Waiting a little bit longer than usual is a fair price to pay for an excellent, economically friendly meal. This was not our experience today at Shiro Japanese Restaurant on Cambie and 15 AVE in Vancouver. This was our first visit to Shiro so of course this experience will be embedded in our 'eating out catalogue' permanently, as most first visits to a restaurant are. We sat down and chose 4 items from the menu (with explicit instructions to veto the mayo since we can't quite grasp the raw fish/mayo combo - but that's just us). After about 10 minutes I received my spicy salmon sashimi (very small portion for the price I was paying - approx $1.25 per very small piece of salmon) which was drowned in an overbearing red hot sauce. Some restaurants really have a good thing going with their spicy salmon/tuna sashimi - Shiro is certainly not one of them. It wasn't too much of a worry since we knew the rest of our food would be coming soon and it would likely make up for it. About 30 minutes after receiving the sashimi we started wondering if perhaps they had forgotten the rest of our order - the family who sat down next to us about 10 minutes after we arrived was already receiving and eating their rolls and tempura. We decided we would give them another 6 minutes (which would be approximately 45 minutes in total since we initially ordered our food). In that 6 minutes the only thing we received was a sense of annoyance and displeasure since the aforementioned family was actually finishing up their meal at this point and we were still left with nothing. We decided at this point it was a fair gesture to get up and walk out - fair because we hadn't received even a glance in our direction since that one over priced, hot sauce drowned salmon dish reached our table. At some point as customers we have the right to say enough is enough. Of course 10 seconds after walking out the door the server finally acknowledged our existence - the only thing concerning her was that we hadn't payed for the sashimi that we had eaten. Although the extremely poor service and neglect had made us feel we had payed 10x more than what the sashimi was worth we went back in and paid for it. The server tried to make excuses. "Chicken teriyaki roll takes a long time to make..." We understand and appreciate the time and effort it takes to make and serve food, it's not always quick and effortless. But trying to explain that it is not abnormal for a chicken teriyaki roll to take 45 minutes to make - I just don't buy it. Not when the family next to us has received and devoured their entire meal in that time. And after all of that to charge us 100% of the bill for what little food we did consume - we found that to be extremely poor customer service. Shiro - we will not be returning to eat at your restaurant. In fact, we were so dissatisfied with the outcome of our experience today that we will be sure to pass the word along of your (what you should consider) outright embarrassing service to us today.

We're looking for dinner one evening and decided to hit up Shiro. It's unassuming from the street and easily missed but I've heard good things about the quality so in we went. First thing we notice was the cramped, small space, but it was filled with cheerfully noisy Japanese people. Perhaps a good sign?

We tried to go across the board on the menu, but ended up with the usual helpings of rolls, cones, tempura, nigiri, salad, karaage and soup. The quality of the fish is there, as was the sushi rice. Tempura had one of the nicest coatings of batter I've seen, while staying crispy far longer than expected. The chicken karaage was nicely seasoned while the salad and miso soup was all the same. What killed the meal was the awful nori used for the rolls and cones. The texture was chewy, chewy, chewy - like gnawing on a piece of cellophane. Shame since otherwise would've been a fine meal. Stick with the nigiri.

Service is pleasant from the waitresses but kitchen speed is slower so hungry fiends be prepared to wait for your food as it gets the royal treatment. The sushi chefs acknowledge and thanks everyone leaving which is great for ambiance.

We enjoyed the staff's company and much of the food, but boy, that seaweed..

After a great lunch experience a few weeks back, I was excited to revisit Shiro's for dinner but was mildly disappointed. The dinner menu did not offer many options for bento boxes and some of items (donburi's) only seem to be available for lunch only. So we ordered a-la-carte and got a bit of everything. It was a packed house, which isn't bad for a Sunday evening. We were promptly seated and offered real green tea (that's a plus).

Food: Items we had were tempura, buttered squid, several rolls, and spicy agedashi tofu. Taste was generally good, but it lacked a 'wow' factor. I think the rice was too moist and the seaweed wrap was too chewy. Sashimi was very good, wild salmon. Unfortunately, out of the 5 pieces, two were tiny slivers, most likely end of the cut. During my lunch experience, all 5 of my sashimi pieces were uniformly sliced, albeit on the thinner side. Agedashi tofu was stingy (4 squares) and drenched in a semi-spicy watery sauce, which lacked any real flavour. We fared much better with the rolls, but once again not awesome, but not poor. The tobiko were mixed in the rice, which is a nice touch. The kazu roll (the everything roll) was big but lacked any harmonized flavour, perhaps they forgot to add mayo or something?

Service: female servers were nice and efficient. Plenty of tea refills and dishes were cleared in a timely manner. Pacing for food was good and our check came when requested. Solid service, no complaints there.

Value: Pricier than your average sushi place where you're paying at least a 20% premium. Some items held better value, e.g. spicy scallop roll ($4.50), appy salmon sashimi ($5.75); whereas items like the agedashi tofu ($5.25) or kazu roll ($8.75) are better AND cheaper elsewhere. Such a disappointment compared to their lunch menu's where you can get a teishoku set for about $9 and receive 5 pc sashimi, beef teriyaki, rice, tempura, salad, miso soup, and a mystery daily special (chicken karaage that day). Much better value for lunch.

Ambiance: close seating quarters and very tired looking. For a Japanese operated restaurant, I was a bit surprised to see the back rooms and kitchen a bit disorderly (not dirty though). The front of the house seemed clean and the tables and chairs were functional. Meets the casual, mom n'pop restaurant standard.

Overall, I would consider revisiting for lunch but I'll pass for dinner. Too many options offering better for less.

I heard good reviews, especially about the sashimi, so decided to give it a try one evening. It was nice, not quite the unbelievable sashimi I was expecting tho. But it was good quality, really fresh, the servers were efficient and attentive, and it was a good deal. Enjoyable and I’ll be back.

Came here for lunch. The bento box was a good value. Not too overwhelmingly big and not too small. The sashimi that came with it was very fresh (tuna & wild salmon). My partner ordered the assorted sushi and the pieces were a perfect size. The rolls were nicely made (not sloppy). Overall, the quality of the food is excellent. There are cheaper sushi places but you are paying for quality here. Service was welcoming & friendly. The decor looks dated/old but still clean.

I have eaten at many Japanese restaurants that charge far higher prices but found the food at Shiro to be superior. The wasabi is freshly ground not made from powder, the tuna sashimi is melt in your mouth and even better if you order the spicy sauce. They always have fresh oysters with the best sauce I've tasted anywhere. All the food is absolutely top notch. They need a larger place and tatami rooms would be wonderful but I go there for the food and the friendly people behind the counter. Definitely my favourite Japanese restaurant.

I'm sorry but I have to say that I was disappointed with Shiro. I came here for dinner yesterday. My friend ordered the chicken teriyaki and tempura combo for $14.95. She got a really thin, small strip of chicken teriyaki (even a small chicken skewer from a Thai restaurant has more meat) and a whole bunch of bean sprouts, a few pieces of tempura, and they even forgot to give her the bowl of rice (she had to ask for it).

As for my assorted sushi combo, it was $13.75 for 6 pieces of California roll which I couldn't really taste the avocado (it was not a good California roll), and 8 pieces of nigiri sushi. Sure, the salmon and the tuna one tasted great, but the other pieces were not so great (octopus, squid, shrimp, cured salty mackerel, etc.).

The best dish was probably the wild sockeye sashimi, which is not BC, by the way -- it is probably Alaskan (they scribbed off the "BC" on their menu). Still it was not the best sashimi I've had because I noticed a slightly bitter aftertaste.

Also, the one big no-no was when I walked into the restaurant, it smelled really fishy. Their carpets are really dirty. This restaurant needs some serious renovations.

I will never come back to Shiro again and cannot recommend it. There are many other better choices than Shiro in this city.

Went here w/ my partner and we were sooooo disappointed. Maybe we didn't order the right things?
Miso soup (was warm and nothing special, I tried better), Ebi Sunomono was ok (4 bucks for a lil bowl!), wild salmon sashimi was average (I prefer the fatty kinds but I had no choice), veg tempura was good (like any other restaurants) and spicy tuna roll (which was average). Everything was just average, nothing outstanding.

I've been going to this little joint for the last few years. Altho they seem to have suffered a bit b/c of the Cambie Street construction, the fact that they're still up and running tells you that they're doing something right.

On my last visit, I ordered a variety of nigiri sushi and an udon. Their salmon sushi is SOO good--they use sockeye salmon whereas most others use atlantic/coho. Their sushi is fresh. The udon was piping hot, noodles weren't overcooked and the broth was flavourful. My friends enjoyed their food too--beef teriyaki donburi and one of their special combos. Foodwise, I would rank it 2nd on my list, right behind Toshi.

Service is consistent. Polite, fairly quick. My only gripe is that they don't refill your tea often enough.

The look is that of a typical Japanese restaurant. Decor and furnishing is in need of an update. It's a little cramped, tables are fairly close together. Washrooms could be a bit cleaner.

The difference with this one is that it's Japanese-run... most importantly, the chef is Japanese. Great food, good service. Go support these guys, I'd hate to see them shut down like so many other businesses on Cambie.

Shiro serves up sushi and Japanese classics and they do it well. Everything we tried was good. The chopped scallop cones were well prepared: fresh scallops, not too much mayo and the the seawead was crisp and not too chewy. The yakisoba was nice and light and had a tasty sauce. My only complaint was that the tuna sashimi was a little frozen in the middle, but leaving it sit on the plate for a few minutes fixed the problem. When I am in the mood for classic Japanese, I will be back.