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Kishimoto Japanese Kitchen
Categories: Restaurants Japanese Restaurants Sushi Bars Japanese, Sushi Bars [Edit]
2054 Commercial DriveVancouver, BC V5N 4A9
Neighbourhoods: Grandview-Woodlands, The Drive
(604) 255-5550
- Hours:
Tue-Sun 11:30 am - 10 pm
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Has TV:
- No
18 reviews for Kishimoto Japanese Kitchen
Review Highlights
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"...of soy paper, which added a lovely texture to the rolls." In 4 reviews -
"The beautiful presentation of the food completely blew us..." In 3 reviews -
"Highly recommended." In 3 reviews
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18 reviews in English
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Review from Yvonne C.
3/1/2012 7 photos
You know the place is good when there is actual Japanese people eating inside a Japanese restaurant.
Tonight was my first visit to Kishimoto and it did not disappoint. This place has a hip atmosphere with simple Asian decors throughout the restaurant. The staffs are friendly and attentive. The green tea and the food were delicious; and you can tell that they are serving good quality food to their customers. Also, the chef pays a lot of attention to details in his presentation to every dish that came out.
My table ordered the Vegatable okonomiyaki, OMG roll, Chili ebi mayo, Sashimi salad, and the Hamachi ishinabe.
The vegetable okinomiyaki was delicious! The pancake contained cabbage, green onion, and I think onions (I tasted onions but that could be the green onions), topped with okinomiyaki sauce, mayo, seaweed powder, and bonito flakes.
OMG roll was also delicious and a must try! This vegetarian roll consists of avocado, tempera bits and sweet miso, wrapped up in seaweed and rice, topped with spicy sauce.
The Chili ebi mayo was pretty typical in flavor. Basically it's tempera battered shrimp served with chili mayo
The Sashimi salad was also another tasty dish. The greens were crisp and fresh, and the salad came with 5 different types of sashimi sliced up into bite size pieces, then dressed with some scrumptious salad dressing.
The Hamachi ishinabe is a hot stone rice bowl that is filled with eel, spinach, a raw egg, and rice. You pour in the garlicy eel sauce that is provided, stir everything up, wait a minute, then devour it! -
Review from Foley L.
Vancouver, BC
4/28/2012
Fantastic sushi place on Commercial - thanks for the tip Yelp!
They tend to stick to authentic rather than fusion, which pleases me. Their artistry is fantastic. Lots of little carved veggies and flourishes - so awesome. They also do some special rolls that are pricey, but great to look at and really tasty.
As an added bonus they served up some of the best okonomiyaki I've ever had. Okonomiyaki is hard to explain - my wife described it to me as a cabbage pancake...with shrimp, topped with fish flakes, mayo and ponzu sauce. It's way better than it sounds. :-)
It kills me to not give this place 5 stars. It doesn't quite hit the same price/quality ratio as kings of the hill Toshi's and Ajisai do, but that's not what lost the star. The sushi rice wasn't perfect. Not sure if it was slightly undercooked, or too lightly seasoned, or if they cheaped out on it, but it just wasn't right. Which is really strange for a Japanese -run joint. Might have been an aberration, but you can't get 5 stars without perfect rice.
I'll be back for sure though.
Note to parents - we went a bit after 5 and it was full of parents & kids. So definitely kid-friendly. -
Review from Felicity D.
Vancouver, BC
2/24/2012
I stop in here to pick up food to go at least once a week. I've tried most of the menu and have never been disappointed. My top recommendations:
Saba Shiso Ume Roll - Mackerel, sour plum, and shiso leaf... unbeatable!
Black Cod Misozuke - baked with sweet miso
Sockeye Salmon Oshi Sushi - pressed sushi with Jalapeno and creamy sauce
Kishimoto is more expensive than the other sushi places in the neighbourhood, but it is by no means unreasonable and you get the quality that you pay for. -
Review from Fiona W.
Vancouver, BC
5/17/2012
Amazing. I went for just a salmon and avocado roll, 1 piece salmon and 1 piece tuna. Presentation was gorgeous, service was amazing and fast considering the amount of work that went into presentation, and sushi was very fresh.
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Review from Michael C.
Vancouver, BC
2/7/2012 5 Check-ins Here
Sockeye Salmon in my Bento Box!!!! Love it!
I read some reviews on Yelp and ordered their Bento box. I was much surprised that it contained sockeye salmon sashimi and sushi as well. The ingredients were very fresh and for the price unbelievable.
They had some very nice looking decorations on the plate of the cactus roll we ordered. Looked like a lantern and a small flower arrangement made from daikon.
We got there at a good time as we were seated there was a line up forming. The table was not wiped too good as it was sticky.
Service was just OK. -
Review from Samanthi G.
Vancouver, BC
4/20/2012
A little on the pricy side, but really good sushi rolls. The wait staff were really nice and our tea was always refilled. Don't get out to "The Drive" very often but definitely want to get back there and try more. Just a side note, the presenation was amazing.
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Review from Kirsten S.
Vancouver, BC
11/16/2011
The Drive has a lot of decent sushi places, and one or two very good ones, but this is the first one in the area that I would say is GREAT and rivals my other favourites around town.
The beautiful presentation of the food completely blew us away - just gorgeous. Prices were reasonable considering the quality. And oh yeah, the food is absolutely delicious! The sushi was all fantastic, and we also had a fried eggplant appetizer that was otherworldly.
Gonna be back here lots. -
Review from Realtor Darius D.
Vancouver, BC
1/11/2012 3 Check-ins Here
I'd like to give them 4 stars, but the service is not good. Some of the best sushi in Vancouver, but when the servers can't remember to fill your water glass in a 35 minute time-frame, well.....that's just not good. I've been here on several occasions and it hasn't always been this way. It seems that as they've become more popular, they've sacrificed the service. I like the fact that they're trying to hire Japanese speaking servers, but I think it's important that they speak English relatively well - and that was not the case on 2 occasions.
Very busy place and if the service is good, the food is outstanding! Hope they don't go down the drain like the several other restaurants that have occupied this space. -
Review from Paul E.
Vancouver, BC
10/25/2011
After a year in Vancouver I'd got stuck in a rut of three choices for sushi - QQ's for cheap, decent and local, Zipang for a better quality dinner and Ajisai for something special... and decided it was time to try somewhere new. Yelp seemed to be pointing the way to Kishimoto, so there we went.
And I'm glad we did. Between three of us we ordered:
- Dragon roll: stand out amazing: the eel was gorgeous and beautifully cooked, and all the ingredients (prawn tempura, masago, avocado) worked very well with it. Highly recommended.
- Caterpillar roll: another eel based roll, very tasty, but not quite as great as the dragon roll.
- Avocado roll: simple, fresh, good.
- Toro sashimi: full of flavour and not at all watery... but gets points deducted for still being a little frozen.
- Edamame: standard Edamame, but no problem with that!
- Kishimoto roll: what would have been an excellent scallop and salmon roll was made even better with the addition of soy paper, which added a lovely texture to the rolls.
- Okonomiyaki: wasn't quite sure what to expect, but was basically a veggie pancake. Rich, warming and very good.
The whole thing came to $72 for three people, with one Kirin, two green teas and tip. More than the usual Vancouver sushi prices, but very much worth it. Zipang probably still comes out on top for sashimi, but Kishimoto will definitely be added to the mid-range sushi list. -
Review from Justin L.
Vancouver, BC
8/13/2011
I've been here 3 times now since the renovation and the food here is absolutely stunning. The sushi rolls all taste very fresh and definitely comparable to tojo's but for a fraction of the cost. I highly recommend the ishinabe. It's a stone bowl with a special sauce and it is cooked in front of you. Very delicious. The salmon oshi sushi was great. Its a seared salmon on top of rice stuffed with wild salmon. It's comparable to the ones that they serve at miku but again at a fraction of the cost
Service in here can be a bit spotty. The water does not get refilled as fast as you would like but the waitresses are very friendly. She forgot an order of chicken karrage that we ordered but she gave us free ice cream as a result of the mistake
Overall an excellent find and I highly recommend this place. It's definitely one of the best sushi restaurants I've been to in Vancouver. -
Review from Justin M.
Vancouver, BC
1/4/2012 1 Check-in Here
Unpreposenting place, bur if it presentation gets a 5/5 the taste gets a 6/5!
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Review from Ben B.
12/12/2011
I have to add to the 5-star reviews on this place...some of the best sushi i have ever had for incredibly reasonable prices (keep in mind this is reasonable by north american standards - I think vancouver sushi is the cheapest of any city i've been to, ever)...but still, two people can get full on incredibly great sushi here for $30-35.
The toro sashimi was out of this world, the presentation was excellent, edible art for sure...everything was as fresh as could be - another yelp success! -
Review from Michael S.
Vancouver, BC
8/3/2011 2 photos
Stopped in today for lunch - looking for Japanese Kitchen. It has re-opened (June 6) Under a new husband / wife team.
Glad I stopped in...I was always a fan of the Japanese Kitchen but the new place was delicious!!! Had the Sushi sashimi lunch special and the Nasu Dengaku (eggplant in sweet miso) and OMG it was beautifully delectable. The Sushi was awesome too - the tuna melted in my mouth like butta :-)
Anyway, I will definitely be back for another Sushi craving to be satisfied! -
Review from A W.
Vancouver, BC
2/29/2012
Today was my forth time eating at Kishimoto. The first three times I ate there it was great, the food was fresh and the staff were efficient and kind. Today I felt like I was in a different restaurant!! I saw my partner and I's food sitting ready at the sushi bar for at least ten minutes before the server brought it over, at this point my Spicy Dynamite roll was cold. Then the server came rushing back saying that they forgot to put the hot sauce on my roll, and took my plate back to the bar. The sushi chef put the hot sauce on and then my roll sat up there for fifthteen minutes more while the serving staff doodled on paper in the quarter full restaurant. The Dynamite roll was so cold I choose not to eat it and told the server that it had been sitting too long to eat, the server just looked at me and walked away with no response. When we got our bill the Spicy Dynamite roll had been added! I didn't make anymore fuse because it's really not my style to complain. I just wanted to get out of there and never return!
Oh, and the lady beside me was really annoyed with how cold her meal (tempura lunch box) was and how long it had been sitting ready at the bar before someone finally brought it over. She also commented to a different server that she wasn't impressed and the staff just mattered something, smiled and walked away. Not sure she'll be coming back to Kishimoto either.
Anyway..that's my rant! -
Review from Isabel P.
Vancouver, BC
7/28/2011
A friend recommended this place and I was in the very next day! The presentation of the food gets an A and the service was B+. We ordered california rolls, spicy dynamite roll, dynamite roll, and edemame. Everything was delicious! The rolls have the perfect amount of rice and a better portion of filling. I highly recommend this place and I will definitely go back.
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Review from Mandy Y.
Vancouver, BC
7/17/2011
Beautiful, artistic plates filled with yummy food. Their spicy agedashi tofu rivels Toshi's. Rolls are tasty and not two mouthfuls spilling off your chopsticks - we've been back three times and the service and food were consistently good.
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Review from Mehregan A.
Vancouver, BC
8/22/2011
It's the best place to eat authentic Japanese food. The presentation was amazing, the food was beyond words and the service was awesome. The food left me on a food coma that night. I highly recommend this place. Be sure to get the ice cream at the end. It's the cherry to top it all.
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Review from erin c.
Vancouver, BC
8/21/2011
Have been struggling to find good Japanese in the city and on the Drive and this is it! Fantastic presentation, great staff and everything we ordered was amazing. The nasu dengaku stands out, as does the black cod. Highly recommended.
