Guu Original Thurlow

Great food, nice place. Offers a variety of seating, cool indoors or out on the upper deck patio. Great selection of delicious fusion foods. Good service too, have been many times and will go again soon.

Guu has generally been my go to establishment for a quick Japanese Izakaya lunch/dinner spot, however I was quite disappointed in this experience.

Usually, service is lightning quick at Guu, not on this occasion. We had to call servers to take our order after waiting for 10-15 minutes for a server.

I got the Age Tei combo which comes with a a pork cutlet, creamy cheese fritter, chicken karage, Miso Soup and a bowl of rice. This combo is of great value and is a lunch special!

The food was decent, the cheese fritter was a stand out. However, the pork cutlet was already and a bit undercooked for my liking.

This is a comment on my co-workers experience. The salmon he had ordered came out burnt (picture attached). Staff were nice about it and switched it out for him, but even the replacement was slightly burnt as well. Overall, the food was very inconsistent.

The ambience was on the louder side and is generally the case especially when going for a weekday lunch.

Will definitely be stopping by Guu again, but this was a below average experience.

Super cute authentic Japanese izakaya! It's a small joint right by robson. You get greeted by the whole staff and they even yell goodbye to you. Their dishes are small so it's very easy to over order. Surprisingly the daikon salad was one of my favourites. The yakiudon is a safe and classic choice. The mussels were also delicious!

Love the vibe and food here! 10/10 definitely will be coming back!

Good place to share some good food, I would suggest the fried rice or yaki udon. The specials have a good range to go off of and appetisers were good (Takoyaki is what I'd recommend out of my own preference)! Our food came out quickly and staff were attentive/very friendly, the atmosphere was bustling but comfy. Area is a smidge tight for multiple people though, probably a super nice place for a party of two or three for something casual! Sashimi was a bit steep and made up most of the bill, but I think everything else was quite worth it. If you need an appetiser, my go-to is takoyaki, theirs had good flavour and texture.

While visiting Vancouver, after a long day of hikes and nature-based sightseeing, my boyfriend and I wanted to find a good place to drink. We found ourselves at Guu on Thurlow and absolutely loved it! As soon as we walked through the doors we were met with incredible service from a hardworking team of employees serving a packed restaurant! Everyone was so attentive, helpful, and nice - we found Guu to be reminiscent of our experiences at tapas places in Japan. We ordered two sake flights - I got the jasmine, kiwi, and yuzu, and my boyfriend got the apple, kiwi, and yuzu. All of the sakes were delicious and the perfect amount of sweet (yuzu was as sour as a yuzu drink can be) but my favorite was the jasmine! While drinking, we decided to order some of the tapas dishes and got the Japanese grilled sausage, green beans with sesame sauce, and simmered enoki mushroom on tofu (all for $15 - it was the deal for the night). The 3 tapas dishes were made to perfection! They were full of flavor, did not taste heavy, and were perfect for sharing (portions compared to other tapas places I've been to were pretty big!). We both ended up getting other drinks, and I got the Snow White (it was refreshing, sweet, and amazing to sip on!). Throughout our time there, we enjoyed the dim lighting, sizzling of cooking done by the bar, delicious eats, excellent service, and fantastic music! Both my boyfriend and I agree that Guu was one of our more superior experiences in service with international travel and that we can't wait to come back again!

Our night started out great: when we were waiting outside to be seated the host gave us hot tea. Once we were seated we waited 20 mins for someone to come and get our orders- we had to flag someone down while a table that sat down after us got their food by the time we ordered. Rest of the meal felt rushed.

Now the food: Yaki udon - so good, chewy udon, sauce and beef were delicious. Beef had a smoky flavor to it
Eel rice - alright, a bit on the sweet side.
Black cod - tender, but flavor wasn't mindblowing. I thought Sushi Kashiba in Seattle had better black cod

A small, busy restaurant. It's reasonably priced and the food was delicious. We had cold sake, sliced tomatoes with tofu, pumpkin croquet, chirashi, yaki udon, and mochi with red beans and green tea ice cream. All were tasty, especially the pumpkin croquet which came with an egg wrapped inside.

Needed to put our names down for a table. It was around a 40 min wait on a weekday.

This is a nice cozy spot with some really good food. I loved the izakaya/ small plate concept and got to try some new things. You will find that there is a lot more options in person than on the online menu.

My favorite here was the Tuna & Salmon Tataki and the ikamaru didn't disappoint either!

At the end we got the Mochi Dorayaki for dessert and it was delicious!

Great food, reasonable price. Love the atmosphere as well, where the chefs and servers are so energetic and engaging.

The food was delicious. Best kimchi fried rice I've ever had. We had a small group and sat quickly with our reservation. The service wasn't bad but the food was definitely the hero.