Oji

[Country Cook]

Checked out this place across the street from Sears on Robson. It's like evening dim sum. Prices on their small plate menu run from $3.50-$6.50 for quite a wide range of items from an excellent geoduck sashimi, bbq, noodles, soups, rolls, and even peking duck. They've only been in business for two months.

[LordBalthazar]

Avoid this place at all costs. I reviewed it on my blog back on May 21st. Some of the highlights -

"...Now you’ll be excused for assuming Oji is a Japanese restaurant. It’s not. Nor is it a Chinese restaurant. Or a Vietnamese restaurant for that matter. It is, in fact, a bit of everything. Feel like barbecued pork and spicy wontons? Well, you‘re in luck. Feel like udon? You can order that too. How about some pho? Bingo! Past experience tells me that these types of restaurants tend to fall under the “Jack of all trades, master of none” category. And sadly (for me on this day) Oji is no exception.

We sat through: fried desiccated chicken satay, unremarkable pan-fried dumplings, a bland chicken chow mein, passable radish pancakes, and barbecued pork so cloying it effectively appeased any desire I had to go grab a post-lunch dessert. On the bright side, service was good. Granted, we were the only ones in the place (the only other potential customer leaving immediately after perusing the menu) but still, our waitress was prompt and courteous..."

[chocomoo]

^ I can't vouch for Oji, and almost always stay away from "pan-Asian" restaurants.

However, Azia on Smithe & Hornby is surprisingly pretty good. I haven't tried the dim sum yet (and frankly, probably never will - I'll stick to actual dim sum restaurants, thanks). The "wok air" of the fried rice with eel was surprisingly good, and the chow mein with black bean sauce & chicken was really good as well. The chow mein had a good amount of sauce (not too much so that the noodles were all soggy, but not so little that we only got crunchy noodles), the black bean sauce not too salty, and there were lots of big chunks of chicken.