Guu with Garlic

All the Guu restaurants are good, but Guu With Garlic's walk-up location, cozy decor, and gregarious staff goes well with a rather good daily special menu. This may be the best of the Guu restaurants. Every time I stay in town I end up coming here to eat several times.

If you haven't been to a Guu Izakaya, they combine a basic standard lunch/dinner menu with a special menu that changes every day, mostly a colorful variety of small plates (sashimi, noodles, tempura, grilled fish, etc... though be warned that some dishes like yakisoba are actually quite big!).

At GWG the best approach I've found is to have 1-2 go-to menu items, maybe a standard side (I always like to get rice with whatever I order), and then also sample 1-2 of the daily special items. An ideal meal will probably cost you C$40-70 if you've got an appetite, but I've found it's pretty much worth it every time.

They provide chopsticks but you may want to ask for a spoon or fork as it can be a struggle to eat many of their dishes with just the sticks. Their patented Saba Mackerel in particular can be very difficult to separate and eat with chopsticks.

Because it's a small space, I'd be wary of bringing a group of more than 4 people, and even then if it's busy you may be waiting a bit to sit down. Coming in solo I've found I've gotten seated quickly almost every time, and couples seem to have the same experience.

If you like sugary cocktails and don't want to drink but don't mind a touch of alcohol, their Virgin Cocktails with Ramune and lime cordial are actually pretty good. Pick whichever one seems more appealing (and have fun popping the Ramune bottle!).

I made a reservation for lunch for 5 people a few says before we intended on going. When we went in, there wasn't anyone there yet except for our group.

We ordered the okonomiyaki, karaage, pork loin cutlet don, the miso cod special, and kimchi fried rice. Everything was delicious and the serving size was generous so we were all able to try everything and got full from everything we ordered!

There were only about 6 tables there so it's a good idea to make a reservation because you just never know how packed they are.

The service is good. They were patient with us since we took a bit longer to order. They also checked in on us a few times to make sure we're liking the food and didn't need anything else.

I'm quite honestly not readily excited to go back here anytime soon but I wouldn't mind going back maybe in a year or so!

Honestly, I really just wanted an ice cold beer after running 4+ miles on the sea wall towards English bay But then decided to get a small bite too.

The tacowasabi was okay it wasn't anything amazing.. i kind of wish the portion was a little bigger considering the price.

Tuna tataki felt like it was lacking seasoning but tasted super fresh nonetheless.

The beef tongue is honestly what really stood out to me. It felt like I was eating a piece of steak because the dam meat was so tender.. the sauce and fried onions were such a nice touch sweet, buttery, crispy and sour.

I'd definitely give this place another shot if I'm around English Bay.

Wow wow wow! Amazing service, atmosphere, and food! We loved every dish we got. Just be aware that their lunch and dinner menus differ.

Miso black cod: wow this dish was SO GOOD. The fish was soft, with great texture and the flavor with rice and the sides on the plate were so YUMMMM. My favorite lunch dish, it was the special for the day

Okonomiyaki: great texture, amazing flavor and I actually liked this a bit more than the takoyaki even though these are two different dishes

Pork cutlet: pretty good flavor and delicious with the sauce, cabbage, and rice. Could also be a bit juicier though. Overall a good dish

Salmon and tuna tataki: this was so delicious! Especially the ponzu sauce and crispy garlic added on top, yuuuum

IT WAS GUUD TO SEE YOU

Recently revisited @guu_izakaya and was reminded of why this place will forever have a special place in my heart.

The ambience, the service, and best of all--the food. Has never failed to satisfy my craving for Japanese food. I was first introduce to Guu when an ex of mine brought me to @guu_with_garlic years ago. And ever since that day this Izakaya has held a special place in my heart.

Their menu varies by location but you can be sure to find tons of Japanese izakaya classics like chicken karaage, sashimi, and a variety of appetizers.

I always order the tonkatsu with egg over rice if I go during lunch time. And their Unagi egg over rice is also *chefs kisses* genuinely the perfect spot for a casual date night or quick lunch.

Have you guys tried any of Guu's chain of restaurants yet?

*this post was not sponsored or gifted but please feel free to feed me @guu_izakaya *

8.5/10
‍10/10
$$ (aprox. $30-50/person)
Guu Izakaya | 838 Thurlow St, Vancouver

This place is like a Japanese tapas place. It's more for hanging out, drinking, and socializing. It's a great place, but slightly cramped. There's also an option to sit zashiki which we didn't partake in. We ordered a few things just to try some of what the restaurant had to offer. Overall everything was good, but nothing really stood out. Not a bad place to bring a group of friends.

Surprisingly I was able to get last minute reservations for a Friday night. (The other locations were all booked until late). Davie is a super cute area, not sure why this location wasn't too busy. Wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing.

Greeted quickly and our server was super friendly.

Salmon Tataki 3/5 - bland to me

Wagyu Tataki 3/5 - not the wagyu type of need I was thinking of...kinda tough

Grilled Attaka Mackerel 3/5 - bland and lots of bones in it, so hard to eat

Beef Tongue Steak Teppan 6/5 - the best dish of the night, super flavorful and the fries were icing on the cake! They were super crispy. I would try their other fries next time.

Carbonara Udon - 5/5 - super creamy and exactly as it sounds

Scallop Battera 5/5- super fresh and tasty

A seriously fun and delicious izakaya destination in a town packed with great dining options. Our party of 4 on a short vacation to the city for the very purpose of interesting dining found this to be one of our favorite stops in our 4 days here.

An almost endless array of small dishes, or tapas if you wish, that mostly pleased and surprised us. We found only one cold tofu dish to be the one that disappointed us, but by and large were delighted by our selections.

A couple of weeks have passed since our dine there but it stayed memorable. What we remember ordering: tune tatake enoki mushroom with cold tofu (the only dish we thought not interesting), Atalantic salmon belly special (superb!), Kimchi cucumber (the surprise hit of the evening, spectacular!), takoyaki, deep fried shishito peppers (delightful!), Takoyaki, moshi & shrimp gratin (crazy, and good!),una-meshi, atsu-age, premium garlic beef tongue. There was also a bi-bim-bap type dish that was stunning, complete with burnt rice to die for.

Service was impeccable, and at one point they had to clear dishes to make room for more of our order.

In short, a destination worthy of being sought out for a grand evening of dining. Casual, all credit cards accepted, easy to find in an area that's worth a stroll after dining. Very highly recommended.

Very busy place and maybe not for everyone. The menu was on the walls near the ceiling. Small shareable plates. The grilled squid, mackerel, and fried chicken were delicious. The calamari was okay. This place was super busy the entire time there but they were exceptionally quick at plating the food. NOT much in drinks unless you are a saki fan. It's our first time and we would really need to do this a few times to become familiar with this dining style.

Had very high hopes for this location. Aesthetically, this location has a great izakaya vibe. The decorations, seating, and overall atmosphere was very traditional feeling.

The food was not crazy expensive and overall was solid, but not amazing.

- Yellowtail - large slices, very rich, tasty - enjoyed a lot
- Porkloin Cutlet don - I wanted this to be more crispy, it was decent but felt soggy
- Karaage - mix of chicken pieces which took me by suprise, there was a total of 5 pieces, it was overall decent and not what I expected but not bad
- Black cod - tasty just a little too salty
- cheesecake - ok, nothing crazy unique, small slice for the price

The overall service was very polite when you were attended to, but not super attentive until you requested for something.

Overall, it was an enjoyable experience but was expecting a little more.

Food: 4/5
Service: 4/5
Ambiance: 5/5