Kaori Izakaya

They have the best customer service and food was really good and fresh. The service is fast and the server are very nice and accommodating

Decent spot for izakaya on Main St! Not busy at all when we went so very prompt service. Takoyaki came out nice and hot. Chicken skewers were just mediocre but the aburi sushi was really good! Squid rings were also delicious but wish it was a bigger portion.

I had a delightful experience at Kairo Izakaya. The food was delicious, and the cleanliness added to the positive atmosphere. We got prompt service when we arrive and no any delay/complaints during meal. Highly recommend!

Really good service, staff were very friendly and was able to get a table without a reservation. I expected there to be more skewers on the menu but their menu had lots of options. The beef tongue skewer was good but I guess I had higher hopes. Aburi set was my favourite. The scallop especially was delicious. Their crazy salmon roll was really good too, would order again. The okonomiyaki was not as tasty as i like. I think it was a little too cooked.

Kaori Izakaya totally rocked! The vibe is cool, feels like you're in Japan. The food? Super fresh and tasty - sushi and grill stuff on point. The folks working there are friendly and really make it feel authentic. If you're into Japanese food, Kaori is a winner!

The first time trying out this place was during the Covid lockdown and ordered a late night take out. We decided to give the place a dine in try out after a disappointing experience at Seiza a crossed the street.
We called to see if they have the specialty fishes available and they said yes so we asked to book a table. Finding pay parking on the street was pretty easy as the restaurant is located at the hip restaurant strip along Main Street.
We were greeted and promptly seated as we walked in. The restaurant looked pretty empty, only 2 tables with customer behind us. I would the restaurant has a casual atmosphere. Almost felt like a place for some late night drinking and casual hanging out place with your buddies.
Anyways, here were what we ordered;

1. 3 kinds is sashimi, pretty fresh and the toros were fresh and buttery, nice!
2. Salmon toro, tuna toro, chu toro, Hokkaido uni, chopped scallops, madai, foie gras, engawa aburi. Everything was good EXCEPT for the chu toro and albacore toro; I don't know what happened with the albacore toro nigiris because they were tasteless and dry but the toro sashimi were fresh and buttery. The chu toro weren't so fresh, that's unfortunate cause it's one of the reason why we came here.
3. Oden combo. The soup base needed abit more flavour and hotter for the soup. Also some mustard would be nice?!?
4. Fantastic roll. Pretty average roll, nothing to run home screaming about.

Overall, sooner or later was going to give this place a try so might as well get it over and done with to see if it can be a worthy option for future repeats. Unfortunately way too many other Japanese restaurants on the list to try or repeat. Plus for this price, I can think off the top of my head there are a handful of restaurants with better quality and ambience. I would say a soft 2.5 stars.

Was hungry and didn't like Seiza so decided to try this place because I saw someone's insta video about it being her favorite sushi. We all definitely have our own taste because it was not my favorite nor was a place I'd ever come back to.

There was only one server working the entire restaurant but I guess that's ok when there's only 3 tables (us included). One person came in and said he made a reservation and we chuckled.

Overall I'd say the quality is lower than Seiza across the street. So if you're not a fan of that, you're probably not going to be a fan of this. Ordered several items and it didn't taste the freshest.

We didn't get a ton of food because we wanted to see if it was decent before ordering more. Everything we ordered came out to over $80 which is quite steep considering the quality. They also had a board that said fresh oysters so we tried to order that and was told they didn't have fresh oysters today...so why have it on the board? It wasn't that they were sold out, they actually had no fresh oysters at all that day.

I won a $100 gift card to Kaori Izakaya and decided to take my friend there to celebrate her be-lated Birthday. I made a reservation for a Friday night but we ended up running late (I forgot my phone and had to run back home before going to pick up my friend) so called and asked if we could push our reservation to 6:45pm or 7pm. The staff were very gracious and said it wasn't an issue.

When arriving, the staff immediately greeted us, checked our vaccination status, and thanked us for calling ahead to let them know we would be late. The restaurant was only half full by the time we arrived right before 7pm but I could smell the aburi sushi flames and was hungry to start ordering.

My friend and I ordered tea for both, chicken karage, scallop motaoyaki, salon aburi sushi, saba aburi sushi, Special BBQ eel roll, two pieces of uni nigri, a grilled black cod, and a chirashi don. The chicken karage came in a large basket and it was fresh, juicy, and perfectly fried - so good! Next was the scallop motoyaki, a first for me. It was delicious, cooked perfectly, and wasn't swimming in mayo like oyster motoyakis usually are. Highly recommend ordering the scallops! Next were the saba and salmon aburi sushi. I'm not a big fan of saba but it wasn't too fishy tasting. I really enjoyed the salmon aburi and would definitely order again! The special BBQ eel roll was solid and I really savoured the fresh melt-in-my-mouth uni nigri. Last was the chirashi don that was a good size and full of assorted fresh sashimi. Lastly, the black cod was buttery soft but I couldn't taste much of the miso sauce it was supposed to be cooked/marinated with.

For two people, we definitely over ordered and struggled to finish all of our food. We weren't able to finish everything but ended up ordering an order of green tea ice cream to share.

Service was great and the staff were very friendly and efficient! Nice decor and ambiance - I could see why this place is so popular.

For all the food we ordered it came out to be $176 with taxes. Including tip, it worked out to be over $200. It was a bit for $200 but the quality of food and service was there. Plus, we had a $100 to help cover half the meal and we were celebrating a be-lated Birthday.

Thanks for my first experience, Kaori! I'll definitely be back!

Love love LOVE this sushi spot! My boyfriend and I discovered it at the start of Covid and it's been our takeout sushi go-to ever since (this and Tom's on Davie). It's super affordable too and the fish is always fresh. Sometimes I like to switch it up with an Udon or their Chicken Karage combo (their chicken is so juicy and flavoured nicely).
Their rolls are sizeable but not like overly so which I find a lot of cheaper sushi restos in Vancouver do to show value but Kaori knows how to show value without compromising the quality of sushi. Very impressed with this little joint. I'd love to meet the people behind it once Covid has cleared up as for now we're just doing take out so we haven't sat in yet. If you're on the hunt for a solid sushi spot, look no further!

One of our favourite places to go to! Really happy to see them open up again. We placed an order tonight and was surprised to find that they were offering a 10% discount for pick up orders. As much as we miss meet up with friends for LTE night here we are happy to be able to still enjoy their authentic Japanese flavours at the comfort of our home.