Guu with Garlic

Had very high hopes for this location. Aesthetically, this location has a great izakaya vibe. The decorations, seating, and overall atmosphere was very traditional feeling.

The food was not crazy expensive and overall was solid, but not amazing.

- Yellowtail - large slices, very rich, tasty - enjoyed a lot
- Porkloin Cutlet don - I wanted this to be more crispy, it was decent but felt soggy
- Karaage - mix of chicken pieces which took me by suprise, there was a total of 5 pieces, it was overall decent and not what I expected but not bad
- Black cod - tasty just a little too salty
- cheesecake - ok, nothing crazy unique, small slice for the price

The overall service was very polite when you were attended to, but not super attentive until you requested for something.

Overall, it was an enjoyable experience but was expecting a little more.

Food: 4/5
Service: 4/5
Ambiance: 5/5

This place is like a Japanese tapas place. It's more for hanging out, drinking, and socializing. It's a great place, but slightly cramped. There's also an option to sit zashiki which we didn't partake in. We ordered a few things just to try some of what the restaurant had to offer. Overall everything was good, but nothing really stood out. Not a bad place to bring a group of friends.

During my first night in Vancouver, I met up with my friend to get some Izakaya. Many people have recommended this place, so I wanted to give it a try. We came here on a Tuesday at around 7PM. Luckily, there was no wait, so we were seated at the bar area. We sat against the wall, so the space was a bit tight, especially, when trying to get in and out of your seat with other customers sitting near you.

Since we were both really hungry, we ordered 6 items to share:

-Beef tataki (sashimi) (5/5) - Light and refreshing.
-Chicken nanban (kaarage) (5/5) - Very well battered.
-Kimchi-udon (5/5) - I like how the kimchi was finely minced, making it easy to spread around the noodles. One of my favorites.
-Una-meshi (Unagi) (5/5) - The unagi was delicious! One of my favorites.
-Tontoro (Pork cheek) (5/5) - This is cooked well. One of my favorites.
-Saba (Mackerel) (5/5) - I wasn't expecting this to be a lot of fish. It took us a while to eat this. Super tasty.

We were really full and had barely finished all of our food. Everything tasted amazing! The service here was good. Since we sat at the bar area, they were able to easily serve us our food and take away any finished dishes immediately. The restaurant is bit small inside. Large groups aren't recommended. It does get super busy here. I would recommend checking this place!

Nice little izakaya on Robson street. It's convenient when you want to go to multiple restaurants since there is lots of restaurants close by.

Ordered chicken nanban, roast beef, oden and
Grilled saba. Oden soup had delicate flavor not over powering. I drank the whole soup! they must know how to make soup the right way. It's perfection. Nanban had this pickled plum? dipping sauce different from what I'm used to. I like tartar sauce:( Very thin slices of roast beef with onions and ponzu sauce? Delicious!!
Saba served with tomatoes, lemon and butter was not something I expected but was interesting I've never had before.

Lots of menu I need to come again and try!

After riding bikes around Stanley Park, we worked up an appetite. Guu with Garlic showed up on Yelp. 4.5 rating with over 1K reviews.

Cute small dining establishment. Ambiance is typical of what one would find in a small sushi house (sushi bar area, dining area with tables to accommodate parties of 2 or larger groups). There is even a private small dining area for those wishing to have close to a Japanese style dining where you sit on the floor, however, here they have these tiny/short footed stools where you sit like a couple inches from the ground.

Today, the had one woman handling the meal prep/cooking/plating and another woman working the dining area that brought out our meal and tending to our needs. Water kept flowing, so we didn't have to ask for more water. That's just something good to point out.

We ordered the asst. Sashimi Salad and the lunch special which consisted of the blacked grilled miso cod that came with rice, salad, miso soup, and two smaller portion appetizers.

COD was cooked in a way that it tasted like Sea Bass (my FAV fish!). Very satisfied with our meal.

Very busy place and maybe not for everyone. The menu was on the walls near the ceiling. Small shareable plates. The grilled squid, mackerel, and fried chicken were delicious. The calamari was okay. This place was super busy the entire time there but they were exceptionally quick at plating the food. NOT much in drinks unless you are a saki fan. It's our first time and we would really need to do this a few times to become familiar with this dining style.

Surprisingly I was able to get last minute reservations for a Friday night. (The other locations were all booked until late). Davie is a super cute area, not sure why this location wasn't too busy. Wasn't sure if that was a good or bad thing.

Greeted quickly and our server was super friendly.

Salmon Tataki 3/5 - bland to me

Wagyu Tataki 3/5 - not the wagyu type of need I was thinking of...kinda tough

Grilled Attaka Mackerel 3/5 - bland and lots of bones in it, so hard to eat

Beef Tongue Steak Teppan 6/5 - the best dish of the night, super flavorful and the fries were icing on the cake! They were super crispy. I would try their other fries next time.

Carbonara Udon - 5/5 - super creamy and exactly as it sounds

Scallop Battera 5/5- super fresh and tasty

Every dish here was so good. Service was great and fast. Reasonable prices, decent size portion. This Guu location is my favorite because it's the most authentic Japanese looking one.
This restaurant is very popular and there will usually be a wait. If you eat late, some of the popular dishes may be sold out.

During a March 2023 trip to Vancouver, my friend and I stopped at Guu with Garlic not once, but twice, because it was so good!

This little izakaya is AMAZING! The menu changes often, so I don't know whether anything we had is stays on the menu. Everything we had was amazing and we couldn't restrain ourselves from digging in before taking pictures of the dishes we ordered.

Both times we went, the restaurant was *very* busy. The restaurant puts up a wooden divider on 4-top seats if 2 folks are looking for a table.

There's lots of street parking within a few blocks. Definitely go to Guu with Garlic the next time you're in Vancouver!

Spectacular food and reasonably priced. Very fast service and good atmosphere. I would recommend tofu salad.