I use to come here all the time back in high school but my recent experience was disappointing. We had made reservation for 9:30 but we were not seated until 9:45. No explanation or apology(which I don’t expect from an asian restaurant — just an observation). They also wiped our table with a dirty wet cloth that left our table smelling like shit. I honestly thought someone had stepped in poop! I was upset to find that they no longer offer MANGOPUDDING on the AYCE menu! Such a shame… and they limit you to 6 pieces of sashimi per person but the sashimi is 1⁄3 of the size of a piece you would get at a regular sushi restaurant. Tomokazu AYCE is left better as a high school memory.
Michael L.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Vancouver, Canada
While we are not regulars at Tomokazu, when we head out for AYCE sushi, this is the our establishment of choice. We have been 4 times previously and all the experiences have been positive. The food is of better quality than the other AYCEs we have tried in the past years and they have a large selection of food options. The pricing is quite good especially if you have kids in the party. And this is a great way to expose kids(and adults) to sushi and Japanese menu items they may not have had an opportunity to try previously. Lunch prices are $ 10.95 Adults and $ 7.95 Kids 12 and Under. During the weekends and holidays each are $ 1 more. The service is as good as one would expect at a Japanese restaurant with an AYCE option… it was nice that they filled our tea right away when I waived them down… not always my experience at other restaurants. Yes I would recommend Tomokazu and yes we will be returning.
John T.
Rating des Ortes: 1 Vancouver, Canada
Normally I don’t care about bad service at All-You-Can-Eats, because I’m just there to stuff my face, but this place takes the cake for bad service. The manager was horribly rude in telling me that our table will not be served anymore if we continued to waste food(keep in mind this was only half-an-hour into our meal), and did not listen when we explained that we were not. He then advised the waitresses in Chinese to watch our table(keep in mind that we ourselves are CHINESE so we understood everything they were saying). With every time he passed by our table, he eyed down our food, and with our second order, he actually looked through our dishes before nodding to the waitresses. Never have I felt so horrible while eating at a professional establishment before. Horrible experience, I have no idea how they are business if they treat customers like sacks of crap. Food was okay.
James H.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Salt Lake City, UT
So many choices and it’s served hot. A great variety of Japanese and Chinese dishes. Most of the staff were speaking Chinese. Very friendly and you would call them over to order again. Hours and prices were great. Late night a home run.
Ayren T.
Rating des Ortes: 2 Burnaby, Canada
I requested to have the AYCE Lite Dinner menu. The food was ok. I dont know if this is typical, but only half of my orders came. The man with wearing the suit told me that i was only allowed 90 minutes to eat and then he would cut me off. When he took my last call order, i only got two of the 15 things in ordered. When i followed up with him, he said that i lied about ever requesting the items. I told him to bring me the order sheet to confirm. He then returned to my table and told me the kitchen was backed up and hence my food was late. He did not apologize for calling me a liar. After waiting for 20 minutes, just two of my 15 orders came. I asked to place another order since the last one wasnt filled. He said no, my time had expired. I told him i am a big eater but I didnt leave any leftovers. Worst experience i have ever had at AYCE. DONOTWASTEYOURTIMEHERE
Chrys L.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Vancouver, Canada
I have to knock on wood as I’m writing this review because of the couple of handful of times I’ve gone to this establishment, I have not been disappointed. Food & pricing: Their selection for a la carte is standard and even better for all-you-can-eat. It’s about $ 30 after tax and tip per person on a regular day. Add a buck or two on the weekends. What I love most is the fact that with their dinner menu, they include all you can eat raw oysters(subject to availability) and if you’re a fan of it, your meal pays for itself considering you can only find $ 1 oysters during buck-a-shuck and happy hours. Their sashimi has been fresh(albeit the occasion frozen during late night) Location & parking: I’ve never had to park in the lot that belongs to their building so I can’t recall whether or not they validate your ticket but it is available. Street parking, not so much. I’ve always waited for a spot along Broadway but expect to be waiting a long time during the dinner rush and when their late night menu starts. Service: I haven’t had the need to complain yet. They’re generally really quick and check on your tables often. The only time I’ve ever had an issue was during late night when it was ridicuously busy. One of the male servers refilled our tea but as it didn’t have time to infuse and brew, it tasted like very lightly flavored water. We asked him about it and he brought the pot to us to show that there is tea in it, as if we accused him of giving us water. We simply asked about it and requested it be changed for us as we were willing to wait for the refill, so the attitude was absolutely unnecessary. However, we understood because it was 30 minutes until closing and there was still a lineup at the door on a holiday.
Bernard M.
Rating des Ortes: 3 Surrey, Canada
Nothing is perfect, but when it comes to AYCE this restaurant sets the bar extremely high. Cost: While $ 30 is steep for your Deluxe all you can eat, with the quality and array of choices given I believe it is well worth it. Quality: The sushi here is great. For an AYCE it definitely tastes as if the chef’s are taking their time with each roll. I also want to mention You can get Oysters on the ½ shell which is mind-blowing. Ambiance: This restaurant is more than a hole in the wall sushi bar, it’s a modern big space that also has TVs and plays the football games on Sunday night which makes for a great atmosphere. I have to tell you to be prepared for the service, they treated us like absolute S**t here and it is horrible to say but, despite their staff’s lack of training in customer service and treating everyone the same… I would probably come back due to their good sushi.
Avery W.
Rating des Ortes: 3 Vancouver, Canada
I only ever come here for Undergraduate Society Dinners since the location of Tomokazu isn’t ideal, especially when you don’t have a car. I must say however that their all you can eat sushi is good value. Their quality has improved significantly over the years. I last went here in September 2015, and it seems they started using freshly made sushi rice for their sushis. BC Rolls are also much better quality, they aren’t sad and soggy, but rather quite crispy. Dynamite rolls also weren’t the soggy mess that they were in the past. Cooked food is of fairly good quality, crunchy and tender teriyaki chicken, juicy teriyaki of meat, firm gyoza, agedashi tofu that isn’t soaked. Add some shrimp tempura on the list and I’ll be happy. Wait staff are reasonably friendly and attentive. In the sea of people(whenever we have these faculty nights out), it’s near impossible to spot the hand within a mob, but they do. They seem to be quite efficient and resourceful, having added many extra tables for us… it’s a shame they ran out of chairs while we were still filling the restaurant up. They have fallen short on our orders, but then again 100 pieces of sushi for a table of 16 might be a tad hard to keep track of. All in all, a satisfying experience. I’ll be back. If you have a big group(by big, I mean about 60+ people), this venue is great to book out.
Michael G. K.
Rating des Ortes: 2 Vancouver, Canada
This is probably the cheapest AYCE sushi restaurant in town. The waiters are forgetful and constantly get the portions wrong(per AYCE custom), the food is not fresh, but the price is right: $ 35 for two people on the late-night menu. To make our experience complete, two dine-and-dash artists ran out on the restaurant as we were leaving!
Belle G.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Seattle, WA
Came here with my boyfriend and his cousins for the All-You-Can-Eat Lunch for $ 12 per person. We had a party of 7 and we were seated immediately in a traditional Japanese table in which we sat on pillows and our shoes had to be off. We were allowed 2 rounds of ordering off the menu. My favorite items we ordered off the menu were the California rolls, beef udon, orange slices, chicken teriyaki and miso soup. The green tea they serve with your meal is also really good! There’s a $ 1 charge for a small bowl of spicy mayo, which isn’t too bad. This place serves great quality food, I will definitely come back here for lunch because it’s worth the price you pay! Didn’t get to try the fruit jello… which is sad to me lol Go here if you’re ever in Vancouver!
Benjamin R.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Vancouver, Canada
I’m surprised at the number of negative comments here. I have eaten lunch, dinner and late night here. Mostly AYCE. What I am always extremely impressed with is the reliability of the servers and the speed of service. I don’t usually come with one or two people, but 4 or 5 and we are always served promptly and never shorted on our orders. Water glasses are promptly refilled and food is brought to the table fresh off the the chef’s hands. Compared to a lot of places, Tomo is a high-volume service machine. I would recommend late night to anyone who wants to get max quantities of food before they start feeling full. Jello is always a nice touch. Going at dinner opens up a huge variety of specialty rolls that are absolutely delicious.
Elynne Z.
Rating des Ortes: 1 Downtown, Vancouver, Canada
Got FOODPOISONING here and never went back. Was either from their oyster motoyaki or tuna tataki because those are the two that my friend didn’t eat. Clearly they use bad fish. Both tasted like it was going bad and seemed to be left out in the kitchen for way too long. I do not recommend anyone to come here.
Jaclyn E.
Rating des Ortes: 1 Custer, WA
This would have been a no star review if possible. It was pretty disappointing after Kaneada and Ebi Sushi had closed down, those were the acceptable AYCE that we used to head to all the time. So we decided to search for one and thought hey maybe we should try Tomokazu out. Utter disappointment. The sashimi wasn’t fresh and you can only order 3 pcs max a person for each sashimi, it was like a real dick tease. To add insult to injury the sashimi were sliced in miserable tiny pieces and there were not many options available for you to select from. You have to top up a couple of dollars to get 3 pcs of sashimi a person. Lame! They were also bad at serving the amount that you order — eg ordering 8 pcs of salmon sushi(the one on rice) and only ending up with 4. The rolls and side dishes were limited as well and the service was subpar. You can barely get any service or find a server when you need one. Food wait was a little long as well, granted they make their fried were fresh off the fryer. We never tried ordering more than twice so I’m not sure if you can go more than twice. I have a gut feeling you most probably can’t cos they were particular about you reordering from the same paper you had made your first order. All the items ordered were also itemized on your bill, so you know that they are actually keeping track of you. Don’t call yourself an AYCE if you’re limiting people’s number/amount of orders. If you ever want good AYCE sushi just head to Goyemon in Vegas — now that is what good AYCE is all about.
Jessie W.
Rating des Ortes: 1 Vancouver, Canada
I haven’t written many bad reviews, since I usually look up ratings before going somewhere. Not the case with this place — came because a friend who eats 0 sushi preferred the menu here to that of Salmon n’ Bannock(don’t ask me why). In other words, came not knowing how it would be. Well, it was appalling. «Service» was nil; the katsu don I got was total garbage(tasteless egg, soggy pork; had to wash down the rice with tempura sauce). Spent a shocking $ 17 for a terrible meal and experience. SO many better Japanese restaurants in Vancouver. Definitely NOT coming back.
Mario M.
Rating des Ortes: 2 San Diego, CA
The good: Food is actually decent Restaurant seems clean The not so good: Servers are extremely disinterested in their jobs like beyond I hate being here… Food takes 20 min to come out each time you order. it’s obviously a tactic to slow down the all you can eat behavior. cmon you think we are that stupid? Hey yes we are… lol Drinks don’t get refilled at all, you have to ask over and over again And for the grand finale: Can someone please say thank you and good bye as you walk towards the exit? It’s FREE people! It’s Freeeeeee…
Leela S.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Seattle, WA
Let me break this down as succinctly as I can: 1) The quality of the tuna is outstanding 2) AYCE lunch for $ 12 a person 3) Their tempura is always piping hot and served within 30 seconds of being ordered 4) AYCE lunch for $ 12 a person 5) Seriously, the tuna. I’ve stopped bothering with nigiri options other than this one and the massago. 6) AYCE lunch for $ 12 a person You don’t come here for the service, you don’t come here for luxury. You come here solely for the food involved in a lunch whose value proposition I have yet to beat in Vancouver.
Ernest J.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Vancouver, Canada
Gee for a Japanese Buffet place Tomokazu isn’t half bad! I know some people’s stomachs are going to turn once I say Japanese buffet! The thinking is a Japanese Buffet is about as popular as the salad bar is at your local fat farm! I was a bit hesitant when a friend asked me to meet him at Tomokazu for lunch. I went and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. We ordered a bunch of dishes, and I would say nothing really stood out as fantastic but it was all ok! Hey for about $ 12 you get alot of options and you’re going to leave the place pretty darn full! Give it a shot… what have you got to risk? $ 12?
Arleen C.
Rating des Ortes: 5 Vancouver, Canada
Let’s start off with a disclaimer: this 5 star review is NOT for the fish quality but the overall quality of the food as an AYCE(all you can eat) place. Out of all the AYCE sushi places I’ve ever eaten, this is by far the best in Metro Vancouver. During regular dinner hours, there’s a regular menu and a deluxe menu. The only difference is more sashimi items on the deluxe(the other has it as sushi, which means you have to waste precious stomach space on rice). My staples which never disappoint: kakipon(raw oysters) — not kusshi, kumamoto or anything fancy beef sashimi toro sashimi chopped scallop cone negitoro cone spicy tuna cone beef short rib gyoza agedashi tofu gommae shishamo karaage chicken karaage yam tempura mirugai sushi ikura sushi I’ve been coming here for at least 3 – 4 years and the food quality has always be good(for an AYCE place). The many friends I’ve taken here agree that for AYCE, it’s the best they’ve also had in town.
Sarah W.
Rating des Ortes: 3 Vancouver, Canada
Our friends took us here for AYCE lunch and we had such a great time, decided to come back for dinner. For dinner they have 3 different AYCE menus — Special, Lite And Deluxe Special have limited Sashimi(2 kinds) and less choices of sushi and rolls but have a full compliments of cooked items, Lite have unlimited orders for most of the Sashimi, more sushi choices and rolls, and more cooked items, Deluxe is all the choices of Sashimi and Sushi and all cooked items. It’s a very comfortable seating restaurant and the servers are very good at providing you with hot tea refills, wasabi and ginger. The food arrives fast! We decided on the Lite Menu and enjoyed our meal while watching the NHL final on TV. The food was a good size and tasty. We will be back again after we rest our stomachs.
Edward L.
Rating des Ortes: 4 Vancouver, Canada
Finally had a chance to try their AYCE dinner option. This is $ 22 for adults, but the good news is you now get AYCD Pepsi with your meal. Yay! Yes, you can fill your stomach now with cheap pop instead of expensive fish. For dinner, there are also 4 new roll options you can try, as shown on posters taped to the windows. They looked colourful, so my friends and I decided to try. Temptation Roll — papaya and salmon go well together. Bacon is always a nice touch, though we all know that isn’t the most authentic. Carribean Pearl Roll — oyster bits were pretty tasty, but mango is great. I’m always a sucker for fruit in sushi. Burning Kiss Roll — like a spicier version of negitoro. They put those flakes on top that make the roll more expensive. Mmm. With the dinner option, there are also many baller items such as abalone and lobster. For AYCE places, it really is tough to beat this place or their sister restaurant Ninkazu.