Blowfish Sushi & Japanese Food

Amazing food and friendly staff! All ingredients taste fresh. One of the few Sushi places in the area that is both consistently clean and has good service. But don’t take my word for it, check out their inspection reports at

I work in the neighborhood and Blowfish has been my go-​to lunch place for three years or so. I’ve never had anything but great service from them. They even offered to remake my lunch when there was a mixup on the time I wanted to pick it up. You really don’t need to remake my sushi for me… but the offer kind of blew me away. I’ve also had them offer a can of pop to offset my request for no miso soup with my bento box … Two stellar customer service moments that were so unnecessary but thoughtful. The food isn’t outstanding but the prices certainly reflect the food. $ 8.75 for a bento box? C’mon. I’m in. Every time.

Tolles Restaurant.
Ich würde jedem empfehlen der hingeht davor zu reservieren ist es Proppen voll.
Super nette Bedienung und Sushi schmeckt hervorragend. Probieren Sie die Supe mit Spinat einfach köstlich. Bei Sushi würde ich mich auf einfache Variationen konzentrieren. Alles andere mit Kaviar mit dem ganzen Schnickschnack schmeckt auch gut aber meiner Meinung nach nicht notwendig. Einfach zu Basics greifen.

For all the people who are saying, this roll is bad, etc etc I agree with you. My hubs and I went and tried this place today. We started out with the house roll and the unagi nigiri. It tasted like garbage. Rice was falling apart, and it was similar to the stuff you could probably buy at T&T. In other words, it was just mediocre.
But then I noticed that they had aburi sushi on their new items. Why not give it a try? We ordered the salmon aburi and I remember saying that it will probably be disappointing.
Oh man were we wrong. It was hands down the BEST sushi I have ever had. I would only come back for the aburi and nothing else. It instantly boosted this restaurant’s initial rating of ²⁄₅ to ⁵⁄₅ for us. The fish melted in your mouth and the jalapeños gave it the perfect hint of spice. Amazing.
DO NOT get ANYTHING here with the exception of the aburi. Seriously.
Also the waitresses were nice. Bonus cherry on the cake!

Plain and simple. The food sounds better than it tastes on the menu! And it’s over priced! The restaurant is small with a nice quiet ambiance. The service was good, everything came quite quick and the waitress always kept my tea cup full. Food presentation wasn’t very good… California rolls were rolled loosely. The crazy buster roll was decent looking but didn’t taste too spectacular. I also got a tako sunomono and usually it it a couple thinly sliced peices of octopus, this was one thick peice. The tempura was dripping with oil. I have been to many Japanese restaurants to compare so I stand by my two star rating and will not be returning.

I use to come here very often for their yam fries, they’re so good! Whenever i order from here i always get a bento box, its very customizable. The staff is very kind.

First off, do not order using their Blowfish website – it doesn’t work. Use Just-​eat to order to-​go. They do delivery quick which is great. Sushi rolls are very cheap and they give you a lot in one order. I probably wouldn’t sit down for a full meal, but this is a tasty inexpensive option of takeout.

We have gotten take out from blowfish several times since my last review, And I’m writing another review to let the owners know that the horrible service at this place has not gotten any better.
I’ll start with my second to last visit, a few months ago. My husband was sick with the flu, and I wanted to get him some soup. I called in an order for pick up, and decided to get myself a few rolls while I was there getting miso soup. Called in, gave them my order, asked them to make sure not to forget anything, as this happens all the time. Pick up the sushi, return home to sick husband only to find out THEY FORGOT THE MISO SOUP! Of all the things to forget, this was the point of of the whole order, I could care less about the sushi rolls for myself. I called in, and I was clearly upset. I asked the girl on the phone how this could possibly happen after I told her about past experience forgetting things, and asking her to double check. Her response was that they were busy. My options were to leave sick hubby again and go all the way back for one miso soup, or take a credit. I told her I was not leaving again, and I would take the credit.
Fast forward to today. Looking for a quick lunch. We called in an order of a few rolls. Asked about my credit, no record of it. Wow, what a surprise. Told her it was a miso soup they forgot last time. She offered me a miso soup. Well it’s 30 degrees today, so no I do not want a soup! I told her I just want the credit. It’s $ 1.40 so she says okay. We go to get the sushi, and she says, she will just remove one piece of inari from the bill, which is $ 1.25. Okay, you guys still owe me .20– how cheap are you??? Not really into arguing it at this point, we take the sushi and leave. Get home and thank god all our food is there, however they only felt like giving us only one set of chopsticks. Seriously! What is with that? My husband ate his sushi with a fork, which sucks. Blowfish, it is officially game over for you.

I like this place so much I sometimes drive from 30 minutes away. I love the chicken teriyaki-it’s always fresh and very tasty. I recommend it with brown rice.

I am blown away by this little place. I don’t know how they can sustain themselves. I suggest ordering one of the Bento Boxes which I find has superb value.
During our visit, service was stellar, staff was very friendly. The refilled your tea frequently.
Food quality is also very good and price for these boxes is fantastic. We were stuffed and would return back in heartbeat. We haven’t tried the other sushi places recommended here so I can’t compare.
This place is a block W of the PNE. You also have a great Italian Bakery and mini deli next door too.

Love it, sushi and sashimi is really well done and actually the closest I’ve had for main road take out to real Japanese (lived there for a while). The waitress is adorable and very good and making you feel like you’re doing them the honour of dining there. It’s local, easy and the food is good.

Ordered two bento boxes. Food was okay. Portions were a bit small for the price when you compare to Tentatsu and Hiro Sushi for similar style food in the area.
The sashimi was really two pieces cut into four slices when you compare it to other restaurants. Also, there is no consistency for the tempura. One box had three pieces and the other had five. The texture of the tempura was crispy. The teriyaki sauce on the rice was average. The California roll fell apart when the pieces were picked up.
Service was good. Server refilled tea and clear plates promptly. She also checked up on us if our food was okay.
Overall, average food quality and decent food service. I would probably drive to Tentatsu or Hiro Sushi first.

Don’t understand why this restaurant get such high ratings (85+ on urbanspoon). The sushi is very average, same with the cooked foods.
Within this 3 block radius. Better sushi could be had at tentatsu and sushi Nanaimo.
Ordered the crispy spicy tuna roll. It wasn’t even spicy, had no sauce, and the roll was dry with all the fried panko piled up on the roll. Made it drier.
Chicken Teriyaki on rice — rice had too much moisture/​overcooked. They use chicken breast instead of thigh, so it’s quite dry.
Tentatsu will do a much better roll and rice with better value. Sushi Nanaimo for the best quality of the three. Won’t be back again.

For a neighborhood sushi joint not bad at all. The waitress waited a bit too long before taking our order, but the chef noticed and reminded her. We tried a new dish (for us) Tako Yaki which were grilled dough balls with a piece of jelly fish inside, not bad actually. The sashimi was good and fresh, the special maki roll we took refreshing differently. I’d go back if I lived here in Vancouver.

The food is very good here, good quality and good portions for the price. The problem is the service. Terribly slow and servers are not attentive at all (you have to work hard to get their attention for more tea/​water or whatever). If the staff are so busy with the phone for take-​out orders that they are ignoring the people who are there there they need to hire more staff! We haven’t been in a while because of the service… but as I said, the food is good.

I needed something quick and healthy that wasn’t too far from the venue where the guy I am dating and I were to see Jimmy Eat World. I got the basic avocado sushi. The service was fast and for what I paid for which was reasonable, I got a very generous serving.

Love this delicious and convenient Sushi Restaurant near PNE!
I come here as often as I can because of all the traditional sushi (not over stuffed with rice) and there hot food too like the best chicken Karaage in Vancouver and gyoza! Everything is made from scratch like their Teriyaki sauce (I know that because of their slideshow on the screen). Suggestions for the Sushi: spicy crispy tuna roll, smoke salmon roll, oh and love the specialty rolls Salmon River and the Mango Island.
Blowfish knows how to make good Japanese food!

Maybe a bit harsh but considering the competition in this 3 – 4 block radius down Hastings St., I’d recommend Tentatsu & Sushi Nanaimo hands down…
nothing memorable, & had wished i read the reviews here before… though it’s strange that Urbanspoons gives such a high rating? 84%?!
anyways, decent in terms of cleanliness but have a feeling the staff aren’t really into their food as i was asking for suggestions awhile ago.
a few parking spots available here.

I’m sorry to have to say, but Blowfish blows! My vegan partner and I came here yesterday for lunch on a break from a conference at nearby PNE and were left wishing we went somewhere else. The service was SLOW despite being one of 3 people initially, they could not substitue avocado and yam roles for a lunch combo (and offered no veggie lunch combo– hard to believe as the tuna roll is more expensive than the avo and yam), and the food was not good at all! The tofu agedashi tasted stale/​not fresh and the veggie sushi unremarkable. It’s pretty hard to not do veggie sushie well. For the sake of the restaurant I really hope their fish is better.

I came here once before but I honestly don’t remember how my experience was. I don’t remember if it was good or bad, so I came in today to see if maybe it would have gotten better and more memorable this time around.
I ordered the tonkatsu, saba, hamachi, and toro sushi. The tonkatsu came out first of the orders so I dug right in. Flattened pork breaded and fried with rice and veg. The pork was tender, well seasoned, but just a touch on the dry end. There was 2 sauces over top of the dish, a mayo and katsu sauce. The katsu sauce was a bit strong and ended up being soaked into the pork breading and made that part of the dish a little salty. Perhaps if the sauce was thickened a little it would avoid this problem… Well, at least it was for me a bit salty. The Vegetable consist of sautéed cabbage, broccoli, and carrots. Where as the veg had good caramelization on it, it lacked seasoning or a layer of flavour. The veg and rice feel more like a means to an end to get the starch and veg intake on the dish.
The sushi were alright and a little on the battered end. The quality wasn’t that great and the marinade for the saba lacked much impact of flavour and tasted pretty fishy and didn’t cut the oiliness out of the mackerel. The rice was cooked ok.
The service was exceptional though. She was very attentive and came by at just the right times to fill up my tea and drop off the bill. The service is the main reason I’m giving this place an extra star.
With a couple of good Japanese restaurants popping up in the area, this place better step up their game cause walking another block for better sushi isn’t that far away.

Acceptable east Vancouver sushi. The seating area is very small, so wherever you sit, you are near the door. This might be a problem in the winter.
Bonus points for having interesting items on the menu, such as ika ume maki, which has squid, plum and mint leaves in it. Also, takoyaki? Boo-​ya!
We sat in, but I suppose they are great for take out. I notice on their website they have online ordering. I didn’t try it, but sounds like a pretty good idea if they can make it work.