Pepper Lunch has been opened for some time now and it was the most talked about place when it first opened. I remember seeing line ups out the door and the hype was just crazy. Originally from Japan, they offer sizzling hot teppan style food. The Richmond location is the first location in Canada. Your order comes with a special electromagnetic cooker which will heat up to 260˚C in 70 seconds and then remain hot for more than 20 minutes at a lower temperature. Therefore, your food is still kept warm without overcooking.

Well when we visited the restaurant a few weeks ago after work, the place was completely empty except for another table of diners. The hype has died and there are no more line ups! At Pepper Lunch, you order at the front first, then they seat you and bring the food to you when it’s ready. You don’t really get much service.

Beef Pepper Rice

K got the Beef Pepper Rice. The server told us to start mixing the rice and meat together and pour the sauce in to give more flavour. It comes with a garlic soy sauce and a honey brown sauce which are both delicious when mixed together. This was pretty good and the meat was tender. It’s funny because they actually have screens around the restaurant playing videos on how to sizzle your meat.

Pepper Burger Steak

For myself, I got the Pepper Burger Steak, which is basically those Japanese hamburgers. My rice did not come on the plate, but I ended up pouring it in and also using the sauces that came with K’s dish in mine since it tasted so much better! The burger was well seasoned and wasn’t overcooked because of how the plate controls the temperature so well.

Overall, we thought Pepper Lunch is pretty good, but at the same time, it’s on the pricier side. The two dishes we got were on their lower end of the menu at around $10 after tax, but many of their other options are quite expensive. Their steaks for example, can go up to $30! Knowing that there really isn’t much service, it feels like the prices can get quite steep. K also mentioned that Teppan Kitchen at the Aberdeen Food Court essentially offers the same menu, but at a lower price and tastes just as good. We shall see if Pepper Lunch will stay around with all the competition in Richmond…

Pros:
– Quality and taste of food is pretty good
– Fun to have some interaction with your food

Cons:
– Can get pretty pricey depending on what you order

Price Range: $10-20

1: Terrible 2: Poor 3: Average 4: Good 5: Excellent

Food: 3.5 Service: N/A Ambiance: 3 Parking: 3 Overall: 3