This is one of my all-time favorite and most authentic Japanese restaurants! I've been coming here…read morefor at least 10 years, and they're always consistently excellent. This time, I stopped in for lunch and had the vegetarian bento, it was amazing. My fiancé had a pork ramen, which is also incredible here. The restaurant is small and cozy, so I'd recommend making a reservation if you're coming for dinner, as it does book up. They're always super attentive about my peanut allergy, I've never had any issues, and they don't seem to use peanuts in the kitchen! I've celebrated birthdays here and recommended it to so many friends and family over the years. It's an absolute favorite, and I'll always keep coming back!

If you find yourself on a Rainy day in Nanaimo, you could do worse than sit down to a bowl of Ramen…read morehere. The soup was very flavourful with beautifully chewy noodles and rich broth. The food is really nice here the service is very friendly and prompt. Lots of ample parking on the street, however, if you need to walk a little there is though a charming courtyard.

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!

The best Japanese food I've found in Nanaimo so far, the restaurant is just 3 months old. Good…read moreservice as well.

Four of us had lunch here today. Great food and lovely presentation. Also good value and good…read moreservice. However, the raw salmon sashimi is farmed salmon, and the crab on the menu is imitation crab, which should really be spelled with a "k" if it's fake but it wasn't spelled that way. These details are not listed on the menu. They will serve you wild salmon and real crab if you request it. But that fact also is not mentioned on the menu. The owners really need to list these details in the menu. Customers expect to know the source of their food these days. And rightly so. (I didn't order either salmon or crab, but one of my friends did. She had a conversation with the owner, and apparently was not the first customer to do so.) Still... you will have a good meal and a good experience here! I don't want to knock this business too hard. Just be aware of the salmon and 'crab' issue if food source is a concern to you.

No wait time, easy to read menu, and great service. We order steak with mushrooms, fries, and…read moreveggies. Also a sushi pizza with the pulled pork. So yummy live the fried bread rice in the pizza and the steak was yum! Not very crowded so not very loud but it was great.

We walked into Firehouse Grill with no prior information and had the absolutely best meal in weeks!…read moreThe menu is surprising--including cornbread muffins and jambalaya! We ordered burgers--best burgers we've eaten in a long time. Amazing food, prepared and quickly out of the kitchen. Beautiful presentation. Service was perfect. Chef (owner?) came out to meet us and we learned his history, including time spent in New Orleans where he learned how to prepare cornbread and jambalaya. Interesting note--we'd asked for restaurant recommendations and this one had not been mentioned by anyone. Honestly, don't know how the other places could beat Firehouse Grill for service, selection, and taste. Next day, sitting in Vancouver, we talked about riding the ferry back to Nanaimo to eat here for a second time.

Fresh delicious sushi with quick and friendly service. It's a quaint storefront that's more catered…read morefor takeout. I love their party trays, it's good quality and quantity for the price you pay. I'm not a fan of yam rolls and they've been quite accommodating in allowing changes to the rolls in their party trays (as long as it was of equal or lesser value). Their chirashi don is also one of my favorites, simple but packed with delicious sashimi on top. Ordering online doesn't always work, but they often offer 10% off online orders! Love this new place, I keep coming back!!

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.

Disappointing. It looked good in the showcase but I think it had been made a couple of days ago…read more We wil not go back here again

The people where kind and the rice was very fresh and good I liked the sauce and the dumplings were…read moregreat but my teriyaki roll was cold

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!

Went here for dinner last week, the bistro is small but comfortable. We didn't have a reservation…read moreso we were invited to take two of the four seats at the "bar". No problem! We ordered 4 different rolls between us, tea, and a melon soda. Easily top 3 in the area, cemented by the fact that it's within walking distance from our house. This will be our new go-to for sushi. The food was excellent and the atmosphere was chill and welcoming.

Super delicious authentic Japanese food. A true gem in Nanaimo!…read more I got a salmon don. The rice was so good- so tasty and fluffy. Some very tasty agedashi tofu and my hubby got a vegetarian curry with potato croquette and veggies. This is his most favorite Japanese dish and we rarely find it on menus. Hurray Bistro Taiyo, we will be back! Ps. We got the special desert: Green tea pudding which was super delicious too, creamy, sweet, and green tea flavored. Yum!