Japadog - Richmond, British Columbia

When traveling, we reserve an extra meal for the end of the evening...after dinner, after dessert, after the late night cocktail...I'm not sure what it's called, but in Canada it often means "vegetarian hot dog" because the nation is rich with they-hardly-ever-close hot dog places, always with a veggie dog ... option. That was our experience in cities in the east of Candada, and to our delight, here in Vancouver where Japadog services up a zillion different unique Japanese hot dog combinations, with a veggie dog ready to put in place, and, for heaven's sake, they're open until 3am. We were in Vancouver for 3 nights, and, sure enough, we went to Japadog 3 times. If you're there before 10pm you can sit in their small dining area. After 10 you order at the street window and there are a couple of stone bench/planter areas right in front you can park yourself. They have a separate vegetarian menu which is not fully on display in the restaurant, but IS available when you use their electronic ordering tablet (and viewable on their website.) That threw us off a little on our first visit when we knew we had seen the veggie options on the website, but it was before 10 and we were ordering from a live person who only mentioned 2 different options. (There are a lot more than 2!) No matter, over the course of our three nights we tried the Veggie Croquette (made with fried potatoes), the Veggie Oroshi, and the Veggie Terimayo (With no mayo). All looked unique and tasted good and served our late-night extra-meal stomach reserved for just such occasions. The fact that it was almost across the street from our hotel was a bonus. (Or a disaster depending on how you look at it.) Please, Japadog...you have many locations...what would it take for you to open up just one more here in Newhall, California, and also be open until 3am...pretty please? Read more

Solid tourist stop. Note they do not accept cash. Usually "must see" or "must do" tourist stops lose their luster for what they originally became famous for. Happily that luster-loss has not occurred at Japasog yet. We enjoyed Karaage Dogs which didn't have a hotdogs in it ... at all. Maybe on the salty side, but then I tend to shy away from sal, so things often seem salty to me. Heavy on the peanut flavored sauce. Very casual atmosphere. Read more

Very interesting place and something definitely recommend trying if you are visiting Vancouver. Over the year more options are added to the “dogs” but going with the more “classic” option can never go wrong. Their lemonade is also fantastic, Yuzu is definitely my favorite if you like fruity, sweet but ... not overpowering sourness. The shop is pretty small and gets packed quickly, but doesn’t take away from the great food at all! Read more

Lots of options to choose from. The server was able to recommend the top selling hot dogs to make my selection easier. I enjoyed the combination of flavours. Inside the place looked very grungy. I did not stay inside to eat. There were also some tables outside to eat at.

I had the #13 and it was really bad. The texture of the hot dog was tough and the sauce was strangely fishy. I couldn’t finish the bite I took and discarded the rest of the hot dog. The fried chicken side was great though and the atmosphere was nice ... enough, although seating is limited. Read more