May 19, 2011
Groupon was offering a deal at Hanamaru Restaurant, so I decided to give them a try.
This restaurant is located inside Lynn Valley Mall, which is close for me, so I thought with $25 worth of food for $12, why not give it a go?
I brought hubby and two kids to the restaurant around 6:45 pm on a Friday night and found the place almost completely full. I don't know if it was the Groupon, as I've never eaten there before, but it was very busy.
We were seated quite quickly, and given black and white take out menus; apparently there were no more "real" menus available!
OK, fine, we used the take out menus.
We got two waters and two teas; I would have liked a water as well without having to ask, but the kids got the waters, and the adults got the tea.
We ordered our food without issue: dynamite rolls, yam rolls, salmon sashimi, and chicken terriyaki. At the last minute we also ordered gyoza.
We waited for a while, then got the salmon sashimi. No plates were given at this time.
We enjoyed the salmon, seemed to be of good quality.
Then we got the rolls, and they were good as well. Unfortunately, they had cut the parts with the tails and left them as a roll that was impossible to eat! It was very wide. See below.
The rolls were good, but not the best I've ever had; and they were messy. Still no plates! Asked for plates and more napkins (which never came) to sop up the mess created by the food. Plates came, but it was a little late.
Gyozas came next, even though we ordered them AFTER the chicken terriyaki. They were tasty.
The chicken terriyaki came out last and was good. One of the better ones I've tried. However, it was for the kids and they aren't that great with chopsticks. I asked for forks, but they were all out of real forks! We got plastic ones.
We got the bill and instead of giving us proper change so we could leave a 15% tip, we got back a 10 dollar bill and some change. Again, we had to ask for something without it being given the first time; proper change.
Overall, service was a little slow (they were very busy) and the food was good, but not great.
After the $25 groupon, we owed $8; so for a family of four it was a good value.
PROS: central for lynn valley, can do your shopping at the same time as it's in the mall, friendly staff, decent food, reasonable prices.
CONS: slow service, rolls were too thick (dynamite), have to keep asking for things.
1199 Lynn Valley Road, #115
North Vancouver, BC V7J3H2
Tel: (604) 980-7999
