- Address: 4151 Hazelbridge Way, Richmond
- Visited: 10/09/2015, Dinner, 3 people
- Cuisine: Japanese
- Rating: 4.5 5.0 Excellent, worth every $
4.5 Good, food & value
4.0 Good, but $$, would re-visit
3.5 Meh, good $, would re-visit
3.0 Meh, would not re-visit
2.0 Did not like $$ [$] <20; [$$] <40; [$$$] <80; [$$$$] >80
- Website: http://guu-izakaya.com/richmond
Last October, one of The Hubby’s groomsmen got married in Vancouver. We flew out Thursday night and spent the weekend catching up with our West Coast friends and eating a lot of Japanese food. With only a fews days in the city, and a chunk of time devoted to the wedding, I had to prioritize and streamline my list of eats. Stopping by a Guu location was top of that list. I stopped by the Richmond outpost with two other wives, while our husbands were out at Groom’s bachelor party.
Atmosphere: Located on the second floor of a shopping mall, the izakaya was compact and cozy. Walking into the restaurant, we weren’t greeted with the loud exuberant cheers I was used to. Music was not deafening and it was easy to talk without the need to shout. The restaurant stayed fairly calm throughout the night.
Service: My biggest worry was having to wait for a table, but we managed to grab the last seats in the restaurant before a line formed behind us. Our table was at the front of the restaurant and a little isolated, making it hard to get our server’s attention. Generally, I felt the service was efficient but not as warm as I expected.
Food: For the two of us drinking, we tried two versions of frozen beer, one plain and one mango. The ice cold pints of beer were topped with a cap of frozen beer foam, delicious. For me, the added sweetness from the mango made the drink a must-order.
From the cooked food menu I stuck to two classics, kimchi udon and takoyaki. The udon was chewy and the takoyaki was crispy balls of batter. We also had a bowl of oden (not pictured), the perfect comfort dish and filling. From the sushi menu, we tried the aburi Punk roll that was topped with tuna, salmon, squid, shrimp, smoked salmon, surf clam and scallop. The roll was served and torched fresh at our table, a nice touch. That night’s sashimi selection included all of my favourites, so ordering was a no-brainer. We choose the sweet shrimp, scallop and o-toro tuna. Quality and freshness was top-notch, each piece was sweet and melted like butter.
Overall, Guu was a good choice for a girl’s night out. The Richmond location was quiet and calmer than a typical izakaya, better for conversations and catching up.
