Tampopo Gardens

For what you get, its too expensive. Prices have gone up as quality has gone down. Its among the worse quality Japanese food n sushi around now. It used to be fantastic and lower in price. On top of it all, you pay a considerable amount more now to get sockeye salmon and I don't believe it to even be sockeye. The quality is so bad now I can't even go there anymore. Its so frustrating to experience your favorite sushi joint go down the drain. They need to get back to the way they were 5-10 yes ago and then it will be busy again. Getting cheap on service and quality of food in the restaurant business will put you out.

I don't know what the fuss is below. The food was as good as most All You Can Eat Sushi places. Service was good. $28.95 is a little pricey....but given the selection it was worth it.

I have no idea how this place makes money. For $13.50 at lunch you can stuff your face with a variety of pretty good sushi, sashimi, and hot food. Service is a little spotty brought out the wrong order to our table...twice, but were really friendly about it. The goma ae spinach salad and crunch roll were my favorite by far. The yakitori and age-dashi tofu were also quite good. I would definitely skip the desserts the mango pudding was more like a weird mango flavored gelatinous cube?

When you sit down, you put your hands on the creamy mosaic colored marbled table. The table feels sticky, like it hasn't been cleaned. Upon closer look, the table itsself has been repaired and their is rubbery goop that is used as an adhesive to keep the marble from falling apart. Food is good quality but the hot food is definitely on the salty side. Service needs significant improvement. Staff is very friendly but they "easily" forget you and your order which they have several times when we visited and we didnt order much. Our chicken teriyaki is served room temperature. Vancouver Food and Safey will be notified. It seems that mainly Caucasians visit this place which is very very interesting considering the amount of Asian tourists and their presence in neighbouring Japanese restaurants but not this Japanese restaurant. For me, that's a pretty good warning sign that something is amiss. Many of the staff seem very overworked, one waitress put on a very good "happy" face, but it was just for show. The bathroom didn't have any paper towels despite being recently "checked". I suspect this restaurant may be having financial difficulties like many in the area who have closed down. I wouldn't be surprised if it too closes down, say, by the end of summer 2013. We won't be returning or recommending this place.

It became a treat for me to go to Tanpopo on Denman when I visited Vancouver for medical treatments since I was 15. I am 30 now, and have experienced the decline in not only service, but quality of food too, especially the sushi/sashimi! I've also noticed the prices going up at the same time, but thats understandable. But I remember the days that you'd have to wait in line to get in. It was jammin all day long! Now, it is barely half full at its busiest, and only caucasions no more asians go there. This means something. I have been a sushi chef for 5 years and lived off fresh local seafood all my life. I grew up salmon fishing. BEWARE EVERYONE! The advertised "sockeye salmon" there is NOT sockeye salmon, so dont pay extra for it. It actually seems as if they are being tricky about it and taking cuts of the farmed Atlantic that they may pass as Sockeye. This Ive noticed off n on lately, and last night I made up my mind to never go there again. I went around the corner up Robson to Sushi Mart and enjoyed Real Sockeye Salmon. I was pleasantly surprised to have the freshest seafood I've ever had for sushi in Vancouver. Heres a response to Dasha's review. It's actually quite simple how they make money. Theres lots of rice involved with the sushi, all cheap cuts of thinly sliced fish, and cheap meats/produce for the kitchen food. There was a day where for this price ypu could eat unlimited, very fresh tuna and Real Sockeye salmon sashimi! I miss those days. They didn't make money off of that though. I know food, I was a chef/sushi chef for 10 years total. Cheers.

DINERS BEWARE! ! My date and I went there last night. .. we ordered the 20.95 MENUE with sake and sodas....we ordered very carefully as we are both in our 40s and aware of food waste being wrong...we left our little bowls of salad because my date is allergic to tomatoes and it came after the miso I like my salad first and somy yakisoba and 3pcs of chicken carage and they CHARGED $5 extra for waste! !! They more than made money on our lack of ordering and drinks. ...its not the $5 that upset me but the lack of judgement on the waitress part. She missed out on $15 dollar tip as a result. NEVER GOING BACK

This is one of my favorite all you can eat sushi restaurants. They serve wild sockeye salmon sashimi. The quality of food that they serve is really good. I highly recommend it.

Amazing place, first time for me to take an all u can eat lunch. The sushi stuff are fresh and very good, the service can be better, but for this prices its perfect!

The food was good BUT The waiter was extremely unhelpful, the menu ordering system confusing and as a result we paid more than double what we should have. For four of us the waiter only brought ONE order form and yet we were charged for four meals. There was hardly anyone there and yet the service was slow.

Came back after a few years to see if the food improved. It's even worse. I eat sushi quite often and this place must be the worst I have tried in a long time.

Directions to Tampopo Gardens with public transportation

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