STEM Japanese Eatery

We lucked out getting a table spontaneously with our foodie friends. Great service. Cosy ambiance. We shared many dishes and loved it all. Recommend reservations. The menu changes with the season, so always something new to try along with new cocktails.

Solid authentic Japanese cuisine in Burnaby - a very enjoyable meal! Decor and ambiance here is suited for date nights or small groups.

We chose to order a la carte to create own set meal to our liking. Some nigiri pieces are set at higher price point, around $12 per piece so it could be better value to order the chef's recommended sashimi or nigiri sushi set.

Didn't choose omakase on first visits because I enjoy watching the chef at work when dining omakase style. Seeing the chef thoughtfully prepare and present each dish elegantly is a visual/sensory part that completes the omakase experience for me.

The small tables here place diners close together and the servers would be the one bringing out each dish. Value-wise, comparing final bill costs, omakase variety looked like a fine menu choice. And I may adjust expectations and order their omakase as if selecting a fancy tasting set meal combo and dismiss the "chef presentation or performance" part.

Stem Surprises:

1) Best Ramen

Been in the mood for ramen noodles lately. I was pleasantly surprised to discover this eatery with such excellent ramen. Perhaps I totally didn't expect theirs to be so much better than those ramen only restaurants in town. Their ramen noodles was 5 star - excellent pairing with duck and a perfectly boiled egg plus dipping soup. For this month, Stem definitely has my vote as serving my favorite Ramen in Vancouver!

2) Extensive beverage menu with varied choices of wines, sake and cocktails etc.

If memory serves me well, they had over 3+ pages of drinks to choose from. They even offer different sake flights at great value - I could visit here just for drinks and sushi if they extend their hours.

3) Walk-in success
I was happy we got seated within 10 minutes with no prior reservations as round 2 customers. (Lucky timing when first group paid bill and ready to leave.)

4) Dessert was homemade!
Delicious home made desserts was my must order item at the end of my meals to wrap up a wonderful dining experience beautifully. We ordered the matcha tiramisu and home made black sesame ice cream to share and both were good dessert choices.

5) Great menu diversity from sashimi to sushi to cooked fish and beef items and even some vegetarian options.

Honestly, I liked EVERY item ordered! (It's yummy foods when I was focusing on eating and didn't take photos of all dishes.) Some cooked dish such as the miso cheese eggplant was heavier in taste for me and I preferred to pair it with a bite of sushi rice; yet I rate this item's overall preparation & taste as excellent.

Since we are so blessed in Vancouver with a wide variety of Japanese cuisine, I may suggest ordering your favorite items to see if chef prepares it to your liking plus order a new item you've been wanting to try - hope you find a dish that brings you joys or stimulates your palate!!

Stem is a cozy place where one can eat yummy foods, enjoy favorite drinks, and be merry with good company :)

Tried their omakase 4 times in different seasons. Ingredients are always seasonal that's why their menu is always changing and different! Excitement every time!

Every dish was carefully designed and plated beautifully. There are some unique ingredients that you don't normally try in any other restaurant such as shiso blossoms, rare fishes, mini crabs, and ect you gotta experience yourself! I am pretty satisfied with most of the dishes except for their uni. I love uni and would always order uni whenever they are available. However, I found it a bit fishy and not as sweet even though they are imported from Japan. I have tried better Japanese and local uni somewhere else.

Overall, my experience is great there but might avoid uni until they are the better grade and quality.

I'd been wanting to try Stem Japanese Eatery for ages so I was super excited when my husband and I got to join a group of people from Lower Mainland Eats for dinner at Stem Japanese Eatery. The dishes here were so elegantly presented. Presentation, flavors and service were all very impressive.

Featured here:
Soba Crab Roll
Miso Cheese Eggplant
Sweet Potato Tempura
Local Duck "Tsuke Men"
Grilled Yuzu Soy Marinated Wild Sockeye Salmon
Chawan Mushi
Obanzai
Grilled Shoyu Koji Local Duck Breast
Grilled Miso BC Sablefish Collar
Renkon Hotate Shinjo Hasami - Age
Matcha Tiramisu

Only the first 5 dishes on this list belonged to us. The remaining dishes belonged to other people but everyone at the table was kind enough to allow us all to take photos of each other's food!

My husband enjoyed his Duck "Tsuke Men." He said the meat was tender and flavorful. Miso Cheese Eggplant was amazing! We both loved this dish sooo much. Sweet Potato Tempura also blew us away. It was incredibly crispy, didn't feel greasy and was accompanied by an amazing truffle aioli. We have been disappointed a number of times in the past when we ordered or purchased truffle foods and didn't taste any truffle in it. The truffle flavor in this aioli was very prominent so we were very happy with it.

The Sockeye Salmon dish was cooked and served in a Staub Cocotte which was a cast iron dish, slightly smaller than an average sized Dutch oven. I loved how piping hot this dish was. It was great for warming the belly plus the Ikura (salmon caviar) really added another dimension of texture and flavor to the dish. The sensation of the Ikura popping in my mouth was similar to the feeling I get when I bite down on boba poppers, and I love boba poppers!

Soba Crab Roll was the one dish that was just OK for us. It was more impressive visually than it was when we popped it into our mouths. There was nothing wrong with it, but it just didn't really excite us either.

When my cup was empty I asked for more hot water, so our server refilled my cup. I was impressed when she came around later in the evening and refilled it again, without me having to ask this time. Many other restaurants will only refill if/when I ask, or else...they don't even refill at all.

Service: Excellent
Parking: Free parking on the street
Location: 5205 Rumble St., Burnaby, BC

Disappointing Service Despite Great Food

I had a great experience at this restaurant last year, so I decided to make a reservation to celebrate my birthday dinner here. Unfortunately, this visit was a huge disappointment due to the terrible service.

We ordered two duck breast dishes, clearly pointing them out on the menu to our waitress. When the food arrived, we noticed that we were served a completely different fish dish. We immediately pointed this out to the same waitress who took our order, and her response was unbelievably dismissive: "Oh it's not what you ordered? But you can still eat it right?"

This response was incredibly disrespectful, condescending, and unprofessional. We were left with no choice but to eat the dish we did not order. On top of that, they even charged us for the incorrect dish.

The food was excellent as always, and the host was kind, but the way the waitress handled the situation ruined our experience. If offered, I had no problem waiting a few extra minutes for the correct dish, but that was not even an option.

I hope the service improves, until then I cannot recommend this restaurant as highly as I once did.

The food was authentic Japanese and well done. The service was excellent and the ambiance is like a izakaya in Japan.

Pretty good quality for Japanese food. Super delicious. The take out menu and the eat in menu are totally different. B lives walking distance from Stem and we decided to do take out instead. I ordered the miso sablefish colar and B got the meat lover. For an extra $5 each we made our meals into bento boxes. The total came to $55.65. We were also with our friend C and she got the meat lover bento boxes as well and also an order of the miso cheese eggplant. I tried some of her miso cheese eggplant and it was super delicious. I liked how the cheesy flavor blended in perfectly with the miso flavor.

My miso sablefish was super delicious. It was chared to perfection. I really like the outer crispiness. It was very flavorful. The bento box came with premium high end Koshihikar rice. It also came with Dashi Egg Omelette, Potato Salad, Fried
Prawn, Gomaae, Daikon Beer Pickles and Nanban-Zuke along with the main entry. I would definitely go back again.

Note that the dine in menu is pricier than the take-out menu. If you want to do take-out, you need to place the order before 4 pm on the day of pick up.

Hey don't go here. Good luck getting a seat unless you book your table 1,000,000,000 years in advance. The omakase WILL MAKE YOU CRY ITS SO GOOD. The plating is spectacular, the flavours just destroy your senses. I can never say anything bad or what would make you not want to go. Watch for available cancellations and book in advance.

Amazing japanese fusion, the decor was excellent. Restaurant is high end so be prepared to spend!

Price is high but perfect for date night or a special occasion. Food is amazing and the service is ok.