I ignored this place for a long time just because it had the word "teriyaki" in it; it just didn't sound authentic to me. But I've learned not to judge the book by it's cover. A foodie friend told me to check it out for good cheap japanese meals. The "ambiance" if you want to call it that, is simple: kind of mom & pop with a bunch of japanese memorabilia on the walls. Fairly clean considering the building is quite old. Easy parking on the street after rush hour. The owner/chef is a guy who has been in the restaurant business forever; years ago he had a place with the same name on Commercial near Broadway.
So the reason we come here is the food is delicious and very reasonable. Reminds me of the food you get when you stay in a ryokan or minshuku (little hotels in Japan); simple, smaller portions. Try the "set" dinners which come with a small bowl of Udon (sooo good). The teriyaki, which I never order anywhere else because it's usually very boring, is sweet but not too sweet; so you still taste the meat. I guess there's an art to making teriyaki afterall.
There's only about 7 tables but we've never had to wait in in all the times we've been there. Seems there's a steady loyal clientel as we see the same patrons there when we go.
I hope this place doesn't get too popular.

Mrs. C and I were craving some teriyaki action and we tried this place based on the reviews below. When we arrived the restaurant was packed but we quickly got a table and commenced to order. I had a beef teriyaki combo which came with tempura, and I rounded out my meal with some gyoza and a small sake, which I shared with my beloved dining companion. The other half of the dining duo ordered sukiyaki don, which was beef with onion and egg on rice. Both meals also came with decent miso soup.

The food was pretty good, but it took forever to arrive, and there were no quality checks or tea top-ups. They need to work on their service. I was planning on trying some sushi, but it was overpriced so I gave it a miss. The big complaint was that the ventilation was quite poor, and our clothes reeked of smoke by the end of the meal. As for value, I rate it just average overall.

With a few tweaks this could be a good restaurant.

My wife and I as well as many of our neighbours have been going to Toby's since it has opened. I've always found it hard to find good quality Japanese food and sushi in Vancouver because most of the less expensive Japanese restaurants are more interested in competing with each other by offering quantity rather than quality. And in most cases that means skimping on the fish and more expensive ingredients and throwing on a whole lot of rice. Not the case at Tobys.

The sushi quality is top notch. A true indicator of the fish is to order the sashimi and whenever I have at Tobys it clear they take quality in high regard. They have good deals at lunch on bento boxes and other Japanese bowl dishes.

Whenever it gets busy the service seems to always suffer. For whatever reason they seem to have a hard time keeping the same servers. Although the owners and servers are always polite there's room for improvement getting orders in and out a little faster.

I went there last night with a few friends and all of us ordered their teriyaki chicken rice bowls as our main entree. It was quite good, as I can now understand why they use Teriyaki Bowl as part of their restaurant's name. My friend and I also ordered a Spicy Tuna roll, it was just average because there was too much rice, and was lacking the filling, my other friend ordered a Smoked Salmon California Roll which was pretty good, fairly decent.

The Rice bowl was $4.85 (great value), and the spicy tuna roll was only $2.25, great deal if you ask me. I live by this restaurant, so I'll dropping by more often.

Having walked by the restaurant many times, I decided to give it a try after hearing some good things from my coworkers. I came in with a group of 5 and was given two tables. The waitress who served my party was extremely gracious throughout the evening.

The beef yakisoba and the chicken udon were nothing to write home about - tastes about the same everywhere I go. We also ordered the BBQ salmon belly (yummy!), takoyaki, chopped scallop hand rolls, curry beef bowl, sushi, and wild salmon sashimi. As another reviewer observed, the sashimi was a tad pricey ($7 for 5 thick pieces) but the quality of fish was excellent.

We ordered two desserts: the taiyaki (fish shaped waffle with a red bean paste filling) and the ice cream mitsumame? (ice cream over fruits and coconut jelly). The taiyaki dessert was definitely a no for me. The waffle was too chewy. I was expecting a liquid red bean center, but it was dry.. Yuck.

It may lack some ventilation and ambiance, but I know I will be stopping by to satisfy my takoyaki cravings!

Was introduced to Toby's through a friend who frequents there quite often. Now we go there at least three times a month if not more!

I usually get one of their box dinners (box Ume - mix tempura, rice, chicken or beef teriyaki, california roll, green salad and it comes with miso - $8.95) and add an order of gyoza (always perfectly steamed and pan fried!). For a filling and cheap meal, I'll opt for the chicken teriyaki bowl (4.95) and my friend and I will split an order of yam tempura roll (sooooo yummy!).

As you can see, I'm not terribly exotic in my choices, but my friends who I dine with here vary their orders through the udon bowls and sashimi choices, maki and various other rice bowls and are RARELY disappointed.

I will agree with other reviews regarding the lack of decor and somewhat crummy service, but I've been there when it's slow and when it's crazy busy and it's at least *consistent*. And they might want to invest in a water filter or something, because their water tastes very very stale. I usually just drink the hot tea though :)