Guu Kobachi

Good service. They give you the smallest table for 2, which kind of limited the number of dishes you want to order because it’s almost like you have to compete with the chef (if you don’t finish the dish fast enough, the next dish to come have no space to put on the table).
I prefer the Bidwell location, honestly. Food there tastes better for some reason, and the portion is bigger as well.
I guess this will be my back up plan of Bidwell is full as its only 1 block away on Robson.

The overall experience was awesome. I must say the workers are very friendly and greet everyone with screams of welcome upon entering and leaving. We tried multiple plates and our favorite included the chicken, sashimi salad, Brussel sprouts and the ginger udon. The plates that were smaller so tapas style and are perfect to share.

The service was very attentive. I had Takoyaki, which were pretty good, and Tan Tan Men (soupless ramen) which was… not so good. It was super glutinous and didn’t taste great.

This restaurant sucks. Dont ever come here please. I like how it is not busy unlike the other guu.
Get the dan dan mein aka dry ramen with poached egg. Sashimi ask the chef to give you whatever is best for the day. If you have to pick get scallop, atlantic salmon, and sea urchin.
Great sake selection. Best out of all the other location.
Very popular with japanese business men and young japanese college students.

Brought a buddy from Toronto here at midnight on Friday. If you come to this Guu location make sure to introduce yourself to Cliff. He’s behind the counter at the sushi bar. Good guy to get to know.
Kobachi means small dishes so the menu is mainly tapas and the drink menu is pretty extensive. Sapporo on tap and a loud but good chill atmosphere is always on order when you enter this place. Had the tuna poke and the chilli oil chicken gizzards. Food is good. I prefer guu thurlow original or guu garlic on robson for food choices.
Great for late nights as they open later than most izakayas.

I’ve been to every Vancouver Guu and love them all but Kobachi fails to impress.
This is a relatively small location on Denman and their menu is a lot let extensive than even their location on Robson (which is a tiny restaurant as well). Although this is an izakaya place and I’m expecting small tapas dishes, I was not expecting nearly everything to be bar bite sized and style.
I did try some of their classic «Guu» dishes such as their ebi mayo (which I love at other locations), but this one was far inferior. The shrimp although deep fried came out stale and it was just a dissapointment. People rave about their grilled dishes so I decided to give them a try, it was OK, lacked the char and robata smell that I’d expect from a good grilled dish.
Service here is also a lot worse than other Guus. There was some communication problems as the server was having a hard time speaking English. They were attentive, but it was a bit annoying trying to order since they were not very responsive to questions.
There is rarely a line here (for good reason), if you are hungry then go for it, otherwise I’d suggest trekking a block up Robson to Guu with Garlic.
Tip: Park at the Safeway parking lot for free parking.

Wow– where do I start? Super amazing food and very authentic. Staff is friendly and on top of their game. The atmosphere was LOUD but totally worth it. Not your typical sushi. The sashimi was great and the chef beautiful. Shout out to Daniel for his awesome service. They will work around celiac allergies but not everything can be accommodated. Highly recommend the savory mochi dish but it is not gluten free.

I’ve been to guu original, garden and the one in Gastown. I like the locations for original and garden, not so much this one. It’s small and they don’t make all the food out front like the other locations. The service was ok the food came out quick but wasn’t the best. The sashimi we got was chewy (a cheap cut)

My husband and I were visiting Vancouver and found that the Guu restaurants were highly reviewed and recommended. We tried Guu with Garlic, but since it was packed, they suggested we try Guu Kobachi down the street. I am so glad we did! Guu Kobachi was a very friendly Japanese-​style pub with delicious food, friendly service, and a neighborhood bar feel. Everything we had was delicious, but the standout dishes for us were the Yukke and the Deep Fried Edamame. Would highly recommend!

Yammy and peaceful. Extremely friendly service. Very quick and freshly cooked food. The servers are very attentive.

This Guu outpost hits some of the sweet spots for an izikaya: it’s small but not too small, busy but not frenetic, with attention to detail but not too slow.
I came with a large (15-​person) group, and sat in a fun window table that could take all of us, with a friendly squeeze. Ordering took forever, because many people were not accustomed to the menu. But what works well here (or probably any izikaya) is to start ordering, and continue ordering, throughout the evening. Drinks can come quickly, though I recommend against the beer on tap (watery), and instead for some sake.
Dishes which stood out were the pancake, the sashimi, and the grilled mackrel.
This place is *not* good for vegetarians. Even the veggie options mostly have cheese. Check carefully about broths — many contain fish.

The service was good and the food was good. The reason for the two star was the way they handled the food. We sat at the bar and the chef left a chunk of sashimi meat on the counter for at least 25 min. Not in a container, unattended. This happened twice. I know that in order to preserve the freshness of the fish it needs to be refrigerated and wrapped. I was shocked at how this was handled. Then, a server collected our dirty plates from the bar, putting all the used plates on the same counter that they cut the sashimi. Another server used a stepping stool to get some beer from the shelves behind the bar, he also put the cans of beer on the cutting board.

First time I have been here — it was amazing. Attention to detail and super friendly service. While the sashimi was very good — the curried chicken giblets, octopus balls, deep fried edamane, and mackeral (?) did not dissapoint.
Great atomsphere and reasonable prices too. We went on a Monday so it wasn’t too busy — but I can imagine this place gets packed on a weekend.

NYC izakayas can’t hold a candle to Vancouver’s. I came to this conclusion during my first trip here many years ago as I’ve broken my BC izakaya cherry here. Sakagura, Sake Bar Hagi, Taisho are just minor league teams compared to many izakayas in this beautiful town. There are so many plates I ate here that I’ve never even seen in Manhattan and they’re executed so well. If it weren’t for our bursting guts we would have ordered every single item on the menu twice over.
It’s that good!
This place is a chain but in a good way where the ownership had good control over all their restaurants. If they were to transplant one in NY it would kick serious ass. From the chorus of friendly Japanese staff greeting when you walk in to the quality of every dish it’s what makes me want to come back to Vancouver year after year.

I really enjoyed the atmosphere there and the staff are super helpful. It feels like I am back in Japan. Their beef tongue is amazing!

Friends and fans for Guu will rejoice over their Denman location also. This small izakaya joint amongst the street filled with ramen — Motomachi, Kintaro, etc. Inside are small wooden tables and a bar area with a projection screen. We arrived one Monday night during their 2 year anniversary. The crowds were wild, the staff was excited. Amongst the shouting, laughing and drinking was some desirable dishes.
Buck a Shuck: Royal Miyagis and Pacific Rims. Shucked and served with ponzu vinaigrette
Choose any sashimi for 12.80: Amberjack, Strip Jack, and Flounder. All creamy and buttery. Fresh.
Ebi Mayo: Butterfly prawns wrapped with shreaded potatoe and deep fried. Served with spicy mayo on the side.
Mini Cold Ramen: Light soy sauce with some shredded tomato and cha shu (BBQ Pork) slivers. On a hot day, this dish is pretty calming, but there is nothing special about it.
Saba Ponzu: a few pieces of mackerel marinated in radish, green onions and ponzu sauce. An interesting take, but next time I will stick with some traditional standard saba sashimi.
Okonomiyaki: The kitchen forgot about our order initially. This Japanese pancake came out from a plastic box. The waiter said it came from the outside. I’m not sure if they had an outside oven, stove or bought from outside haha. The pancake itself was alright and geared towards the salty side.
Guu Kobachi makes for good alternative choice if you are down by the Stanley Park /​Denman area. The staff are friendly and they have great selections.

How could anyone not be a fan of Guu?!
Well I must profess when they said $ 1 oysters on Mondays, I was more than half way to love. We were lucky enough to manage to get the last dozen of oysters here on our visit, and not to mention enjoy a sake tasting.
We had mackerel, tuna, oysters, and lychee soda. The only thing was that it was a bit busy and our food service was a tad slow, but other than that, it was great!

As far as I can tell, prices have stayed the same over the past year, so that’s a plus. It’s still a convenient place to bring friends, particularly out-​of-​towners, while visiting the Denman/​Robson/​Coal Harbour area. Don’t take the «no regular menu» thing too seriously. It may be technically true, but many items are frequently on the temporary menu.
EBI MAYO’S SISTER ($ 8.80) is still impressive, since it’s pleasantly different from the standard preparation elsewhere. BLACK CALAMARI ($ 6.80) looked cool but didn’t taste like much at all, consisting as it was of what seemed like bland frozen squid rings. CHIKUWA (fish cake tempura stuffed with cheese) ($ 3.80) sounded great, too, but lacked any interest once I put it in my mouth.
I’ve always been a big fan of all the Guu locations, but this time, here, I found myself surprisingly uninterested in the menu. There was little I wanted to order, and really nothing I can think of now that I want to return for.

With their ‘no regular’ menu theme, I’m interested as to what new creations they come up with.
Their menu consists of Kobachi dishes-​which are small bite sized dishes for $ 3.80. There’s an assortment of items, such as marinated eggplant, deep fried pork ear, a stewed whole onion. We got the Miso Kakuni: stewed pork belly, in a miso and soy sauce soup, and a avocado and tuna dish. They were the perfect size: the pork belly was cut into small chunks, so tender and flavourful. Avocado and tuna was a refreshing take on the appy, with chunks of watercress to add texture to the whole dish.
There’s a good selection of fresh fish, done sashimi style or marinated. We got the red tuna, and it was fresh and delicious.
For larger dishes, we got the deep fried bread oyster with miso mayo. I love oysters, and this was very tasty. This was my favourite dish of the whole night. Next up was the breaded skewered pork with green onion and a sweet miso sauce on top. I’ve had this at Guu Garden before, and it’s anther item that I love. Soft juicy pork, with just the right amount of breading, and the sweet sauce ties it all together. Lastly, we got the Ebi mayo’s sister, which was essentially more batter, but with potato. I wasn’t a fan of this dish, there was too much batter and it masked the actual prawn.
The space has a nice cozy atmosphere, and their menu has a lot of stewed and boiled dishes to reflect this ‘home cooked’ vibe. Service was good, at times maybe a little too pushy. They asked us 5 times if we wanted to order, and gave us the bill quickly even though we didn’t ask for it and there was no wait for tables.
A good neighbourhood Guu, it’s a perfect place to have some small bite and sip on sho-​chu…

I attended the Grand Opening at 5:30pm 15 July, 2011 after reading about it on Facebook:
I find guu’s food exotic and tasty and combine that with a friendly atmosphere that is sometimes loud but never boring.
My favourite dish is the Japanese Red Tuna, marinated.
Other recommendations are the tomato and pork belly dishes!
They also have a nice selection of alcohol for those over the legal drinking age and so inclined.
Each location of Guu has it’s own charm (at least in Vancouver).