Bene Sushi

It was between here and one other sushi place a few doors down, we chose Bene as it got better reviews on Trip Advisor (my partner looked it up). Really nice modern interior. Service was slow to start but got better. I started with the pork gyoza and they were delicious! For dinner I had beef teriyaki with vegetables and black rice. My dinner was really good but not as good as Edo Japan (yes, I said Edo Japan).

I deleted my previous review of this place because they have gotten so much more worse.
Came here on a mediocre day, not too busy. But everyone is seated in the same row. I’ve literally only sat in this booth ever since I came here. Wasn’t too picky the first few times, but it’s getting annoying when you see a really nice table but you can’t sit there.
First of all, I cannot say how inexperienced this wait staff is. This review is purely on the service, and I have made some comments about the food.
We were waiting for about 15 minutes for a waiter to come by, who was (from what I can tell) an inexperienced teenager. We were ready to take our order, before we could speak he interrupted us, «Wait!», he left to go put plates on another table and then came back. We ordered our food and it took him another 15 minutes to bring us water/​tea. Another 15 minutes passed, and everyone in the restaurant already had their food except us. We only ordered 4 small items. Half order of Spicy Tuna, Beef Yaki Udon, California Roll, and Tempura Udon.
In the middle of waiting I realized why our food took so long. Behind our booth, there is this private big booth for parties and such, what caught my eye is what looked like a chef or head chef, sleeping on the booth chair! He’d just woken up and got back to work, and I tried to ignore the fact that an employee was SLEEPING on their shift. The food finally came and was fine, my udon however was not up to par.
I asked for no bean sprouts or cucumbers. No bean sprouts were spotted in my food. But the cucumbers were in the broth. First of all, cucumbers are not in traditional udon (nor is bean sprouts and lettuce). Second of all, I am allergic to cucumbers (not highly like I am going to die but the oral allergy when I ingest them) and although I didn’t specify I was allergic, I asked for there to be no cucumbers in the udon and the waiter heard me properly.
Being not the type of person to send back food, I just removed the cucumbers and ate the udon.
Wasted 1 hour of my time to eat unauthentic Japanese food and being served by inexperienced teenagers, I can’t believe this is what other people think real Japanese food tastes like.

Spontaneous stop for dinner to wait out the traffic on Hwy1. Ambiance and service are excellent, the place is spacious and you can have as much or as little privacy as you desire. The food… just OK. We ordered tuna bridge for appetizer — this was the best dish of all the food we had. Then came toro and saba nigiri — sub par, I don’t think it was the correct toro cut at all, looked and tasted just like regular albacore slice, and saba was way too salty. Lobster roll was huge and came with salad on the side, very filling but quite bland. Aburi sockeye salmon pressed roll had cream cheese inside and very little fish, mostly rice — and not good rice I must say. I think we ordered one more roll but it escapes me now, just goes to show how unimpressive the whole food experience has been. I would give this place another chance though, hoping they fix the rice problem — the taste and consistency and the fish/​rice balance.

I go to this place with my family all the time. Very consistent quality of food. I get rolls (not a big fan of their sushi). ‘Black perl roll’ is a ‘must try’.

A solid 3 stars and nothing more.
A friend suggested to try this place for dinner and to West Van we went. We were quickly seated and flipped through the menu. Ever since I had Aburi sushi, that’s usually the first thing I look for on the menu. I found that they had three Aburi sets to choose from. I ordered the Aburi Sushi 3 which consists of Toro, Atlantic Salmon, Hamachi, Hotate, Unagi, AAA Steak and Amebi for $ 20.95 and for appetizers I had the Bridge of Tuna which was listed under Bene Favorites for $ 10.95. Though, my friend and I ordered at the same time, these two dishes came out first. The Aburi sushi’s weren’t as good as the ones I’ve had at Minami. The rice easily fell apart and about half of the sashimi’s on top didn’t have the melt in your mouth effect as it did at Minami. My favorite was the Hamachi and the Hotate. The bridge of tuna was served a bit frozen still. It was too cold and icy. Because this was one of the first dishes that came out we ate all but one piece and only that last piece tasted perfect (or how it should have tasted) when it’s thoroughly melted. Minus points for serving it at the wrong temperature.
My friend ordered the lobster roll ($ 15.95), spicy tuna roll (4.95) and yam tempura roll ($ 5.95). These came out all together and tasted ok. I didn’t taste any lobster in the lobster roll. To me it tasted like imitation crab. We did get a lot and my friend thoroughly enjoyed it while I had one of each.
Whilst I did not get my aburi satisfaction, I ordered the Aburi Sockeye (12.95) to share. It was also ok. Again, Minami and Victoria Sushi wins the game. While I waited for this order, I remembered reading about their flaming sushi and someone finally ordered it but my friend and I were too full to make another order and it was too late to switch. It looked really cool with the entire sushi lit on fire (at least from my view). I wonder if it does anything to the sushi — taste-​wise.
The restaurant wasn’t too busy but for some reason the severs kept on running around. Service was very slow at our table and it was hard to get their attention. Our plates weren’t being cleared and our tea was hardly filled. No points for service.

Tasty and creative sushi rolls, flavourful & well-​balanced. The ambiance was quite nice, and the waiters were really friendly. Looking forward to try some other items on the menu!

It was my first time going to Bene Sushi. My experience was a quite disappointed.
First, while the restaurant was half empty and many small table & bar table empty, I (just one person) was told to wait 10 minutes. During the 10 minutes wait, the waiter was doing some other stuffs but not setting up the table for me.
After I was seated, no one came to take my order until I stood up and waved at the waitress.
I ordered the following: Prawn Tempura. Ika Aburi Nigiri, Toro Aburi Nigiri, Unagi Nigiri, Hamachi Nigiri, ikura Nigiri, Amaebi Nigiri, Nigitoro Roll.
Prawn Tempura — It was overcooked. It was so hard that the prawn meat was shrunk and dried.
Ika Aburi — OK.
Toro Aburi — It was not fatty at all. I suspect it was just a Tuna and then seared.
Unagi — It was cold and hard. They didn’t cook or seared it properly.
Hamachi — OK. But the fish is way too long. it was hard to take it.
Ikura — Nothing special. They didn’t even marginated like other good sushi restaurant.
Amaebi — Ok. The deep fried prawn head was good.
Nigitoro Roll — It tasted good but it looked ugly. It was out of shape.
Overall, disappointed with their service, the food quality and the sushi technique was just so so.

Used to come here all the time when I was going to school nearby.
This is probably the best sushi spot in West Van (there aren’t that many, sadly). Their sushi and sashimi are fresh and really tasty. They have a lot of «fusion» japanese food, but that’s most of whats out there.
I usually go here for rolls — spicy tuna, black tiger, caterpillar are my go tos and there are really tasty. I’m usually a fan of Chirashi and Katsu, but I’d suggest to stay away from them here (they aren’t that good). Their rolls are pretty good because there’s not too much rice and their fillings are really fresh, everything a good roll should be. Appies are a bit on the small side and not that great.
Service here is passable. They get the job done, not too much to comment on here.
This is a great place to take friends or family, not too casual and the prices are decent. There are also menu options for everyone — there are cooked and uncooked options.

This is a West Vancouver restaurant! We eat here regularly my wife likes the sushi and I prefer the cooked items. We are both very pleased with the menu and have never been disappointed. Great food at fair prices. Recommend a reservation especially on the weekend.

Nice and fresh sashimi. I had the katsu-​something. Grilled breaded pork that was moist and crispy. Shared some sushi and tempura. So full. Nice clean place with upscale feel. Server could’ve made more refills on tea. Will return next time in west VAN.

This place is such a hidden gem in North Vancouver! I’m not from the area, so I can only compare this place to one other Vancouver sushi place (Kishimoto), and I think the quality of the food is comparable and just as good. Bene actually also looks really classy on the inside for a sushi place, with bright chandeliers and black and red booth seating. I didn’t try any of their seared sushi, but I did have one of their specialty rolls (Ambleside Roll) which is prawn and yam tempura in a California roll with crunchy flakes on top. So good! Also got the negitoro (tuna) roll, which was fresh, and some sashimi. The sashimi was also fresh and quite good, although it was sliced very thickly… some people might like that, but personally I prefer for mine to be sliced a bit thinner because I think it allows for more of the flavour to shine through. It’s mostly personal preference though, but overall I would say you do get your money’s worth with the sashimi, and all of their food, whether sushi or sashimi, is very good quality. The presentation of their dishes is standard, no wow factor here. Definitely would recommend this restaurant for sushi if you are in the area, or are willing to make a short trip over the Lionsgate Bridge. There was no wait time to be seated on a Saturday night (around 7:30???) which was also a bonus!

Great sushi, service was wonderful, and prices are pretty affordable. Beef Tataki could use some revamping, not a great dish but there is only room to improve. Props for the incredibly fresh salmon. It melted in my mouth and left me craving more.

The best sushi restaurant on the North Shore. They have great specialty rolls, but even their regular rolls are superior. They have great sashimi as well. Great ambience and a fun place to go with friends and family for a special night out. It’s a little pricey, but definitely worth it.

Finally a great place to have sushi on the north shore.
Friendly staff and reasonable prices. The sushi is fresh and the presentation of the dishes are far above average.
I have been there several times since. I highly recommend for large parties or even date nights.

Good sushi. Some creative rolls. Not consistent in quality though. Some days it’s excellent and some days it’s just ok. Service is the same way. This last time service was definitely lacking and experienced very long wait times and no water or tea refills. She was hardly around to correct the many errors she made either. Oh, if only there was a better sushi place around I would stop coming here.

I think this place has the best sushi in West Vancouver if not all of the North Shore area! I recommend the Ambelside roll but you really can’t go wrong with anything on the menu. The atmosphere and setting is nice too, its far better than an average sushi place!

Not only nicer than any of the North Van’s sushi places, but West van too, though I don’t have much experience on this side of Marine Drive. It’s an easy repeat for sure, and date worthy ;)
Mostly black leather booth seating, with raised red trim for some privacy… kinda reminds me of the original location of Miku in DT Vancouver, except this is more Korean-​operated. Great service too.
Ordered their signature Bene roll, Ambleside roll and negitoro roll based on the review here, and didn’t disappoint. First 2 were variations of prawn tempura but the latter had the yam and some crunch. Good rolls, though not crazy good like the Awesome Roll at Sushi Town or the Las Vegas roll at Sushiholic.
Prices a bit north but to be expected here, not overly.
servers were actually more informed about the menu, and patient too.
accepts all cards.
free on street. in fact, it’s a city by-​law for no pay meters, that’s a nice change.

Lovely place! Not reviewed enough!
Great sushi, amazing location in ambleside and the best sushi place ambience. The restaurant It self looks very high end, yet serves affordable top quality sushi! What’s not to love?
This place is a bit of a hidden gem, serving some of the best sushi I’ve ever had. Recently I visited Toshi Sushi and can confidently say this place is much better.
All the rolls are presented beautifully and are of good portion size. The rice on the rolls was just the right amount, allowing you to fully appreciate the inner parts of the roll.
Depending on the roll, it may even be served at slightly different temperatures. This shows commitment and great attention to every nuance of the sushi experience. This place is PERFECT for dinning with company.

I love this restaurant! My friend took me here before the Harmony Arts Festival last year and I’ve been hooked ever since.
My favourite menu item is the tuna and avocado salad. The portion is huge and it tastes amazing. The dressing is fabulous and everything is so fresh; it really is as visually appealing as it is flavour-​wise.
The service is always friendly, and they are very prompt when it comes to refilling water and tea.
The presentation on all of the dishes is incredible. Like works of art coming out of the kitchen — each dish more impressive than the last. The rolls are very creative and visually stunning.
Every time I’m in West Van, I go to Bene Sushi. I think I’m addicted!

Best Sushi on the North Shore and one of the best in the city. Highly recommend.
Update: Is slipping quite a bit since Chef Jordan left. All original staff have left. Too bad.