Sweet Willie

Tojo's http://www.tojos.com/ in Vancouver had come highly recommended to me.

I've heard Tojo called the Nobu of the north.

If you love sushi, the meal to get is the "Omakase" at Tojos. Basically you are letting the chef (Tojo) serve whatever he likes. There were three price points from $50-150 a person. Upon recommendation I did not hesitate and ordered the $150 Omakase.

Epiphany is the word I need to use to describe what was served to me. If you consider yourself a sushi lover, THIS IS THE NEW GOD/TEMPLE OF SUSHI. Sushi in Japan did not come close to Tojo's.

I've never really appreciated the salmon sushi I've had, but here it is an unworldly delicious experience.

Yes there were a couple of ok items in the 12 items I was served, but then again 10 epiphanies out of 12 is not too shabby.

sbm12

They've moved to a much nicer space at 1133 W Broadway, just down the block. I was 9/10 last night (and the 10th wasn't bad - I just don't like giant clam). Still top notch.

Braindrain

While Tojo's is good, I wouldn't say sushi in Japan doesn't come close. Lots of places in JPN where it outshines Tojo's. Tojo's, however, is a relative bargain at $150/head compared to JPN equivalents.

Sweet Willie

just going by my experiences, the sushi I had in Japan didn't wow me.

THANKS for the update sbm12 ^ I'm heading back to Tojo's at the end of Jan

Taiwaned

Thought about reviving this old thread.

Mrs. Taiwaned and I celebrated our anniversary at this restaurant this past week.

What a treat.

We ordered the 6 course omakase. What was really amazing was the chef then proceded to prepare different courses for us. Five of the six courses were different with only the final sushi course being the same for the both of us.

So we actually got to taste 11 different servings. Amazing. A couple of the dishes were not amazing but most was incredible.

We are pretty jaded when it comes to fine dining but that was going above and beyond what was expected. A truly fine memorable experience.

tomsundstrom

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tomsundstrom

This is so weird. We had friends over tonight who are going to Vancouver this summer. We were waxing poetic over the incredible dinner we had at Tojo's in '03, and then I find this thread. Karma! We had sat at the sushi bar and ordered omakase, and when the bill came, it simply said, "Sushi - $276." Of course, this was in the days of the C$.71, so an amazing bargain.

Jay71

Interesting to hear a recent review. The dozen of so reviews on Dinehere have been mixed to say the least, though a number have been made by one post wonders and many were complaining about value vs quality.

fly-yul

Best sushi in Canada. Period.

Taiwaned

Yeah I saw those reveiws as well.

Some mentioned that the service was not so great. I think I can understand why they would say that. All the servers are real Japanese with English as a second language. Since we are Japanese we can chat with the server and the server was very comfortable with us, gave us a detailed explaination of each dish, why and what ingredients were used, method of cooking etc.

I also overheard them TRYING to explain a dish in English and it just didn't go over right. A true case of 'lost in translation'. Not excusing them but a possible reason why some consider the service not so good.

shell nyc

Heading to Vancouver for lunch tomorrow and am very interested in trying Tojo's based on these rave reviews. A couple of questions:

Are they open for lunch? Would we need a reservation for Saturday afternoon? Dress code?


Thanks!

gglave

No

They open at 5pm - No harm in reservations.

604-872-8050

http://www.tojos.com

http://www.yelp.ca/biz/tojos-restaurant-vancouver

Dressy casual - Jeans are fine, but I wouldn't show up in runners, torn jeans and T shirt.

shell nyc

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8320/4.5.0.81 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/100)

Thanks gglave. We have a 7pm flight so I guess Tojo's will have to wait for next time.