Kadoya Japanese Restaurant

Feeding the table late night...

I passed by this place probably for more than a decade yet I have never been here before. I probably didn't pay much attention until I was looking for some really late night sushi. And as far as I know there are less than a handful that opens past 12am so this place got me intrigued when I saw it opens til 1am.

Upon entering, casually greeted by the staffs and seated. Inside is small; about 8-10 tables on each side, sushi bar and kitchen to the back, simple and older decor, furnishings maybe needed a bit of an upgrade.

The menu was pretty straightforward, serving pretty much the basics with a few Korean items. Here were the food I ordered;

1. Prawn sunomono ($2 extra for prawn). I literally fed the entire bowl of it to the table when I accidentally tipped it over. From the corner of my eyes I saw the chef (owner?) immediately told the kitchen to make me a new one and the server came to tell me they are making a new one for me. I insisted no but at the end they replaced a new one for me (Did they just earned a brownie point with me?). The vermicelli had a light chew to them, the seasoned vinegar was on the lighter side but the portion was generous.
2. Appetizer tempura. The batter and fluff was more of the older tempura style, could use an upgrade in this one for more of an appealing look. But they tasted pretty decent.
3. Spider roll. Very nicely done, and wasn't over powered by a large amount of rice like a lot of the basic sushi places do. Plus the softshell crab was quite meaty.
4. Salmon, red tuna, saba, toro nigiris. Everything was fresh except for the red tuna, it was a bit on the dry side. The rice texture was perfect however a more noticeable seasoning on the rice may be a good idea.
5. Chopped scallops and ikura nigiri's. Very fresh especially the ikura and the portion was quite generous.
6. Assorted sashimi. Everything was okay but once again the red tuna was a bit dry also why one piece of tako? If dining with a few people, someone is going to have a black eye or missing a tooth fighting for it?

Where do I begin? First of all, there aren't too many late night sushi places and as most know that no late night sushi places are good? Therefore I didn't have much expectations when I stepped into this place, HOWEVER, I was surprised and blown away by its sincere and genuine services not just to me but to all the diners from the beginning till the end.
I have been to probably 5000+ restaurants in this globe and had all kind of memorable experiences but seldom what I called a genuine service experience. And I can add this one to my book.

Honestly, I always appreciate the sincere, genuine gestures and services more than the rehearsed 5 star service. This kind of attitude will always be blessed with success.
It appeared this is new ownership and staffs, wish you all much success in the new venture together. And many thanks for the great hospitality in such a simple setting.

P.S. food has room for improvement so mainly rating for its humble genuine services, 5 stars!

Must be new chef/new owners. We have been coming here for about fifteen years now and had been a big fan. We ate there last week and it's the most disappointing Japanese food I have ever tasted. The rice was dry and tasteless/unseasoned. They had deep-fried the prawns that looked like they had been fried in fine bread crumbs. The pork gyoza was over-cooked and dried out and tough not to mention small in size.

We will not be going back. Good-bye Kadoya!

Kings 8 roll
Crazy hot girl roll
Green Monkey roll
Chopped scallop roll
Chicken Karage

Food was AMAZING! Service was great as well. Small location but a hidden gem. I highly recommend the chicken karage. I probably wouldn't get the scallop roll again.

Quick service for downtown lunch. Reasonable price. Causal Japanese food. All kinds of sushi rolls.

I've been a regular here for years, it was my number one sushi spot and unfortunately as time passes this restaurant seems to get worse. Its now mediocre sushi compared to the other restaurants in the area especially as they have raised prices and now one of the more expensive places on Davie St. The inside is in dire need of a renovation. Hopefully they wake up otherwise they'll keep losing regular customers. It's sad to even leave this review but let's be honest, there's way better tasting sushi for cheaper in Vancouver. I won't be returning anymore!

super disappointed with their service. My coworkers and I placed an order for 8 people. I had asked them to separate the orders ie) we had 3 orders of dynamite, asked that they don't combine all the dynamite orders into one tray.

when we went to go pick it up, my co-worker was going to help me check to ensure that the orders were separated and that they didnt combine any of the rolls as it looked as if they were all combined. The waiter told her not to touch and as she was trying to explain that she was going to check...he cut her off and stated that they know what they were doing and that they have 10 years of experience.

i proceeded to pay. Since the waiter was being rude, I felt that I didnt need to tip as I can see that he had put all the orders together despite the fact that I had written it in the comments to not combine it.

Since my order was not ready, we told them we would be back. On our way back to pick up the order, he handed a bad to me and my coworker and said "Congratulations, you guys are the first group order to not tip"

I find that extremely unprofessional.

We ordered take-out. They did not give us soy sauce which was surprising. They should not put slices of lime between the sushi because it ruined the taste of the sushi. Some of the sushi were longer (e.g. salmon) or thinner than the others (e.g. unagi). The tuna and the toro did not taste good. In other places, the tuna would melt in your mouth and the toro would be more fatty. We also found an apple seed among the sushi; it was gross.

The server was not knowledgeable and she appeared to be the manager. She did not know what was in the assorted sushi (she sounded confusing). The ambience was not inviting; the chefs stared at us and there was no music. It was a tiny place fit for take-out.

Do not listen to the reviews by these picky people. They have have no idea what they're saying. The portions are great. I'm a big dude and I can eat a lot and I got pretty full near the end. Staff was amazing, very helpful, and kind. Definitely would come back. Food came out really fast and was nice and hot.

If you are a super picky person, they do have options for you as well. Vegan options and brown rice are available as alternatives.

We were craving sushi and just happened to stumble across this place. No complaints. They have some interesting rolls. The gomae had a sweet taste as opposed to peanuty (we both enjoyed it).
We also had the vegetyarian gyoza. Rolls were all good.

It was a hole in the wall type place. Nothing wrong with it. About 1/3 of the tables filled. If we were in the vicinity again, we would go back.

If there weren't so many better places around... my chirashi don was not the cheapest in town, or in the neighborhood. Still, it had only basics, and surprisingly few of them, and the pieces were noticeably thin or small. Plus, several of them didn't look unhealthy, but didn't look great. The tamago was very sweet, even for tamago, and broke apart into pieces.

I got a side dish, something I usually love, and didn't finish it. My local grocery store makes it much better.

There are several other options in the four-block area. I've tried all but one of them, and so far this is last.

The rice was fine, and the service was both nice and fast.