Hapa Beach

I had oysters and a sashimi platter! Everything was fresh and delicious! The service was excellent as well, the server was amazing, she kept the sake coming! I look forward to trying this place again!

We love the dishes here and generally all Hapas but find the smaller menu here disappointing if we want to get all our usual favourites. Miss having the chicken udon on the menu here and writing this review in hopes they will see it and add it!
Kitchen is otherwise great here and good service.

Went to hapa beach at around ten pm. Waited for a few minutes before someone saw us (there were maybe three tables at this time), a waitress said someone will be with us shortly, second waitress came up to us and said the manager would be with us shortly to seat us. Five minutes later. still waiting and nobody has seated us or even looked over at us. There were however five waitresses standing by the kitchen chatting and the restaurant wasn’t very busy at all.
Not good customer service at all so we left and went across the street to Nook (where we got seated right away and the restaurant was busy and full).

$ 60 for very sub par dinner for two. Quality has gone way down in the last year. I won’t be coming back for a while.

This place is on a block with a few other restaurants but this one happened to catch my eye. It had a nice little outdoor seating area so decided to give it a try.
The menu is pretty small but nothing wrong with that. It’s like an asian-​y Japanese/​Korean tapas hybrid. Small dishes and rice bowls.
The prices were decent and the food was pretty tasty. The only thing negative is that the portions were a little bit smaller than I was expecting. I left a little bit hungry still but that’s probably because I was at the beach all day!

4.5 Stars
This location is probably my favorite Hapa Izakaya because it’s right by the beach and the food is great! Happy hour here is very affordable and their regular menu is delicious as well. I really wish that they would bring back their duck poutine though! This Japanese-​Canadian fusion dish was seriously my favourite! It was so unique… made with crispy wedges, a thick gravy that’s not too salty, and pieces of fatty duck throughout the dish, garnished with green onions! It was the best!
My other favourite dishes here are the tuna salsa avocado dip (with plantain chips), chicken karrage (fried to perfection) and the amazing negitoro which is chopped tuna belly with green onions on garlic bread! Portions are very small here since this is a izakaya (meaning Japanese bar) which serves mostly small sized tapas with their alcohol.
If you’re looking to fill up, you might want to check out another sushi joint because your bill will really start adding up if you’re looking to be full! (Although you can easily get full off $ 25 if you order solely from the Hapa Hour menu)

The first time I’ve ever been to this place and I love it! Our waitress, Kelly S, made the whole night amazing! Being vegetarian and gluten free, eating out has been difficult, but Hapa was very accommodating.
We started with a Midori salad (Organic mixed greens, citrus-​soy dressing) which was so light and favourable. Then we had Oshinko (Assorted Japanese pickled vegetables). It was a little weird not knowing what vegetables we were eating but it was very nice! Lastly we had Kinoko Ishi-​Yaki (Rice, mixed mushrooms, iwanori, served in a hot stone bowl) which was AMAZING!!! Kelly brought over the bowl (steaming hot) and she mixed the contents with 2 spoons. She suggested we let it rest for a bit which is what we did. There was so much flavor and the rice was crispy. It was amazing! I could have ordered one to go!
House wine was $ 4.00 a glass and beer was $ 3.00. It was such a great place to go!!!

Came here for some drinks.
Parking is available along Cornwall, as well as the other side streets.
As with the other locations, the interior is dim, with lots of dark-​painted wood.
Service was professional, as you would expect from a place like this.
Though I’m not a fan of izakayas in general (ie overpriced), I was pleasantly surprised to find they have $ 3 glasses of beer here on Fridays! Sold.
My friends went for the expensive stuff, and threw a lot of their hard-​earned money away. Their food and drink covers the entire spectrum in terms of pricing. I didn’t eat any food personally (I showed up late), but the tapas they ordered all looked and smelled pretty delicious. Something for everyone.

The food at the Kitsilano location is not worth the wait and poor service.
During our last visit a friend and I had to wait more than a half hour for some Kits Salmon Rolls and BC Halibut Croquettes. We found out the reason my friend’s food arrived 20 minutes after mine was that the server forgot and gave the croquettes to the table next to us, who noted they didn’t order the particular item, but she paid them no mind.
The food was fresh, which might come from the fact that it is was forgotten about and had to be remade. The patio also had a really nice relaxing feel, which was perfect after a beach yoga session, but this was easily quashed by the fact that we spent over an hour waiting for the server to take our order, get us cutlery, and bring what we ordered out right.

Went there after a few volleyball games at the beach. A friend recommended so we went. Even after making the Hapa hour, the bill was definitely the most filling thing. I am a big foodie on Japanese food, no doubt the food there was made by authentic Japanese chefs. But the value of the food was well over priced. The tapas were surprisingly small portions, I’ve had better value food than that.
If you are looking for filling food, head over to Local, they have good portions and you don’t have to break the bank.

Yum, yum and more yum!
Had a groupon that was about to expire and so I ventured out in the pouring rain. It was totally worth it!
Came early so there was no wait — was taken right to a table. The service was exceptional. They made some recommendations and we were on our way.
— Polenta fries were great. Eat them quickly because if you don’t, the sauce will turn the crunchy exterior quite soggy. Other than that, the flavors were all there.
— Scallop tartar was good. The flavor mix was quite unique and the wonton chips were quite different and tasty.
— Spicy scallop sushi. It was good. Nothing crazy or different than other places.
— Crab roll was good. Again, eat it quickly or else the crunchy exterior gets soggy.
— Grilled squid (ika) was the same as everywhere else — difficult to mess this one up.
— Aburi saba — SHOW STOPPER! Out of the entire meal (minus dessert), this was my favorite. The flavors were all there and the torching of the saba (mackerel) skin was nice because it let out some of the saba’s oils. I would have ordered more of this if we weren’t already so full!
— Green tea mille crêpe. OMFG WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE? This thing was amazing. It was layers of crêpe mixed in with green tea custard and I think some chocolate mousse? Anyway, the green tea flavor exploded in my mouth. It was a very sweet dessert but that green tea flavor was outstanding. If I wasn’t such a good friend, I wouldn’t have shared.
Now onto the service: it was great. We had two servers that came to check up on us frequently. Our water and tea was always refilled quickly when it was almost empty.
Overall, it was a fantastic meal. Even if I didn’t have a Groupon for this place, I would have happily paid full price.

Considering it was a Monday evening, it was quite busy. The dining room was dark and cellar-​like and had seen better days, but overall it was acceptable. We had a wide variety of dishes, and our favourites were the fresh sashimi salad, spicy pork isi-​yaki, bintoro, and avocado tuna salsa. Others like the scallop tatare, duck blueberry, and gyoza tempura were ‘meh’. Service was slow and spotty. Some dishes would be served, then there would be a long wait (about 20 minutes) for the next couple of dishes… and so on. It made for kind of a tense atmosphere as we were quite hungry.
The dishes were quite small, which is to be expected considering it’s tapas style and if you have a healthy appetite, at an average price of $ 10 per small plate, expect a fairly healthy bill without drinks included.
For the food alone, I would give 3.5 stars, but the service and dining room gets 1 star. Hapa in Kits is Ok. But the food alone is not enough to bring me back considering there’s so many other places in Vancouver to spend my dining dollars.

We’ve been coming to Hapa in Kits for years. While we enjoy the excellent, flavourful, fresh sashimi salad, mixed-​at-​your-​table Chipotle beef curry isi-​yaki, and tasty ice creams on offer, we recently noticed another aspect of the very popular eatery that we had to weigh in on:
The seating. While this dark, cellar-​like space may have worked for its previous owner, Urban Well, after six years Hapa could really use a design refresh.
We sat at a two-​top table in the aisle, where each and every time someone opened the front doors, a blast of sunlight nearly blinded me (wish I’d brought sunglasses!) — As well, the table is so cramped against the wall, the seat cushion leaning towards the aisle, making us feel like a hotel bed that’s been slept on one too many times.
We looked around and saw the larger tables. They too have wooden benches with thin cushions underneath, so we had to rethink our past experiences being seated in one of them.
Again, not that comfortable: given a one to two hour visit, it would be a great plus to see this izakaya updated to a comfortable seating/​lighting environment.

I haven’t return to Hapa for a long time coz of so many reasons…
— No reservation
— Normal waiting time over ½ hr even an hour at busy location
— Upbeat and too noisy
— Poor service
— Pricey for average food
6 of us were ordered so many dishes:
Beef Tataki — Fresh and tasty with sesame-​chili sauce
Pork Belly Lettuce Wraps — Crispy pork belly in butter lettuce wrap not too fatty.
Karaage — Deep-​fried boneless chicken, much better than church’s fried chicken
Ebi Mayo — a bit too much of mayo sauce and prawns were tasteless.
Ika — Not impress at all.
Saba — Too fishy and wasn’t taste good
Hapa Crab Roll — Ok
Spicy Scallop Roll — I still prefer traditional Japanese sushi rather than fusion sushi roll
Creamy Salmon Roll — Average quality of salmon, cucumber, and full creamy sauce on top
Duck Poutine — a bit salty of duck leg confit.
Chocolate Lava Cake — Very nice presentation
Green Tea Tiramisu — Strong taste of green tea and light tiramisu
Mocha Chiffon Cake — NO mocha taste sponge cake and a bit too sweet.
All the dishes we ate were delightful. I was so grateful that I returned to eating there again.
However, we got charged for 18% gratuities for party of 6. Such average service and paid 18% tips as mandatory, I didn’t it worth.

I am basing my review on the Hapa Izakaya in Yaletown.
This is one of the few gems in the city where I can go with my hubby to grab a bite that will truly please both palettes. Mine for my love of seafood and veggies and his for his love of beef and chicken wings.
The mushroom ishi-​yacki is one of our favourites! Which says a lot seeing as though my better half isn’t a huge fan of mushrooms. This dish packs a lot of punch; the taste bud heaven combo of flavours is served in a searing hot rock bowl that is prepared right in front of you. The hardest part about this dish is not diving into it prematurely as it takes a few minutes for the rice to form a lovely crisp around the outer edges.
Next time we go, we will certainly order this again accept I will have the mushroom isho-​yacki all to my self and Cory will likely order the beef (and then proceed to steel some of mine).
We also ordered the dynamite roll and tofu beef stew dish, all of which were quite tasty. Although I think next time I will want to try some of their sashimi as I was jealous of the tables that were saving what look like some delicious and fresh pieces of fish.
The beer is alway ice cold and the green tea is lovely much like the staff (warm and inviting like a hot cup of green tea)
Great place for tapas, a casual lazy night out or a good first date spot as it has a diverse menu.

Girls and I used the groupon to come here on the weekend night — Really friendly staff and the usual choices of hapa dishes. Everyone loved miso grilled sablefish and tuna tartare. Not everyone liked aburi saba dish, because it can taste a bit fishy. Overall it was not bad, the scene is an odd mix of kits yuppies and older crowds on this given night. I will probably not come all the way here for tapas while I have a plenty of options in downtown.

Come here for their hapa hour. I almost gave up on Hapa until I discovered this hapa hour. From 5:30 — 6:30pm everyday, you can get their ‘tapas’ ranging from $ 2-​$ 5.
My usual set list includes the tuna avocado salsa dip, beef tataki, halibut risotto croquette, and ebi mayo. The tuna avocado salsa dip is chopped up tuna chunks, and served in a half avocado. When it arrives, the server mixes it all up. Then, consume on the plantain chips included.
The halibut risotto is also quite good. A crunchy outer layer, inside filled with shitake mushrooms, dashi risotto, and shiso mayonnaise. Of course, the ebi mayo is always good.
For a quick bite or even a light dinner, this is a good place to go. Their service has actually improved a lot over the last few times I’ve been here, so this is definitely a place I’ll frequent.
²⁶⁄₃₀; 30 Days of Unilocal

Always a realiable good time for a larger party — I have friends who are regulars at this location, and others who are fiercely loyal to the original Robson location.
We had the tasting menu x 2 for a group of 10 girls, large round table that fit us all nicely — plenty of food with leftovers to take home.
Edamame — addicting and savoury, soy marinated?
Prawn & Avocado Salad — classic
Beef Tataki — served with chili sauce. Spicy scares me, I didn’t try it
Negitoro Albacore tuna belly, green onions; served with toasted garlic bread
Ahi Tuna and Avocado Salsa Dip — I liked the plaintain chips it came with!
Miso-​sablefish — always good & buttery
Karaage, Ebi Mayo, Gyoza, Yaki Udon.
Where else can you go for pitchers of Hello Kitty? Personally though, I liked their frozen strawberry lemon sake more.

HAPA! I love you! No matter where you are! Your food is delicious!
I only wish that the servings were bigger, and the prices were more affordable: only because I want to eat everything on the menu: P Appies, Specials and Desserts are all spectacularlly tasting, and delightful to look at.
I suggest ordering a lot of small plates. but order a hot stone bowl of rice to share to fill you up more :) yummmmmmm
This hapa at kits, has a cute secret bar vibe to it: D

Hearing that they opened up another branch in Kitslano, I needed to check this place out, as I enjoyed their Robson location. I can say this one does not disappoint one bit. The location is perfect, as there really is nothing around the beach area to compete, but they don’t dive on the quality of the tapa food they serve here. On a night where we had a reservation, as it is definately recommended, as this place gets busy, we were sat right in the middle. The seating and décor is definately different from Robson, in some ways not much waste of space, but you never feel cramped.
On this night, we ordered some Beef Tataki, Agedashi Tofu, Ishi-​Yaki (where they always come out piping hot, and they mix everything up in front of you!), and the Yaki Udon. Never feeling rushed due to the crowds, and the food coming at a nice pace always is a good thing about a restaurant. Definately not an eye sore, as they understand the points of presentation, each dish was well done.
It is more of a hip place to go to, not your traditional place. It’s lively almost every night, as per the location where it is. The only problem with this one is finding parking, as you know ‘Kit’s’ can get real busy, and do not take a chance with parking illegally, unless you don’t care to miss your car!