Chaya

Was a quick supper on the last day in Banff. Tried their Barbecue Pork Ramen but it was slightly salty. Their Rice Balls (onigiri) were hot!!! Better to be cold in my opinion.

Despite that, there service was really really impressive. They served food and refill water bottle and take new chopsticks all so quickly.
Waiters had been passion, and were even passion when I said "Oishii", which means delicious. They said goodbye a lot of times politely as we left.

Recommend it for a short meal break or just buy their $3 Rice Balls if in a hurry.

Authentic homestyle Japanese food. Also love being able to pickup onigiri for my hikes!

The tantan ramen was great, but I would skip the gyoza next time. They are the frozen gyoza that you can buy at Costco

Cozy little restaurant with wholesome meals. Beef Don and Katsu Don ($17 each) were great. Meat to rice ratio for both were perfect. The Katsu Don was very saucy and delicious, loved the runny egg. The pork was nicely tenderized and moist, not the slightest bit of dry. I enjoyed every bit of my meal 😋

Used to be good food here, but my recent visit was not very good, my beef don is really dry and the tan-tan ramen is salty.

Outside patio is available which really helps because the space inside is small and can be uncomfortably crowded during busy hours.

The servers/hosts were all nice and smiling even when they're busy, so you get good service but not so great ambiance and food quality can be inconsistent.