Yuwa Japanese Cuisine (fka Zest Restaurant)

For people that have never been to Japan and don’t know too much about Japanese food, maybe they’ll find the food above average or unique. However, for us, it was quite not worth the value, especially the Canadian lobster roll ($24) and grilled sable fish roll ($30), these two rolls fare really not unique in taste and presentation. We found these two rolls completely over-priced and bland. The Hokkaido Hotate the hotate was over-cooked. Service was above average and could definitely feel the Omotenashi the restaurant tries to bring to its customers. Thank you.

Everything we have tried at Yuwa is delicious! The service is excellent.

Have been many times and love it always excellent

A bit disappointed with the sushi. My hamachi sushi was stacked by 2 pieces of small hamachi instead of one whole piece. I never seen this before neither in Vancouver nor in japan. Also the sushi rice was not sticky enough. Once I picked it up, the rice fell apart.

Good if u looking for another kind of Japanese fusion taste Service was outstanding. Clean and comfy.

The food was good, especially the Chef Sushini which came on a bowel of rice with various shusini displayed all around. We were there prior theatre at the Federic Wood Theatre and our stay was just over 1hr.

Excellent food and friendly service. However wait times between dishes were too long.

This was our first visit to Yuwa. From the first moment that we stepped in until the last, the service was top-notch. We were dining with a baby so they were very accommodating and prepared a high chair for our use ahead of time. The food was amazing. All the fish that we tried were super fresh. Our favourites were the Chutoro, Kanpachi and Kani Special nigiri. Overall, an excellent dining experience. We would recommend this to our friends and family.

While we thought the food was very good, we were very displeased with the timeliness of service. Our first 2 courses were perfectly timed while the last 2 took well over 30 mins between them to serve and kept us in the restaurant for over 2 hours.

My friend & I enjoyed our meal immensely! The food was fantastic & the service was excellent! We would recommend Yuwa as the spot to dine!

Eaten there twice. Amazing wine and sake list. Best Japanese food have had. Truly a dining experience and love how walking distance to our house. Love it! We enjoy going with couples and sharing lots of dishes for a fun experience.

You can’t beat yuwa’s quality and attention to detail!

Delicious Japanese food as always!

Very good service, friendly server and super good chef. Food is really good, fresh and tasty. Very quiet and good for chatting. Highly recommend their hot dish and dessert.

A taxi ride from Downtown, but all worth it. Creative dishes and very fresh sashimi, nice atmosphere and friendly service. When in Vancouver we will be back!

We were treated very well.

Fresh sashimis , nice environment and quiet dining atmosphere. The server of us was a bit not professional, like she asked me to pass the wine instead of she serve the wine to the other end of our table by walking there. Also she collected the empty serving plates too slow that make no space for coming foods.Overall I enjoyed the dinner.

Excellent restaurant!! Authentic Japanese Cuisine, great sushi and really nice staff and service! I highly recommend it.

Wonderful sushi restaurant at either the sushi bar or a table. The dinner was perfect -excellent sushi and new creations.

Excellent food. Will definitely come again

Finest Japanese restaurant on West Side Of Vancouver and considered one of the best restaurants in the entire city.

❤️ Amazing as always for our family!

Very inviting atmosphere, impecable and gracious service, off the charts Japanese food. The selection of dishes is remarkable. The fish was so fresh and presented beautifully.

Yuwa is top notch. The food was amazing and the service was attentive and knowledgeable. We would recommend the sake flights, three wave tuna dish, and steak.

A big step up from the days as Zest. The new ownership appears to run a tight ship and has hired exceptional service staff. The kitchen is shining brighter than I think it could before. The food was not perfect in every way--the bluefin maki was light on fish--but almost everything was still exceptionally fresh, well-prepared and beautifully presented. The decor and atmosphere is sophisticated, and the table service among the sharpest in Vancouver. Ask everything about the sake!

The service, food and ambience are very, very good. So nice to have Yuwa in the neighbourhood.

Great service and food. Interesting options not common in most local Japanese restaurants.

Very nice ambiance, service is exceptional and the cuisine is authentic and delicious!

Classy restaurant with an innovative menu, well-balanced flavours, inviting presentation of dishes. Excellent service and very good value considering the high quality experience.

A fantastic Japanese restaurant slightly off the beaten track. The food was faultless, the service perfect and the price point was excellent. The only thing was that it didn’t feel distinctly Japanese in the decor but the food more than made up for it.

A very unique fine dinning experience , great Kaseike courses!

A wonderful Japanese experience. Yuwa is top-quality with creative, smaller plates. The Sake collection is second to none in Vancouver. Having recently visited Japan, Yuwa represents an authentic quality Japanese restaurant...Yuwa is worth a trip.

simply gorgeus, excellent food, very very lovely young waitresses, highly recommended

The atmosphere was great and the food was amazing! Will come back for sure.

Excellent food and service. This restaurant always delivers. It’s our closest local restaurant and we live it..

Yuma is better than ever. Interesting dishes and beautiful presented/served. As always, impeccable service. We thought the menu even better than Zest and the interiors have been thoughtfully updated including a new sushi bar which is made from a beautiful piece of wood. Will absolutely return

I originally had dinner at this restaurant, while attending a business meeting, but was so impressed that I brought my husband the following evening to experience the wonderful food, ambiance, and service.

Excellent food at Yuwa !! Our waitress, Meho, was exceptional in knowledge and expertise !!
Very accommodating for our gluten free foods for our son. Even had gluten free soy sauce !
Shin , the manager even remembered us from last year and where we sat !!
Exceptional quality of food, every bite was tasty and mouth watering !
Can’t wait to go back again !
Thank you Meho, Shin and Iori !!

We hadn’t been to Zest since the changeover happened. The menu was a bit different and still completely enjoyable. The service isn’t rushed so you need to be clear if you’re going somewhere after and have a time limit. Good service, nice sake choices, good food. The music could have been a bit lower volume for me. That’s my only complaint. And I’m certain if I’d voiced it they’d have turned it down.

The food was tasty although the portion sizes small and relatively expensive. Sharing with one other person is best for these items. Some items were innovative and really tasty whereas some were a bit "run of the mill". The waitress wasn't too helpful in recommending the outstanding items.
Overall, I wouldn't run back as it was pretty expensive. Good to recommend to someone for an experience looking for fancy sushi.