Review Kamei Baru - Vancouver

The good times never stop rolling at Kamei Baru, curry on! I had a delicious feast @kamei_baru recently! Kamei Baru offers an extensive menu that includes fresh oysters, sushi & sashimi, unique tapas, fusion Japanese seafood and so much more. There’s a full bar and big screens to watch some games. The service was very friendly and the food came quickly! Started off this amazing meal with the Bluefin Super Star Roll consisting of bluefin akami & toro with green onions wrapped in seaweed with uni and ikura. The fresh bluefin tuna was luxurious and I just love that fatty and meaty texture. What a heavenly bite together with the creamy and buttery uni! I would recommend the Super Star roll and the Bluefin Tataki as your starters. These were my favourites! If your taste buds are adventurous and you want to try something different, go for the seasonal shirako ponzu. You can Google shirako! These sacs look like brains and this delicacy is creamy and it taste like the freshest seafood from the ocean. Some have described it as having a “sensual umami” Do you have the curiosity to try it? Next up was the Mille Feuille spicy hot pot with siuchoy cabbage layered with tender pork belly, gyoza, enoki mushrooms, kimchi and tofu in a spicy miso soup. This is the perfect dish to warm your soul in the current cold weather. The spice level was just right for me. The comforting curry was simmered for 72 hours using beef, spices and red wine. It came with crispy slices of chicken cutlet. I found the curry to have a good balance of spices and a full bodied flavour. The uni carbonara udon was very delicious, luscious and creamy. The saikyo steak was AAA Angus beef marinated for 72 hours in saikyo miso; it was very tender and juicy! The meal was ended perfectly with an Oreo unbaked cheesecake!

Sushi is incredible. Fresh and 😋 tasty. I found this restaurant while walking around downtown and I’m glad I did! Excited to try the rest of there menu! Customer service is great too!

Sashimi and sushi quality is improved dramatically! Top 10% freshness in Downtown Vancouver with a reasonable price. Staff are super friendly , wide selection of food. This is our weekly gather spot.

Cheap n cheerful with fast and friendly service. The Ebisu roll was tasty; unagi and cream cheese blowtorched at the table (2nd pic). And the tempura yam fries were good. Only reason I didn’t rate 5 stars is because I was very thirsty an hour or so later...

Kamei Baru is consistently good! It's not exceptional. It's not terrible. The food's good and their bento boxes are the best I've ever had. They don't cheap out on the food items! The staff are nice so that's always a plus! The menu can be a bit overwhelming in the beginning not because of the amount of stuff but the design isn't that consistent.

We sometimes squeeze in two quick happy hours in the same excursion, and this was one of those evenings, so our experience at Kamei Baru was a bit limited. We loved it, though! The staff were super-friendly and the environment was comfortable. The location is great, because other options, such as Earl's Kitchen + Bar & Boston Pizza, are nearby in case Option #1 is too busy. I always, like to have a contingency plan, especially for late-nights, when some restaurants close earlier than expected. Kamei Baru is also right by Paramount Place. We had the steamed mussels in white wine sauce. No complaints!

I never knew this place was authentic Japanese! Apparently Kamei has different restaurants with different styles. There is a Kamei Royale nearby. The lunch specials were spectacular as well as affordable. You'll have a hard time finding such affordable sushi in downtown Vancouver. The presentation was also very aesthetic. The waitresses were very nice. They were also quite patient. Too bad that they're only in Vancouver. Otherwise I'd come here often!

Cool and trendy place, but definitely not traditional high standard Japanese. You can get all the fancy rolls. The food is definitely good, but this more a 20's, 30's crowd for overly fancy rolls. I have had better but it is a good spot.

Food was decent. Unfortunately, they charge $2.95 for a fountain pop with NO free refills, server didn't say anything about the extra cost and kept offering refills, and refused to take off the bill when the bill came.. thanks won't be returning !!!

It is awesome that staff & management from Kamei Baru recognizes their regular patrons. Thank you so much for giving us a pair of Vancouver Canuck tickets. Kamei has great food & awesome staff that makes your dinning experience so wonderful. I highly recommend that you visit them.

It was good but had to wait 30 minutes for a simple small boat (2 rolls 4 nigiri) it's simple I'm a chef sadly wasn't worth the wait either.

My wife and I ate there twice during our honeymoon, and both times the staff was friendly, the food was delicious, and the atmosphere is great. We will be going back any time we are in Vancouver. We had various ramen, sushi, and curry.

Love this place! Great food and great deals! The oysters... OY!

Great food, great service. Go there for Happy Hour, .99 cent oysters.

I'm a big fan of the Ramen lunch specials now! Hard to find a good ramen place in the heart of downtown Vancouver near Granville or Burrard.

Awesome food!! Their wings in balsamic sauce is soooo delicious! The service there is excellent!! Very friendly and attentive!!

Foods are fantastic and fresh! Soo Good toEat here

Awesome food! Friendly staff! Great ambiance!

バンクーバーのジャパレスで間違いなく最高レベル

It doesn't get any better than this!

Simply the Best!!

This place is unassuming from the outside but is a spacious place downtown just close to Robson street. We went here for happy hour on a weekday so it was very quiet. They have a good selection of happy hour items, specially the oysters! The servers were polite and attentive, the food was good and we really enjoyed the quietness that day. It was relaxing before we ventured out into the busier streets.

Came here for a late-night Happy Hour. It was excellent. This place is pretty much a Westernized version of an Izakaya. I ordered the Fresh Oysters and Saba Oshi with Sake to drink. It was pretty good. Saba had excellent flavour and torched to perfection. I Definitely recommend visiting here for Happy Hour.

The restaurant is nice and big with lots of big screen tv. The food is yummy. We have ordered two appy and two of their signature rolls. Server was also very friendly. We will come back.

Caught up for dinner here with a friend. Been eager to try this joint for a while and it definitely didn't dissapoint. Good food, decent specials, and simple yet lovely food presentation. No complaints on those fronts. Decor of the place was standard and our servers were pleasant and very attentive 👍 A great experience overall, and looking forward to future visits and sampling more funky rolls 😍

The gyoza was burnt and completely black on the bottom.. I can't believe it was allowed to leave the kitchen. <br/>The sashimi salad was literally something out of a bag of tossed greens, dressed in a teaspoon of mayo with bits of fish thrown in.<br/>This place is way overpriced and the quality is embarrassing. Don't come here ever unless you're made of money. <br/>

Come for the oyster bar, stay away for all the rest. <br/><br/>The worst sunomono salad I've had in years with dry old noodles and bland flavours. The rest of the sushi was overpriced and small portions. <br/><br/>Won't be back.

If you're a fan of Ebisu on Robson then you will like this place. The menu is basically like an Ebisu & Kamei Royale put together. Came by for our first time during happy hour and ordered some appetizers which actually were really good. We also ordered a few things off the regular menu like the lobster motoyaki and some steamed clams in white wine garlic sauce which were delicious. We will have to come back for a second review and to try out the rest of the menu 👍

At Kamei Baru, it’s about delicious oysters, interesting tapas, and fusion seafood.  Located at 990 Smithe and underneath the Scotiabank Theatre, Kamei Baru is by the Kamei Group who also owns other Kamei and Ebisu restaurants.  I tried Kamei Baru twice lately and this review is based on those experiences.

Despite their claim on being a seafood and oyster, bar they offer a huge selection of Izakaya dishes on their menu, similar to what they serve at Ebisu. They also have a full sushi bar serving traditional sushi and sashimi, modern free style sushi rolls, and Aburi Battera style sushi. Thank goodness that they have got rid of the sections of ramen, teriyaki, and fusion pasta on their menu, as well as the odd dishes back in the days like Seafood Paella or Halibut & Chips. Seriously they just can’t try to take on every single Seafood or Japanese restaurant in the city. However, they have kept the Curry section.<br/><br/>The experience was not bad for Will and I after all. The cocktails were a little weak, but the snacks were delicious.  I wonder why they don't put someone more knowledgeable behind the bar, or offer a better cocktail menu. If they work some magic with some real booze, customers are willing to pay more for good cocktails this town.

Out of all the times I've been, I've always gone for their Happy Hour. I had their shio ramen combo that came with spicy salmon bowl and green tea ice cream. The ramen was very chewy but the shio soup base was too salty. Their green tea ice cream are pre-scooped and kept frozen with their bowl so there was a layer of white ice on top of the ice cream and bowl (not so great). <br/><br/>I give them a 3.5 rating though because their BARU WINGS ARE GLORIOUS. I love the flavor of the balsamic vinegar sauce. They are my new favorite wings.

came here for a birthday surprise for one of my friend, the place is big, and the server is top notch i'll say. but the food is another part of story. I must say, it's not really that bad, but at the same time, most of the items that my friend ordered, is definitely alright/good but man for the price, I do understand that it's downtown, and the place/staff will be into consideration, that's part of the reason i always loved hole in the wall type of restaurants outside of downtown - cheap good and not many people know about it :D <br/><br/>so the food, ordered a couple variation of sushi type, all of them are indeed flavourful and my friend ordered a round of shot. but at the end of the day if there'll be lots of food that are good / cheaply good / and for the price tag that is in this location I'll say it's average in downtown. But definitely can find better in greater Vancouver :) <br/><br/>Food tastes definitely good. :D

Happy hour menu is nice, includes oysters and beers. My favourite is kale gomaae, which I have never seen offered on any other menu. The kale offers an interesting texture with the sesame dressing compared to the traditional boiled spinach. Loco moco chicken was tasty and had a good amount of sauce. Thunder fries were good, consistent with all the other restaurants in the company. Service is quick and friendly.

For a big group of about 15 people, I hosted a lunch meeting at Kamei Baru on Mother’s day. I had never gone to it, so it was a bit of risk to take a huge group there without trying it out first on my own, but since I knew Kamei Royale and Ebisu which were under the same management, I confidently made my reservation.

Like it. A lot.<br/><br/>As a past fan of Kamei Royale--decided to try this place out. Service was a little slow but the food was fantastic. Why no pictures, you ask? Because the food looked and tasted so good that I went straight in.<br/><br/>Short Ribs - Very flavorful and not drowned in sauce.<br/>Calamari Agadashi Tofu - Presentation is so much better than Kamei Royale. Large pieces of Calamari on a bed of fried tofu. Sprinkled with fried root vegetable chips. Sauce was a little bland though--ended up soaking bits in the teriyaki sauce from the short ribs.<br/><br/>Asari Pasta Udon - Udon and clams cooked in butter/soy sauce and yet very delicate and satisfying. On my To Learn List-to make on my own at home.<br/><br/>Will be going back.

Fun modern Japanese restaurant located around the corner from Scotia Bank movie theater. Glorious 99 cents oysters!!!! Wow! What a find! So delicious, fresh and sweet!

We came here after movie at 9ish. It was not busy.  We had been told about the happy hour/late night menu specials but this was our very first visit to the restaurant in the neighborhood.  

Weird, weird, all around. Booked a dinner after work with some coworkers - have heard some amazing things about this location. <br/>Ordered a water-downed pitcher of sangria - 98% fruit juice - disappointing. Apparently this place doesn't realize there is also fruit in sangria...Otherwise, it would just be Kool-Aid and boxed wine - which was how this tasted.<br/>Other friends showed up and needed time with the drink list - the waitress kept insisting on taking away our drink menu (a plastic drink menu) because she said she "didn't want us to get food on the drink menu" - Are you serious?! You said that to a paying customer? We are not monkeys throwing food around. <br/>Ordered some over-priced sashimi - for almost ten dollars you get four skinny pieces of sashimi....Anorexia is apparently an issue at the fish farms lately. What was super amazing was they liked to share plates - so if your friend ordered a different sashimi plate it all came out on the same plate - complete with a fake leaf - yes, a fake leaf. What am I to do with a fake leaf? How often have you recycled that fake leaf on the plate? I think the health department should investigate this. Thanks God nobody has food allergies and we all like to share food on the same plate. <br/>The kicker was two of us ordered a glass of wine each - the server poured 5 ounces of the wine in my companions glass and then 3 in mine - and then just stood there realizing that's not quite right. And then walked away.....I feel like I fell down the rabbit hole at this place.

Still dreaming of that curry and oyster!<br/><br/>Food was amazing. Fried oysters and the curry with the pork cutlet was my favorite! Only downside is the service. Very fast to seat us but took 5 minutes to bring the menu then another ten to get our order. Waited 20 minutes for the bill and had to go through 3 different waiters. Service is terrible but food is bomb!

Excellent Sashimi. Bang for buck, this place is lovely. Cheap drinks, excellent food, great atmosphere. This place has it all. I started and finished off my long weekend trip here and would do it again.

Ordered 4-5 dishes and nothing tasted good... or least decent

Been to this restaurant before with girlfriends for late night munchies, always enjoyed it. Went this time for dinner with hubby, even a better experience. We reserved online for a table. When we got there, the place is already quite busy. We were seated at a nice cozy table further inside. Happy about that. <br/>We ordered a lot of food, a little too much. Hubby really liked it, mind you he is usually not crazy about Japanese cuisine. I myself found the food was even better than I remembered before. Fresh oysters. motoyaki, beef ribs, white wine mussels, sp sushi rolls are consistently yummy. The seafood paella was refreshing loaded with seafood. Wanted to order sushi inferno, but too full. <br/>Service was attentive and friendly, despite it was very busy. <br/><br/>Two thumbs up.

VERY bad service and food was not too brilliant. I was there for the dine-out vancouver menu and i waited almost 20 minutes before we even got water to drink and order our meal. And then it was another 45 minutes before the appetizer came, and we had to tell the servers to clean the table for us because they kept walking by and glance at our table, SAW the empty plates and ignored them. WTF!<br/><br/>We had to talk to the manager several times and everytime she kept apologizing and said the food is coming, the food is coming. but we waited for so long and the food finally came. AND IT WAS MEDIOCRE. <br/><br/>What was the point of making us wait so long if you are going to serve us mediocre food? <br/><br/>DEFINITELY not going back agian. EVER.

Nice Space, Kitchen Needs Training. Pros:<br/>-Beautiful interior<br/>-Cheap Sapporo<br/>-Bonsai Beef is good<br/><br/>Cons:<br/>-Spicy sauce is disgusting and more like some kind of liquidy mild salsa.<br/>-BC Blazer Roll (which is $10) salmon on top was not seared it was clearly cooked fully through, and the tuna flakes are gross.

Excellent. This place is fantastic. The food is great (REALLY good - the fish tacos are a must try) and the wine is also reasonably priced. The service is also excellent. I would highly recommend this restaurant.

I came on friday with a group of 7. Our server was really friendly,and the sashimi and sushi was beautiful. Our sashimi looked pretty good. The highlight was the sushi rolls, we shared a bunch, the volcano roll was beautiful to look at and to eat, crunch roll was awesome, spicy salmon roll and their ebisu roll was so good. Flamed and awwsomee.

A little pricey but amazing service and the quality of the foods freshness was really impressive :) great selection of raw oysters.

I would only come back for the happy hour menu since items from the regular menu and the service were mediocre. Happy hour is seven days a week from 4:30pm to 6pm and Sunday to Thursday 9:30 to close.

Me and my Unnies had a advance birthday celebration at Kamei Baru. A very nice and cozy Japanese restaurant who serves fusion seafood dish. They also have wide screen televisons so sports fanatic can eat and watch. They people who works here were super great, smiling faces and polite. The service was fast and on time. They never fail to ask their customers if they need something or if we are doing okay. I had a great experience celebrating my early birthday here. By the way thank you so much for giving me a cake and singing the happy birthday song. Located at Downtown. Baru Calamari Deep fried calamari with tartar sauce. It was fried perfectly and very crunchy flavorful coating. The squid was soft and tender. Trivia: I am  a calamari person :p BBQ Cuttlefish Grilled soft and saucy squid with spicy Japanese mayo. Another squid dish just because we want to try a BBQ version. I just feel in love with the sauce or basting they used on it. It was sweet with a hint of chili flavor. Rainbow C

Kamei Baru is part of the Kamei group chain of restaurant, located in Downtown Vancouver. It is a fairly new restaurant and it is mixed Japanese-Spanish fusion. It is a medium size restaurant with a nice atmosphere and unique decor. The food was unique and some menu items you won’t normally see in a typical Japanese restaurant including the interesting flavors as they put their own unique twist to even the more classic dishes like the Chicken Teriyaki.

Oracle and Huntress decided to share a Pollo Rustica pizza ($14 on special) which came with grilled chicken breast, artichoke hearts, gouda, mozzarella, red onion and cilantro. The two of then liked the thickness of the crust because it was a happy medium between thin and thick. Huntress wasn’t too keen about the artichokes but Oracle happily ate the extras for her. We ended up asking for salt, pepper and red pepper flakes and we felt like we were bothering our server to get it because she didn’t seem too impressed with us when we asked for it. Usually it wouldn’t be a big deal but we were the only guests in the restaurants so we felt a little taken aback by this. I ended up picki

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...different than the other restaurants in the group because they serve tapas dishes. When walking in, we were greeted by numerous staff members yelling at us like any other Japanese tapas restaurant. My first impression, the menu is limited in sashimi and sushi since the restaurant is more tapas oriented.

Looking for some small plates and some interesting cocktails on a Saturday night, we ventured downtown to make “Kamei Baru” our destination. I was sold on its comparison to Guu and other like Japanese tapas by my guests. I have never heard of the place or been past it, so was surprised to read that its conception was in 1972. A fact proudly displayed on their red back lit sign that was also highlighted their name. By the entrance stood a table, on it a copy of the menu fanned out. It gave pedestrians passing by the option to see before they taste, look before they buy. The restaurant’s windowed walls were opened along the side walk. It allowed in some much needed fresh air, as well as giving those sitting by it the feeling of being outdoors on a covered patio. Walking inside it was surprising how much the room opened up. Two floors in one open space. Vaulted ceilings and make shift rooms separated by blinds. There were plenty of corners for seclusion and nooks for private parties. Thou

Although I eyed the Lunch Special menu time and time again, my final decision always lands back on the noodles. I’ve ordered the Nabeyaki Combo and tried the Prawn Tempura Udon.

This past Thursday Kamei Baru had their Grand Opening event!  The Kamei Group has been around since 1972 and it's nice to see that they are continuously expanding...

It is very rare that I dine at the same restaurant twice within a week but the recently (6 months) opened Kamei Baru is conveniently located a few doors away from the Scotiabank Cinema complex where I just happened to see two films set in space, two days apart. The first night, on a rainy Halloween, after seeing Gravity with a friend, we decided to drop in and try Kamei Baru for a light supper. Kamei  Baru is not your standard Vancouver sushi-sashimi restaurant but bills itself as a sushi-oyster-tapas bar  providing Japanese -Spanish fusion cuisine. Although it has only been open about six months it is part of the Kamei restaurant group that has been operating Kamei Royale for twenty years. We were both im pressed with the food, and the service was fast and efficient. So two nights later, on another rainy evening, coming out of the cinema after seeing Enders Game , I recommended that my companions tr