Wasabi Robson is the newest sushi restaurant to open up in Downtown Vancouver at the Vancouver Public Library. I saw them on Instagram and wanted to make a visit as they make a few aburi-style sushi items on the menu as well as more affordable items like bento box sets, curry and udon. They seem to cater those who want a quick meal and those who want a bit more of an indulgence like aburi at lower prices.
Interior
They take reservations after 3pm, so I made one for my group of friends. The restaurant is half seating and half kitchen. The traffic fluctuated through the night but if you are in a larger group, reservations are best.
They are fairly new and have some kinks to work out. Service was very mediocre, so we were rarely given tea until we asked and also they didn’t clear the dishes or give us the bill. Also the abundance of fruit flies were very bothersome.
Menu
Crown Tart
The Crown Tart is made with scallop, wild salmon, tuna, avocado, sushi rice, and aburi sauce. Then topped with lemon slices and shrimp. It’s a good size and very delicious. You can have it by yourself or share with the table.
Wild Salmon Aburi Oshi
This comes with 6 pieces per order and it has flame-seared wild salmon sushi with their signature aburi sauce on top with a piece of jalapeño.
Saba Aburi Oshi
This has flame-seared mackerel sushi with their signature sauce on top. The saba is a salty mackerel that is always very delicious in aburi form. The sauce on top is different than the other aburi items.
Ebi Aburi Oshi
This has flame-seared shrimp sushi with their signature sauce on top. Another delicious item.
Gyoza
It comes with 5 pieces but we asked them to make it 6 pieces and added a dollar extra so it would be easier for the table to split as we were a party of 6. It was good but it would have been nice is there was some sauce or dip to go along with it like ponzu sauce.
Salmon Avocado Roll
This uses wild salmon and avocado rolled up in sushi rice. Perfectly ripe avocados and good quality wild salmon.
Final Thoughts
If you want a good inexpensive simple meal, the bento boxes are the way to go as they are just over $10. Good for a quick cheap lunch. For this visit, I went more the aburi items and they were good for the price. The only things that bothered me were the service and cleanliness. Those are the two things they should really work on.
Their hours are limited as they aren’t open weekends and close early into the evenings on weekdays.
Address:
202-345 Robson St, Vancouver, BC
Website:
https://www.wasabirobson.com/
