- Abbotsford
- Brampton
- Burlington
- Calgary
- Chilliwack
- Edmonton
- Halifax
- Hamilton
- Kamloops
- Kelowna
- Kitchener
- Ladysmith
Do a search below using the city or postal code search box if your city is not listed above.
Get dining news including restaurant closures and qualify for giveaways.
Irashai Grill offers innovative Japanese cuisine and sushi in a casual yet upscale environment.
Never returning to this restaurant. The rolls are extremely expensive for what you get, and you really don't get that much. The only decent roll was the Soft Shell Crab. The server recommended us the 'special' fish and the portions were tiny! Not enough even for 1 person, and doubled our bill! Server's attitude was not that great. Only 1 server for the entire restaurant! (plus the manager).
My wife and I live in Coal Harbour and enjoy trying out and supporting local restaurants. We first went to Irashai Grill in the fall. The ambiance and decor are unmatched in any other vancouver sushi restaurant and although we loved the food, we felt it was too pricey. Since then we have gone many times especially since they've added new combos (skyplate etc) which are incredibly delicious and surprisingly affordable. We now go often and haven't been disappointed. I encourage you to try it out!
I went there recently with some co-workers. After waiting an hour they had forgotten my order. When it finally came with no apologies, it was about 5 pieces of low grade sushi, and it cost $20!
I guess the best way of judging how good a place is, is how many people are in the place during lunch. This place had no one in it at noon.
Got some $10 for $20 worth of food coupons a while back so I decided to come here with a friend for some dinner as I live in the area but have never been.
Decor was nice inside but it was really dead and quiet when we went around 7pm on Wed. There were no more than 3 tables of customers. It was almost too quiet for a restaurant.
Got seated very quickly. There aren't as many options on the menu as I expected. We asked for recommendation and the server told us about the sashimi specials. We decided to go with the snapper sashimi (with a steep price tag of $18). We ordered a total of 4 items for the 2 of us. We'd usually order a lot more at a japanese tapas restaurant but every item just seems so expensive and we didn't want to end up with a 100 dollar bill in the end.
When the snapper sashimi came it was a huge disappointment, portion was so tiny for the price. It didn't taste amazingly fresh as the server described. Sushi roll was not good either, rice was so hard and tasted like it was undercooked. The beef yakisoba was so greasy and the beef tasted weird.
Overall it was a bad dining experience. Would never return again. Food was horrible and everything is way overpriced.
Whether it was because I subconsciously expected it to be less than stellar or because the food is actually really good (my guess is the latter), I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the sashimi, sushi, and cooked dishes at this establishment - contrary to many of the previous reviews.
However, the portioning of each dish is "extremely" small - check their website for photos. The restaurant seems to be caught in between marketing itself as an extremely high-end (Tojo's-esq) Japanese restaurant and a casual Coal Harbour live/work restaurant. Irashai's portioning and value suggest more towards the high-end. Even with the 20% discount, our bill came to an amount that was quite surprisingly high for the quantity of food we received (the menus have no pictures, so we were thoroughly surprised when the food came). In many ways, my experience here seemed more expensive than even Tojo's - the sheer quantity of food was really bare minimum - but I'm quite confident Tojo's takes the cake on being the most expensive!
I would not recommend this place as it's just too over-priced (poor value) imo. The sashimi is quite fresh, but Seto in Richmond and even Shiro on Cambie offer sashimi of better quality, quantity and value.
The food here is really great. I have been several times and have never been disappointed. It is a far far cry from the typical Robson or Denman sushi joint. Super nice with delicious food and great service. The yam fries, creative rolls, and spicy tofu are highlights. Unbeatable lunch specials which cater to nearby businesses.
Highly recommended.
It's too bad that there really isnt a decent Japanese restaurant in Coal Harbour. Irashai is a beautiful room, heavily renovated but still lacking. First they must change their signage. It's impossible to make reservations at a restaurant if one drives by and can't read the name on the sign. Second their menu should be scrapped and remade into a more traditional Japanese restaurant. Why on earth would i pay double the price for izakaya if I could just pop to Robson. The food is good but it's missing some starches. All izakaya places have starches. I also find the service very disconcerting. The owners having a meeting and then hovering while customers are attempting to dine. One can see the strain on their faces. Definetely not a relaxing place to dine.
Finally a Sushi Restaurant that feels like a night out, instread of a quick bite to eat. My boyfriend and I experianced similar places in San Francisco and LA. The prices are are not much higher than those cafe style bars- whereas at Irashi you will experiance Real Crab and Wild Salmon. Special Sashimi that is marinated in either Sake, Ice Wine or something else to interest the tatse buds. The sushi rice is fine multi-grain which may seem undercooked to others. If you enjoy quality I highly recommend Irashai- if you expect a $20 night out- stick to Denman.
I went their with my friends on a week night they're restaurant wasn't full and their service is really bad we ordered our dishes and the food came but missing sauces for the dish we asked them for it and it took them at least 10 mins to come and the food was cold by than, and no apology was expected. The tastes of the foods were average you can expect it anywhere, also food takes way too long to arrive, the price is way too expensive.
This is the third time I went for Japanese Fusion at Irashai Grill. Amazing food with surprising sauce prepared by the head chef. The mastermind had been working hard to decorate every dishes before bringing them to the table. Besides, they took 20% off from my bill since it is their quater year anniversary. Highly recommended for the best value now.
My experience at the new Irashai Grill was excellent. The sushi and sashimi were very well prepared - some of the best I've had in the city. The atmosphere is fantastic - the head chef came to welcome us and said goodbye when we were leaving and the service was friendly and welcoming. I highly recommend this restaurant for lovers of Japanese and fusion cuisine.
After reading/hearing about this new opening in Coal Harbour, we were eager to go and try it out. Finally, tonight, we walked down to coal harbour (on a Saturday night) to try it out. I was a bit surprised that on a Saturday night the restaurant was pretty quiet!
The service was good however we were disappointed with the food. We ordered the chicken karrage (deconstruction of the chicken wing into a drumstick, covered in rice cracker and lightly deep fried) and it was raw inside!!
Other dishes were decent (grilled sable fish, honey salmon).
We shared the matcha creme brulee at the end, but was disappointed again. The creme brulee was like matcha soup. It was very liquidy, thou the taste of it was decent. I suspect the person who torch the brown sugar on top over did it...Hence the entire creme brulee was heated up and caused the 'liquidy' dessert.
Overall, the ingredients or creative ideas for the dishes were decent, but the techniques in creating the dishes seems to be lacking. (A good chef will know when a chicken karrage is cooked or at least did a inspection of the food before it goes out to the diners!)
Also, the pricing of the food was a bit overpriced compared to other similar restaurants around the neighbourhood. I don't think I'll be returning to this restaurant anytime soon.....
The setting and the location is great. Situated in downtown coal harbour with abundant street parking, the restaurant is tastefully decorated.
Menu selection is limited. There were four of us who are not big eaters and drinkers and the dinner costed us $200 including a bottle of sake. We ordered sushi, among others, but the rice seemed undercooked for my taste.
I have to say I did not see the value and I considered the meal as one of my most "expensive", not in terms of price, but in terms of value. There are many good Japanese and fusion restaurants in the neighborhood that offer much better values. I would prefer any one of those than this. If you like sake, there are many Japanese izakayas on Robson street that offers an even wider choices.
If you have money to waste, you should try this. If not, save your money and go someplace else.
| 1. | Soirette Macarons & Tea (97 m) | |
| 2. | Coal Harbour Cafe (98 m) |  |
| 3. | Wasabi (111 m) | |
| 4. | Take 5 Cafe (170 m) | |
| 5. | Cozy Corner Cafe (185 m) | |
| 6. | Blue Edge Organic Cafe (192 m) | |
| 7. | Daily Grind Cafe (196 m) | |
| 8. | Cafe Villagio (206 m) |  |
| 9. | Famous Sushi (233 m) | |
| 10. | Cardero's (237 m) |  |
