Guu Original Thurlow

The place is damn busy and have to wait a while to get seated. Their tapas are quite unique. We ordered the beef tataki, tuna tataki, beef tongue, ebi mayo and grilled pork cheek. Overall we enjoy the food but the price is little pricy for small portion. The place is quite noisy and waiters and waitresses are yelling out orders to chefs in kitchen. Not that we are complaining but we just notice it’s restaurant’s style of placing orders.

One of my favourite places to take a date. Get into the plum wine, get yourself a croquette and stay for the madness. Such fun and the food is always worth it.
Expect to lineup so don’t go
If you are viciously hungry or with someone who gets hangry.

Lots of Japanese tapas dishes to choose from. Tried the White Rabbit beer, which was ok. To eat we shared:
Yaki udon minus beef-​pretty good, but only when it’s hot, so eat it before it gets cold.
Kabocha croquette-​looked like a dessert, also good and savory.
Gyu ro su-​delicous
Yellowtail sashimi, sockeye salmon sashimi, and scallop sashimi-​very fresh
Albacore tuna cerviche-​fresh, but a little bland.
This place reminds me of a Japan. It’s tiny here, so make reservations ahead of time. Service is decent too.

Nothing special. It is a very typical Japanese tapa setup with one problem: lacks of selection. What defines this type of restaurants are their selection. Type of food, drinks, beer, shochu, etc. Guu selection in any one of them is VERY limited; especially the case on Shochu. Shochu selection is the spirit of any Japanese Tapa restaurant. A typical good California one will have at least 10 — 15 different brands at a minimum. They only stock the very generic brand and kind of missed the pont.
The food selection is the same. I am surprised by this, given the less restrict food import law in Canada, I assume they will stock more like a real tapa bar in Japan.
If you ever visit the west coast, look up Gochi in Cupertino, California. It is far far superior compare to Guu.

Yay for my fellow Unilocalers, because my husband and I tried out this place at the referral of my Unilocal friend, and glad we did because it was YUMMY!
It was a walkable distance from the hotel we stayed at but we almost missed it because the restaurant didn’t have a sign up front (might be fixing it when we were there?) but from the outside window looking in, we could already tell this was it as it seemed like a very inviting Asian restaurant. Walked in and we were greeted immediately and asked if since there were only two of us, if it’s okay we share a larger table with others. Didn’t mind at all — plus everyone else was super friendly, it was nice to get acquainted with other patrons.
We ordered:
yellow tail tuna sashimi
sockeye salmon sashimi
scallop sashimi
flat udon with beef
takoyaki
kabocha croquette
Price was fair to the quality of the food. Servers friendly. Place was clean. The kabocha croquette was a first for me – it is a fried battered kabocha and was pretty good. I love the flat udon soup — tasty!
This place had a happening vibe and would definitely be back next time we’re in Vancouver :)

Wow, I really loved Guu. I thought this place was great. Although it’s located on a very busy/​commercial street, the inside feels like a truly authentic, «hole-​in-​the-​wall» restaurant with amazing food. There were 3 in our group and we were seated at a shared table with 2 other people, which I thought was a lot of fun. Food was excellent. The sockeye salmon sashimi was some of the best fish I had ever eaten and the noodle dishes that we tried were also excellent. Service was great, with the waiters shouting our orders to the kitchen right from the table. They were also very happy to provide recommendations on menu items. Prices were very reasonable with a lot of great food leaving us all feeling full for under 20 CAD.
FYI, the place is small, so large groups are not the best idea here. Not sure if they take reservations, but if not, you should probably be prepared to wait. The food is meant to be shared, so make sure your party-​members have similar tastes to you. And go enjoy Guu, it is DEFINITELY worth it!

Was not impressed.
Chicken bowl and Katsu bowl were terrible.
It seems nothing was cooked properly.
Low quality meats.

Sitting at the bar at this place makes you believe you’re somewhere in Japan. It’s about as authentic as it gets, super vibrant, and very young, almost hipster-​ish although we might have been the only white people in the entire place. I’m pretty traveled and have been to some authentic spots but half this menu was foreign to me. We pretty much just guessed our way through it. And sometimes surprises are the best… and it helps to be open and not picky about food. I can’t exactly tell you everything we had, or anything for that matter, but we finished off all of our plates while watching the cooks in awe as they prepared one dish after another over an hour. Such a great experience and a memorable one. Definitely take a shot on this one if you’re looking to be adventurous.

In our opinion, Guu Original is the best Guu restaurant. We’ve been here a few times and these are our favourite dishes:
Karaage, comes with mayo sauce and the pieces are big and juicy. Kimchi Udon, portion is a little small but it’s delicious, the tobiko is a nice touch. Kabocha Croquette, pumpkin is delicious with the tangy sauce, the egg inside is a nice surprise. Salmon Yukke, so good! Raw salmon with a sesame oil and soy blend for sauce, also comes with a raw quail egg yolk and pine nuts. Accompanied by shrimp chips to eat the salmon with. Tuna Tataki, not bad but kind of small, the fried garlic pieces are scrumptious. We have also tried the beef tataki, we found the slices to be a bit too thick, we prefer the tuna tataki. We also ordered the beef tendon which comes with fish cake, tofu and egg. This dish was very salty and the tendon was way too fatty.
Service is good and prices are reasonable.

I love this place and I used to come here often for lunch and dinner when I was working downtown. This place is always busy. But I have never had a disappointing meal from here. Out of at least over 30+ times here. I don’t know when they open because they have been around for a long time. The menu does change from time to time. Nothing like a major change.
Service has always been great here. I find it entertaining watching the chef cook. Flaming fire etc. LOL.
Décor is ok. The place is always very dark. The restaurant is small so everytime I come, I need to wait about 30 mins plus. But its worth it for good food. This is not the only Guu in downtown. Each Guu has a theme. I personally like the Guu on Robson more.
My favorite dish here is the tuna tataki. Just my favorite dish! Yummy!

I was craving for Izakaya restaurant in Vancouver, and Unilocal suggested Guu Original Thurlow. The Guuud Ale paired fairly well with the food. Something a little different from the more commonly found Sapporo or Asahi.
The menu selection was pretty good, and we ordered a variety of items from grilled shrimps to beef tataki. I would say skip the monkfish liver, because it tasted similar to what one could get from a Japanese market. The sea urchin was a little overpriced in my opinion given the quantity. My favorites were the steamed mussels and scallops, which were flavorful. They are difficult ingredients from a timing perspective, and Guu got it down nicely. Overall, I think Guu was solid choice with a few misses.

We dropped in at 11pm on a Friday night and were seated immediately. Everything on the menu looked delicious, so we ordered the following items.
sashimi salad– lightly sauced with decent amounts of sashimi
hokkaido scallops — the best and so cheap!
uni — texture is a little firmer. tastes fine
takoyaki — pretty average. i’d skip this next time and go for the sashimi
monk liver — liver taste is not too strong.
sashimi — yellowtail, salmon, tuna, scallops. all good quality.
beef tongue — a little tough, but still good.
black cod neck — amazing! neck tastes fatty and delicious
The scallops, yellowtail, salmon, and black cod neck were the best dishes of the night. The scallops were so good that we had to order another one. One thing I found that added to the experience was every time someone entered or left the restaurant, the entire staff would bid them hello or goodbye in Japanese.

It was more like a 3.5 stars.
I was looking for a place for dinner on my day trip to Canada. I settled on this restaurant due to great reviews. We came in on a Friday night and it was pretty busy. You walk in and a server takes your name and puts it on the list. For two, we waited about 20 mins.
This place is pretty small, we got seated at the bar which we didn’t mind since there was only two of us. We ordered:
Gyu Ro Su: rare beef steak with garlic sauce. This dish was pretty good. It packed flavor and the meat was not overcooked. You should order this.
Yaki Udon: Pan fried udon with mushrooms, green onions, soy sauce and butter. I really like this dish. It was so flavorful. I love noodles in general, so this dish is something I would order again.
Kimchi Fried rice: It was off the special menu and one of their suggestions on the board. It was so bland and disappointing. I would not order this again.
Spicy Calamari — This was made fresh and tasted how it should. Nothing too special to talk about.
Tuna Tataki: This was lightly seared tuna sashimi with sauce and garlic chips. I liked this dish, the tuna tasted fresh and the sauce gave it a nice kick.
The service was pretty good, our waters were filled despite the server forgetting our waters until the first dish arrived. He apologized so that was fine. Everyone was pretty friendly from the start and beginning of the dinner session. thumbs up!

Last time I was in Vancouver, I went to the Guu in Gastown. I liked it so much, I wanted to try the other locations. The roommate and I walked in for dinner on Sunday, January 17^th around 7pm without a reservation. (I don’t think they take reservations for parties of 2 anyways.) We ended up sitting at the bar. No wait at all.
Specials:
*Horse sashimi ($ 10)
*Spicy ground pork flat udon ($ 9)
*Mashed potato with truffle oil and parsley ($ 4.80)
I never got to try horse sashimi in Japan, so we decided to order it here. It really tasted a lot like raw beef. I liked it. The mashed potato was cold which I wasn’t expecting. Lots of truffle aroma and flavor. The noodles, I wasn’t planning on ordering. I kept seeing them make it from the counter and decided to order it. Sooo good! The noodles were perfectly cooked and the spicy pork sauce to die for.
Oden:
*Assorted oden 5 pieces ($ 6.80): Squid roll with fish cake, Sticky rice cake in tofu bag, Deep fried tofu ball, Puffed fish cake, Fish cake
Yum! I loved the broth. It took a while for me to figure out which was what item. I liked the squid roll with fish cake the best. I used some of the hot mustard to add a little spice.
Appetizer:
*Tako wasabi ($ 4.80): wasabi marinated octopus with wasabi stem
The roommate added this after seeing it served. Definitely a nice kick with all the wasabi. Your sinuses will be cleared! But texturally, I found it a little too slimy.
Deep fried:
*Takoyaki ($ 5.50): deep fried octopus balls with tonkatsu sauce & mustard mayo
My least favorite dish. It was a little too sweet and fishy for me. But I’ve never really had takoyaki, so maybe it’s just not my thing.
Grill:
*Gyu ro-​su ($ 8.90): premium beef rare steak with Japanese garlic sauce
*Gyu tan ($ 6.20): grilled beef tongue with salt and green onion sauce
*Tontoro ($ 6.80): grilled pork cheek with yuzu ponzu sauce
My favorite items other than the flat udon. The beef tongue was grilled perfectly and seasoned just right. The pork cheek was tender and moist. Yum! The steak was disappointing. I’d watched it come out beautiful and rare to other tables. But when we put in our order, it happened during a shift switch, so our steak came out medium well to well done. We didn’t complain, but I was bummed.
Of course I had to wash everything down with some beer! I got two Sapporos ($ 5.50 a mug) while the roommate just sipped on water.
Guu has an open kitchen, so sitting at the bar, I got to see all the dishes being made. Great, since I wouldn’t have ordered the flat udon otherwise. But sometimes, ignorance is bliss. Watching them prepare the kabocha croquette ($ 4.40) was… interesting to say the least. It’s pre-​fried, so all they do is microwave it and then pour the guu sauce onto it. After seeing this, I’m glad I didn’t order it as I can only imagine a nuked fried item coming out soggy. I’m surprised they cook it this way in an open kitchen. I’d think they would double fry it at least for show? Part of me found it funny coming from a family restaurant background.
After visiting a second location, I’m still a fan of Guu. Can’t wait to come back to Vancouver to try the other locations.

I first ate at Guu 7 years ago and knew that it had to be one of my first stops during my 2016 visit. I was quite disappointed because nothing was amazing. We ordered about a quarter of the menu items and everything was just ok. The flavors weren’t unique and the dishes were ordinary.
Guu Thurlow doesn’t even compare to the experience I had at Kingyo (another Izakaya restaurant chain) during the same trip. Even the service was better at Kingyo! Guu wait staff were not neglecting, but they also didn’t interact with us in a fun manner, the way Kingyo servers did.
At Guu, the fried dishes (chicken karaage, oysters, mayo shrimp, and calamari) were not consistent in crispiness of the batter or juiciness of the meat. The pan fried udon, kimchi fried rice, and oden fish cake soup were a little bland, even though there were a mix of different flavors. And there was nothing special about the sashimi dishes (fried garlic chips and ponzu on top of seared tuna, and albacore sashimi).
The best dishes were the grilled beef tongue and pork cheek (both cooked until juicy and tender), and the bacon and mushroom carbonara was the most unique dish because of the flat udon noodles (mostly because I’ve never had flat udon noodles before).
We made a reservation for 7pm and arrived 30 minutes ahead of time. The table was ready for us and we were able to sit down and drink beer while we waited for our entire party to arrive. For 5 people, we ordered about 15 dishes, a few bottles of hot sake, and two pitchers of beer. The total was about $ 200 for dinner. I likely won’t return because I enjoyed Kingyo much more and it was about the same for dinner.

After trying the Guu in Toronto, it was only natural that a pilgrimage was made to the original Guu on Thurlow.
Honestly, cannot go wrong with anything on the menu. Do yourself a favour and order the karaage. And maybe the takoyaki… and the pork belly too.
A bit lacking on vegetarian and vegan options but they are more than willing to work with you to figure something out so that fried eggplant and seaweed salads aren’t the only choices.
The soup base for the kimchi udon was way too salty on our visit though… much oyster sauce.
But really, nothing a few Sapporos can’t fix.
The place was packed when we got there around 7p, waited about 20 mins before we got in.
Service was great, friendly and prompt.
So guu’d.

Eughhhhhh, this place seemed so promising, but it was clear that I chose the wrong place for a special birthday celebration! I get that coming to a place like this, they are little tiny tasting plates. But some of the items we had were just ridiculous in size for the price.
I booked this place 2 months ago, frequently checking out the changing menu and getting so excited about trying all the different dishes they had to offer. The food wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t memorable at all. The $ 17 Lobster Gratin was a super super tiny half lobster tail filled with diced lobster meat, veggies, and cheese. It sat in a small 4″ dish. Complete not worth it. The «RARE» beef arrived completely overdone, no signs of pinkness at all. I wanted to return it, but after each person had already taken a piece (and there werent very many), I felt stupid wanting to return the last remaining piece saying its overdone. Plus, being that it was a birthday dinner, I didn’t want to complain or dampen the mood. I could tell that while everyone was trying to be polite, we were all less than impressed with the food and service.
While our server was nice, everything seemed to lag and take forever to arrive. I asked him to check on our «two yaki udon dishes», and he came back with one, so we continued to wait, thinking that the other type of udon dish would arrive. AFter 20 minutes, nothing. We decided to cut our losses, and just get the bill — but as it turned out, our second udon dish was never included in the order, so we sat there waiting for nothing. You’d think that if I asked the server to check on TWO dishes, he’d start to wonder what happened with the other one when he only had 1 dish to deliver.
And while I don’t really enjoy drinking much, or the taste of liquor, I felt their cocktails /​drinks were super weak and not that tasty!
Never again.

A great selection of izakayas without the menu being overwhelming! We were quoted a 20 minute wait and waited around 15 minutes for 4 people at 6:30 on a Saturday, which isn’t bad at all. The employees are pretty efficient and friendly.
For the 4 of us, we ordered the kimchi udon, tuna tataki, chicken karaage, 9 piece sashimi, 5 piece salmon appetizer, rare steak, pork belly, fried rice, and uni and it was the perfect amount for us to be feeling full but not stuffed.
Everything was executed really well and extremely tasty. My favorites were the Karaage, Kimchi Udon, and tuna tataki. Not to mention, the prices were reasonable. Our total after tax and tip came out to $ 97 CAD, and with the great USD exchange rate being 1.34 per CAD, it cost us just $ 73 USD for all of that amazing food. Even if it were a 1:1 conversion rate, I would still find the prices reasonable for the quality of food we got.

Love the lunch menu at this Guu location! My fave is the Tamagotoji-​Don: deep fried chicken, egg, onion with dashi broth on rice. Comes with miso soup.
Quick service & good value for authentic Japanese food!

Cute place for a cozy intimate atmosphere. There arent too many tables so we sat at the bar. Ordered the beef tataki, yaki udon, salmon yukke, and okonomiyaki. Everything was pretty good and i LOVE the service here. Everyone is so nice and considerate.
This place is quite different from the waterfront location, price, and menu wise just in case anyone was wondering.