Toyama Japanese Restaurant

I get takeout not ayce. It’s one of my favs. I can’t comment on how could their raw fish is but they have my fav Cali roll. They also have a salmon teriyaki dinner bento so that won over my heart.
They are known for ayce but it’s a good choice for takeout too although there are sooo many decent places in the area

I SIGNED UP TODAY just to tell anyone reading this to NEVER GO HERE. There are tons of decent and cheap Sushi restaurants in downtown Vancouver and this is not one of them.
EDIT: After reading other’s ‘AUTO GRATUITY’ review, I just checked my credit card receipt and yes they did indeed added extra 10%~ on top of GST. I feel so so cheated now. Partly my fault for not reading the receipt carefully because I wanted to get out as fast as possible… but this is just not acceptable!!!
EDIT2: I did some digging and back in 2009, the head chef was 30 year veteran Japanese chef. Very popular back then and the quality was superb. His motto was use the best/​freshest ingredient possible. Well not anymore. Today’s chef was definitely not Japanese.
I’ve been to many many Sushi restaurant in downtown area since I came to Vancouver and this is the worst Sushi place I have ever been to. Actually it’s the worst sushi place I’ve ever been to in the world and I have traveled and lived around 10 countries for last 15 years.
As Asian, I can say I know how Sushi should taste like and the ones here are just very very very cheap. I went with my wife for lunch and after tasting the first dish, I wanted to come out right away but decided to try it more.
We ordered almost every dish at least once just to see if any thing is good but no luck. Even Udon was terrible.
Only thing I liked was the service provided by this one Japanese guy. He did not speak English well but was very friendly and tried to explain to me certain thing when asked.
I eat out about 10 times a week in downtown area and I know for sure will never go here and will bother to tell my friends not to go here.

These guys deceive customers and charge more than what is marked on their menu. I recently had my worst ever customer experience at this place. I came here with a friend on a Saturday around 6.30 pm, there were just two or three occupied tables. I ordered the assorted sashimi, the price on the menu was $ 14.95, my friend had miso and a combo. A few minutes after 7 pm we asked for the check, and noticed that instead of $ 14.95 I had been charged $ 19.95 for the sashimi. I asked the server about it, so she brought a menu and Surprise, Surprise! some items had now stickers covering their original price and showing a different one, among them the assorted sashimi, which was now $ 19.95. I told the server I was not going to pay that amount because when I ordered the price had not been ‘updated’, nor had I been told of such ‘update’. The manager came and tried to convince me that she couldn’t do anything because the system had the ‘new’ price and she couldn’t change it. I said it was not my fault and I was not going to pay the ‘new’ price. She said she was going to ‘discount’ 10% off our total and we’d get ‘free’ ice cream. I said we didn’t care about ice cream and I was not going to pay the ‘new’ price. After arguing back and forth some more the manager said she’d ‘discount’ 15% off the total, no ‘free’ ice cream this time. This still amounted to paying 75 cents more than what our bill should have been but we were already running late and didn’t want to split hairs so I agreed to a 15% ‘discount’, and left no tip.
I highly recommend to go elsewhere, but if you still want or need to go to this place. maybe it’s a good idea to take a photo of the menu page from which you order so you can compare your bill with what you thought you should pay.
And FWIW, the sashimi was so-​so, your standard big chunks of tuna and farmed salmon (the light colored kind), plus two tiny portions of hamachi and Pacific snapper, no shrimp, no octopus, no scallop, but at least it tasted fresh.

I come here all the time and this place is usually pretty good. Every now and then they’ll forget or misplace an order but at least the food is prepped correct! Id have to say since they changed their suppliers it hasn’t been quite the same but still good ayce sushi!

I visited recently and was reminded as to why I didn’t enjoy my previous visits. The food is not spectacular, you can find better AYCE. On this visit, I ordered the lunch bento. The reason why I will never return is because this restaurant AUTOMATICALLY calculates gratuity. I was dining alone, the service wasn’t great, it’s not acceptable to add 15% to my bill without notice. That may be considered THEFT!

Coming to Toyama I had very low expectations cause of the reviews on here recently but I had a Groupon type deal from vantosave to use so I went with a group of friends.
Quiet on a Wednesday night, we had attentive servers (mostly) and almost all our food came. Those that did not come, we re ordered and in the end we all ate what we wanted!
I dont know why the reviews are so poor… yes they dont count everything properly but does any AYCE? Its all you can eat so quantity over quality.
Pros:
— the gyoza (the first round was perfect crisp on the bottom)
— agadashi tofu had the perfect amount of sauce
— fresh vegetables were nice and light.
— sashimi was fine as well especially the tuna tataki, salmon and beef.
— gladly took away the plates with bits of rice left on them.
— did not feel rushed to finish
Cons:
— food very mediocre
— dont give you all that you ordered and give you more of some other items
— coupon savings were WRONG — did not save as much money as mentioned
— some of the waitresses were a bit stiff (one was very very nice though!)
— chewy deep fried food
— strange chicken kaarage…
Overall, did not have a problem here! Not amazing but not worthy of the horrible reviews it’s been getting.

Made a reservation but apparently «there is no your name on the list». Waitress can’t even speak proper English…
No compensation was made to us, we’re just told to be put on the waiting list. It’s an extremely mediocre restaurant, so we decided to get refund for our prepaid voucher instead. Last time we were there we didn’t even get all of the food we ordered, not to mention the barely average taste. Never going back to Toyama again as there’re a lot of better all you can eat sushi place out there.

I came here two times with my friends, both experiences have been fair. It’s not the best sushi in the world, however, it is cheap and decently quick for the location. Every time I go in it hasn’t been busy and we were served fast. I liked their green tea ice cream. They used to have an all you can eat option, not sure if it’s there anymore, however, when we did have this… it was awesome.

Came here for late nite AYCE sushi. Warning — their last call is a full HOUR before closing. So if you come later than 90 minutes before closing, be sure to order very quickly.
While the food quality is pretty decent, there are several issues that prevent this place from moving up to 4 stars.
The waitress lost our order form — half our food didn’t show up as a result. The problem was that we didn’t know which half, and neither did she.
The cones, while decently sized, are 80% rice. Most other places will layer the filling along the depth of the cone. Not here. Your first bite will be fish or whatever, and your next 2 are nothing but seaweed and 100% rice.
The wings here are really strange — they’re just grilled, not deep fried.
The redeeming factor though? Toro is on the menu for late night! Yay!

We came in here once before for the AYCE dinner and had an ok experience which is why we returned for the AYCE lunch.
First of all, the menu didn’t match the order sheet and when I asked the server, she said the menu is old and the sheet is correct. Why not update the menu?
Second of all, not all the items we ordered were served. When the server came to check to see if we were done, we informed her that we were still waiting on a few items. She didn’t say anything and walked away. After waiting for another 10 minutes, we decided to just get the check.
The bill came and the total was $ 29.30. We gave them $ 35.00 and the server just assumed that was the tip as well and didn’t give us any change. When we asked, she was super annoyed and brought back the change. It’s not cool to just assume how much I will be tipping. You should always being back the change!!! $ 5.70 on a $ 29.30 bill amounts to a 19% tip which based on the crappy service we received was definitely not worth it. I’m definitely never coming back again.

Having been here before, a few years ago, I was quite confident that I would still like it here! After an unproductive shopping spree on Boxing Day, we decided to have a nice lunch at Toyama.
Before asking for a table, I took a peek at their lunch AYCE menu just to make sure it’s worthwhile. $ 12.95 per head. Oyster and scallop motoyaki was offered — a rarity in lunch AYCE menus — so, it was a done deal! The robata or grill menu was also plentiful with beef skewers, shortribs and other meats.
The ordering process was standard. You are given a sheet with all the items on it, and you write down the amount you want beside each item. As we went down the sheet, we realized that a few of the items from the menu were missing on the sheet. Namely, the robata beef skewers and shortribs. I asked the waitress about it and apparently, the menu is old and the sheet is new. In short, no more beef items.
I wonder why they kept the old menu? Budget cuts? Laziness? In any case, this was verging on false advertising! I’m glad the chicken wings and chicken karaage (fried chicken) was still on the order sheet.
Service was slow. So slow. We spent more time waiting than eating. It was busy; but not that busy.
One consolation we have is that the food is prepared fresh every time. Everything came piping hot. The motoyaki made us all very happy and we had quite a few pieces each!
But, the surprises don’t stop here. When we got the bill, it was about $ 80+ in total for 5 people. There was an included 10% gratuity. We did the math, and the subtotal was still wrong. I took our bill to the cashier and asked about the subtotal. She quickly pulled out an ordering sheet and said: «Holiday! We charge $ 1 extra!» I looked again and sure enough, there it was in the smallest of prints.
My hubby commented that Boxing Day is by no means a «holiday», to which the cashier had no reply. She stood there as if she didn’t understand him. By the way, this place is run and, probably owned, by chinese people. I didn’t want to argue, so I paid and left.
I can’t say that the meal and service deserved $ 80, which is why we have decided to avoid this place next time.

We came in for a late night «all you can eat» session on winter solstice 2013, the service is quick and efficient just like in a typical Asian restaurant (hint: do not expect servers to be like in an Italian or French restaurant).
There was a table next to us with 10 teenagers, they sure can eat! piles and piles of hand rolls, nigiri, and sushi rolls, plus plates of beef short ribs just disappears! =D
Beware to NOT order 1 full serving of each thing per diner because you probably will be stuffed before you realize it. If you are a big meat eater this place great, not so if you expect nice sushi. You should order a la carte then. There are enough good offerings for vegetarians though, loved their spinach gomae and agedashi tofu, they have udon and zaru soba offerings on the menu as well.
Definitely a good place to come to for late night when everything else around is closed.

We frequent this place often and always get the all-​you-​can-​eat menu.
No complaints whatsoever. Service is good, food comes out quick and fresh. Price is great. Huge selection to chose from.
Sushi is yumm and sashimi is fresh.
The Teriyaki chicken is my fave & gyoza & chicken wings & dynamite rolls… I could go on forever.
We always leave with full, satisfied bellies.

I love the variety on the menu and that they have many vegetarian options. Very good value for the price. I’ll be back again because they also accept my Lyoness cash back card. Also free wifi ;)

I have been here twice: once for a la cart and once for AYCE. Both times, I found good value. For the a la cart, I had a teriyaki dish, and they made adjustments to my taste with no issue. The food was well done, and there was a lot for the price!
When I returned for AYCE, I felt there was a really good selection. The food tasted good, and the service was good. I would definitely go bad. To top it off, it accepts Lyoness, so I got cash back with my meal! Bonus!

I should have known better than to go here, but on the suggestion of a co-​worker, tried it anyway. I know an all-​you-​can-​eat place can have it’s own set of special issues, and this place was no exception.
First of all, the servers were very very nice and friendly. I sould see they were all working very hard and being very efficient. I appreciate this!
I don’t, however, appreciate being given cold miso an obviously visibly dirty plate. The dinner box I ordered was so/​so… tempura was fine, teriyaki tofu was good, yam roll was an oversized weirdly cold yucky gross thing made with what I think were yellow sweet potatoes instead of yams.
I guess if you were starving for tons of food, the $ 20 stuff yourself into oblivion price is not so bad… but when I get a dirty plate, the whole meal becomes suspect and I never go back. I was very happy that the meal i chose was vegetarian and there was no raw fish involved.

I came here the other night because a friend of mind told me she never had all you can eat before. Which of cos I felt that was odd. So, we were in downtown and I thought of coming to this place and giving it a second shot. Came in a few years ago with my girl friends and didn’t find it any different than other AYCE places.
So, we had an early dinner because we had an early lunch. This was the reason to why there wasn’t many ppl there. Their ice machine was broken, so their drinks weren’t as cold as it could have been. Food was ok i guess. I wasn’t too surprised about anything really. But there were improvements.
The menu itself for AYCE was decent I guess for 19.99 per person for dinner. I just didn’t felt it was worth add an extra 3.00 for maybe 10 more items to choose from.
Overall, an ok place to go for AYCE. I may or may not go back here.

As someone who isn’t a huge fan of AYCE sushi restaurants, I couldn’t say no when my pregnant friend asked to eat here for lunch. You don’t want to piss off pregnant people.
Toyama has a decent selection for an AYCE restaurant. Most rolls and staple nigiri pieces are available, but it costs $ 1 extra for 6 pieces of sashimi. The price is $ 12.95 for lunch, but will come to $ 13.95 if you decide to go for the extra pieces of sashimi.
Service can be a little slow, but they are overall happy people. They try and that’s what counts. A few dishes needed work such as the scallp motoyaki (2 pieces of booger sized scallops with 90% mayo) and chicken karage (too salty). The sushi was good for an AYCE restaurant quality. You can’t compare it to regular restaurants, it’s an entirely different category.

Decent prices here for all you can eat, as well as regular food menu. I like that their AYCE has different tiers during dinner, so it can start as low as $ 22, but go as high as $ 27 (an option I’d truly consider since it has black cod). Either way, the cooked food is good, with decent variety. Their sushi rolls are what you would find at most AYCE, thin with not a lot of filling. There’s also a late night AYCE menu for $ 13, with less options, but still a good variety.
We ended up ordering a la carte, since I heard that their non-​AYCE menu is decent. On our table for late night was the following:
— beef short rib terriyaki (comes with miso and rice)
— beef sukiyaki
— alaska roll
— grilled beef tongue
— grilled black cod
The winner of the night was the short rib terriyaki. The dish was large and the sauce was great. The beef tongue and black cod were also delicious. The roll was kind of lame in comparison to the rest of the dishes, but we saw several other people with fancier rolls than ours and they looked pretty good. The sukiyaki was also good for its price, and we ended up taking half of it home because we had too much food.
Overall, a decent meal — it ranked surprisingly well on our list of cooked jap food options. The place always has people, but it’s pretty large so you can get a seat fairly easily if you go off-​hours. There’s also TVs there, if you’re looking to catch a game.

If you’re looking for all-​you-​can-​eat sushi downtown, come here for dinner, not for lunch!
I always wondered why the Unilocal reviews were so scattered for Toyama, and now I get it. This was the first time I’ve been back since their renos, and I wasn’t impressed. Other than their beef teriyaki, ika karage and kani nigiri which were good and scallop roll and chicken karage which were bad, everything else was very average. I have mixed feelings now too.
And more importantly, the 3 things that I highly recommended in my last review, weren’t even on the lunch menu! For $ 15 and average AUCE sushi, maybe it’s still worth it, but when you go for dinner, make sure you try the following:
— Negitoro roll
— Unagi sushi
— Soft crab shell roll
(Dinner AUCE only)