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Zakkushi
Categories: Restaurants Japanese Restaurants Tapas Bars Japanese, Tapas Bars [Edit]
1833 W 4th AvenueVancouver, BC V6J 5L1
Neighbourhood: Kitsilano
(604) 730-9844
- Hours:
Mon-Sun 5:30 pm - 1 am
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Delivery:
- No
- Take Away:
- No
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Wi-Fi:
- No
- Good For:
- Dinner
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
- Noise Level:
- Average
- Has TV:
- No
- Caters:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Dogs Allowed:
- No
22 reviews for Zakkushi
Review Highlights
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"This place is small and fills up fast." In 3 reviews -
"...luckily, there is another location on Denman that I HIGHLY..." In 3 reviews -
"...a cozy place for tasty skewers with decent sake selections." In 9 reviews
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22 reviews in English
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Review from Meagan H.
Vancouver, BC
2/5/2012
This place really is amazing.
I lived in Japan and can say that it's quite authentic. You definitely don't go here to get stuffed, but it's great snack food to have with beer.
I've probably tried most items on the menu (I live really close by) and can say that everything is very very tasty - if you're not sure what to try, get the mochi (I prefer without cheese) and the quail eggs. Sooo yummy.
The staff is super friendly.
One thing to keep in mind is that this place is small! So if you come here with a party larger than 4-5, you're going to have a hard time getting a table without a reservation. -
Review from Ron P.
Vancouver, BC
2/21/2012
*Originally posted this review for Toto-Ya. Conrad Y. gave me the correct, current name which I will forget again immediately!*
Odd, had trouble finding the listing for this Japanese restaurant in Kits. It's a favourite with several friends, but I can never remember the name. But it's easy to find, a few doors east from the old Videomatica store on West 4th Avenue. It's quite small, maybe seats 30-40 people tops. Possibly a big hit with the foreign student population.
I think it would be considered Yakitori cuisine; that means all the food is cooked/delivered on skewers. There is a large selection of dishes but they start tasting very similar to my palate as the meal progresses. Perfect for a medium size group to share dishes and some large bottles of Japanese beer. It's an experience type of restaurant and I will return soon. -
Review from Johnson C.
Vancouver, BC
12/13/2011 1 Check-in Here
The Kitsilano location of Zakkushi (http://www.yelp.ca/biz...) - came here for a birthday party - it's the same menu with some key differences:
- this place is much smaller than the Denman location - nearly 1/2 the size - all the seats and tables are pretty crammed up together. Good if you want something 'cozy', bad if you are attending an overbooked party. To be honest, I wasn't a fan of the hard wooden benches either - if I'm in full-on drink/eat mode, I need proper seat and lumbar support. You don't give Yo-Yo Ma a ukulele, you don't give Michael Jordan flip-flops, and you don't give Johnson a hard seating surface when he's trying to drink beers by the litre and eat meat on sticks by the dozen. I'm am part virtuoso, part athlete and all amazing when I'm get my glutton on.
- they have 1L Sapporos for $9 each - I love these things. You easily can promise someone that you'll limit yourself to *one* beer... I didn't lie, you never clarified units of measure. And on that topic...
- ...there's one unisex bathroom stall only. Okay - I've probably gone on my unisex bathroom rant before on Yelp somewhere. Here's something women of the world simply have to accept: men's public restrooms are like Swiss departure lounges (well... with a faint smell of urine and a bit 'splash' damage) compared to women's public restrooms. Ask anyone that's ever cleaned a public restroom. Go ahead - ask them. I will give nice odds that the filthiest washroom they've ever cleaned belonged to the 'fairer' sex. For a few of simple reasons: (1) men go to the washroom less frequently and for shorter periods; (2) men don't *usually* 'hover'/'squat' while going 'No. 1'; (3) hair, makeup and blood... that is all. Yes, despite having what appears to be a precision instrument, men can easily miss. However, I can bet that I'm Carlos Hathcock (uhuhuh.... 'Hathcock') in comparison to anyone that thinks they can 'hover' with any semblance of accuracy. Finally, one must be alert to the danger of 'cooties'. Eww - cooties.
- to be fair, the washroom at Zakkushi was clean - but I just abhor unisex washrooms. But at least they did it purely out of space restraints - not because it's a gimmick or a 'cute' talking point (i.e. Guilt & Co, Chill Winston, etc. - bleech).
- maybe because we came for dinner, but the place seems more subdued and quiet than Denman. Some may like this - I actually like the raucous atmosphere at Denman. More like a real izakaya. But the cramped spacing at the W 4th location more reminiscent of Omoide Yokocho (a.k.a. Yakitori Alley in Shinjuku).
- service is a degree friendlier here - but the problem is that it was pretty much staffed by two waitresses and a single chef on a weekend night. With a party of about 12 for us alone and us making up about half the seating capacity - this meant really long waits between courses. Some of the party were getting hungry again just waiting for food.
- they didn't tack on auto-gratuity for our large party
So in short, smaller and quieter than the original Zakkushi with friendlier service. Might be good for small groups or couples. As long as you're cool with the risk of longer waits and possibly being crammed. Men: You will have to share a restroom with the ladies. Ladies: You have to come to the realization that not everything emanating from your bodies smells like roses and daisies. If that were true, would there be a perfume industry?
Still not convinced? Well - let's have André 3000 explain this - I dedicate 'Roses' to you: http://www.youtube.com...Listed in: A Compendium of Fine…
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Review from Joel B.
Vancouver, BC
6/13/2011
This place is awesome. This was the best Japanese "kushi" I have had since Japan.
With the full warm welcome when you walk in to wonderful servers and a good selection of authentic Japanese flavours you cannot go wrong.
Zakkushi is an excellent place to hang with out friends for some beers ($10 Sapporo pitchers all summer!!) and share some food.
If you aren't into sharing and want a quiet place, this is not for you. This is a great gathering place for a small group of friends who are comfortable eating off each others plates.
Dig the F in!Listed in: Cheap Draaaanks
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Review from Rick C.
6/14/2011 11 photos
I had a chance to finally try Zakkushi's great Japanese izakayas, yakatoris, and tapa dishes.
I enjoyed the classic wooden decor and atmosphere. I called ahead to see if it was busy and the server amusingly replied, "mediocrely", which made me laugh. It was a very casual dining experience.
The visual menu makes it hard to choose what to order. Everything looked so good. The photos were a great help in seeing what Zakkushi had to offer.
The shrimp ebi mayo was tasty and saucy in its goodness. I really dug the presentation of all the dishes. The Tiksune set is a must for some variety. The beef and chicken skewers were quite good. It was chewy and good.
The other signature Zakkushi set wasn't as good but still fine and went down well. The uzura maki balls were particularly good. I really like the warm, moist squid texture and taste.
I will definitely return to have some more of the dishes. It's fun having a bunch of small plates and taste more of what Japanese cuisine has to offer. -
Review from Mark H.
8/20/2011 1 Check-in Here
$9.99 Sapporo pitchers. Drink them while this promo lasts (Aug 31).
This place is small, like maybe 30 seats small, so most definitely make reservations. As we didn't, we had to wait a good 40 min (somehow I'm that patient).
Love the WYSIWYG fully pictorial menu. People are visual. It only makes sense!
Ordered a bunch of skewers, with my favourite being the Kobe beef meat balls. Juicy, flavourful balls. Although around $2 ea, it quickly adds up. Tip: come here for drinks and a snack, I'd be broke if I was starving here.
Service was friendly but quite slow, so eat slowly. We sat at a shared table. A trend I like, if only Vancouver people who sat at them weren't so snobby. I'm not expecting you to tell me your life story, but at least say Hi back. Annoying points go to a couple guys across from us who kept yapping about dumb stuff. Somehow their female friend kept listening. Sigh.
Dessert was uniquely good. Fried mochi with vanilla ice cream drizzled with maple syrup. My uncle taught me to put maple syrup on ice cream. It's good sh*t.
The waiting kind of got to me so I wouldn't come back for dinner, maybe for a nibble. -
Review from Janice F.
3/22/2009
Inspired by encouraging reviews below to give this place a try. I'd only been once to its original location on Denman st and was not impressed at the time with the dry bbq skewers.
The Kitsilano location is much calmer and smaller than the original! Playing jazzy music, it's a lot more relaxed than I'd expected. There are literally 5 tables in the restaurant though, so call ahead to avoid disappointment.
Stand-out items include the chicken meat ball skewer with nori and mayo (very juicy.. and it's reminiscent of a japadog!), a refreshing generous daikon salad, the harami beef skewer with ponzu and radish, and the beet tataki. I did not enjoy the sake affogato dessert.. might be an acquired taste.
Not a particularly cheap night out, those skewers at ~$2 a piece add up quickly. Between four of us and a pitcher of beer, we were satisfied but not stuffed for a bill of $120 before tip. -
Review from geraldine g.
Toronto, ON
6/24/2009
I have tried the one on denman and between the two, I think this was awesome!
Customer service was fantastic . Prompt and courteous.
The food was wonderful, zesty and brought out to our table quickly. I was absolutely stuffed by the end of the whole experience. I had so many of the skewers. Everything from chicken meatballs to my favourites the Memaki and asparamaki. The only skewer I wasn't really a fan of was the mozzeralla meat stick.
This place is small and fills up fast!! -
Review from Jessica O.
Vancouver, BC
8/16/2010 1 Check-in Here
Until reading these reviews, I had no idea that Zakkushi actually had sushi on their menu! We arrived late, at 11pm, and were only given the yakitori and snackie menus. We had one miss and a lot of hits!
I loved the cozy wooden atmosphere - this seems like a great place to snuggle up on a rainy day, eating skewer after skewer and polishing of some saki or plum wine.
I started with a "Bossa" - a vodka soda with an umeboshi at the bottom - a big salted preserved plum. Yum! It had an addicting umami flavour that also pucked my cheeks a bit. S hated it, but he was happy with the Sapporo Draft.
We shared the tuna tataki to start, and found its mustardy sauce a bit gag worthy. Tuna, mustard and mayo together just reminds me too much of a tuna sub and I was worried that the rest of the food would also be weird.
Nope! The next snack - tiny whole shrimps, head, shell and all, deepfried and served with lemon and salt - was great! Crunchy and flavourful in a nice fishy way that reminded me of Spain and Vietnam simultaneously. Perfect bar food.
We ordered a whack of skewers next - whole crispy fish, teriyaki salmon cubes, butter scallops, garlic prawns and 2 different shitake mushrooms. Instantly we knew that this was the real reason to visit Zakkushi.
We have visited some great yakitori joints around the globe, but this was up there with some of my favourite - nice and charcoal grilled with a delicious smoky flavour. Each piece of fish was perfectly cooked and seasoned just right.
We will be back for skewers, salty little shrimp and beers on a crisp, cold fall day. Wanna join us? :)Listed in: Vancouver Sushi Hits and…
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Review from daisey d.
Vancouver, BC
7/21/2011
This is a tiny hole in the wall with small cramped seating and great street food. They do have sushi, but that's not what you come here for.
The dishes range from tame (but yummy) chicken balls (the spicy one and the grated daikon with ponzu are my favorites) that you eat off skewers to more adventurous dishes like jellyfish. One of my favorites is the kimchi udon - it has a hint of spice and is a large portion. The mochi ice cream dish is a fun dessert to share.
The salmon skewer is the only thing I've had there that I wouldn't order again - it was dry.
If you want to try it, go with a very small party (2 is best, 3 or 4 max), stick your head in and if they don't have space, go to one of the many other restaurants on the block. You can also call ahead and see if there's space. -
Review from Shelley C.
Vancouver, BC
3/11/2010
Food here is great! So is the ambience/decor. I tried more than 5 different assorted skewers, each was great especially the mochi wrapped one, how unique!
Service was a little half-minded, but maybe they were a busy. Food took a little while to come at times, they had to be reminded.
Great drinks though, they list their ingredients and you can request your own mix. Lychee soho + calpico is delish! -
Review from Adam K.
Vancouver, BC
4/18/2009
Came here by accident. It was surprisingly empty. We (two of us) sat on the big table. There was one other guy by himself drowning his sorrows away as far as we could tell.
The food is tasty. We had a variety of the yakitoris. The chicken liver was pretty memorable, the spinach salad was actually really tasty, I'm so used to the premade junk you get so this was a welcome surprise. We got the chicken teriyaki bowl on rice to fill ourselves up and this was extremely delicious. The chicken was crispy, the rice crispy on the outside from being in the clay pot, and the egg still runny so it cooks a little from the hot rice.
Overall, this place is a good place to come with a couple of friends and everything on the menu goes well with beers and sake. The yakitoris can be hit or miss but are overall really tasty. I will definitely be back. -
Review from Rose N.
Vancouver, BC
5/25/2010
Nothing special or great....
Places looks deceiving...making me believe it was authentic.
Rice on sushi was too thick and wasn't seasoned right, therefore it wasn't authentic as I had expected since chefs were of Japanese origin.
It's 'sushi', but price is on high compared to quality delivered. Wouldn't return -
Review from Janel Y.
8/8/2008 8 photos
This was the first time I went to a Japanese grilling place. The place is small, but homey and is always packed so make sure you make reservations. Since this was my first time eating here, my cousin made sure we tried almost everything on the menu and that we did! All the skewers were pretty much made to order and were served to you right when it was done cooking.
The interior is dimly lit but decorated authentically, even the bathroom was cool with a small, running stream to wash your hands. They even had mouthwash in the bathroom for you! -
Review from Wing M.
7/31/2009
I went here twice, many months apart. The food was consistent in quality during both visits. The bacon wrapped asparagus is delicious, but it's not hard to make bacon wrapped X delicious. More impressive were the things like fried soft shell crab, the quail eggs on a stick and the grilled onigiri. Mmmmm. Every time I go there I leave full and extremely happy. The service is pretty good, and the guys who make the yakitori at the grill are polite and very cute.
They have this cute bamboo fountain thingie in their bathroom. It's pretty awesome.
A bit pricey, though. I've heard that there's another location that charges less. I may have to find it next time I'm in Vancouver... -
Review from Caro W.
Victoria, BC
6/9/2010
I came here with a friend who really wanted to try this location (They have one on Denman that apparently is not that good, but I'll have to go visit it for myself!).
We called for a reservation for 7:15 and they said that if we did that, they would kick us out at 7:45. Who tells their potential customer that? We were still determined and showed up at 7:30, were seated right there and then and didn't get kicked out!
We ordered almost every kabob on the menu. The highlight included the eggplant and the beef. The quail eggs were good as well. The sticky rice was a little tough to chew, but tasted good nonetheless. The chicken kabobs all tasted the same and I would strongly suggest getting your food salted as opposed to sauced so you can taste the meat more.
Definitely a place where you want to have a Kirin/Sapporo beer and Japanese tapas. Good atmosphere, tight and close seating. I'd go there again but try more of my favourite yakitori. -
Review from Aaron C.
Vancouver, BC
Come here often. Small place. Great service. Favorites: Ptoro, Momo and Memaki.
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Review from Marc D.
Vancouver, BC
11/7/2008
This is the 2nd location of this yakitori restaurant. This location's food and service is much better than the original location on Denman street. The Denman street location used to be pretty good, but has gone downhill the last 2 times I was there. I won't be returning to that location anymore. This location is pretty small, so reservations are definitely recommended as it fills up quickly. The majority of the tables are of the shared style that is becoming popular around town at places like Kingyo, Motomachi, Guu on Thurlow, etc. So if you have nice people sitting at the table it can be a very social evening of good solid food.
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Review from Bee O.
Vancouver, BC
11/21/2009
The first time I went to Zakkushi I was very pleased and would've given it a 4 star rating, however, as I started to go more often, the food got worse and worse.
The service was slow (it took about 10 minutes to get hot water and the restaurant was EMPTY), and the texture of the food seemed like it had been reheated, not fresh. For example, hot sticky rice should be stringy. My sticky rice was solid, and on top of that, it was burnt. Can someone explain to me how "fresh" sticky rice would be burnt on the outside and not stringy on the inside? Yes, that puzzled me too.
The combination of slow service and bad food sadly makes me not recommend Zakkushi on 4th avenue. However, luckily, there is another location on Denman that I HIGHLY recommend. I go there weekly and have not been disappointed yet. -
Review from War C.
Edmonton, AB
5/7/2010
Didn't like the seating arrangements. Too cramped. Didn't like how the server continuously spilled stuff around and on us. Didn't like how she yelled our order to the kitchen staff.
Why weren't we given the larger table if we had made arrangements for four and the larger table sat next to us for an hour?
Lame.
Also, food was good (nothing too amazing), but those seats without the backs that you can put your jackets and bags into only work if you are a Hobbit in IKEA being conscious of space and efficiency.
Frickin' make this place bigger and quit yelling orders! -
Review from Victor W.
10/18/2010
This is a cozy place for tasty skewers with decent sake selections. Pricing is reasonable. The location is quieter than the one on Denman!
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Review from Bea Y.
1/14/2009
ugh. i'm just not a fan. out of all the japanese tapas joints i'd go, zakkushi is probably not high on my list. it may be because i'm not a fan of kabobs - they all taste pretty similar after awhile - but most of my friends (foodies) agree, and we've been to this place at least 3 or 4 times. i've been to the denman st location first - maybe 3 years ago, and i was really impressed, but it's gone downhill.
it's not a bad restaurant to try, and i love the interior, but the service was slow, and some of the dishes tasted yummy, but i just don't think it's worth the time waiting for an hour on a tuesday night for skewered meats.
