This page is for archiving comments prior to 2008 for Tokyo Japanese Restaurant.
2006-12-15 10:07:39 Pretty nice. Been there a couple of times. Hibachi tables throughout. Plenty of big fire. Fun for kids (the chefs like to use a ketchup bottle gag with a string that squirts out). —AndrewWheeland
2006-12-15 15:00:17 Never been dissapointed here.... —PeteB
2006-12-20 00:03:51 Great sushi and authentic japaneese cuisine in an intamate setting. Best nigiri in town. —DjEberhart
2007-03-31 22:37:22 The sushi is fine although I prefer being able to see a sushi bar, instead of a restaurant style seating. The food is fine and there are a bunch of "buy one get one meal free" coupons in the non profit book which you can find on the Deals page. —TravisOwens
2007-04-26 19:40:16 My family has been here several times and has never had a bad meal...always enjoyable —PeteB
2007-06-14 07:24:06 Excellent sushi. For both of my visits the fish has been fresh, and the sushi was artfully constructed. Nice mix of flavors. Well done! For those who sit at the sushi bar, the chef is quite friendly —EastSideStephen
2007-06-20 14:34:59 Never have had a bad experience here. Excellent sushi and excellent hibachi. The fish is of really high quality. They also have mochi - definitely a plus!
The servers are polite and also give great suggestions as to what to order. —OneLove
2007-08-25 09:00:10 The only bad thing about the place is that by the time you finish your pretty (and filling and tasty) nigiri, you can't remember what you ordered for next time.
We went with friends once and they ordered a roll that looked like a miniature garden. We couldn't remember the name and I haven't been able to find it again. —DaveMahon
2008-08-12 10:32:34 Hibachi is average. Large dining area. One of the worst American-Japanese restaurants I've been to. If you are East Asian, you may understand what I mean when I say that the owners are Chinese. This isn't a matter of racism but a matter of sushi-making tradition and near-authenticity.
UPDATE: Very good price for amount of Ozeki Sake (Large-size)
—JenC
2008-11-27 00:16:56 Hi everyone! I'm Alex Mikado and as of two months ago, I've become the new Head Chef for the Hibachi side. Let me give you a little background on myself. I was born in a kitchen, no lie! I've been around food all my life and so I take it very seriously. I've interned up and down the East Coast at various Japanese restaurants so I've picked up a lot of different styles. Since taking over I've switch the Tokyo style a bit. Trying to keep everyone healthy I've developed baked rice instead of fried rice where we use less oil so it doesn't feel as heavy but you still get the same great flavor. All of our veggies and meat is now cut to order so nothing sits in a bin or rack so forgive us if we take a little more time before we come to your table. What makes us different from the other Hibachi houses? We don't get tipped. If you like what you see and you feel like tipping us then we really appreciate it but it's not a regular thing. I strongly push quality over quantity. Our chefs which I've personally retrained myself take their time with every table to make sure your enjoying your time. This means that you will have to wait longer again and I apologize in advance for that. I'm open to criticism so please, if you have any problems or suggestions on anything let me know. I'm also working on a new menu with the owner Peter, who is Vietnamese and not Chinese by the way. If you have any suggestions on that, I'd like to hear it too.
Ok! I think that does it for the intro. If you've never been to Tokyo or never tried Hibachi before, give it a shot. A few things though. If you have a child who is afraid of fire, please don't bring them to the table. It will traumatize them. If you a food allergy, please let your server know. Nothing slows us down more then finding out you're allergic to shrimp after we've put it on the grill. Please make sure you want Hibachi. I say that because I've cooked for people who wanted to have a business meeting and they seemed upset when I started banging my tools on the grill. And then there are the zombies, people who just sit there and don't say a word to the chef. Not cool!
But seriously, if you haven't been to Tokyo then give us a shot and if you have and for some reason you've been turned off then give us another shot. I'm trying very hard to push the movement for better quality Hibachi as far as food goes and not just some circus side act.
Thank you all,
Alex Mikado —AlexMikado
2008-11-28 03:51:16 Thanks for introducing yourself Alex. It's been a while since I've been to the restaurant, and I look forward to giving it another shot. Has the ownership of Tokyo changed? I know it used to be run by the most-definitely-Chinese owners of Shanghai next door. —NathanHenderson
2008-11-30 22:46:01 Nathan, both restaurants have been under new ownership for a little over the year now. The Williams have retired and are pretty much doing what retired people do. We're now owned by Peter who was the Sushi Chef at Tokyo. We had a pretty good turn out this weekend. Glad to see people still had money after all that shopping. —AlexMikado
2008-12-09 20:09:28 Just got back from my 40th birthday celebration with my husband. Awesome!! We had head chef Alex personally cook for us at the Hibachi, and he was both very entertaining and personable. The food was fresh, delicious and light but filling - perfect!! Had a shrimp tempura roll for an appetizer that was really good. Everything was cooked perfectly, not over or under done. Ask for the mustard sauce to go with the steak, mmmmmm. Loved the birthday song (my hubby got to play the gong). Will definitely be back with friends! Great restaurant! —RochellePray
2008-12-18 14:40:04 A co-worker just called to confirm their hours on Christmas day: 1pm-10pm. —DaveMahon
2008-12-22 16:15:20 We will be open both Christmas and New Years Day from 1:00PM-10:00PM. Make your reservations now for New Years Eve as it is getting quite packed already. —AlexMikado
2009-05-16 21:30:35 As of the last time I got take-out sushi, I think the quality has plummeted. The fish tasted extremely average and the rolls were not in any way creative in taste or presentation. Probably not my "go-to" place for sushi anymore. There are better places in town for more interesting flavor combinations. —YanaLevin
2009-10-20 00:35:59 I would like to announce that I have left Tokyo to pursue other projects. Thank you for your support. —AlexMikado
2009-11-18 20:48:49 One of my coworkers recommended this place and so we had lunch at Tokyo a few days ago. The dragon roll is fantastic — absolutely love it. The other kinds of sushi are just ok. —Hua
2009-12-16 10:51:18 Does anyone have a photo of the "OH FANTASTIC" banner Tokyo used to have hanging in their entryway? It featured a couple of stereotypical white folks eating sushi. I am fond of it. —SamHathaway
2010-01-20 14:35:03 Went for the Ramen soup. It was very good. You can have it it on a spice scale of 1-7. I eat alot of spicy food so I wanted to get the 7, the waiter talked me all the way down to 4 and im glad he did, lol. Even 4 was insanely spicy, I loved it, but I was sweating the whole time. —tabascograz
2010-03-07 14:27:07 I went here with my wife and two young kids on Saturday night. We were seated quickly. While we waited for our chef to arrive, we watched one at another Hibachi table. He was chatty and friendly, but didn't have have much in the way of showmanship. ( My take on the 'hibachi' style cooking is that 70% of the reason you're there is to be entertained ). When our chef arrived, he got extra points for showmanship, but was much less chatty - still quite friendly though. The kids loved it. The food was VERY heavily salted, and a little heavy in the cooking oil. But again, pretty much what you'd expect from this genre of food. All in all, it was fun, and the kids want to go back on their birthdays. —RichMulvey
2010-10-16 17:08:46 Got miso ramen, the noodles were half cooked(and I've lived in Japan for 2 years, I know what ramen is supposed to taste like, even "katai" noodles are not this uncooked.) If I get this again, I will ask for the noodles to be cooked for an extra 45 seconds at least. The spiciness they add is just cayenne, don't get it, it's not how the Japanese do it and it's awful. Has no flavor, is just ridiculous spice. Sushi is mediocre, and the service has no personality, Arigato is better for sushi for sure. —lettuchi
2011-11-21 16:39:26 This is a treview I originally posted on Yelp:
It's been 2+ years since I ate here, but I still remember the not-very-fresh sushi, the dried-out and crunchy rice, and the awful sweet sauce they gave on the side. I hoped that the change in ownership might've helped this place, but from what I've read here, it hasn't.
BTW, for those who actually know something about sushi, you may notice that this place is run by Chinese owners. I've found that this is usually a good indicator about the attention to detail you'll be expecting from the place.
2011-11-28 02:11:51 Student from U of R, so I'll toss in my two cents. I've ate through every Japanese restaurant in town after going to school for four years here. This place is honestly, not as bad as people make it out to be, though most of my experience tends to be in the form of takeout. For sashimi and sushi takeout, this place is excellent. The fish IS fairly fresh, and the quality is consistently above average, which is more than what I could say for a few other places here.
Give it a shot. You won't be knocked off your feet, but you won't be disappointed either. —theGreenKnight
