Sui Sha Ya (Richmond & Burnaby locations) - Vancouver

Sui Sha Ya is a popular All You Can Eat sushi restaurant in the Lower Mainland with two locations, one in Richmond at Lansdowne Shopping Centre and the other in Burnaby at Metrotown Shopping Centre.

All You Can Eat is $20.00 in the evening for a good variety of sushi fare, from your standard California roll to Oyster Motoyaki to Yakitori etc. (Please excuse me as I butcher the spelling of various menu items.) Sounds like a great deal, but this is pretty standard for most All You Can Eat Sushi restaurants. This restaurant is also popular for its late night (usually open til midnight or 1am on weekend nights) sushi where it used to be (still is?) $10 All You Can Eat.

In terms of the quality of food, it's average. The fish I find is alright, although I was once served frozen salmon sashimi. I'd probably stay away from the cooked food as most of it tastes like it's been sitting out for a while or its overcooked. Especially the gyozas. Don't touch the gyozas... Trust me.

There is a warning that management will charge you for any leftovers from All You Can Eat, although I've never been charged for it. Mainly, I think they'd charge you if there's an excess of leftovers which makes sense. I found a good way to get around the charge is to ask for the bill before you've finished eating.

The atmosphere is casual. Wear whatever you want, no one will look at you funny. There are semi-private tables for big parties as well as small tables for two to four people in the open area of the restaurant. The semi-private tables require you take off your shoes and sit benches around the table. It's cute in the trying-to-be authentic Japanese kinda way. (Btw, everyone there is Cantonese people. Good luck trying to get away with Japanese there.) The crowd is loud as you'd expect and generally alright; unless you're going late night when all the college kids come out (because they can't afford the full price of All You Can Eat).

Overall Sui Sha Ya is a great place if you just wanna get your sushi fix or you're a poor college student like I was when I first discovered it. It's cheap and it's a lot of food. But if you're craving authentic and delicious, I'd recommend you keep looking.