Kaya Japanese Restaurant - Coquitlam

The food at this restaurant is delicious and perfect for both lunch and dinner. The owner, Cam, is not only hilarious but also the best.

I just had the chicken red curry with bamboo shoots and it was quite enjoyable.

I ordered takeout from this restaurant for the first time tonight. The staff was extremely friendly and polite, with a great sense of humor to top it off (haha!). The food was delicious.

Kaya was our go-to place for lunch the other day - our first dining experience at this restaurant located in the Austin Heights area of Coquitlam. It's a small place, and quite dimly lit, and really appeared quite dark when first coming inside from the sunshine-bright outdoors that day. Once inside, and able to see, I saw that most of the interior lighting came from small, decorative, hanging lanterns. Cute, but rather poor lighting to actually read the menu, well, at least for the first few moments. Upon entering, we were shown to one of the booth-like tables (bench seating one side of table, two chairs on the other side, wall between next table). Our table, and area was clean, as was the overall look of the place, though not the most neat and tidy. Service to our table was prompt (with menus, mugs of tea, chopsticks, et al), very friendly, and helpful. It was just the two of us - we most often lunch as a threesome - so I was a little hesitant in "how much" to order. I had brought a short list of some 'to consider' dishes, and our young server and I worked through it, alongside the descriptions of same in the menu. I much-appreciated her help and suggestions when it came to making final decision details, and thoughts regarding the spicing. What we ordered, and shared:- Appetizer: spicy agedashi tofu -- the tofu was crispy and crunchy on the outside, nice and soft inside, and the sauces both sweet and spicy. A well-prepared dish, and flavourful start to our meal, it got the taste buds awakened.- Sashimi: half & half salmon (wild, paid a little extra for such) and tuna (ordered a half-size, as this dish was just for me) -- nicely-presented, two pieces of each, on/by a small bed of shredded daikon, with pickled ginger, wasabi, and slice of lemon. It looked good, and tasted the same. Cool and refreshing after the spicy tofu.- Roll: tiger roll (one of their 'special' rolls - description from the menu: prawn tempura, crab meat, cucumber, avocado, white & unagi sauce, with ebi, avocado) -- well-prepared and presented roll, with thin-layer of rice, and lots of other tasty ingredients. Enjoyed by both of us, but the biggest hit with my lady (she called it her 'new favourite' roll).- Udon: spicy seafood -- shrimp, mussels (in half-shell), and scallops, with a little veggie (mostly cabbage), on a bed of udon noodles, with a very flavourful, and mildly-spiced (just what I asked for) stock. Everything perfectly prepared, with nothing over-cooked, very warm, and so tasty.- Yakisoba: seafood -- whole wheat, thin noodles, prepared with mussels (in half-shell), shrimp, scallops, and small pieces of squid, and an especially good-tasting sauce. Sizzling hot presentation to the table, wonderful aroma, flavourful, and tasty. 'The' major hit with me. Yum! another small, in-the-neighbourhood restaurant find for us - we much-enjoyed our dining experience at Kaya. The ambience was lacking a touch, but the service was great, and the food so well-prepared, and flavourful.

Just returned from Kaya last night and although the quality is still quite high and the inside has moved away from the diner style it's portions have somehow shrunk . I am not too sure of the prices as I never really cared as long as the quality and portions were good. It was my goto for the longest time but Sushi is a very competitive business . Like a lot of people that eat out I like consistency . I have tried many others in the area here and I think it might be time to revisit some old ,and try some new .