried chicken noodles were also amazing.

After a day of catching clams and oysters, we stopped at this Korean place which was recommended by…read morea local. Good sized portions, fresh fish and tasty meats! I suggest Order many dishes to share! Service was good, they weren't expecting 12 more ppl for lunch LOL! Place seats about 20-30 ppl. Free parking out front.

The staff is fast and welcoming…read more We ordered edamame, avocado maki, veggie sumono salad, yam tempura and tofu don bowl. The serving sizes were great. We had tons of leftovers. Downsides: Both times we've been the table size is hilariously small. Like a polly pocket sized table. Not ideal for more than 1. I also had a mild allergic reaction after dining. So worth noting for the sake of safety. Despite ordering all veg. Fish definitely was on a knife or a cutting board somewhere. As a regular veg sushi orderer this is always a risk, but only the second time it's happened to me.

Nice little Japanese place in Nanaimo. I've been coming to Nanaimo for work in the past few months…read moreand have tried a couple Japanese places. This one is definitely one of my favourite. The lunch bentos are great value! The food is made well. And the service is great. Food comes fairly quickly. Definitely come here for lunch.

this is one of my favourite places to go, for lunch all there food is great and tastes wonderful,…read moreand they never cease to make me hungry if you go here you will be leaving satisfied and full. highly recommend

the food is sooo good. im inlove with this restaurant. I dont know how to explain, the people that…read morework there are also so nice. I would definitely recommend this restaurant if youre looking for a good place to eat in ladysmith

The absolute most horrible food. The seafood yakisoba noodles were canned seafood. There was not…read moreone fresh piece of seafood. The salmon sashimi still had skin on it (you'd think a sushi restaurant would know how to cut fish) the chicken teriyaki was mostly old battered pieces of chicken the size of a dime and dry (barely any teriyaki sauce) frozen spring rolls (I'm pretty sure from Costco) the tuna tataki salad was dry (no dressing and uncooked vermicelli noodles. I can't believe I paid $80 for food we barely touched. we just paid and left without a word and will never return. My partner is on point for saying that he wouldn't even feed that food to a dog. It's beyond me how that place is still open. It was a huge sign that at dinner rush there was no one in there.

Everything we have had is really good. Monkey brains and vegetarian rolls are perfect when in the…read moremood for avocado.

I was excited to try Sehmii. It had excellent reviews…read more Excellent Chicken Katsu Don. Crispy and flavorful. Even the rice and veg had flavour!! Kind of boring agadashi tofu. A little pale and limp. Not crispy and light but heavy The tempura appetizer was ok. The prawns were tasty but the yam and the other potato were hard and heavy. The exterior will make you want to turn take and run but once inside the staff are friendly. Nothing fancy but it looks and feels clean and comfortable.

Excellent sushi and great variety with the Bento boxes. Excellent value and service. The exterior…read moreis quite deceiving as it's quite cozy and very large inside. We were passing through PA...but we will definitely be back in the future!

Nice people. Good food. They have kindly given free samples when I've eaten here. Deliciousread more

Great place to stop for fresh sushi! Really fresh fish,…read morewith a great balance of ingredients. Appreciate the presentation and quality ingredients. Super friendly staff. Chill environment.

How does this place not have more reviews!!! This place was one of the best sushi places i ever…read morebeen too. Better than a high end or fancy restaurant with an more reasonable price. The quality of fish is fresh and tender while their rolls are unique & so delicious!! One of the few places that have Atlantic salmon as well. I've been to many sushi places everywhere and eat sushi at least once a week so I'm really saying that this place is worth the drive and visit!! The staff was really friendly too. They seem happy to work there. Oh it's also in more of the casual vibe dining.

This was our second time eating here, we had mid expectations. We ordered two bento boxes to share…read more The deep fried components tasted like old fryer oil. Which was 90% of the bento box. When we told the waitress we didn't like it she took it away and just brought us our bill without offering us anything else. There was no discount or compensation. We left hungry and sad.

Before ending our camping trip, we stopped by this cute Japanese restaurant before our ferry. The…read morerestaurant is very spacious and clean with modern decor. There wasn't a lineup when we got there, so we were seated right away. Their menu has lots of options of different rolls, udon, sashimi etc. Because it was lunch time, we ordered some bento box. I ordered bento box A with California roll for my daughter, and chicken udon for myself. My hubby ordered some sushi taco, and a Ubuild bento box. The food came pretty slow, which was strange. There wasn't a lot of customers when we got there. The bento boxes were pretty fresh with good portion. The sushi taco was a little yummy, however, the deep fried seaweed is on the greasy side with lots of batter. I was a little disappointed with the chicken udon, it was pretty standard and the chicken was pretty soggy. However, nothing beats a hot bowl of soup in a rainy day. Overall, we still enjoyed our meal. Not sure if I will go back, but I'm glad we got to experience it.