I've eaten at this location before and the service was pretty good!
But yesterday the service was incredibly horrible.

I went there to go eat with my family (without reservations) and was told it would take at least 1hr to get a table. That was fine with us, so we waited. After waiting 10 minutes the server said he could get us a table within 10 minutes. Yay! We were happy we got to get a table so quickly, but it seemed a little weird to go from 1hr to 10 minutes waiting time.

We finally sat down, ordered at least 10 different items on the menu. After about 20 minutes we wanted to order a few more items and the waitress told us to hold on. She left, came back and said.. we couldn't order anymore and had to leave at 8:00pm (it was already 7:45pm) because someone had reserved our table (there were other empty tables around).

They were pretty much kicking us out, but couldn't really explain why we had to leave other than there was people waiting for our table. I have never experienced such bad service in my life, let alone be asked to leave by a certain time without letting us know ahead of time.

Even the most sketchiest fast food restaurant I have been to has better service than this place.

Decent food to sample with friends at surprisingly decent prices for the type of restaurant it seemed to want to be. Food was beautifully presented and service was friendly, quick, and attentive despite how busy it was. Though I admit the food isn't exactly to my taste (especially the rare duck) I don't think that counts as a valid reason.

Went for the first time about a month ago and have been back twice since. This place is awesome! I have yet to have a dish that I didn't like and I've tried quite a few. Standouts are the Wasabi Tuna Sashimi (AMAZING) which was on a special menu, the sashimi salad, ebimayo, yakisoba, deep fried brie. I could go on and on basically everything is good. The sake mojito is a must.

The atmosphere is cool for what the place is and service is good. The waiter staff are basically all ESL but they are great people and great servers. There is always someone around to take your order and the food comes out very timely considering this place is always busy. I have been there at 5 when they open, 7, and 8:30 and everytime it was basically full including the bar.

This is a GREAT place to go with a group of friends as it gives you a chance to share plates and sample a little bit of everything. I'm glad I don't live closer or this place would have all my money.

A very happening place at the end of Water street. Generally I would visit the Robson location but I think the experience at Kitanoya has converted me over. Great food, great service, great vibe. Only crappy side is the lack of decent street parking in the area. I especially like how they start off the dinner service with a hot towel and presented to you with two hands...how Japanese! The izakaya experience feels very authentic here with some westcoast touches like bricked wall and wooden beams. The servers are polite, professional yet casual. We ordered the sashimi salad (very yummy), yaki-udon, baked creamy rice, yam fries, agedashi tofu, and a few other shareable plates. The value is very reasonable for the portion size and they don't cheap out on ingredients or quantity just because it's "tapas". The crowd was diverse and lively. Great place to hang out with friends or for that casual date by the bar.

This is a great place to go if you're looking for somewhere to hang out that's fun, relaxed, loud, with great food.

Like many in Vancouver I'm a big fan of Japanese cuisine, despite being allergic to seafood. There's typically a great variety at restaurants such as Hapa, Zakkushi, or Ebisu and Guu is absolutely no different. We ordered the two udon dishes, the deep fried brie, grilled beef ribs, and the raw tuna plate. Every dish was unique (especially the deep fried brie, never had that before. Highly recommended) and delicious.

Service was typical for a lot of high energy Japanese restaurants in Vancouver such as Gyoza King or Zakkushi on Denman, lots of shouting, smiles, broken English, and quick service. The place was packed but we were quickly seated at the bar, our order was taken promptly and our food and drinks came surprisingly fast.

Layout of the place is excellent, it's two levels with most of the seats on the upper level and the main level being the bar and kitchen. Very open design, great use of lighting, music, and design to come together for a welcoming and casual environment.

I would definitely come back here, it's a great place to spend some time with friends and have some drinks, eat some delicious food.

I like the décor more at this location than on Thurlow. It’s great for a group, but there’s something about the Thurlow location that I still prefer. I think it’s just sitting at the bar, chatting, eating good food and watching the guys do there thing in the kitchen. Anyway in the Water St. venue some of the things we had were the grilled beef & vege skewer ginger/garlic sauce, yakiudon, grilled fish with miso sauce, deep fried squid with spicy sauce, and yam fries. Skip the yam fries. They had a novel idea of using different kinds of yams but they were too soggy. I always get a kick out of watching the little flakes on top of the yakiudon dance. The skewered beef was ok but nothing exciting. The sauce that was used with the calamari made the dish tasty. Next time I’ll try more novel items. Also looks like they have an interesting drink selection too.

I've been here many times over the past few years and find that it has held up nicely with dishes, specials and drinks which constantly change.

Food: I don't know what I could possibly say is bad about the food, as everything is always just so good. My favourite dish by far is the Fried Brie Cheese (The only bad thing is if you order too close to closing time, they'll be rushing it and it might be not so melty!)

Service: I've never had poor service from the all Japanese crew in this restaurant. The service has always been relatively quick, and friendly. It's always a treat to hear 'Irrashaimase!' everytime you walk into this restaurant.

Value: I'ts a Tapas place, therefore the food is generally small-ish dishes. The cost is not too much, and is quite average for a tapas place (and better value than certain others I won't mention here)

Ambiance: This Guu has the best ambiance, and there is two levels of the restaurant. One with the bar, and the other with seating. Frankly, if you don't come with a large group, catch a seat at the bar and watch some of the food and drinks being prepared, while enjoying some friendly conversation. It's a great experience.

What are you waiting for? Make a reservation and go! :)

Went with a friend, we ordered about 7 dishes between the two of us, and 4 drinks later, the bill only came to $55.
We enjoyed everything that we had ordered. All the food came to the table perfectly done, and each dish was very unique. Sure, you might be able to name every ingredient in the dish, but picking out the flavours was fun, and delicious. The drinks were fun too, we ordered the earomantic, affectionirvana (both had jelly on the bottom! sounds weird, tastes good) as well as sapporo beer and black jet jump
We ordered:
takowasa (our favorite)
popeye salad
yam fries
short ribs
shrimp and scallop rice gratin (didn't actually find shrimp, but had mushrooms instead and scallops) covered with cheese. could've use a pinch of salt more, but was delicious nonetheless.
beef tataki
for dessert we shared the earl grey creme brulee, which was perfected with a very light barely there sugar crust.
Presentation was beautiful and I will be bringing my boyfriend around next time.

I accidentally wrote this first on the wrong Guu page ~ it was meant for this location.

Best of all the Guu's
I really do think that this is the best yet least known of all the Guu restaurants. So this will work out in your favor as you can avoid the long lineups.
The food is great, i have never had a dish here that i didn't like. I was disappointed that they took the Mexican Harumaki off of the menu.
Their cocktails are unique and delicious (a little overpriced however for the small glass that you get).
9.5 times out of 10 i have had really great service and friendly waiters/waitresses. The only time i had a rude one here was on the phone when i tried to make a reservation ~ but i don't think he is working there anymore.
The ambiance is nice and relaxed ~ i would recommend this place to anyone who just wants to go somewhere nice for a drink and snack or even to go out on a date for a nice meal ~
Really great place ~ i don't think you'll be disappointed.

Definitely my favorite one of the all the Guu's. I like it more than the other ones because of its more upscale decor and larger selection of food. The food and drinks are always interesting, delicious and decently priced. I love the tako yaki and deep fried brie cheese. The Kimuchi Pork Bibimbap was also very good.