Wa-Ku Japanese Restaurant

Great service and food, loved the chicken katsu yakisoba especially when chicken was so crispy and juicy. The red beans filled mochi taiyaki was exceptional, must try!

Perhaps the best food in Nanaimo. Bar none... real home-cooked Japanese food. For those who have never been here, you do not know what you're missing. Real Japanese attention to detail and quality. I go here for the Ramen and Soba, but everything is just soo.... delicious. In fact I am going there right now again.. my third time this week... Hard to stop. Miso Ramen, Tonkatsu, Shoyu Ramen.... all great. And they offer special large portions too! One more thing... if you are interested in Sushi, this is not a sushi restaurant. This is a Japanese home-cook type restaurant with traditional Japanese food. Sushi shoos are a dime-a-dozen... but there is only one Waku in Nanaimo.

Seriously unclean. Our beverages were delivered in dirty glasses; when we requested a clean replacement, our server brought us an empty glass visibly caked with filmy gunk. Our server would not actually look at the dirty glasses, simply repeating that they had been 'sterilized'.One appetizer was seriously overcooked, just shy of burned; another was not prepared as requested, with the kitchen refusing to make a very small adjustment. Main tempura dish had been 'altered to suit Canadian tastes', and was heavily doused with a sickly sweet sauce before it arrived at the table - pertinent information that was not included on the menu. Our server claimed they didn't even have any genuine tempura sauce in the kitchen.With so many other Japanese restaurants in Nanaimo, I certainly can't recommend this one. We definitely won't return.