Sushi Giwa

The atmosphere is average but I really like the food at this place.
— The portion is big compared to other sushi joints
— The BC rolls are the best (some salmon meat still on the skin)
— Giant rolls

I absolutely love this place. It’s right up the street from me, so i go there very often and have never been disappointed. The service is amazing, the food is great, and the price is amazing for what you get. Two of us were able to eat for under $ 15! The only complaint I ever had was once my tuna nigiri wasn’t amazing. that’s about it. Love this place!

I’m not sure how people can write any review less than four for this restaurant! This place is BAD ASS. A real triple threat: delicious, beautiful, and cheap! On top of that, good service and a nice atmosphere.
One time me and my friends went and every time we took a small sip of our tea, it’d get refilled. I never saw it less than half way! Haha.

Go to Sushi Kilala, not here.
Not really sure how this place has any good reviews. We ordered the chicken yakisoba and received the +$ 2 yaki udon instead and let it slide rather than make a fuss. It ended up being the only thing worth picking through. The roll combo came with rolls that seemed made before order so the seaweed was chewy and the fish was warm and honestly had a bit of crust to one edge. Tempura batter was too thick and not crispy. The unagi don was just gooey and not at all hot. In fact, just to get the image across: everything we got was room temperature. Nice and tepid.
The food was served insanely fast, though so if you’re looking to get quick and dirty sushi, I guess this is a good option.

Good quality sushi and there are also Korean options if you like to mix it up a little. The Japanese fare is quite standard and you won’t find much beyond the usual sushi restaurant options. Their tuna gomae is certainly different: normally I expect a spinach bundle with sesame sauce on top and tuna sashimi, but here it’s more like a house salad with tuna sashimi. Not unpleasant but I do like the kind of spinach you get at almost every other place. Prices are reasonable and about what one would expect; it’s not cheap nor is it expensive.
I’d give this place a solid 4 stars except that it has a definite chemical smell from whatever they use to clean the tables. I’ve never experienced this at any other restaurant and it’s potent enough that it detracts from an otherwise pleasant meal. While I applaud their attention to cleanliness, they could certainly achieve the same with a much less irritating cleaner.

Yesterday we ordered Sushi after many times going there. Today was special occasion, my son’s birthday.
We ordered 2 California roll, 2 Dynamite roll, and 2 Philadelphia roll. She gave one of each to us. Well we understand that orders can get mixed up, but when we complained the manager Kate screaming at my wife was something I found uncalled for.
So we took the past impoliteness for cultural differences but I guess we have to draw the line somewhere.
Avoid if you want to have a pleasant meal. I wish people in food industry realize that keeping existing customers are more important that acquiring one.

The diversity in food they have is pretty good. Lots of different rolls and sushi that arent found in typical places except for one slight thing.
Or shall I say the most important thing. The RICE was not cooked. We had a take out order of around $ 70 and every single piece of sushi had undercooked rice. $ 70 worth of sushi with uncooked rice in it. Unbelievable. Their rice is sticky, matted down and uncooked. I have never eaten at a place with rice as poor as this.
Before you leave the place with your take out, instead of making sure you have all your food, make sure to check whether the rice is cooked or not.
How do you call yourself a sushi restaurant when one of the two most important things in sushi, fish and rice, turn out so poorly. Never again

This place is fantastic. I’ve been here about half a dozen times over the months. I’ve never not liked something I’ve ordered here.
Their sushi is best described as experimental, as they use certain things sushi isn’t typically known for. However it is all so delicious! I don’t think this is the place if you’re looking for traditional, classic sushi. But if you’re seeking to try something new and modernized, I highly recommend this place.
The service has been great every time. The waitresses are always friendly and the food reaches us fairly quickly. The chef even prepared us a free appetizer upon our last visit to show his appreciation of our frequent visiting. Sure it was a simple avocado nigiri, however it is little gestures like that which make me truly respect restaurants such as this one.
They also have an alternate menu for Korean dishes which is awesome if you like variety. I tried a few of the items, and they’re all delicious. My favourite one is the Japchae.
The atmosphere is nice; it is always very warm and cozy. They also have this humongous cherry blossom tree in the centre of the dining area which is very inviting when you walk in.
There are a few negative reviews inquiring the sashimi. I’ve yet to try it, so I can’t confirm or deny. But my friend ordered it and she said it was great. Overall one of my new favourite places in North Burnaby.

Ordered a spicy chicken with rice, the typical Korean dish. It was good but the portion was for 12 year olds. No joke. The rolls there were good but one you should definitely try is the crazy grill roll. Deep fried dynamite roll so good :)
Service was doo doo in the beginning, waited forever for our free Cali rolls. But by the end of our dinner, it became great when they designated a person to keep pouring tea. Hehehe I tea guy
SOLID 3 outta 5 stars!!!

Swimming.
Salad swimming in water,
Gomae swimming in sickly sweet sauce. Yuk.
The house roll, though tasty is just a mess and the oversized california rolls under the mélange fall apart from swimming in the sauce.
The tuna roll had fibrous tendonish pieces I had to spit out.
The quality of sashimi was just not there.
And farmed salmon.
Asked for two side items, both forgotten.
Not up to the quality I want. Others may find this just fine. Just not for me.

I went to their newer location — where Yo Sushi used to be. I am assuming food and service is same across the board.
I went in for take out on Monday night after work. I was greeted by the hostess almost immediately. Super friendly staff, and very helpful imo. Since I went in for take out, I can’t say how their dine in service is.
Pricing is fair, it seems pretty standard with some of the other sushi joints in the area. Portions were filling, just right, with some room left over for some desert.
I ordered the California Roll combo. It came with 6 pcs of California roll and 4 pc nigri. As for Nigri you normally get 2 Tuna and 2 Salmon, but at Sushi Giwa I got 1 ebi, 1 tuna, 1 salmon and 1 fish I couldn’t identify. It looks like a nigri that you’d get in a fancier combo.
Wait time for my food to be prepared didn’t take long. I think I was out the door before my cup of tea cooled down enough to be drank.

I give this place a 3.5 stars because of the atmosphere, service and some of the food. The specialty rolls I give a 5 star for.
I was here for an early dinner one night and I remember the location to be a sushi place but not with that name. But all in all it’s still a sushi restaurant run by Koreans I believe.
Their menu includes a few Korean dishes which was pretty cool. They have your normal sushi and a sheet full of their specialty rolls. We tried out the Philadelphia roll and the Kamikaze roll. The Philadelphia roll I have to say is very cheesy because it does come with cream cheese. So, if you’re not a fan of that then I suggest you to get something else. The Kamikaze roll is like a house roll (or dynamite roll. Not exactly sure) with spicy salmon and tuna salad. To me that’s like the best of both worlds. This is one roll where I would come back for.
We also had chicken karage, ebi sunomono and tuna tataki. There was something about the tuna tataki that I felt was missing. So, it wasn’t as good as I expect it to be. The ebi sunomono wasn’t exactly well mixed where the shrimp had no taste but water. Chicken karage was literally just deep fried chicken wings. So, those 3 dishes were kinda disappointing.
Service was average. The servers all speak a decent amount of english even though they look like international students from korea.
It’s a pretty big restaurant but sad part that by 7pm the restaurant is only about ¼ full on a week night. I don’t blame them when there is another sushi place right next to them and Antons on the other side. We came in because we were hungry and Antons was like a half an hour wait.
Overall, I suggest you all to come try out their specialty rolls and skip the rest because it’s pretty meh. Though I didn’t get a chance to try out the korean dishes so i can’t say much about that. But that would be something I would try when I pay another visit in the future.

One of the few places in Burnaby that I will actually go sit and eat at. I had my basic avocado and cucumber roll. Modestly priced, good atmosphere, waitress was really nice and served us promptly. Good for medium size parties.

JAP RESTO in north burnaby, good location with free parking and free wifi, interior design are so cool. i love that replica of a cherry blossom tree in the middle but sure those flowers collected tons of dush already i wonder how they actually clean them TV available but they are small compared against the size of the place… aside from japanese foods they serve Korean dishes aswell… quality of food awesome, huge serving and gigantic size of sushi, the cut of sashimi is huge… my self plus 13 other friends visited for lunch, we ordered almost all kinds of sushi got some sashimi aswell, tempura and the kimchi fried rice, service is good no mistake with our orders two servers keep refilling our water, neat place, noise level is average, good for family, group and kids… affordable huge sushi, taste fresh and yummy… a bit far from where i live but worth the trip… good food good service good pricing WHY NOT! We are all satisfied! aRIGATo!

PROS
+ Cheap Cheap Cheap
+ Friendly service
CONS
— Poor quality sashimi and sushi
— Sushi rice was pretty bad.
— Spicy salmon sashimi was not freshly made
RATING
Food 2.0÷5.0
Ambience 3.5÷5.0
Service 4.0÷5.0
Price $
Food is not too bad considering its cheap price. The service and ambience are pretty good too. But I’m not sure if I want to come back here… The sushi rice was uncooked and not seasoned very well. Spicy salmon sashimi was not freshly made so the salmon was lacking its firm texture but rather somewhat loose. Also, hamachi was very fishy explaining its way-​too-​cheap price. It lacked a typical burgundy colour on a sashimi slice, and also toro didn’t taste good at all. Toro was not fatty but it was more like a regular tuna with a bit of fat part. Obviously, this place is worth your buck if you are on a tight budget but otherwise, it is not a good place to have good quality food.

Arrived at 8:30 on a Saturday night. The hostess seemed a bit overwhelmed settling payments from customers as well as dealing with the take out orders. She told us it would be about a 10 minute wait. Turned out to be 25 minutes and we had to go ask her after a few tables had left, but we simply chalked that up to new restaurant growing pains.
Décor is good, the blossom tree is a real nice touch. The seating is very spacious and you don’t feel squeezed in or cramped at all like the place a block away.
The servers were very quick and attentive even though the restaurant was fairly busy. Tea cups were frequently filled and empty plates were quickly removed from the table.
We mostly ordered rolls, sashimi, and some nigiri. The portions were on the big side as is fairly common with a lot of these Korean operated Japanese restaurants. The sockeye salmon sashimi was very good, and the rolls and nigiri we sampled were a solid 4 out of 5. The smoked salmon nigiri was a real treat as they offer up a real generous portion of smoked salmon although it did also have large amount of formed rice under it. The rainbow roll was also good, and each piece was alternately topped with red and black tobiko (roe) which made the dish look as appealing as it tasted.
Prices were very reasonable and overall they match up quite well with the likes of Sushi Town, Sushi Garden, etc. We certainly look forward to coming back to try out some of their other menu items.

For overall value, décor, spaciousness, food quality, and friendly staff, sure why not.
It’s a real restaurant that you can take a date to or have a decent sit-​down feel without bumping into chairs like next door at Sushi Town (don’t get me wrong, I love it there too).
Back to the food. Knew it was a good start when server came back, after ordering a Korean dish Japchae, those awesome noodles, that they ran out of kimchi but substituted spicy seaweed, which is even better and more expensive than cabbage lol. Nice touch.
I’ve had better japchae, but came with rice too as a bonus; didn’t have the mushrooms typically, but for $ 10, you will get full.
Also ordered the Spicy Holdom roll (why — that’s the cross street haha), which was piled generously high with imitation crab meat of course, fresh, big chunk of avocado, and really an amazing spicy mayo sauce drizzled very nicely, as pic shows.
Did find the miso soup a bit salty but tasty, obviously.
comfortable booth seating at the front, will make me return for sure.
ps be careful when you walk in, it’s slippery! Almost wiped out twice on my way to seating.

The décor at Sushi Giwa is absolutely adorable though, the square spoons are very difficult to use.
We ordered the awesome roll, crunch go go roll and the takoyaki. We also got miso soup to start. I wouldn’t say that the sushi was the best. I really wanted to like this place after hearing so many good reviews from friends and co-​workers, but something about their sushi just didn’t compare to their neighbour and my all time favourite sushi joint, Sushi Town. And the crunch go go roll was honestly just a mouth full of flour.

Been there sunday December 7^th, 1pm, about 15 – 20 customers inside, 1 take away while I was waiting.
Ordered not too much, 1 easy special roll, 1 negitoro roll, 2 salmon nigiri sushi. 14 $ bill (good).
Went out 45 minutes later with a «thank you for waiting».
Sorry, not a sushi restaurant for me this one… At least, but really the minimum: «sorry for the waiting time!»

Tried out a new sushi place in North Burnaby. The sashimi is the size of your palm. Our son had their salmon and tuna donburi. It’s huge and all very fresh tasting. We also had negitoro, kappa and California roll. All very fresh and service was great.
They also have some Korean dishes available so nice to have some variety.
The inside is very nice with a cherry blossom tree and feels very cozy.
For the 4 of us the bill came to about $ 44 so very reasonable.
We will definitely be back and recommend to other people!