Best Sushi on the West side.
Beautiful room, tables have nice spacing, white linen, comfy chairs
Food to die for! You don't want to stop eating!
Fantastic!
Perfect for date night

An outstanding Vancouver Japanese restaurant in a tradional style. Chef and team maintain the essence of what it means to have an authentic Japanese dining experience.

Spectacular Japanese Gem.

My Wife and I had the pleasure of dining at Zest over the weekend on the last night of our two week trip to Vancouver and Vancouver Island. During the trip we had many terrific meals but Zest was a notch above. We arranged in advance for the Omakase menu which the restaurant carefully coordinated with our taste preferences. What we got was thirteen courses of heaven which would be a slight to... more

Exceptional restaurant

This restaurant does not disappoint. The atmosphere and service is understated, and is free of artifice; lovely, calm music is played quietly in the background. Elegantly prepared, your chosen dishes arrive in a well-paced manner. The serving size is appropriate. Standout dishes include the ling cod and the warm mushroom salad. The menu is really interesting, and atypical of most Japanese... more

Fabulous restaurant

Enjoyed our second visit to Zest. Look forward to dining there again. Wonderful selection of sake and staff knowledgeable about pairing sake with menu items.

Fresh sushi with great service

This is a fantastic place that combines fresh, creative dishes with a level of service not typically found at "mom and pop" sushi restaurants. All the little things contribute to the experience: water glasses are kept full, dishes are cleared quickly, and servers are courteous. There is plenty on the menu to satisfy someone who is raw-fish-adverse. The dishes, even those found commonly, are... more

Consistently Good

I enjoy visiting Zest because the food never disappoints. My customers are always impressed as well.
While generally I am not the biggest fan on Japanese fusion cuisine Zest does it with class.
The Uni Shooter off of the seasonal menu had great tastes and textures.
The sauteed mushroom salad is always delicious.
The Zuchinni Blossom Tempura was light and delicious.Consider this restaurant for a... more

Great Service and Food

Great service and the Food was good. The only thing is the food portion was super small. We ordered the grill fish for $20 and it was so small I finished it in 2 bites.

The menu changes daily and the items are always noticeably fresh. The flavours of the food are subtle yet memorable. This is the best Japanese restaurant in Vancouver.

Hostess

Zest was recommended to us, so we went as a special occasion. The waiter was knowledgeable and helpful but food service was extremely slow. The fish was very good but the portion size was very small for the cost.Halfway through our meal, the hostess came to the next table and asked the people to leave. They were almost done, having their coffee and getting ready to pay the bill. This was... more

Great Omakase menu

We actually ordered off the menu and booked an omakase dinner for two the day before. They have cheaper omakase selection, but for $100, they gave us the full meal deal. We've been to other japanese restaurants that offered omakase, but Zest delivered remarkably. We had a 7 course dinner, and they went all out on the ingredients. As an example, on two of the 7, we have uni incorporated into our... more

Try it once is enough

The food is okay, nothing spectacular. Our server has trouble explaining the dishes and today's specials, due to language barrier, so it made things a bit awkward for us. The food we ordered came separately, and took VERY long to arrive. It's nice to have this upscale Japanese restaurant in that neighborhood, but I think I will not go back here for a while as there are far more better Japanese... more

Best Japanese Cuisine in Vancouver

You'll be pleased to find some of the best food and wine pairings here at Zest Restaurant where the staff take great pride to present simply outstanding elegant dishes. They use only the freshest fish along with local ingredients and a creative approach to preparing mouthwatering food that will delight your tastebuds. This is my new favourite spot for dinner because it's casual, fun, better... more

Excellent Japanese fusion

From traditional dishes to modern fusion offerings, Zest provides an ultimate culinary experience for those who like to venture into new things. The wine pairing and sake suggestions is a big attraction for this restaurant. Wine Wednesday and Sake Sunday provide extra discounts to customers on those days.

Still good but....

Zest's excellent food continues but its surge in popularity since it won Best Japanese in the Vancouver Magazine awards has caused the level of service to suffer a bit. The level of individual attention has dropped on weekends due to the increase in diners. The experience is not quite the same.

Decent

We sat down to one or two flies buzzing around the window. Then saw foreign objects in my water glass. With that aside, the sushi was good and fresh. Tasty dishes. The service for us was quite slow and the young servers confidence was yet to hit speed.
Service can be hit and miss but the food was quite good. and please deal with the fly issue.

Delicious Tasting Menu

My friend and I enjoyed the dinner menu. The portions were reasonable and the courses were interesting - if a bit heavy on sashimi. Would definitely eat here again.

was nice but wasn't exciting

After reading the vanmag reviews I was really excited going here. We went as a group of five and ordered a variety of food. The crispy salmon roll on their specials was a stand out the duck cappachio was also lovely.
The rest was nice but no more exciting than restaurants around.

Waitress struggled describing our dishes in English, very difficult to understand bc of strong accent. Food was very good, but a lacked that little extra to push it into real foodie territory

Great Food .. interesting menu

The four of us had a fantastic time starting with trying to chose from all the great menu items so we could still sample everything. The Gomae was the best I've ever had, as was the Calamari salad beautifully cooked and presented. The sushi was fresh and perfectly presented. The pork loin roll special was excellent and beautiful, and the beef tenderloin with apple salad was an interesting and... more

Excellent Japanese restaurant

This is an excellent restaurant featuring interesting and flavourful dishes. There is a daily list of specials, accompanied by a substantial list of everyday offerings. All the usual dishes are there, but there is also a range of more interesting variations. There is also a good range of sakis, and the distinctions between the different types are explained well.

great food

great food,my girlfriend like it.I think they can improve the ambience of the resturant.

Outstanding

The entire first experience at Zest was wonderful. Everything about the evening was perfect, from the decor, the service and most importantly the food. My friend and I will return many more times!

As usual, the food and service at Zest were very good. I was, however, somewhat taken aback when we arrived for our reservation at 7.00 p.m,to be told that we must be out by 9.00 p.m. For a restaurant such as this - as expensive as this - this is not what I'd call good customer relations.

Neighbourhood Class

Small restaurant with a downtown feel. Very good service and food.

Overpriced food &unhappy experience

As the title says: food is too much over priced!!! I can order similar quality dishes at other places.
Also I was sooooo angry to find out that because i was a bit late. So they disallowed the 1000 points reward. I wanna say that I went to that restaurant mainly because of the promotion of extra points but it turns out that I didn't get the points nor satisfied with the food.

Absolutely Wonderful

We returned to Zest for the first time in a few years after they won the recent Van Mag Award for Best Upscale Japanese in the city. Obviously, we shouldn't have waited so long to return! The menu has a wonderful daily fresh sheet that emphasizes what's available in season. Our fresh sheet was filled with tempting halibut, fiddlehead, white asparagus, and spot prawn dishes. We enjoyed a variety... more

Great small place!

Zest was wonderful. We had the tasting menu, a great way to sample are variety of both raw and cooked dishes. Seafood was awesome, but the best dish might have been the chicken with mushrooms and asparagus. Awesome, attentive service. Great experience.

Fresh, Exceptional Food

From the 5 star service to the fresh, delicious food, Zest restaurant excels on every count.

Great Japanese Food in Vancouver

The food at Zest is excellent. Everything is fresh and comes in a decent presentation. Wine list is comprehensive and is very good for a Japanese restaurant. Overall service is very good. The only thing I don't understand is that the sever was a bit strange. I talked to her and asked her questions about the menu. She replied to my friend instead. It looks like she does not want to talk to a... more

Very Pleasant Surprise!

It was so nice to dine at Zest the other night. The service, décor and food were beyond what I thought could be found in my neighbourhood. I will definitely be returning for another evening soon.