Mabui Sushi-Izakaya

I did not have a good experience with this restaurant.
First of all they weren’t open when they were supposed to be. I waited ten minutes and left.
I finally went and discover they charge for green tea. In many sushi places, particularly in the Vancouver area, green tea is free. Here it’s $ 2. Which is made worse by the fact that they are way overpriced. A yam roll is $ 5? A veggie roll is $ 10.75? The crispy roll I had was $ 7.50. That’s ridiculous.
I waited a long time for my yam roll. I was done my crispy roll and saw people who came in after me get their entire order and still I waited for my yam roll. When it finally came the roll was falling apart every time I picked up a piece. The roll was very loose and obviously hurriedly made. I get that good sushi is an art form, but if you charge more than any other sushi place in town it better BE the best sushi in town! This was not. I give it two stars because I only went once, it has a good atmosphere and the sushi tasted good, but I won’t be back.

Delicious! Friendly, generous and well presented. Wow! What a great lunch. I had the nigiri combo. It was fresh, sweet and tender. It literally melted in my mouth. Service was super friendly. They even gave me a complimentary appetizer, a lightly fried piece of salmon, that was incredible! I will definitely be back the next time I’m through town. Wow!

This is one of the best sushi places I’ve been, we had the lobster roll, I didn’t like the sauce. But everything else we ordered sashimi, and sushi were amazing and fresh.

A lovely little izakaya style restaurant!
We showed up without reservations and they still managed to squeeze our party of 5 that included 2 kids in for dinner by rearranging some tables.
They had a great selection of Japanese (fusion style) tapas which is what an izakaya in Japan would serve! Little plates of tasty treats! There were some traditional dishes like zarusoba (cold buckwheat noodles) that would be served in the summer and some great fusion dishes like the puripuri ebi (a sweet slightly spicy deep fried battered shrimp).
The service was lovely. Our waitress was prompt to refill glasses and brought out new dishes just as we were finishing the last ones.
I was happy to eat a few things that I haven’t had in awhile like the takoyaki which is hard to come by outside of Japan.
Don’t come here expecting huge western portions and western styled rolls although we certainly didn’t leave hungry and the price was quite reasonable. Do expect quality food and service. I’ll come again the next time I’m in kelowna.

This was a quaint little place. Almost like a hole in the wall restaurant. Not too many tables, but just enough for intimate dining. From the drinks to the spies and the main dish, we couldn’t complain. The food was well presented, and quite tasty. We had a 3 year old and an 8 year old and neither complained about the food. Everything was devoured.

Was way way below my expectations based on previous reviews. Been to many Japanese restaurants around the world and it’s fair to say this is the worse. Not worth it at all. Tempura was over cooked with stale oil. Toro sashimi was not fresh. Beef lunch set was way too salty. Fried chicken lunch set with the same over used and reused oil. And they even charge $ 2 for green tea that’s not even the right Japanese type of green tea. Everything about this place is off and the other nearby Japanese restaurant Bluetail Sushi was way better by a long shot, and we only went there last time because this place was not accepting new seatings at 8:30pm
One of their male staff came over and explained they were using 2^nd day oil for frying the tempura and chicken. That’s ridiculous, given that they were closed yesterday for July 1 Canada Day, so they kept the same oil used for 3 days straight.
Any other area with better choices for Japanese food, this place would be out of business in no time. Wished we could have donated the $ 58 lunch bill to charity instead, as we felt bad from all the food that was wasted from this horrible cooking.

Mabui has many interesting dishes to choose from. These are best shared between 2 – 3 diners. I ordered the Puri puri ebi mayo and Mabui chicken katsu which were recommended by the waitress. Very tasty.
If you like to sit up at the bar and watch the chefs s work this is not a good place for the wall is too high to see over.
The service was excellent. Very knowledgeable and friendly without being too chummy.

The food was good. Rolls were cheap. Many plates are small portions so you can treat it as sharing plates /​tapas style. Almost like a fusion restaurant with Korean and Chinese dishes on the menu. I liked the bolgogi beef.

My boyfriend and I showed up on a Friday at 5pm — just as they were opening for dinner. They asked us if we had reservations but we didn’t. Even so they were able to fit us in at one of the last non-​booked tables. Over the course of dinner, they even turned people away as the restaurant started filling up!
We ordered a yam roll, calamari, and a baked curry rice. The yam roll came quickly and while it didn’t have the size that I’m used to with Vancouver-​sushi, it had a great crunch and a flavourful taste. I found their selection of sushi to be small and a bit pricy. But this is to be expected when coming from Vancouver, I suppose.
The flash fried calamari was lightly battered, very fresh, and the aioli it came with was delicious! Even my boyfriend, who is occasionally skeptical of calamari, really enjoyed it.
The baked curry rice was piping hot, full of classic Japanese flavours, and had an abundance of melted mozzarella. I wish it was like a Chinese baked curry where it had lots of veggies and some kind of meat but what do I know?! Maybe that’s just how Japanese curries are. Either way, it was fantastic.
Fantastic service. Refreshing selection of Japanese cuisine. Everything we had was delicious. Highly recommend!

I have had a lot of sushi in my life living on the coast, but this is one of the best sushi places I have ever had the pleasure of eating at.
The staff was very pleasant and quick. Had the appetizer special which had 5 choices. We took the ginger beef, ebi and tuna, all three were fabulous and tasty.
After the appi’s we had the assorted sashimi (fresh and perfect) as well as a rainbow roll which was very good.
When my wife and I finished we wanted more so we ordered more of the delicious appi’s special.
Kudos to the chefs and staff you have done a great job and I am sure you will packed and the next time I come back I hope I can find a seat.

Amazing, amazing, amazing!!!
Best sushi I ever had. We were 4 people and ordered a lot of different things. Pretty much everything tasted amazing and fresh. Highly recommended! We will definitely be back at this amazing little place!

One word for this hole in the wall… fabulous!
Service is fast and friendly, pricing on par or better with comparable places.
I will be a repeat offender here on in.

I didn’t think the food was phenomenal. It was just average, nothing really special.

Good service. Good food. Toro nigiri was probably the best I have ever had. Ambience is nice. Can be used for a romantic date. Presentation of meals is very nice.

Ate here twice in 4 days. Maybe ALL Kelowna sushi is this good but wasn’t taking any chances. Loved loved loved the chicken thighs on skewers — jeez those things were ridiculous, as were the pork kimchee rolls and all of the sushi, without exception. certainly will be back and highly recommend.

I decided to come here for my birthday after seeing all the rave reviews. Maybe I was expecting too much, but I just thought it was ok. It is definitely more of an izakaya style than sushi. There is lots of cooked and fried items on the menu. The sushi was good. The eel roll (usually my favourite) was fishy. It was all good, just not the best I’ve ever had.
The service was just ok, which I don’t normally really care too much about as long as the food is good. But I definitely wouldn’t make a special trip here from the west side. We have sushi that is just as good over on this side. I guess if you are looking for more of an izakaya experience, you should go there, but I was on the hunt for the best sushi. It was good, don’t get me wrong, just not worthy of 5 stars by any means, but I guess living in Vancouver for all those years has spoiled me…

This is simply the best Japanese I have tried. The presentation, service, and flavours are incredible. I did not expect this level of food in a Kelowna strip mall!
As a vegetarian, this is one Japanese restaurant that is surprising. There isn’t the standard cucumber/​yam or veggie roll option here! Try the sunomono with avocado, the tofu steak (trust me!) It has balsamic and a stunning presentation. Surprisingly, it was some of the best tofu I have tried. The veggie roll features a soy wrap, and is light yet satisfying. I have tried many veggie features, most recently a tofu and mushroom dish that was delicate yet so flavourful.
I think Kelowna is catching on, as we usually grab a seat at the bar now when we get a craving. I’d call ahead!

Hands down the best sushi in Kelowna! Their customer service is really good too. One night when we went, the server asked how everything was. I indicated that i loved the food but the rolls were a bit fragile. To my surprise, half our meal not charged. i argued that the discount was unnecessary, but they insisted. i felt bad but clearly they value their customers. If you get a chance, this place is worth it!!!

We came here early July of this year (2013). I wasn’t quite sure what to order in the beginning since it’s not your typical «bento style» restaurant that you usually find.
We ordered Tonkatsu, Teriyaki Chicken, Crispy crunch roll (it was a hit!), Rainbow Roll, Assorted Tempura.
When our order came, I was blown away. I expect quite a bit when I go to Japanese restaurant (esp when it’s run by Japanese). I give this restaurant 5 stars for service, presentation, wait time, food, quality, you name it. This is what Japanese restaurant should be like!
Everything was delicious and even the price is awesome. I just wish we live in Kelowna!
I highly recommend them and will definitely come back here on our next Kelowna visit.

This is my second review of this great restaurant. I am not sure where the first one went to, but it is one of those rare finds that sushi lovers (and regular folk) need to know about!
It is the attention to detail that makes me keep wanting to go back. They get it right, from the presentation, to the taste and the service.