Hapa Izakaya

One of my favourite places in Yaletown is to eat Hapa as I love Japanese izakaya food. They have now extended the happy hour between 4pm-6pm which is awesome and you can take advantage of the 50% appetizers and daily drink specials. Also, they have unique dishes for their fresh sheet menu every day. The staff is pretty cheerful and pretty flexible on request such as allergies.

My favourite dish on the menu has to be the Yaki Udon as I love the fried noodles. Few of my other favourite dishes are the tuna avocado salsa dip with deep friend bananas, ebi mayo, and the Negitoro. Really tasty selection. In regards to drinks, I like to order the code sake, triple premium with a few friends to kick start the evening.

The only feedback I have for the Hapa Yaletown venue is that it's smaller then their coal harbour location so be sure to make reservations during peak restaurant hours especially on weekends.

A great Japanese tapas spot in Yaletown!

I recently went on a trip to Vancouver with my team for the Concord Pacific Dragon Boat festival and since we had a big group, it was tough trying to find places in the area to accommodate 20+ of us. Luckily when I inquired about reservations for a big group at Hapa Izakaya, Justin and his team were able to make it work. However, I do would like to add that we did reserve on a Thursday night.

For my table, we ordered a lot of tapas and they were all so good! Some of my honorable mentions include soy honey garlic wings, mentaiko poutine, and the takoyaki. Though I had many soy garlic wings in my life, I felt like this one took the cake for me since it was so crispy and full of flavor yet the batter was so thin, which I prefer. The mentaiko poutine was creamy and had so much mentaiko on it. The takoyaki was huge and crispy, you really cannot go wrong with takoyaki (also it was a happy hour deal item since we came on a Thursday). I also ordered their Hello Kitty cocktail (definitely got it because of the name) and it was so good! It was a vodka base mixed with strawberry puree, Calpico and soda. For my own entree, I ordered the Kinoko Ishi-Yaki which was a hot stone bowl rice dish with a variety of mushrooms. It was a very savory and umami dish however I wished I saw more variety in the enoki mushrooms since I only was able to spot a few enoki mushrooms.

I also want to give a shoutout to Justin and Kaede (our server) for being so accommodating and nice to our table and our entire group! The service was truly amazing and made our group feel super welcomed.

Lovely place. Dark dim lighting, setting a romantic ambiance. Happy hour has great selection of food, some of which are full entrees! We got the curry beef udon and it was extremely creamy and filling. The waitress helped us mix it up at the table once she brought it over.

Great patio in the summer! Decent food and good service. I enjoyed the beef tataki and sushi dishes. Cocktails are also great as well.

One line review: Great heated patio, terrific service, okay food.

Here on the end of the covid emergency, we still need to be careful and are always thankful for a nice, openair patio. Hapa Izakaya has a beautiful, well-heated one.

My wife and I split the green beans, the Ebi Mayo, and a couple of their stone pot rice bowl meals. She also had a beer, which she said was good. The food was beautiful but otherwise average. Particularly disappointing: The rice in the stone bowls never developed that crispy 'crust' that is point of the stone bowl!

The hostess and our server were excellent and gave us first-class service. We were treated very well.

Parking in Yaletown is often at meters and can be pricey. It pays to hunt a bit, as prices vary from free to $6/hour. We found parking about two blocks away for $3/hour.

Bottom line: A bit pricey for the quality of food, but we did enjoy the patio and our time here. We would consider coming back.

Hapa has been around in Vancouver for as long as I can remember. It's the spot where people have their birthdays, and all types of celebrations mostly because they allow seating of larger parties. I do like that about them! What I also like is their hapa hour because the pricing is amazing for such great food. I love to order the beef tataki, chipotle beef ishi-yaki and a beer there after work and it's the perfect way to end off a busy day.

Excellent service, food, and ambiance. Popular spot. They offer pictures with each menu item. Full bar. Vibey. Fun inventive takes on Japanese small plates, but still has traditional favorites. I highly rec both my orders pictured below.

Kon'nichiwa!

Caught the tail end of Hapa Hour aka Happy Hour = sign me up I'm in!!!

Gosh I haven't been here in a minute aka years!

Have a look at my review from 20 years ago ... sike! I wish!

Last time I ate at HI, was at their Robson Street location (now closed) & they had that yoga type pose seating were your legs freeze up & you lose all feeling below the waist.

Now here in Yaletown where Hapa Izakaya is located, similar vibe minus the yoga pose seating.

I've posted dozens of pix of this neighbourhood so have a look at your convenience = see Yaletown-Roundhouse Station page.

The interior of HI is very dark almost gloomy.

I was pleasantly surprised to hear wicked 90s tunes playing via the overhead speakers & that really lightened the mood.

All the hits were being played & the memories flooded my mind ... good times!

Yelpies have had mixed experiences here I see.

Fortunately, mine was on point all good.

Was I just lucky?

The waitresses who served us were charming & made great suggestions.

I did find that Japanese yelling salutation whenever someone walked in to be a bit unnerving though.

Maybe it could be toned down a bit to 1 short word!?!

Not fun when I'm taking a bite of food & there's a sudden yell blasting into my ear!

Regardless, the food was banging & super tasty.

I started wondering why I hadn't been here in so long!?

My Whisky Sour had a good kick to it, & food wise please try the - Beef Tataki, Ebi Mayo, Negitoro, Spicy Tuna Roll & the KINOKO ISHI-YAKI!

Wow the last one - rice & wicked oyster mushrooms = aaahhh mazing!

An often missed food menu gem, according to our waitress!

Definitely give HI a chance next you're in Yaletown!

Nagaiai a tte imasendeshita ne.

On this #ThankYouThursday, I'm directing my thanks and love to Hapa Izakaya and their owner, Justin.

Over the past 15+ years, Hapa has been the spot where my friends and I have celebrated everything from birthdays to engagements, as well as pregnancies to celebrations of life. It's also been the place we've drowned our sorrows after a tough week in the office or just needed to get out of the house.

The food remains top notch and while the staff has changed over the years, they continue to bring it every night and do a fantastic job adding to the ambience. It's always a lively and exciting time at Hapa.

Thanks and cheers to you, Hapa Izakaya! Kanpai!

Really great vibe! Mostly seeing groups of friends with a few couples here and there. Not for kids, more for a casual night out. Get a sitter!Tried a few dishes and the best was the pork belly lettuce wraps! Don't waste your stomach real estate on rice or noodles, order more of the smaller dishes! Happy hour starts at 9pm!
Washrooms are clean but super creepy.....typical of a club-like place.
I gave this a five rating because the vibe is worth it!

The last standing location downtown!! Good food, good music and good vibes, and the servers are super sweet. The Hello Kitty cocktail is the best! Just giving them 4 stars instead of 5 because sometimes the lettuce the give you for the pork belly lettuce wraps (delicious) is .. unwrapable (see pics) but if that doesn't bother you or you won't order that, I still recommend it. It's so cute and cozy. It won't stop me from going back, or ordering this again, but have to be honest that it's not quite "perfect" sometimes. They also have a great late night happy hour after 9. If you love millennial mix tapes like me the music is a whole viiiiibe. Takes me longer to eat here because I'm too busy singing along with their awesome 2010's playlists. It definitely gives authentic Izakaya vibes, and I think they have the best short ribs in the city (not pictured as the person I went with doesn't eat beef and the dishes are made for sharing!) Location is great and convenient as well, and parking is not bad at all in the area. It's definitely a go-to when I don't feel like putting much effort into thinking of somewhere new to try