Hachibei Japanese Restaurant

I really really love this place. It’s the only place I can get good teishoku style in town. I always get their grilled Japanese mackerel teishoku and a bottle of Asahi. It takes me back to my days in Osaka Japan. Lately, J and I’ve also made a habit of ordering their clams in sake and negitoro roll. I don’t go to this place for their sushi or sashimi or anything else. J and I eat here whenever we crave Japanese home style cooking. They are extremely friendly!!!

Yummy homestyle Japanese food in a cozy setting! The sushi is ok too but the cooked food is where it’s at. The black cod saikoyaki teishoku gives you an ample serving of black cod along with two side dishes, rice, and miso soup. The grilled bbq squid is also very good, being marinated and then grilled whole.
The service is friendly but sometimes absent, which is why I can’t give them 5 stars. However, if you’re not in a hurry, then it’s a great choice for dinner.

Decided to give this place a second try and this time I failed to try their famous BLACK COD SAIKYOYAKI TEISHOKU meal box. They seem to only make limited amounts each day but I don’t understand why business will not change their limits to more if there is a high demand for people to want to eat it. It’s a tiny little Japanese restaurant hidden in the neigbourhood by my work area. Even though they ran out of the black cod we decided to give their other menu selections a try.
We tried these:
— SIMMERED MACKEREL TEISHOKU — flavors was pretty good
— OYAKO DON — i like their soy sauce on their rice (super filling dish because lots of rice)
— DEEP FRIED HALIBUT — very dry and tasteless and pricey
— BBQ EEL & CUCUMBER ROLL — good appetizer to share
— SPICY CHOPPED SCALLOP ROLL — good appetizer to share and love the spicy flavor
I am not sure if I will give this a third try to get their black cod dish as overall experience was just average for me.

Here is another fake Japanese restaurant non Japanese operated…
The karage chicken was dry and tasted like old tempura oil as well as my fried tofu.
I actually ordered «to go» and 3 of my different order of sushi were literally «squeezed» in the same box.
When I told the waitress about that, she said «next time you should tell us»…
No comment! I won’t come back!
Try Kishimoto or Shuraku instead, it worth the ride and the waitress meet the hospitality standard of what you would expect in a Japanese restaurant…

I’ve never sushi items here but try their black cod. It’s the best I’ve had. I really like their home-​style cooking.

It had been years since I’d been to this place and every time I went in the past, I ordered the seafood fry ’cause it’s one of the only places around that serves that.
This time, I went with a group of 5 and we ‘diversified’ and ordered as many different things from the menu, probably ordering about 4 times until we were stuffed.
Everything was delicious, well prepared, and I was pleasantly surprised because I had previously just thought of this place as just ‘ok’. We had ohitashi, gomae, chicken skewers (two kinds, with sauce and salt/​pepper– both excellent), salmon gyoza, tofu salad, assorted tempura, unagi don, spicy scallop sushi, clam soup, saba sushi, natto and more… y’get the picture.
My faves– the skewers, unagi don (and I don’t even really like unagi), salmon gyoza, and saba battera.
They also have a decent selection of beer.
Only thing was that they were ‘out’ of some of the items we wanted to order. It was not a big deal though, ’cause they had a large selection. It’s good to know that they stock things fresh.
$ 200 before taxes and tip for 5 people including drinks.

This place is like my second kitchen. Whenever I feel like eating homestyle food I’ll come here.
My favourites here are their green salad (I especially love the salad dressing that it comes with) and beef teriyaki teishoku. The beef teriyaki teishoku comes with the beef teriyaki, rice, potato salad and a miso soup. Because an order of the beef teriyaki teishoku usually fills me up, I usually get the potato salad substituted with the green salad (and request for the dressing that they use on the green salad). For those fish-​lovers, their grilled fish teishokus (eg black cod and mackerel) are also delicious.
This place also offers take-​out as well. Do you won’t miss out even if you don’t feel like eating take out!

What a happy discovery: fresh ingredients, tasty and authentic, plus great value for the food. They just got themselves a new regular!

Their teishoku is alright, and sushi is whatever.
BUT watch out when you get the bill.
They hand write, AND hand calculate using a crappy calculator…
Feels like 1990’s time slip.
My bill went way too much. Almost double.
Luckly I told the mistake.
Therefore, check your bill really carefully before you pay !!

authentic japanese homestyle cooking.
They are quite expensive, and I agree that they don’t really worth it,
but I feel like i’m in japan when I go there.
Nothing special, nothing fancy, but just right.
Their gyoza is simple and delicious.
Tamago is super thick (but, they are expensive. never seen almost $ 3 tamago in any other places.)
Don’t plan for a special night at Hachibei.
Don’t expect to have a fancy «Vancouver Roll» or «Fire Dragon Crunchy Rainbow Awesome Roll.»
Just bring yourself and maybe one other person for a meal that a japanese ma would cook for you.

Excellent Japanese cuisine. Small and a little drab but very high quality of food. The Gomae is refreshingly made with sesame rather than gobs of peanut butter. The salmon gyoza is a winner too.

I came here yesterday because I was craving Negitoro. Besides yummy Teishoku meal sets, Hachibei also has really yummy Futomaki and Negitoro rolls.
Chicken Karaage — YAY:
— This was piping hot as it was freshly fried. Be careful not to burn your mouth on the first bite!
— The pieces were a generous size.
— The chicken karaage was nice and crispy, but juicy on the inside. The chicken tasted like it was nicely marinated.
Negitoro Roll — YAY:
— Fatty tuna belly was nicely minced with green onion.
— It was melt in my mouth delicious!
Futomaki — YAY:
— Really good. It was packed with shiitake, kampyo, spinach, tamago, and sakura denbu.
Chopped Scallop Roll (Daily Special) — YAY:
— It was listed on the specials menu as Spicy Chopped Scallop Roll, but we asked for it to be non-​spicy. They were really accommodating and also let us know that the Dynamite Roll would contain some spicy sauce, so we opted to have it non-​spicy with the sauce on the side.
— The scallops were very fresh.
— The sesame seeds (on all the rolls) were very nicely toasted, which imparts a nice flavor to each bite :)
Dynamite Roll — YAY:
— The prawn tempura was freshly fried. The roll was still very warm.
Soft-​Shell Crab Roll (Daily Special) — YAY:
— The soft-​shell crab was also freshly fried.
Overall:
— Great neighborhood gem.
— Good value for Teishoku.
— Rolls are fresh.
— Negitoro cravings satisfied!

Hachibei has been on my ‘to-​try’ list for a long time. I’ve heard that it’s always busy, so we made a reservation for a weekday night.
At 6pm, the place was full. It’s a small space, nothing fancy, but it’s clean and simple. Their menu selection is good, with a bit of everything. Traditional Japanese appetizers, sushi rolls, and teishoku sets. Their sashimi selection was more limited, with only salmon and tuna being the only choices.
We got the salmon and tuna sashmi, yam tempura, chopped scallop roll and the black cod saikyoyaki teishoku. The highlight was the black cod. It was a good portion, and the rest of the set came with agedashi tofu, rice, miso soup, and pickled vegetables. Compared to Toshi’s black cod, I still prefer Toshi’s, it has more flavour. The rice that came with the set was a bit dry, like they scraped it from the bottom of the rice cooker.
Service here is decent, but sometimes there’s a language barrier with the servers and it’s hard to ask for what you need. They seem a bit inexperienced. The place does get busy and they sell out of the black cod early.
I like this place, but given the higher prices and the overall dining experience, I will venture to other spots.

I’ve been to this place a few times before and the service has always been a little slow and the sushi pretty good. Last time I went, my wife and I waited a full hour for our food. In the meantime, they forgot our waters and when our order came it was missing an item. They never checked in with us to let us know that our order was coming — we were the ones asking about our food (after giving them 40 mins!). When the sushi came it wasn’t even as good as usual. They didn’t offer an explanation and were doing their best to avoid us.
If you want above average sushi but seriously slow and awkward service, this is the place for you.

I have been going to Hachibei since Highschool days. I recently visited the place with my wife, ordered a small hot sake and Tonkatsu and Oyakodon. Sake glasses were covered in thick dust, so I let the server know (showing him a half full glass of sake with full of disgusting dust floating). He didnt know what to do, and kept on asking «do you want more Sake?» Tried to sell me more the Sake, Unbelievable. I just dont understand how they dont clean their Sake Glasses often, when they sell rather expensive imported premium Sake’s. Received the new bottle of small hot sake… though already lost my appetite. Then received, dry and over cooked oyakodon (and so blend, it tasted like rubber), and a Tonkastu set that had two miserable pieces of cutlet size of a monthly bus pass. The place has definitely changed… especially when you make the customer wait in line, service and the quality of the food have to satisfy customers even with a simple dish like Tonkatsu. The Breaded Pork Cutlet is not hard to do… even at home, and The quality was really disappointing. Meat was dry, panko breaded skin was soggy.
I honestly had better Tonkastu at chinese or korean run japanese restaurants than this…
Price definitely went up, Quality and went down, portion is even smaller than before. Well… Not all japanese run japanese restaurants remain good. I think they got too comfortable getting usual lunch-​dinner rush by its regulars.
Will never return. Sad to see one of my old regular place turning into something like this…

Japanese home style cooking. Quality food. A little bit expensive though but worth it.

We had a very nice dinner here last night. The staff is very friendly and attentive (and actually Japanese, a good sign for a sushi place).
We had some interesting items, salmon gyoza and California roll with real crab, that were unique and delicious.
Overall the meal was well priced, delicious, nice atmosphere, and great service.
Great sushi restaurant!

Although we had been here once many years ago, a recommendation from new friends prompted us to come again, and we were glad we did.
The set menu dishes (teishoku) are not as pricey as other reviewers might have you believe. They start at $ 10, and average at $ 14. That’s a good deal for a meal that includes rice, miso soup, and pickles, along with the main dish.
Had we stayed with teishoku last night, we would have had a more economical evening of it, but we were in a mood to celebrate, and their specials menu looked fabulous.
We got there close to last order (which is at 9PM) so we ordered everything we wanted at once, including a cocktail for me and desserts for both of us.
The food was superlative.
We had raw oysters on the half-​shell, served with a little ponzu and green onion, and lemon wedges. The ponzu was a great accompaniment for the oysters.
Next I had maguro yamakake, which is chunks of raw tuna with grated mountain potato. The mountain potato is actually more of a gooey paste, and this dish is one I grew to love in Japan. It’s especially good on rice, but you can eat it on its own, as I did last night. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it done outside of Japan until last night, and was so happy when I saw it on the menu, that I ordered it immediately after the oysters, which my husband and I both love. If you try it, be sure and mix some soy sauce in the bowl. That’s how it’s normally eaten.
Next came the kara-​age smelts. Most people think chicken when they hear kara-​age, but kara-​age is just a way of breading and frying food, and the smelts were delicious. I love smelts, and these were hot and crispy, and the tartar sauce they served along with them was perfect.
Since my husband ordered the tonkatsu (pork cutlet) teishoku, I needed to order some rice for myself. I had been craving an ume-​maki (a pickled plum paste sushi roll) for the longest time, and was sad that one was not on the menu, but I asked the server about it, and she went right back and asked the chef for me. She came back and reported that the chef would be happy to apply pickled plum paste to any roll I wanted to order. Well, that was the next best thing. The perfect combination, therefore, would be a kappa-​maki, as pickled plum paste goes great with cucumber, and indeed it did. It made me very happy that they went as far as they could to accomodate my desire, as no other restaurant so far had done so.
While waiting for the teishoku, my husband sampled one of the specials, some kisu (whiting) tempura, which he let me try. Oh. My. God. Cooked perfectly, and with just the right delicate texture, it was flaky and hot and wonderful.
My husband is never 100% satisfied, though, and when the teishoku came, he did have an opportunity to gripe a little. The servings of pork, he said, were a little on the small side. They were, I suppose, but I was happy he shared the potato salad that came with his dish with me. Other than that, he remarked on the size of the rice bowl, which was more of a comment, I suppose, on how much rice he eats at home, although thankfully that is brown rice, and the yumminess of the pickles (two excellent varieties, pickled daikon, and pickled cucumber).
All of the food went really well with the cocktail I ordered and very slowly nursed over the course of the meal: a lime chu-​hi. A chu-​hi is essentially just shochu (Japanese firewater) and soda, but the lime wedges brightened it up by just the right amount. Since shochu is tasteless, like vodka, it can sneak up on you. My husband insisted I was drunk before I even felt it, but I humored him and let him drive home.
But that was after we had our desserts. Extremely reasonable at $ 1.50 and 2.50 per, my husband had a soy milk pudding that was served with an Okinawan brown sugar sauce, we think, and I had a dorayaki, or Japanese pancakes stuffed with red beans. His pudding had a wonderful texture, and the brown sugar sauce was a great accompaniment. My dorayaki, which is commonly available at Fujiya and T&T, was better than the store-​bought versions, of course, because there was a deeper richness to the red bean filling.
Service, as I have implied, was wonderful. We spoke Japanese, but I don’t think that improved service. It just added a layer of comfort to the vibe we got from the restaurant. And although the restaurant technically closes at 9:30PM, they never chivvied us away. They let us slowly finish our meal in peace, and let us depart, after tipping gratefully, at 9:45PM.
There are many people I would want to share this restaurant with. I hope I get the chance to.

This is a great place to get some good Japanese home-​cooking. While they do have sashimi on the menu, it’s a limited selection (tuna & salmon only). What they excel at is their cooked items. You’ll see most of the clientele are Japanese, with the teishoku (complete bento meals) being the most popular items.
It’s about $ 15 for a teishoku, but a great value for what you get. If it’s your first time, try the grilled fish or the tonkatsu. They usually have several different fish offerings; the mackerel is fantastic. You can taste the smoke from the hot grill, and the skin is rendered perfectly crisp. When you think of most «combos», you picture a bowl of miso soup & a bowl of rice — the teishoku is so much more than that. Along with my grilled fish, I got an order of agedashi tofu, miso soup with enoki mushrooms, a dish with palate-​cleansing slices of cucumber and oshinko (Japanese pickled radish), some gomae (spinach salad with sesame) & lotus root salad, a large piece of tamago (sweet cooked egg) and rice.
The tempura is good as well — crisp, light and served piping hot. The mozuku seaweed salad is a nice bright contrast to the deep-​fried items, with a sharp vinegary bite and fresh grated ginger. If you’re feeling more conservative, they do have crowd-​friendly teriyaki combos on the menu as well. The quality of everything is really good, so you won’t be disappointed no matter what you order.

Although pricey, their Japanese Teishoku dishes rise above other Japanese restaurants. My friend had the Black Cod Saikyoyaki Teishoku, while I had the Pork Filet Cutlet Teishoku. The filet was just deliciously memorable, I need to go back there again. So tender, juicy, moist… I’m drooling as I type this out. The Black Cod was delicious too (I had a bit from my friend), with its moist white fish meat… sighhh.
Here’s another reason why I gave this place 5 instead of my frequent 4 stars:
So I arrived around 8:30, an hour before they were closing, and I was waiting for a friend who should’ve been with me by then. But he was late, and so I ended up waiting there for a good hour. Not once did the staff rush me to order, but they waited patiently as well. I myself felt bad, so I ordered ahead, and asked them to make my friend’s meal to come out 15 minutes after mine. They happily obliged, and I paid mine advance with lots of tip (again, because I felt so bad for being there past their hours). Later, my friend came, and they served his food. Their incredible patience and service amazed me, so they get the extra star that most places lack.