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Formerly Sushi House. Now larger, newly renovated, eat in restaurant.
My wife and I have been eating here about once a month for the last 3 - 4 years. We usually order several different types of rolled sushi. What keeps us coming back is the quality of the food - good flavour and portion size for a reasonable price. I suspect it's why Nao Sushi is often so busy. We've eaten at several other sushi restaurants and Nao Sushi is either on par or better. For around $30, we can get enough sushi to be full. When eating in, the decor is attractive, though the restaurant could use a bit more space, but it's not a big deal. If it's busy, we'll call in advance and place a take-out order, which comes along with a 10% discount. The one drawback, as other have commented on, is the service. It seems like a family operation where some of the staff are not professionally trained. They can be slow and sometimes need to be reminded to fill up the tea or bring the bill. Saying that, they aren't rude, and after eating there several times, I tend to ignore it. As repeat customers, we’ve never had a bad experience with the food and given the options in the area, it's a recommended place.
Table of 4 on a Saturday night. Place was crowded and very cramped. Food was not to my liking. Tempura prawns were on the smallish side. Yaki soba was devoid of any taste. Sushi rolls all fell apart. Tea was only refilled if you requested it and this we did 4 times. Ever get the feeling when staff wants you to leave so they can turn over the table? Maybe if they came around with a teapot a lot of time would have been saved. Parking may be a problem as there seems to be other eateries on the same block. Not returning.
During the long weekend, I went to Nao sushi with my friend. We ordered tempura udon soup and some rolls. Because it was long weekend evening, there were very crowded. Even though it was 8'o clock we waited for a long time for our food. When the udon came, it was not hot but still it was pretty good. For the rolls, they were not very good. Since it was busy, the server tried to clean fast and she spilled water on the table.
Went during the weekend and decided to try the lunch boat for 2. Cali rolls, some sushi, chicken terriyaki, tempura, gomae. Overall it was very good but a bit small for what you are paying for. I guess $21 for 2 is not too much but there are many places that serve good lunch bento's for a bit less. Quality is very good as there seems to be some Japanese staff working. Busy lunch crowd, good service and ambiance is good. Would return.
Waited in line for about 10minutes. Ordered food shortly after. Waited 15minutes for my deluxe sashimi and 20minutes for my California roll and chopped scallop roll. Their rolls were extremely small. Service was really slow, there wre empty dishes on my table but they didn't clean it up. Also didn't feel welcoming, the servers were not smiling. Never going back there again.
i am bewildered by the low ratings that this restaurant has received...quality and service were so impressive after my first visit with my husband and his family that we decided to return on our own. the portions are very generous- outstanding fish-to-rice ratio, and great value for the price. sashimi cuts(specifically the tuna and salmon) are large and fresh with a perfect, succulent texture. we also ordered a spider and a crispy roll- structurally sound, perfect ingredient ratios, decent size for the price, fresh, and delicious, as well as the yam and prawn tempura, which was beautiful- large pieces, breaded to light, crispy perfection...great flavor and texture as well. service was very friendly and fast, even though they were packed- they were able to squeeze us in at the bar;) complimentary tea was also hot and tasty, and we were frequently offered refills^_^ haven't been to Japan, but after tons of experience with sushi in California, Washington, and the lower mainland, i highly recommend giving Nao Sushi a try:)
I went there for lunch and ordered a lunch box.
Price: approximately $2-3 dollars more expensive than others.
Food quality: The first time I encountered fish bone in salmon sashimi. Others like Tempura, salad are average.
Service: Some waitress (not all) are rude. Takes long time to get the bill and pay. No "thank you" or "Goodbye" before I left.
While there are so many Japanese restaurant on Kingsway, very unlikely I will return to this restaurant.
So we went to this place on friend's recommendation. Should have checked here first. The first clue this place isn't quality oriented is how they try to jam so many tables into a small area. Thinking money first. The second clue is how the specials are all hand written ON THE BACK OF FLYERS and stuck on the wall. How tacky. If you are going to renovate, y cheap out ?
The wait wasn't long for the 2 of us. We ordered 3 items, tempura, salmon/mango sushi roll, and sashimi.
The tempura was cold. Like it was prefried, once again, looking for high turnover, speed of delivery to your table.
The sushi roll was small, not enuff rice on the outside and maybe a 6/10.
The sashimi was ok, can't really mess up raw fish. Oh wait, maybe u can ...the table beside us TRIED to send back some Unagi which wasn't too fresh. He ate 2 / 4 pieces and she asked why did u eat it if it's not fresh ?
Well, you won't know unless u try it right ? They tried to make a case that it was bought in the morning etc. It's only 2 pieces out of a big amount that they ordered. The 3 guys are not there to try and rip u off. Bad customer service. She had to give it back to the chef to verify ... poor chef has to eat all the bad food ?
Then they asked for more wasabi. She said they already had some from another order. Come on, sashimi isn't like truffles !!
No smile to great you, no getting to know you, just sit ur ass down, THROW the food on the table and hurry up and eat. I felt like i was doing them a favour by being there. Then again, you can't blame them by having only 2 waitresses when really u need 3 if you want to do that kind of volume.
For me, it's either you have great food and u can get away with marginal service or vice versa. This place is a total fail in my book. Just restaurant basics. Good customer service ensures repeat business. If you want sushi that is good, good atmosphere and service, try Oyama @ royal oak and kingsway.
I used to drop by this place when it was Sushi House. It was a convenient small restaurant serving mainly sushi.
They've expanded and re-opened with a new name, but it's the same owners and some of the same sushi menu with added cooked foods.
I missed the old Sushi House so dropped by here to get my sushi fix.
The first complaint I had was that the sushi rice was warm. Cold fish, warm rice isn't a good combination. Also the sushi rice seemed less flavourful then before as if it had less vinegar/seasoning.
I was SO disappointed when I noticed the skimpy amount of filling in my rolls combined with too much rice! Before when it was Sushi House there wasn't too much rice in the rolls and they were generous with the fillings. I ate the rolls by scraping off excess rice and I had over a quarter cup of excess rice afterwards! So ridiculous.
My favorite roll here used to the the negitoro roll, and I noticed it was less flavourful then before, and then I noticed it was because it had about half the filling as before! The rest of the rolls were the same, too much rice, too little filling. To be honest I haven't even encountered rolls with this much excess rice in a long time, I was in shock.
The only thing that was good still was the tamago nigiri. It's still huge.
Bottom line, avoid this place unless you want to be ripped off. The owners are far too greedy now, and they have even raised the prices while lowering the quality of the food.
I'm not such a fan of Sushi Garden, but I'd rather go there then this place. Nao Sushi (previously Sushi House) have lost a customer.
The customer service is poor. They didn't ask how many chopsticks I wanted and for the amount of rolls I ordered they only gave one. It was clearly enough food for more than one person.
They don't have to make the rolls appear artificially big by adding so much rice. It tastes better with less rice. It just shows that the management is really poor as they don't care if they lose customers as long as they make a bigger profit. Their prices are higher now, even with the 10% off discount for take-away. They should focus on offering a better product, not to make their food worse. Sushi House was such a good sushi deli type place, I will miss it, as Nao Sushi doesn't compare and is much worse even if the interior renovation is nicer.
I don't mind paying higher prices, but the food quality is much worse than before. It's so disappointing when a restaurant I used to frequent changes for the worse just because they became more successful.
we are live in this area for a year, and try many sushi place around. this one is the worst.
service is always bad. we never got good service there. and sushi is ok but price is higher than neighbour restaurant. this restaurant is always busy, but ambiance is just so so.
From friends I heard Nao Sushi was owned by a Japanese Chef, so decided to have a family dinner there.
They were busy, which showed that they should be good.
Food was solid, price wasn't bad for the quality of food.
BUT the service was terrible!! I have never seen this kind of service in my life.
The wait for food was decent, but the waitress...
We could not get one single waitress' attention when there was at least 6 waitress working.
I waited 10mins for more tea and gave up and just paid and left.
I would understand if the restaurant was big and all
but really I was so mad that I regreated going to that restaurant in the first place.
I would not recommand this restaurant.
I was amazed by their horrible service level, wow, you guys win for worst service! congradulations!
I WILL NEVER GO THERE AGAIN!!!
I have eaten here about twenty times since it reopened. Eighteen times were for lunch and twice take-out dinner. At lunch it is almost always packed, so get there before noon. I have an hour lunch and have never been late back to work because of the food. In fact, I find the lunch service quite fast, as it should be at a sushi bar.
I have coworkers who prefer lunchbox combo's and they love Nao as well. I eat the sushi or sashimi. I have yet to eat something I didn't love while at the restaurant.
The take-out was nothing special.
I'm glad they expanded, as I could never eat there when they were a small joint, as they were always so full. Now I almost always manage a seat for lunch.
I went to this sushi restaurant Saturday night because of friend's higher recommendation. My friend suggested me to make reservation before head because they are always busy during weekend night. Their food price is higher than nearby sushi but sushi quality is actually ok. Servie is great and friendly. Ambiance is clean and nice. I saw their lunch menu have special sushi set and bento boxes. I think I will go back to try their lunch special next time.
We have been going to Nao quite regularly, since we first tried it about a year ago.
First thing we noticed was that the prices are just a little bit higher then at some of the other suhi places. Not by much though. There are many cheap sushi places around. Some quite good, some not so good. At Nao, we've eaten up & down the menu somewhat and I must say the meals we had there were superb. The fish was very fresh, well cut and portions were generous. Any of our dishes that required seasoning were very well balanced and tasty. So for just a little more money you get a very good meal, every time. So it's well worth it.
The place is usually very busy, which means I'm not the only one who likes it. Service can be a bit slow at times but for us it was always friendly and we were looked after quite well.
I recomend this place and will be back again soon.
Went there some expectation after recommended by some friends. Made a reservation already, but still had to wait for another 15 minutes. The staff was not attentive at all while so many people were trying to get in and at least had their names on the waiting list.
At first, they were trying to squeeze the 3 of us (3 adults!) into a table of two at the corner. Before they did it, we asked for another table of TWO which got a little bigger.
The ordering was relatively fast, comparing to our wait. The food was just ok. Well, the sashimi was quite fresh though. At that price level, we deserved something better.
The service was a nightmare. Honestly there were 2 waitresses REALLY GOOD. But others weren't up to standard at all. While one of the good ones was serving us a dish, another girl just sneaked in and slided another plate to the table, making the first one unable to place the huge dish. The second girl didn't pay any attention to raised hands, including some others. She never put dishes on the table, she threw them or slided them. And she kept her impatient face on all the time.
We saw some scary scenes, too. While one of the waitresses tried to serve some hot dish, the tray tilted and almost flipped over.
After all, the food was not as good as some people recommended. And the service was just hard to take.
After seeing the lower-than-deserved ratings, I feel like I should do my favourite sushi place justice and rate it accordingly. I used to love the old Sushi House as well. Granted, the prices have gone up but the quality is just as good. As food prices have gone up quite a bit these days, I don't see why Nao shouldn't raise their prices to meet the industry standards, seeing as their fish and other foods are a lot fresher than many places out there. When I go to Asian places I never expect great service, but the service at Nao isn't as bad as some of the other places I've been to, so I can tolerate it for the awesome food. Their nigiri and sashimi are fresh, and the kamemashi (sp?) sets are great, love the rice in the little pots. We always get the house roll when we go, it's huge and has lots of good stuff. Definitely a must-try restaurant!
Became a fan of this place as I moved into the neighborhood years ago while it was still Sushi House.
It has to be the most authentic Sushi place in the nearby neighborhood. Great Nigiri and sashimi. Fresh. Fresh. Fresh. My favorite is Uni and Unagi. I wouldn't know too much about the hot food or rolls since I only go for those two.
I see people complain about the service here. I personally think it's decent. On a weekend night, they usually have 5+ waitresses working at the same shift, which is more than enough for a medium sized restaurant like this. My cup of tea or glass of water never ran dry. =)
Ambiance is awesome. Two LCD TV hanging on the wall, always broadcasting sportsnet/TSN. For guys who love sports but get dragged out for dinner by gf on a baseball/hockey/basketball night, this will be your haven >=D.
I heard Nao has newly expanded but is the product of same owners as Sushi House. We usually order sushi and found it consistently good. The portions are not as large as it was under the Sushi House banner. The prices have gone up. Cooked food was okay too. Generally we like this restaurant and would recommend it.
I still call this restaurant "Sushi House". I have been going there for years. I remember the cute little take-out restaurant with the hand written menus and the amazing sushi! I really like seeing the same sushi chefs from years back.
The sushi hasn't changed too. The portions are still great, the quality is impecable, the overall taste is memorable, and it's very reasonably priced. I love what they've done with the place. It's clean, the decor is simple and pretty, and they added 2 TV's; especially nice during the Olympics. I haven't had any issues with the service. The staff are friendly and efficient, in my opinion. And I also find this restaurant to be kid-friendly. My daughters love it!
Went in not expecting very much and left more pissed off than anything. The service and seating was actually fine. It all went terribly downhill as soon as the first serving arrived. We ordered tsubugai because it's rare to have in Vancouver. When it arrived, it was nothing like we'd seen in Japan. This appears to be a Conch that you can buy at the grocery store. Not a Whelk which is Tsubugai. Confusion? It also came with a helping of sand.
Then the Atlantic roll. Bland with a bland sauce that doesn't match the roll. Would have been better with some smoked salmon instead, and no sauce.
We ordered a Kamameshi set as well. The rice in it tasted pretty good, but the quality of the vegetables inside was pretty bad, it's what seemed like canned vegetables. Some of the greens were chewy and inedible, leaving you pulling strands out of your mouth.
The deal breaker was the side of salad. Standard japanese restaurant salad. How do you get that wrong? It was a bowl of lettuce swimming in dressing. It was more like a soup than anything. I had to fish out the lettuce. Again, how do you get that wrong???
I do like the special items on the menu. If only they were made with more love.
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