Kazu Japanese Restaurant

This place is tiny so you have to be patient. Good thing is though that the tables turn over fairly quickly and that there is seating at the sushi bar.
I have eaten at a lot of sushi places and I have to say that this one is quite good for the location and price. I have been here 3 times and have never been disappointed. I had a bento box this visit and enjoyed it tremendously. The miso soup is light and tasty and not overly salty. The tempura is lightly battered and tastes like the vegetable or prawn. (Not like some places where there’s a heavy batter and oil taste.) The sashimi was very fresh and melts in your mouth. And I think the Wasabi is house made because it’s pungent and doesn’t look pasty.
Anyways, if you’re in the area, I recommend you give it a try.

Fantastic sushi spot in Burnaby. One of the few truly authentic Japanese restaurants in the area. The sushi is so soft and flavourful it practically melts in your mouth, the fish is always fresh, even the wasabi is nice and creamy, not pasty like most places.
One word of advice: they don’t have a lot of seating and the seats fill up quick, so either go later in the evening or show up early if you want to be sure you get a spot. Other than that it’s one of the best Vancouver area sushi joints I’ve tried.

Whoot! Found another awesome sushi joint in Burnaby. This place is quality– not like Sushi Town or Garden which are good bangs for your buck with a high chance of food poisoning. They don’t overdo the rice and give you lots of fresh fish.
The ambiance is really nice and it is super authentic. My favorite part is their fresh wasabi! It really does make a difference overall. It’s also a lot easier to eat in my opinion than the fake stuff). You don’t come here for fusion Japanese, it’s real good stuff. Be prepared and keep an open mind that your rolls aren’t being doused in mayonnaise.
If you are going to come here be sure to get their raw fish options such as the sashimi plate — it is well worth the money! All the fish is fresh and melts in your mouth. If you have a lot of people in your party, the party trays are a great deal and give you a lot of food! A good mix of everything they have that’s good in my opinion. Their nigiri is definitely some of the best around the area with their fresh ingredients and just the amount of rice that doesn’t fall apart, it’s quite a bite of happiness.
Parking is tough since it’s on the street, but it’s not the worst. The restaurant is cute and service is great! Will be back again!

One of the best sushi restaurants in the lower mainland and no surprise as it is run by the chef that ran Shiro for several years. FYI Karen S’s review is incorrect, she is reviewing a different sushi restaurant down the road on Hastings that just opened and has the 2 free Cali rolls special. Seek out past Shiro employees for the best sushi in town.

We stopped by here for lunch. They are currently offering a spend 12 dollars and receive 2 free California roll special.
The food came very fast until it came to the free stuff. They would not bring out the 2 rolls for a good 20 minutes.
The food was mediocre. Don’t get the mango paradise roll. It is drenched in mayonnaise. I would definitely chose to go sushi garden in place of here.

So I went back for lunch on a weekday just after the lunch hour and I was the only person in the restaurant! I sat at the bar and had fantastic service.
I ordered an ebi sunomono, negitoro roll and a salmon roll. The food lived up to expectation and was delicious. I found the noodles in the sunomono to be tougher than what I normally get at other restaurants. One thing I really liked was the addition of a small bit of wasabi inside the roll. Enough to get wake up your palate, but not so that it burns.
I think I’ll just avoid coming here during peak hours.

Don’t go. It is terrible. This place should be shut down…
That is what I want to say to keep people away so we are not waiting in line
This is the best sushi in the lower mainland. I cannot say that I have tried all the sushi restaurants but look at the reviews people are travelling from Vancouver for this
is all about the fish in this place, fresh and tasty. The cooked items are also great.

I hate to give 1 star to a small
business in my neighborhood but we really had a terrible meal. In fact all of our dishes were horrible except for 1 dish.
1. Assorted Tempura– soggy mess, the batter was soft and flavourless, the dipping sauce had no flavour. Unbelievably bad!
2. Chicken Yaki soba. No flavour, looked like it was cooked at home. Soft mushy noodles.
3. Age dashi tofu. This «always» comes first as an appetizer but it came when we were finished the meal. Wth? We told them to cancel it as we were already done.
4. Tonkatsu — I eat a lot of Tonkatsu and this was by the worst I’ve ever had. The pork was not tenderized, it was a pork chop, it was tough and the batter was almost burnt. The cabbage was raw but instead of cutting it very thin it was cut so thick, it was nearly inedible.
5. Beef Teriyaki– The beef was like jerky, it was so tough, I was surprised. To make matters worst, there was «No» flavour or sauce. Horrendous!
6. White rice — Unbelievable that even the white rice was terrible. Japanese rice is sticky and moist, this white rice was dry.
7. Miso soup– The miso soup was ok.
I find it hard to believe Kazuhisa cooked that day, maybe he was off and a family member or a temp was cooking that night. Either way, it was pure garbage. Probably the worst Japanese meal I’ve ever eaten. That says a lot because I’m Japanese.
To top it off, no one served tea and the old lady behind the counter (cashier) just handed me my receipt, no thank you, just miserable. Regardless who was cooking, the owner has a responsibility to monitor quality and ensure the meals live up to his reputation.

If my Senpai didn’t take me here I wouldn’t have noticed it nor would I walk in, for the store front is very plain Jane.
Behind that though, the substance is quite superb! The direct and simple way of assessing the quality of a Japanese restaurant would be to sample the nigiri, because the cut, thickness, quality, freshness of the fish as well as the quality of the rice (is it made with the right amount of vinegar and cooked to the right degree and used the right type of rice) are all deciding factors.
I had the deluxe assorted nigiri platter and it was quickly served with: salmon, tuna, hamachi, ika, roe, chopped scallop, unagi, sweet shrimp, and a California roll and perhaps I forgot what else.
The sweet shrimp is so delicious and has this sweet and smooth texture in the chew. The head is crispy-​deep fried and I love it.
The rest of the fish all taste superbly fresh and I love the fish to rice portion. One note is that the nigiri all have a dab of freshly grated wasabi on them so you really don’t need to add any more wasabi into your soy sauce.
Also, given the high quality of the fish I recommend just give it a dab of soy sauce instead of dunk it into the soy sauce.
I’m not a big fan of the rice, though it’s cooked to the right texture and seasoned right. I prefer my rice to have a bit of separation between each other and have a bite on the chew.
However overall the quality is very good and I will come back for other menu items!
Cheerio!

I was debating on whether to give Kazu 3 or 4 stars.
The food is good, but its mainly the specials posted around the restaurant that caught my eye, not so much the standard menu. though, I’m sure its delicious, I’ve had a few pieces of nigiri which were really fresh.
We had a seafood hotpot ($ 14), which had fresh seafood in there, clams, prawns, tofu, and boiled in a soup with vermicelli noodles. My next fav dish was another special: a lightly fried block of tofu, with an opaque thick sauce which had enoki mushrooms, julienne carrots, and assorted seafood.
The second time I was here, I think they kept mixing our dishes up, even though they came back to double check on a few things, which was a bit annoying. food was still good. I’d like to come back again, but am hoping to see a few different specials, as they were mostly the same the both times I was here.

Love this place, super fresh sashimi, was craving for uni (love x100000000) want to order some uni nigiri but they were sold out. awww…
It’s not my first time to ate at this place, north burnaby side own by Japanese ppls. Cheft was original from sushi by yuji. (On kingsway)
Will go again for uni hahaha…

I don’t think it gets any better than this!
Kazu is a relatively new, authentic Japanese joint in the Burnaby Heights neighbourhood. Although there are several (and I mean several) other sushi restaurants that have opened along the same stretch along Hastings, I will always choose Kazu.
Here’s why:
— Japanese owned and operated = authentic
— FRESH, grated wasabi (not the powdered stuff many places serve)
— Clean, spacious, and the staff are all friendly
— Food is delicious and priced very reasonably
With these in mind, I cannot complain. I’ll be making my way there again in the near future, and I hope to bump into you, too!

I read about this restaurant in the newspaper and had to try it out! There were 4 of us so we were able to order a number of dishes and share them all. I think one of the standout dishes for me was the Ankake tofu. I’ve never had anything like it anywhere else. It is a lightly friend tofu dish with a sauce with mushrooms and other vegetables. I was really impressed with the texture of the tofu. Another dish I liked was the seafood hotpot. It is pretty big and I would recommend sharing it with at least another person. We ordered other common japanese dishes, various rolls, chicken karage, tempura, etc. I didn’t have a complaint about any of the dishes and everything was really fresh. I can’t wait to visit Kazu again.

Ok I’ve been hearing a lot of good thing about Kazu Japanese Restaurant from my friend DC. She is been going on and on about how good this place is. I finally had a chance to make my way to Burnaby to try this place out.
The first thing I notice about Kazu is this place it tiny! What the restaurant may seat like 40 people? My friend and I both ordered bento box 1. I have to say DC was right this place does have pretty good food. The sushi was fresh fresh fresh! As my friend said this is like the sushi you get at the fish market in Japan! The tuna sashimi melts in your mouth! It was as tender as a toro sashimi. What do they do massage the tuna before slicing it? Haha! The chicken in my bento box was really good too! I think they bbqed. At first I thought it looked shrivelled and dry, but it was totally good! Very favourable!
Ok this place is pretty authentic! The servers all seem to speak Japanese and they don’t serve any sushi dishes that has Philadelphia cream cheese in it!
Service was excellent! Come on all you Chinese restaurant owners come here and you’ll realize not all Asian restaurants have to have poor service!
Next time I come to Kazu I will be more adventurous and try some more of their other sushi offerings!

Outstandingly excellent service. Everyone was courteous and always give way (no matter how busy) to the customers in the narrow hallway to the washroom.
Negitoro roll was to die for! So fresh and flavourful in the mouth. My sister didn’t want to swallow it! Everything else was also excellent such as the sashimi, nigiris, rolls, tempura, miso soup, udon, salad, and ginger pork rice.

Kazu is the name of Kazu-​san, who is the owner and chef.
I’ve known him since he was at SHIRO, and loving him since then.
So glad he opened his own, yay !!!
His knife skill is AMAZING, one of the top sushi chef in town, super skilled, fast, nice presentation. As he trained in Japan, he strictly following authentic way of Washoku-​Japanese cuisine.
There are over 600 Japanese restaurants in greater Vancouver, and the only places I go for real and trusted super freshness sushi, is TOSHI (on Main+16^th where I would not want to write a review, because I don’t want any more people to make longer waiting time. ;-)) and now I go this place, KAZU !!

For an authentic Japanese strictly for sushi only, not sushi rolls, and sashimi, yes, despite the high expectations, I weigh the fact that Burnaby’ers don’t have much choice here. Sure tons of Chinese & Korean-​run sushi places but this is original stuff.
So when I said ‘not sushi rolls’, i meant those with crunchy bits and sauces galore — you won’t find that here.
Ordered:
Negitoro roll: very fresh, a bit of a bounce, easy repeat
real crab cali roll: also good but won’t order again, no huge wow factor
Crazy Burnaby roll: a whole smörgåsbord of fresh salmon, tuna, mackerel, scallop all rolled into an outside seaweed roll: good
Crunch roll: yes, another winner… but crunch bits were rolled on in the inside. Not as much as one would expect at a Korean place lol
Wild salmon sockeye sashimi: melts in your mouth… albeit small pieces
tamago: probably the worse of the whole nite; not made in-house…kinda surprised
Great friendly service, repeated tea refills. Prices reasonable for sure.
I’d return only if I’m in the sushi mood; hard to compare to an izakaya place which I would generally lean towards anyways.

As an authentic Japanese and Japanese-​owned restaurant, don’t expect to find all the specialty and fancy rolls you might find at other sushi places. Do expect quality and friendly/​polite Japanese hospitality. I came by on a Saturday night with a party of four and made reservations beforehand. It wasn’t too busy so no big deal. To be honest, I would rather have the options for the specialty rolls but my wife really enjoys the traditional sushi and she definitely was excited as she saw the same chef at one of her favourite places (Shiro Sushi) in Vancouver. The fish was fresh and of excellent quality. Crunch roll was good but I definitely would have expected that the tempura udon come with more than two pieces of tiny shrimp tempura. Next time I’m going try the black cod because that’s one of my favourite dishes at the authentic Japanese restaurants.

Kazu is an authentic Japanese resto opened in north Burnaby a couple months ago. I had a chat with the manager while I was there and found out the sushi chief has more than 20 years of experience and finally decided to start his own business adventure after woking at renown restos such as the fairmont pan pacific and Shiro sushi.
I ordered the wild salmon sashimi and toro nigiri. It was über fresh, like melt in your mouth fresh. The miso cod was nicely marinated and perfectly grilled. We asked for a minor change to our crunch roll which the chief was more than happy to accommodate and it was delicious. We finished off our meal with black sesame and green tea ice cream. The black sesame was very tasty.
The menu was simple focusing on quality than quantity however, the manager said they will be introducing more exciting items soon so I would definitely go back.

FINALLY! A legit Japanese restaurant in North Burn!!! Although I do love my Sushi K (Poco) it is really nice to have something SO CLOSE to home without having to drive all the way out there or to Vancouver for some yummy eats.
Found out about this place from an online review on Revscene (Thanks!) and HAD to try. I did major research before coming here but reviews have been sparse as I assume not many people are aware of this gem.
Lots of street parking on Hastings and free rear parking in the back as well. Décor in the resto is pretty average and I gotta say. not a fan of the taped up specials on the wall, but this is just my own personal preference.
Service: Excellent! One waitress works the front, chef/​owner is behind the sushi counter and I think 1 – 2 cooks in the back working on the hot food. The waitress was a younger girl (in her 20’s I assume) and spoke perfect English but it absolutely THRILLS me when I hear the staff being able to speak Japanese. Food came out fairly quick (15 minutes-​ish) as well!
Food: Oh man, grab your popcorn. It’s going to be a long one. So we went for lunch (my parents and I) and we took advantage of the ability to order more food to try more things. One thing I will say is, prices are *cue Will Smith* DECENT. For authentic Japanese, I am REALLY surprised. I honestly do not mind paying more for great quality and food but they are very fair. (BONUS: They ONLY serve wild sockeye salmon. SCORE!)
We ordered:
Dad: Lunch Box A which came with miso soup, shrimp sunomono, veggie and shrimp tempura, beef (or chicken) teriyaki with rice, and 5 slices of sashimi (2 salmon, 3 tuna). $ 10.75
Now my dad is super picky when it comes to sushi and it’s very hard to please his tastebuds. but he absolutely LOVED it. Good sign!
Mom: Lunch Box B which came with miso soup, daily special (roll.which was a BC roll today), chicken karaage, 3 pieces of nigiri (tuna, salmon and ebi), and spinach gomae. $ 9.50
Me: Nabeyaki Udon (my tester in all Jap restos), negitoro roll and special scallop roll. $ 8.75? (or 8.95.can’t remember), $ 4.50, $ 3.75
We all taste tested each others food essentially and this is what I felt for what I did try and eat. I didn’t get to try every other item but my parents did really enjoy what they had.
The sashimi was really fresh and perfectly chilled. It didn’t have that frozen taste nor a fishy taste. Rolls were perfectly sized (bite sized is really what it should be) and again, really fresh. I felt the negitoro could have used more green onions (IMO) but the chopped scallop roll was a major homerun for me. The scallop mixture was perfectly seasoned and I loved the small bits of cucumber to cut through the creaminess of the scallops. Their sushi rice is also VERY good. BC roll was good and the salmon wasn’t overly cooked (which I got at Shiro).
As for the hot food portion:
Chicken karaage was SUPER yums. I love a good deep fried batter and it wasn’t overly salty. Really juicy and tender. Now onto the miso soup and udon. If anybody knows me, they will know I judge a place for its hot food by its miso and udon (if available).
Miso was perfectly balanced and I loved the fact that I could taste the seaweed within the broth.
Udon, omgosh where do I even begin. Perfect al dente udon, they use the pink and white kamaboko, and the broth. omg the broth. The taste of bonito flakes were VERY apparent and it just elevated the meal to another level. Omgosh, I can’t even comprehend what I felt. Pure joy maybe.
Overall, I was scared to even release the name of this place because I’m sure I’m going to be waiting in the line to get a seat once it gets super popular (Sushi K, I’m looking at you). It’s a hidden gem and a great place to enjoy a good meal.
Great space, great place, great people, great food… YOU HAVE TO COME HERE! Like right now. Excuse me while I go cry due to tears of joy.
*Notes*
Open Tues-​Sun
Lunch only on Friday/​Sat/​Sun from 12PM to 230PM
Dinner available Tues-​Sun from 5PM-​930PM
Closed between 230PM-​5PM during lunch days
Closed Mondays and Holidays