Very cozy restaurant, friendly staff, good food. I recommend if you want to eat Japanese food. Staff is friendly.

Stop by to grab a bite before a comedy show and was not disappointed. Staff were so friendly. The sushi is top notch and okonomiyaki reminds me of visiting my family in Japan. read more

Guu Toramasa - Japanese Near Me - Vancouver, British Columbia

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We visited Guu Toramasa for Christmas dinner, as it was one of the few places open on the holiday. Although it was packed and we originally had a 7 p.m. reservation, the staff was accommodating and managed to seat us earlier when we asked. Drinks: Toramasa Original Plum Sour: This was just okay. It was a very light cocktail, and I wished the plum flavor was more obvious. Guu's Classic Gin Yuzu Soda: This was much better! I loved the refreshing yuzu, and the gin flavor was nice and strong. Food: Kushi Katsu (Assorted Deep-Fried Skewers): These came with tonkatsu and tartar sauces, and all of them were delicious. My favorites were the prawn and pork. While the quail egg had a nice crispy exterior, I didn't think it suited deep-frying as well as the others. Assorted Oden: The broth was excellent. The daikon had absorbed all the savory soup, very delicious. The fish cakes were high quality. They were soft rather than rubbery, with a genuine fish flavor (no artificial taste). Grilled Squid: A definite highlight. It was charred perfectly on the outside while remaining tender on the inside. Service was a little slow due to the holiday rush, making it hard to flag down a waiter at times, but overall it was a really good experience. read more

Sat at the bar to have dinner. Ordered agedashi, squid, smoked salmon, toramasa roll and tuna/salmon tataki. Everything was tasty and reasonably priced. Place was pretty busy but service was pretty fast. Not too noisy. Food was good and staff friendly. Would come here again when we come back to Vancouver. read more

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Ambience and staff were great! Food was good but I think could've been more elevated. The tofu gratin had good flavour but I feel that the tofu should've been a softer texture instead of a firm tofu. The miso bolognese udon was quite salty, and there was a ton of meat but not enough noodles to go with the sauce. The okonomiyaki was tasty though! read more

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We love that this place is close to the Queen E theater and we can get an awesome dinner here before the show! The daily fresh sheet is always exciting and interesting to try new things. Tonight's dinner: smoked salmon salad, deep fried fish cakes, pork cutlet, kimchi fried rice, chicken karaage with spicy chili sauce, and bbq eel omelette. The service here is awesome and attentive. The food comes out fast and usually all at once or close to it. The place is usually packed during peak hours so make a reservation if you can. We will be back again soon! read more

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Guu Toramasa is a cozy izakaya that's great for solo dinners -- just note that they'll seat you at the counter if you're alone. I actually like that vibe; it feels casual and lively. They have a rotating specials menu, so it's always worth checking it out before ordering. One of the best deals is the 3-appetizer combo for $18 -- highly recommend it! I picked: Ume-marinated daikon and wakame: light, tangy, and refreshing -- perfect after a long day Chikuwa tempura: crispy with a nice seaweed flavor Simmered eggplant: soft and flavorful, soaked in umami-rich broth Also grabbed their "Ganso Yaki Udon" to-go -- can't wait to dig into that later. Will definitely be back to try more of the rotating dishes. Solid spot for a quick but satisfying Japanese meal. read more

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I think I came into this place with the wrong expectations. I thought this is just a traditional Japanese restaurant with sushi and stuff like that, but I would say it's more like bar food. When we walked in we noticed that there was a lot of young people there and it was hard to flag down somebody. The menu was not your traditional menu what I remember I couldn't really read it or picture what the items look like except if they're on Yelp. The food was fine to me. It's like your traditional fried rice and yaki udon. There was some fried chicken that we ordered. I think it was chicken karage, but nothing really stood out. I thought really out of place there myself. It just felt very clicky and more like a hangout spot than a restaurant. read more

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Was able to snag a reso for last min lunch spot. I'm not sure if it was because it was the holiday season but it was packed during lunch. Service was a bit slow because of this, buteverything we ordered tasted really good. It was a bite limited for lunch menu but they had some decently priced lunch specials. Glad to have a Guu so close to work. read more

Guu Toramasa - Ebi Mayo - Japanese Near Me - Vancouver, British Columbia

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you know that classic question: "what do you feel like having for dinner?" followed by the inevitable "where?" this time, we ended up at guu toramasa on a monday night around 8:00 pm, even then, the place was busy, always a good sign, but we had made reservations, so we were all set. everything we had was truly guu'd. we started with the three appetizers for $18, choosing: seaweed salt fries: our favourite, perfectly fried, crisp on the outside and fluffy inside, with just the right hit of salt. pork tenderloin cutlet: juicy and satisfying. 'tofu steak': served sizzling hot, you can see the splatter of grease around the dish, with a generous pile of ginger and green onion sauce reminiscent of hainanese chicken rice, and vegan friendly. the grilled chicken with garlic salt was sheer perfection, tender, juicy, flavourful, and cooked just right. we also shared our go tos, the kimchi fried rice and tuna and salmon tataki, both fresh and delicious. what i love about guu is how they keep their regular menu of classics but also feature daily specials. the variety is impressive, from sashimi to temaki and osaka style street food, fun cocktails and all authentically japanese and oh so guu'd. they're also celebrating 30 years of the guu chain, a true testament to their consistency, creativity, and loyal following. the service was warm and attentive, and the casual, lively ambiance made it the perfect spot to unwind after a long day. so next time that familiar dinner question comes up, 'what to eat, and where to eat it?', guu toramasa is often our answer, and it's always a very guu'd choice. read more

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Visited guu toramasa for a friend's birthday! Nice spot that was able to accommodate a large group in a nice private enclosed spot. We had a 2 hour dining time and we were not able to split the bill - either 1 bill or all evenly split - no problem, we just got one in the end and figured everything ourselves afterwards. As for the food - very delicious! My favorites of the evening were the beef tataki and clam udon. The clams were cooked perfectly and went well with the bouncy udon. read more

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We sat at the bar and enjoyed the service from all staff. The food was delicious with many choices. Will definitely be back to try more. read more

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Had a few bites to share, and the food was delicious. It took a while to get there but it was fully packed and freshly made. Always appreciate fresh made! Even though the restaurant was busy, our server was sure to come back to give us water refills, although she did forget to bring an entire entree so we didn't get to try it. brightly lit, with both booths and tables. read more

Tried a bunch of dishes for the first time, and honestly everything was pretty good. I'd come back, and maybe skip the drinks (it's not bad or anything, but nothing too special for the price). Aburi Mackerel ($18): Honestly pretty worth it, they don't cheap out and there were more slices than I thought. It's seared on the outside, but it's mostly a sashimi. Served with a few pieces of seaweed, ginger and wasabi. Crispy Karaage with Spicy Chili Sauce ($17): Comes with 3 large pieces of juicy chicken, deep fried in a batter. Not very spicy, has more of a sweety n' spicy sauce on it. I liked the pairing with celery, I feel like celery isn't used very often in Japanese cuisine so that was refreshing. Yaki Udon ($15.50): Good but nothing too amazing. Comes with sliced beef and some veggies. Smoked Salmon Onion Salad: It's literally all onion, but it isn't spicy or very onion-y, surprising one of my favourite dishes overall. Good portion of smoked salmon on top of the onion. It's on their featured menu, so I'm not sure if this is available all the time. Grilled Squid: full squid, very tender, has that bbq grill flavour to it - reminds me of night markets/street food. Side of mayo to dip. Got two drinks, one was yuzu and the other one was also citrus. Also good and fruity, but nothing too special. SUPER friendly staff, very attentive they'd literally take the plate away as soon as you're done with it. Nice spacious seating, simply Japanese-style interior. They have an easy online reservation, which I did for a Friday night, but there were lots of empty seats. I'd probably just walk in next time. Dinner for 2 people - total bill (with drinks) was about $100. Not cheap, but not super fancy. Nice dinner spot every once in a while. I'd recommend and come again! read more

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Food was good. Service was fine. Sign at the entrance said Happy hour from 12-6. Server showed us a menu that literally said $6 sake on it so we ordered one. At the end of the meal, I was charged for a different sake at $29. When I pointed it out they told me the charge should have only been $18 and happy hour was only on Sat/Sun. They could not reverse my bill because I caught the error after the card was run so I essentially paid an additional 25-30% since I had already tipped on the bill with the pricier sake. read more

Got the beef tataki and clam noodles. Really delicious and would highly recommend! The menu can be challenging to read at first, but it makes sense after a second. read more

Guu Toramasa - Japanese Near Me - Vancouver, British Columbia

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Nice lunch experience here with a big group of about 10. Needless to say we made a reservation. The design of the restaurant has plenty of Japanese touches with a few semi-private rooms. The servers were polite and came around often to refill the complimentary tea and check in. We each got our own entrees and ordered appetizers (edamame and takoyaki) and desserts to share. The edamame was good, I didn't try the takoyaki but it looked great. Although I enjoyed snacking on the edamame, appetizers were definitely not necessary because the entrees were huge. I ordered the tofu vege don which was a tasty and satisfying vegetarian option. The broccoli and cauliflower were not cooked uniformly and some pieces had a little more crunch than I would have liked, but that's the only thing I can nitpick. The donburi came with a choice of salad or miso soup and another daily side. The salad was really nice with a variety of fresh veggies. The side was a crabmeat salad which was also fresh and had a good smooth flavour. A vegetarian side was also available on request. There were pretty significant gaps between the timing of the entrees arriving which was a little unfortunate since there seemed to be an agreement that we were going to wait for everyone's food to get to them before anyone started, and my bowl, which came out in the middle, had gone from hot to warm by the time I got to dig in. With that many people it probably can't be helped, and it's more of our fault for not just eating as things came out. We ordered a few different desserts: yuzu cheesecake, strawberry daifuku, and mango mochi ice, all served with green tea ice cream. All were delicious. My favourite was the strawberry daifuku; I've only had the packaged convenience store versions of this before, so this blew those out of the water with the juicy strawberry compote. The mango flavour in the mochi ice cream was very vibrant, while the yuzu in the cheesecake was more like an accent to bring out the tang of the cream cheese. I loved the green tea ice cream; it wasn't too sweet and really tasted like tea. It's not an upscale restaurant but the environment and the quality and presentation of the food hit a middle ground that's nicer than a lot of casual restaurants but more approachable than some of the more famous izakaya restaurants. I was super impressed by the portion sizes (no one out of 10 of us were able to finish our entrees) and because of that I'd say the prices are actually pretty decent for this kind of food, since lots of similar places will charge the same but give less. Would be happy to return. read more

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I am from Osaka, and I heard that GUU has opened a restaurant offering Osaka's soul food! This is a place that cannot be missed. Excited about the news, I decided to visit and try several dishes. What I ordered: Takosen Takoyaki was encased within a thin shrimp rice cracker. The taste was satisfactory, and the appearance was both impactful and intriguing. I highly recommend customers to try this item kushikatsu - Kushikatsu is one of the most famous items in Osaka. While I've had a better version at another restaurant in Vancouver, this dish at GUU is still decent. lamb chashuOne of the best dishes on the menu! The lamb was exceptionally tender, and the sauce was truly delicious. While it may not be a traditional Osaka soul food, I highly recommend trying this dish. intestines BBQ This dish was exceptionally good. The intestine meat was juicy, tender, and had just the right amount of fat. I will definitely order it again. sujikon(beef tendon) yakisobaThis is a Osaka soul food. At first glance, it may seem like ordinary stir-fried noodles, but the inclusion of stewed beef tendon. Yes, this one is also delicious. The sauce was just perfect, and I really enjoyed this dish red ginger tenpura - This dish is a unique creation from Osaka. While ginger tempura may not be widely known among Japanese, local Osaka residents love this item. Unfortunately, on this occasion, the dish fell short. The tempura batter was excessively soggy, with an overwhelming amount of batter. I hope to see improvements on my next visit yuzu cheesecake - The dessert was just fine, featuring a very basic Yuzu-flavored cheesecake Overall, I enjoyed my experience at this restaurant. The service was exceptionally good. While some of the food items may require refinement, I will definitely visit again. Perhaps next time, with friends from Osaka. read more

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I love this place. I went a few times when it first opened and it was a bit hit and miss compared to the original guu on Thurlow but I think now they have found their stride The food at Guu restaurants are always innovative and add a bit of fusion and they're offering in this place maintains that same standard fresh seafood, awesome and big portioned kimchi fried rice, nicely fried chicken karaage and creative appies so full with a few pints of sapporo beers and snow white. super service and exuberant staff read more

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I had high hopes for the new Guu restaurant; but was disappointed. We tried a variety of dishes and they ranged from just OK and not memorable, to not enjoyable. The best dish we had was probably the Takowasabi - the wasabi was kicking us in the taste buds and tasted exactly as I liked it. The Assorted Oden was a comfy, homey dish. The Fried Cheese Gnocchi was fun to eat and had enough salt and crunch to it. Then it went downhill for us. The Sashimi Salad lacked flavor in the dressing and had onion strings in it that I don't normally like paired with sashimi. Which meant I also didn't like another appetizer we ordered where the salmon sashimi was served on top of a pile of onions. The Modern Yaki had yakisoba on top of the seafood pancake which make the bottom pancake layer soggy and none of us were a fan of it. The Beef Tataki was VERY chewy. And finally the Uni and Ebi parfait was served on too much rice (rice to topping ratio was way off) and the Uni didn't taste fresh as it had a very fishy taste to it. I normally enjoy Guu restaurants but this was not one of those times sadly. On the pro side: Service was good. And the sake we ordered was delicious and went well with the Takowasabi and Fried Cheese Gnocchi. read more

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We came during lunch and it was mostly empty. I got the fried platter set. It comes with oysters, fish and shrimp tempura. I liked that it came with 2 sauces. I wish it came with more side dishes other than just a small salad. Their menu is kind of small so there isn't a lot to choose from. For the price, it is a lot of food and definitely enough to feed someone. I would recommend for a quick lunch read more

Guu Toramasa - a plate of food with dipping sauce - Japanese Near Me - Vancouver, British Columbia

I have long been a fan of all the Guu establishments but it's been a few years since I last stepped into one. Had a belated Birthday to take an old friend out and we decided to check out the newest Guu location - Guu Toramasa! First off, it was super easy to book a reservation on Open Table. The location just opened and is located across the street from Telus Garden building so is super central. Guu Toramasa is definitely larger and has more trendy modern decor and finishings. It definitely has almost double the square footage than most of its smaller locations. However, there is no apparent AC in there as it was quite warm in there during the heat wave. Service was solid, as to be expected. I let the Birthday Boy pick most of the dishes and he ended up picking everything fried - pumpkin coquette (a long standing standard dish at Guu), Takoyaki in between prawn crackers, and modern yaki. To break up the fried food, I ordered raw oysters and oshizushi. Oysters arrived first and they were such a great deal! They were 3 oysters for $5 or 5 for $9. I ordered 3 and they were a good size and tasted good. Would definitely recommend! The pumpkin coquette was solid but somehow no longer wowed me after all these years. Maybe it's because it was hot and my friend ordered only fried hot items. The Takoyaki in between prawn crackers were your atypical takoyaki that you are supposed to squish in between two large prawn crackers. While whimsical and fun, the taste was average and nothing to write home about. Same for the modern yaki - it was average and nothing notable. Again, it was fine but nothing else to add. The best dish all night was the oshizushi. It was fresh, a good portion, and decent price point. Hope to give Guu Toramasa another try and next time not have someone order just hot fried food on a hot day. It was underwhelming compared to what I remember Guu to be. read more

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The restaurant offered a nice variety of lunch sets ranging from udon, to sashimi, to rice bowls, and to grilled fish. I decided to try the grilled saba and karaage don. Both sets were delicious and quite filling. I also ordered the takoyaki but thought it was only ok. The servers were friendly and food came out fast. Great lunch spot. read more

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After receiving a Gift Certificate to Guu Toramasa, I came with my family to try out their izakaya dishes and we definitely ordered a huge variety of their menu and there were some definite stand outs but they could use a little improvement with the speed of their dishes coming out and the portion to price ratio. Since I ordered way to much to review individually, I will mention that the pumpkin croquette, sashimi salad (great value and taste), shredded squid tempura, cauliflower karaage and negitoro were the best dishes of the night. The choose 3 appetizers for $15 is also a good deal as there is a huge variety to choose from and although small, a good opportunity to try many things. As for some of the misses, the chirashi was a disappointment because the rice was flavourless. The sashimi on top was good but for the price, we expected more. The salmon yukked was also very small and i think i prefer regular takoyaki over their "smashing takoyaki" between two rice crackers. The Kushi Katsu is a bit expensive but overall had a nice variety. Overall, the food was good but we waited a long time between the dishes making us hungry and led to me overordering. At the end, we had WAY too much food...at least they were apologetic about it! Also, remember to check your bill as we were charged for one dish and drinks that we didnt order! read more

Izakaya (Japanese small plates) is my new favorite type of dining. We visited Guu Toramasa after having a fabulous experience at Guu Original. This restaurant experience was 5 stars in every way!! We were greeted with warmth and enthusiasm from all of the staff, who allowed us to choose between sitting at several tables or the bar. We chose the bar so we could watch some of the food prep. Even though there was less to see than at Guu Original, we were thrilled with all 5 of the dishes we ordered. We feasted on toasts with spicy roe and cream cheese, a delicious egg and pumpkin croquette, eggplant with spicy pork, udon carbonara, and sliced short rib. Each dish was delightful, plentiful, and full of flavor. The server took care to bring the dishes out one at a time (per our request). We also enjoyed some refreshing white sangria with our meal. We felt as though we had a very high end experience for an incredibly good price. The staff thanked us and all said goodbye when we left. Service details like that are much appreciated. There are a handful of Guu restaurants in the Vancouver area. My husband and I hope to eventually make it to all of them!! read more

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This place is great. It's like walking in to a trendy neighborhood restaurant in Osaka. The staff are very nice, the chef came out to say hello to us and our daughter, the food was great, and the sake was well suited for the food served. The chef, staff, and customers were all Japanese and the place had the vibe of a community that all knew one another. It's surprising that this place is downtown away from a Japanese area but we were happy to have stumbled across Guu Toramasa. Highly recommend this place to try if you want authentic Japanese izakaya type dining. read more

Food was outstanding and we particularly liked the various appetizers which were truly unique. The highlight though was the service, as I made a mistake ordering a Modern Yaki for my son when he wanted udon, and they quickly brought out an order within a few minutes. Then the chef decided to make an omelet for my son which was just so touching as that was what his daughter loved to eat. read more