Takenaka

Came here for a Yelp event thoughtfully put together by Anushka (Yelp Vancouver Community Manager) and Yumi (General Manager, Takenaka).

Yelpers Danielle K, Adrienne M, and Saakshi P dined with me and some of our favorites included: salmon aburi sushi, uni soba, uni chawanmushi, and karaage!

Service was prompt and very friendly. I can't wait to try the Takenaka uni bar which opened last week!

I'm going to be honest..

I thought the chirashi bowl was really mid compared to what I've had so far in Canada. I was pretty disappointed because I've heard so much hype about this place. The prices are super affordable and it isn't too busy either.

The "set" was totally bang for your buck. It came with a variety of "chefs choice" udon and your choice of onigiri. The Onigiri here is what everybody comes for so I'd definitely recommend that if you're coming for the first time. You're better off getting a chirashi bowl at Raisu by paying just a little more.

Now I don't want to give this rating a 3/5 because I haven't tried all their onigiri yet and their service was so friendly. The design of this place is simple and chill. You order your food at the cashier, get your number, grab your own water and wait for your food to be brought out. I really like this casual but trying to be a high end dining vibes.

This place is fantastic Best Miso soup ever had and it's a bottomless bowl
The lunch special is wonderful if a bit expensive at $26 but still well worth it
Great service and cool location

I highly recommend the lunch set. It changes everyday, but our meal came with braised pork and egg, matcha soba, tamagoyaki, salad, and soup. It comes with one onigiri at standard price. The braised pork was okay but the matcha soba was my favorite.
By themselves, the onigiri are a good size, though one isn't fully filling. We got the chicken karaage, grilled unagi and egg yolk, and salmon and ikura. Each of them are filled very generously, though the unagi could use more sauce.
The Takenaka soda is comprised of butterfly pea earl grey tea and calpico. I wouldn't call it a soda, more like a virgin cocktail. It's not super sweet and has an eccentric taste.

We went for their breakfast special on our first morning in Vancouver, and it was a great meal before going up to the suspension bridge.

The cafe/restaurant is in an odd area and the area probably seems a bit nerve-wrecking for non-locals, but the food is definitely worth the trip!

Their onigiri is so worth very cent, and I love that they have free refills on their miso soup! The onigiri is also a great size. One each was more than enough for my sisters and I, and the breakfast tray came with japanese pickles, salad, and miso soup so we left happy and full!

Will definitely would love to visit Takenaka again whenever we're back in Vancouver!

Takenaka has been a place that's been on my radar since 2019-ish, from when they were operating out of that same East Georgia location out of Coho commissary as a takeout bento box/chirashi type model.

I actually didn't know they took over the whole space in recent, and I'm shocked it was only my first time there! As per usual I feast with my eyes and am Always attracted to the multiple side dishes in Japanese cuisine. I opted for the lunch bento box, featuring a nice roster of their side dishes of the day. I chose to upgrade the bento to consist of my favorite onigiri filling (100p worth), all else a classic salted onigiri is included to complement all the sides.

I was very happy that none of the side dishes were overly salty, The braised pork of the day was very enjoyable it was slightly sweet and balanced with a slight tanginess cutting through the meatiness of the dish. The bento was very well portioned I was able to sample a little bit of everything and it was just the right amount to fill me up. I am super eager to come back on a regular day just for an onigiri and their seasonal specials.

Takenaka has officially become one of my favorite places to eat. I have visited their food truck a few times before, so I'm super excited to finally go to their first restaurant! I went there two times in the span of two weeks lol.
I got their lunch special set during my first visit.
The set includes:
1 Onigiri, 1 Today's Dish, 2 Small Dishes, Salad and a Miso soup.
You are also able to upgrade your onigiri to the ones that have fillings. I updated mine to a soy marinated egg yolk onigiri and added an extra uni & crab onigiri! Everything in this lunch set tasted so good. I love the variety of dishes since it satisfies my desire for different flavours. The onigiris are also amazing, there's way more filling inside than I expected and the onigiri itself is actually quite big. I highly recommend getting the soy marinated egg yolk one!
Since we don't have as much onigiri or japanese set lunch restaurants in Vancouver, I do think the food here is pretty decent. I can't wait to go again and try other onigiris!

Love the Japanese breakfast. Opens early at 8am...more time for the food crawl in Van! Delicious food. Even has frozen ramen for purchase.

I wasn't gonna go here since its in east van in what I think is an industrial area. But once I got here I was pleasantly surprised to feel like I was transported to a cute Cafe in Japan.

Everything I ordered was delicious and I really enjoyed all the small tapas like dishes. They were small but were very flavourful and unique. We ordered way too much food but ended up with alot of takeout for our happy bellies. I found the prices to be very reasonable for what you get and the quality is superb. Everything was so fresh like it came from the farmers market! A must when in vancouver!

This Japanese-owned restaurant is a place I go for lunch maybe 2 to 3 times in a month. It is located in an area with some warehouses and factories but usually there is a queue of customers waiting to be seated. The casual ambient with sufficient light from the windows makes people feel comfy. They also have tables outside the entrance if you want more fresh air.

This restaurant features their onigiri with plenty of choices with the ingredient. If you order their combo, miso soup is free refill. In particular I recommend their Obanzai set with many mini dishes of foods such as duck breast meat slides, mantaiko (fish roes), egg roll, etc. They all taste good and look cute. The mini onigiri and miso soup can be refilled.

Customers have to order foods at the cashier and they would deliver the meal to your table. The servers would describe the ingredients of the meal and come back to ask if you want refill for the soup.

They also serve various of beverages and coffee. Overall I have a great experience with their quality in meal and services and highly recommend this place for onigiri-lovers.

Came here during their lunch hour and WOW what a wait--it must have been one hour. We wanted to get their lunch special set, which they only serve as dine-in.

I got the special lunch set with an unagi onigiri. There was barely any unagi in it for the amount of rice they give. But it actually turned into a good thing because the wagyu hamburg curry was SO salty. I took rice from my onigiri to mix in with the curry and it was still too salty, albeit better.

Despite being doused in salt, the hamburg was quite delicious. So soft for my mouth--a textural wonder. I'd come again for this dish (hopefully with plenty of rice lol). However, I wouldn't order onigiri here again as they don't do anything spectacular from a traditional onigiri. It's very costly for something so simple I can make at home.

It's nice that the miso soup is unlimited though! My partner must have drank like five bowls. I have cute pictures of her trying to flag the waitstaff down for her refills lol.

Service was okay as it was extremely busy. The space is really cramped, tables are right next to each other. A surprisingly nice and spacious washroom though.