Sui Sha Ya Japanese Restaurant

I’m not sure what the others have experienced in the past but this is what I have experienced dining here. the service is ok and manageable but not necessarily what you can call excellent. besides, you can’t expect much from young staff who are only doing this as a part time job while not at school. so I’m more lenient to the staff as long as they are polite and not just standing around completely ignoring you. to me, those are the only qualities that I would give a restaurant a bad rating immediately without any hesitation. the place looks like a dungeon and very gloomy. it needs some change in persona and atmosphere. although I do appreciate that this branch is not too busy which I hate a lot. food is very good and your typical japanese restaurant. if I want to eat a lot at a decent price, I will definitely come here.

I don’t understand why people go to AYCE restaurants, then down-​rate the food/​service.
The prices are mainstream for its location and food. It has a larger menu selection than most AYCE sushi places, and the food isn’t bad. I actually found it pretty good!
Service is service; if you hide in a corner table and never ask for anything, you don’t get good service (shocking!). If you ask the waiter/​waitress, you get drink refills, etc. Just like any other busy AYCE place I’ve ever been to.
I don’t know how well this place stacks up during the dinner rush, but I come during late-​night and I have enjoyed two good meals here.

I was told the resto has good dishes for an eat-​all-​you-​can… They were wrong! worst service and not so good food. I’ve been to good ones and cheaper. It felt like I was rushed to eat faster to make our table available… Geez! as if they had a line up at door. Very poor and not recommended.

Came here with a group of 8 people for dinner on a weeknight and were seated quickly.
Food:
Nothing special, I’ve always liked the Chicken Teriyaki. Nigiri was ok, rolls were meh, and the sashimi was an embarassment.
Ambience:
Stall was average I guess. Nothing fancy, looked a bit worn down. Wasn’t exactly quiet but it’s AYCE.
Service:
HOO BOY. Another bad experience. Went up to the counter to pay and asked for the bill to be divided separately. The lady said «23-​something» and then said ”so each person pay 26″ at which point my jaw put a dent in the floor. If only I was in a crappier mood… I cannot believe an AYCE joint would feel so entitled to a tip that they would simply TELL US how much we needed to pay in order to cover it. What an absolute joke. I mean what Japanese restaurant would have the audacity to add their own tip onto the total and hope to get away with it? Here’s your answer.
NEVER, EVER eat at a Mainlander-​owned Japanese restaurant. I’m embarrassed to even be associated with these people. It kinda worked out in the end though we all left before the lady could even notice that 2 of us hadn’t even paid yet.

this place had its better days, I went there for lunch — the server was rude, menu had less choices, thin slices of fish, and when I complained the rude server to the front desk — the female staff said «what do you want!» in challenging tone instead of a «sorry» tone — sorry to say, this place is no longer my favourite restaurant. I could see why each time I see less customers there than previous visits. Close this place !
One star for relatively lower price for senior, one star for last place still give you full oyster in its shelf. better elsewhere …

We have had some good meals here when it first opened. The sushi was good and well presented. The fish was fresh for what we ordered. After a number of years at that location, the condition of the restaurant, serving plates, etc need to be updated to give it a fresh and clean feel. The food is good (in a moderate sort of way) and the service is non-​inspiring. So, if your hungry and in the area, it would be a moderate choice for the money.

Things didn’t appear to be different even after many years of not coming here. The sign, the décor, the wait, even the prices practically ensured nothing had changed. But this of course is just a façade as a recent visit confirmed what I had been hearing as of late — this place is disgustingly filthy.
Most if not all of my previous experiences were in the Japanese style private booths, where the only way to get in and out is to step or crawl into the seating area. This meant the bottom of our shoes collectively scuffed the seats and over years of shoe scuffage makes the booth a cesspool of nastiness. If it’s hard for customers to get in and out, it only means it’s even harder for the staff to get in to clean it.
Our table looked as if it was clean, shiny and practically embossed, it came as a surprise to my guests when the table was unbearably sticky. Bubble gum had nothing on the surface of this table, it was just one giant adhesive, presumably from the accumulation of grime and grease. There was no worry of items shifting around, this table provided the grip for everything from cups to napkins to plates. At one point I had draped the entire end of the table with napkins to keep my forearms from touching.
The menu looks to have the same prices from the last 10 years. It also seems to have the same stains as well. The lamination was breaking down and it seems the food had somehow snuck it’s way into the plastic, almost like a makeshift scratch-​n-​sniff menu.
My cup had a little bit of food as well, dried out pieces of rice stuck to the side made for an interesting texture. After switching out several stained seating mats, I realized there were food crumbs, dust, and dead bugs all collected along the rims of the wall and seats. It’s one thing to see it at a restaurant, it’s also another to actually sit in it.
The food was nothing more than a mediocre Japanese food extravaganza. The sushi was remarkably smooth, but disturbingly warm. Gyoza was almost gummy, all stuck together like it stayed in a pan for too long. The surf clams were just a seacup of baked mayo with some sour seafood bits within. Though the fish jaw was the crowd favorite, it was merely the standout of a lackluster spread. It all felt frozen or precooked, with no hint of freshness or anything unique, the only thing missing was the crew from Kitchen Nightmares and Gordon Ramsey.
Years of popularity for some establishments sometimes translates to years of neglect. Some places are willing to cut corners to continue the high profits without maintaining the growth. The added pressure of a half hearted cleaning job and quick food preparation, while rushing customers out, is only sure to create more bad experiences along the way. And while I hope for the best, it’s only a matter of time before Sui Sha Ya crashes and burns.

This place is located inside the Lansdowne Shopping Centre, and is pretty good. I always come here when I am visiting Richmond from the states.
I haven’t been here for a while but when I was there, I would always get their surf clam sushi. This piece is really yummy and is actually sweet, where as the other places ive been to, the surf clam has no taste to it.
One star off because their service isn’t as great. No one talks to you, no one smiles.

One of the awesome things about living in Vancouver is that we have some of the cheapest and most plentiful sushi in the WORLD. Yes, we even beat out Japan. AYCE sushi was and still is a large part of my life.
Sui Sha Ya has been here for a good few years at this location, and is a staple. The food is run of the mill, and service is actually pretty decent.
The reason why I give this place 3 stars instead of 4 is that their nigiri sushi fish slices are razor thin. In other words, the fish to rice ratio is lower than other places that charge the same price.
We come by here every once in a while to mix things up, but the reason stated above is why Sui Sha Ya isn’t our 1^st choice when we have a ayce sushi craving.

Sui Sha Ya is a quintessential all you can eat sushi place. It is a pretty big restaurant for sushi and usually has alot of drunk younger groups being quite loud. I can get over it, so we come from time to time. Sashimi is limited to just a couple orders per person. Having said that, no matter how busy this place gets, the food comes quick and doesn’t stop (if you want it to). Pricing is pretty fair and no matter what other reviewers say, some of it might be fair to say, it is worth coming to if you are in the vicinity. It is true that there are many more good sushi restaurants in Richmond… but if you are right there in the first place, why not!

I used to frequent this place for late night all you can eat with my friends. We stopped going when my boyfriend ended up in Richmond Hospital with food poisoning. That, and we realized what we were missing!
The food is bland, unexciting and low quality. The service is total crap and they aren’t friendly to caucasians. Yes, I’m pulling the race card. There was a table we used to call «the dungeon» because we’d always be seated there every freaking time we went and we’d be forgotten about by staff. The price is ok, but there are much nicer, tastier sushi places that you can go to for the same amount of money.

We just happened to stop here after doing some shopping in Lansdowne Mall. I thought «I could eat a shameful amount of food right now…»
I thought it was weird that you can only order a max of 2 orders of sashimi per person for an extra dollar. That is a bit of a turn off if you’re there to eat well… all you can eat sushi.
The selection for sushi is a bit limited (just salmon, tuna, red snapper and mackerel nigiri), and the maki isn’t exactly stellar (be careful as the rolls are BIG so lots of rice to try to fill you up) but if you’re looking for other things, their gyoza, karage chicken wings (mmmmmmm), yakisoba, fried oysters, and other cooked foods are really good. $ 11.99 per person for lunch isn’t bad, and the service was quick, however not exactly warm.
Overall, I would come here if you’re in the area and looking for all you can eat… Japanese food. But if you’re really looking for sushi/​sashimi, I’d probably try some place else. I was moderately satisfied with the quality of the food for the price and left with a full belly. Now to go to the gym, since I ate way more chicken wings than sushi.

It was our mistake stumpling upon Sui Sha Ya and deciding to have lunch there in mid-​afternoon while shopping at Future Shop on a Sunday when our other preferred Japanese restaurant choices were closed between lunch and dinner.
Where do I begin …
1. Sashimi — Although it is an AYCE fare, they limit sashimi orders (3 pieces per order) to 2 orders per diner and they have only salmon and tuna. That’s not AYCE, is it? However, you really don’t want to eat anymore after 1 piece anyway.
2. Sushi — The machine made rice rolls with a trace amounts of fish in the middle remind me of the sushi trays at Costco. I’ll let you decide whether that’s a compliment.
3. Samosa /​Spring Rolls — I know … I know … We thought we would try something non-​Japanese which the restaurant may be good at. Nope. We had no idea what was the stuffing inside. We didn’t want to know.
4. Ramen — I’d eat instant ramen over what they serve anytime. The texture of the noodle felt like overcooked pasta.
5. Gyoza — Think frozen gyoza from Safeway, then worse.
What really baffles me was the restaurant was packed and there were seemingly repeat customers! I had no idea that quantity is that important to that many people.
So why 2 stars and not 1? Sadly, it could be worse!

I think this is the worst sushi place I’ve been to so far. I knew this place was crappy, but I didn’t realize it would be THIS bad. Other than the look of the place (kind of, not really), everything else is just HORRIBLE.
First of all, the service was just bad. We were greeted by a waiter as soon as we walked in. No wait, not greeted, he just stared at us and told us there would be no AYCE. Not even a hi. Showed us to our table and we had to wait awhile for the tea.
The prices are too high for the crap food that they give you. We had 4 people, including myself. There was a beef teriyaki rice bowl with tempura, chicken teriyake rice bowl with tempura, gomae (spinach with peanut sauce), spicy agedashi tofu (spicy deep fried tofu), yam tempura roll, and mixed vegetable green soba.
Okay. Both the rice bowls are decently portioned but didn’t taste great. The gomae was in a cube shape with sauce dumped on top. The tofu looked REALLY oily. I ordered the roll and soba. The roll. ugh. It was so poorly made. As soon as I tried to pick it up, it just fell apart. The rice wasn’t packed well enough, and who the hell puts Japanese mayo in a yam tempura roll?! My mixed vegetable soba, it was so bland. For some reason they put 2 random fish cakes on my noodles, and the «mixed veggies» were zucchini, carrots, and cabbage. It was so gross I couldn’t even finish it.
The service and staff was about as great as their food. The people who worked there yelled out in Chinese to each other while working. Don’t expect a Japanese person working here. We had to ask for a tea refill twice before they did it. No one smiles here, and they don’t come to you unless you ask them a couple of times.
I will never come back here. If you want to throw away your money. by all means, eat at this place.

Goto RIchmond Sishi for the same thing but better food

Went here for the All you can eat Sushi! It was YUMZZZ!!! I love love love looooooooooooove their salmon sashimi! It was very fresh and thick. The four of us went here after 9:30pm (the all you can eat deal was only for after 9:30pm for $ 12.99CAD/ person) We’re only allowed to order 2 orders of sashimi (salmon or tuna) per person which was too bad because the sashimi was really good! (maybe that’s why?) I think I pretty much just ate the sashimi that night. The other sushi items were okay– typical sushi, you know.
The service wasn’t that great though. My friend ordered coke but didn’t get it after our bill came. Ridiculous! We asked for it like 4 different times! Good place to eat. I wish they have one closer to home. Oh, be sure to not over-​order because they charge regular price for every thing you didn’t/ can’t finish so better finish it!!! Or… hide it well =)