Hanako Japanese Restaurant

As much as I love Bellingham, there is nary a sushi restaurant that lives up to Seattle sushi spots such as sushi kashiba.

Hoping to find great nigiri I turned to my fellow yelpers. Hanako sushi came up with great reviews and boy were they right. Hanako's sushi delivered on all aspects. A short drive from northern Washington to Surrey, BC you'll find this amazingly delicious sushi spot- Hanako sushi!

The restaurant itself is small, maybe 20 people can fit at the tables with another 6 at the bar.

The service was incredible. The server was so nice and accommodating. She even gave us a salmon collar, no charge, since there was a large table. The collar was great, perfectly cooked. If I had to find one thing to be improved, it would be that the salmon itself was small- I wanted more!

The standout of the night for me was the sablefish nigiri. Beautifully seared, topped with yuzu kosho and green onion. The fish was melt in your mouth tender!

I cannot wait to go back and try the uni (they sold out to the large table). The prices here are great for the quality! 100% am going back!

Do yourself a favor and visit surrey for Hanako sushi!

We came here for a late dinner on a weekday. The food and service were still good as we showed up near closing. We ordered their limited menu item - the fresh crab salad. It's highly recommended if you love seafood. It was fresh and flavourful. It's layered on top of taro chips. An unique combination of flavours. We also ordered an assorted sashimi dish consisting of yellow tail, tuna, & salmon. The food was served fresh even though we arrived close to closing. They offer appetizers, salads, various rolls, & udon noodles. Service was great! Nice & simple ambience!

You'll find great value at excellent prices here! I'll be back for more crab salad!

I have heard lots of good things about Hanako and I wanted to try this Japanese restaurant for a very long time. Unfortunately, the first time I went there they were closed the holidays and the second time I went there they were doing renovations. Finally third time the charm.

The restaurant itself is super small. Their menu is very limited but I guess they only serve what they are good at making. their ingredients are very fresh. Prices are pricier than many Japanese restaurants

We got the:
salmon battera - this one was very unique. it was seared like I was expecting. It had a lemon flavor taste to it
chopped scallop- I was made with a generous amount of chopped scallop and the scallop was very fresh.
salmon sushi - this was made with wild salmon. Very fresh and tasty
beef tataki - This was a very light dish. I really enjoyed the flavor. Ponsu sauce balanced very well with the beef
spicy salmon - Not too spicy. Portion size is small. It was tasty and somewhat tasted similar to say California sushi and etc.
unagi sushi - nice presentation. nothing too special
ebi sushi - nice presentation. nothing too special

Overall ingredients are very fresh. However the price is definitely much more expensive than the sushi restaurants in the area. The service is somewhat slow. I have noticed it took them a long time to get us tea and to take our order.

This seems to be a family business. The hostess is very nice, the ambiance is subdued but great. The food is super fresh and spectacular. The seafood cooler is visible in front of the sushi bar and you can watch the chef work. He is an Artist!

A lot of the Japanese restaurants in our neighborhood are actually owned and operated by non Japanese people, typically Korean. While some make good food, nothing compares to the work of Hanako's chef. It is a little pricey but it is also a LOT of quality.

I believe the last time I came here was many years ago and meaning to come back for awhile now but each time I came by either they are closed for holiday or renovations.
Called in advance to make sure they are opened and what I wanted to order first otherwise be off to my backup option, the Vault restaurant. The waitress confirmed they had everything I wanted to order, great!
Parked in front as parking was free for patrons of the plaza. Walked in and offered seatings at the sushi bar as all the tables were occupied. The restaurant itself is quite small so rather then wait we might as well be seated at the sushi bar and watch the chef in action. The service was super slow because we didn't get water or anything until almost 15 minutes after being seated. I could see that they are very under staff because only 1 waitress, 1 kitchen staff, and the chef/ owner himself. Food were crawling out slowly but could be easily fixed if take a breather and readjust the system a bit cause I own and managed enough businesses when encounter such under staff situations to know.
Anyways, here were the food we ordered;

1. Kani (real crab) sunomono. Thank goodness finally a restaurant uses real crab chunks and not crab flakes that tastes like tissue paper. Just a tiny bit more season on the vinegar would be perfect!
2. Appetizer tempura. Nice light crisp, good!
3. Soft shell crab. Nice light crisp to retain the nice texture of the soft shell crab so that's good but lack flavour. Perhaps a bit of seasoning would be good.
4. Assorted sashimi. Quite a decent portion but too basic for $38, perhaps a better selection of fishes would be nice.
5. Nabeyaki udon. The udon noodles were a bit overcooked and the broth was slightly too salty.
6. Sable fish nigiris (aburi). Fresh and little seared brought out the taste nicely
7. Uni nigiris. Looked fresh but didn't have that nice sweet clear taste.
8. Shima aji,madai, ikura, tamago nigiris. Everything fresh and always enjoy homemade tamago.
9. Toro, bluefin Akami, chu toro, o-toro nigiris. The toro nigiris were still a bit frozen so didn't quite get the full buttery taste of them. The Akami was a little on the less fresh side, I personally wouldn't have served it, not worth making that extra few dollars. The chu toro and O-toro were fresh and buttery especially the O-toro.
10. Hanako roll. It was okay.

Overall, it's a cozy little place but wish they had a few more staffs to simmer down the wait time. The services were friendly and much appreciated that the owner/ chef apologized for the wait time in between dishes before we left. I would say to be fair and honest, considering everything, a solid 3 stars?

Don't get me wrong this place is great and I would strongly recommend. I'd definitely go back as well, but my expectations were higher after reading reviews...etc.
The rolls are really small and there are only 6 pieces in each order. I tried their blue fin tuna nigiri which was delicious, to die for. I guess I should've ordered more nigiris.
Had gomae and agedeshi tofu to start and they were both very average.

Clean and fresh seafood , very skillful owner chef , price is higher than sauce overload Roll of Korea owner Japanese restaurant , but worth every penny , chirahsi is first class ( price is also first clas

First time visit here. Wasn't too busy for a week night. Service was polite, food delivery was reasonably prompt. We ordered the traditional miso soup and ebi sunomono to start. Both delicious. Particularly nice was the Ebi with two large prawns flayed,and even the seaweed was delicious (not to salty).
Ordered Nigiri with unagi, dynamite roll and oshiko.
The first two were delicious. The oshiko had something leafy added (can't recall the name) but gave it a perfume type taste. I performed a manual extraction on remaining pieces. Suggest asking them Not to add this if you order.
Overall experience was generally good. But one suggestion to staff, please ensure you ask all parties at the table what they want to drink. Not just one and assume everyone else will be the same. My wife was quite offended. Not a good way to start a meal!

Hands down the worst service I've had in a restaurant for a long while.

I walk through the door with 2 others and there's obviously a table free.

The mom from the mom & pop duo running the place didn't even look at us. No greetings, nothing just blanked us as though we weren't there.

The place was busy but it's small, with only a few tables, so there's no excuse for being so run off your feet that you can't even greet a customer when they walk through the door.

10 mins later, after a couple of sets of potential customers had come in, been ignored and left, we were finally seated.

The waitress roughly wiped the table with a rag & set down some dirty looking menus with about 1/2 the items blanked out as unavailable.

As we sat down she asked to see ID and vaccine passports but then walked away immediately and didn't return for another 5-10 mins.

She checked the IDs and then went away for another 5-10 mins. We tried to flag her down a few times but she was running around like she hated life itself, trying to serve drinks, serve food etc. to other tables.

We managed to flag her down & asked if certain menu items that were Sushi restaurant staples, were available. She scowled at us 'NO' and walked off again for another 10 mins before we managed to flag her down again & ordered our food.

We were on the brink of walking out but we were by now starving hungry so decided to give them a chance.

Boy did we make a big mistake! A sashimi platter came out after maybe 10-15 mins? It was standard fare. Nothing special, but we ate it super fast as we waited so long for it.

Also, as the soy sauce bottle on our table was empty I asked for a refill. The waitress walked over the the table behind us (who were only just finishing their meal), grabbed the soy sauce bottle from that table & slammed it down in front of me without wiping it or sanitizing it. Just bad attitude for daring to ask her for something.

Then, off again, running around like a headless chicken and no food came for over 20 mins. The sushi platter. Again we ate it quickly as we were hungry and by now had been in the restaurant for about an hour.

Then another 10-15 mins wait for the few individual pieces of nigiri we ordered.

We tried to ask for the bill right away as the form was whatever you asked for didn't arrive for ages and we were right. After watching the waitress in the back washing up things, wiping tables, give somebody else their bill, even though they asked for it after we did, I flagged her down again & repeated the request for the bill.

Maybe 20 mins after we first asked for the bill it arrived. We paid and left.

No 'thanks' or 'good night'.

The food tasted ok. Nothing special, but I did have a bad belly by the time I got home. I hadn't eaten anything else that evening and felt fine up until then, I figure it's from something they served me.

I'll never return & cannot recommend such a rude establishment.

Great place. My go to place. The sushi is always fresh. Very authentic food. I have never been dissapointed o