Tokoname Restaurant & Sushi Bar

Unilocal 100 Challenge 2016 — ¹⁄₁₀₀
It was so long overdue, but with a little bit of juggling (and some begging for a sitter), I was finally able to arrange a spur-​of-​the-​moment dinner date with my fave guy, on a Saturday night no less (1.23.2016)!
While looking thru *yelp for places that had openings right during peak dinner rush, we remembered we had a gift card for Tokoname. We remembered seeing that the Kailua location was closed (for what appears to be renovations), so I looked up the Manoa location. After reading several reviews, I became hesitant because some of them were not very positive at all! I must say, having a gift card combined with the ability to make and get confirmation via online reservations thru *yelp helped us decide to have some fun and try it out.
I was initially worried that I may have screwed up the online reservation, because I had to make a change en route due to unanticipated traffic delays. Bonus for this location: HUGE parking lot!
Upon checking in, we were told it would be a little wait. No problem, there were tons of cute Japanese wares up front to check out in the meantime.
We were led to a cozy table for 2, adjacent to the bar. As soon as we were seated, our server, Tanner, brought waters and a Soy Bean Appetizer. Apparently the beans were very good, as my hubby promptly devoured the entire plate! (I’m not a soybean person, so I have to take his word/​appetite). Although our seats were close to the front entrance, we were soon busy studying our menus and set on having an enjoyable evening.
I ordered the Sashimi and Ribeye Steak Teishoku Combo ($ 24.95 + $ 4.00 for the steak option) and my hubby had the Chirashi Tei ($ 19.95 + $ 5.95 to make it a Teishoku), and boy oh boy, while my hubby and I can put away food… we didn’t realize it would be so.much.food!
First up: Miso Soup. Although it wasn’t as flavorful as some others I’ve tried, it still tasted like Miso Soup. No soapy taste here!
Next: Tsukemono and Salad. The pickled veggies are always a nice pop of flavor. The salad is a standard style of Japanese restaurant salad, with lettuce topped with delicately diced/​curled carrots, and that dressing… oiiiishhh! I really don’t know what the complaints were about the dressing? I would BUY that in bottles! It was just the right amount of sweet and tangy… perfect!
My husband also received the Chef selection appetizer which was lightly breaded and fried salmon with a little spicy sauce drizzled on it, quite the delicious morsel.
Then: The Entrees —
Sashimi and Ribeye Steak for me: my fave… Ahi sashimi… 5 beautiful, thick slices of mmmmMaguro goodness! The grilled ribeye came out on a sizzling platter. That steak was hot, melt-​in-​your-​mouth juicy, and HUGE! Luckily my hubby had no problems helping me devour it. *I actually wiggled in delight in my chair, my meal was sooo oish!*
Chirashi for the hubby: He was actually a little apprehensive ordering this, and inquired with Tanner about what kind of toppings it would have. Tanner replied that it is the Chef’s selection, so my hubby went with it. He was pleasantly surprised, the Chef really loaded the box up with a delici-​oso selection that melted in his mouth! This Chirashi blew away the one he had at the Kailua location.
When my husband tried to flag down an employee for directions to the restroom, a gentleman behind the sushi counter came all the way around to our table to help. Lo and behold… the.Executive.Chef?! What a surprise! Chef Harry not only assisted us with directions, but also talked story with us. He was very happy to hear how pleased we were with our experience.
Lastly: Dessert. Although we were stuffed to the gills at this point, we were craving a little something sweet to end the meal. For dessert, we decided to try the Azuki dream ($ 6.95) which is a melon-​soda float. Between vanilla or green tea ice cream, we chose the green tea, and it arrived in a café glass with sweet azuki beans at the very top. I didn’t think my hubby would enjoy the azuki beans, but he really enjoyed the entire dessert. Then, much to our surprise, Chef Harry brought out his special dessert for us, and asked us to guess the flavor of the topping on the ice cream… (nobody ever gets it right on the first try!) It is wonderfully sweet and salty at the same time, and definitely has a Japanese flavor! I won’t blow the «secret»… if you’re lucky, you may be able to try it for yourself!
I truly believe that our experience had something to do with good timing. We thought it would be peak dinner time, but as we dined, the restaurant slowly emptied (other than a large party in the back room). The portions were a healthy size, definitely larger than what one would get in Japan, but maybe not as large as some locals are used to. The pricing is fair considering the quality of the food.
Quality of Service: A!
Quality of Food: A!
Quality Overall: A!

LOL WHY DO I KEEP COMING HERE?
Did I tell you about the time our server got my date’s order wrong then tried to blame it on ME?
I totally forgot that happened until we came here again the other night (a year and a half later) and ordered 1 butterfish set and 1 a-​la-​carte ahi tataki.
Two butterfish arrived. The waitress placed one on the table, and left the other one (a bit smaller than the first) on the tray while we tried to figure out if it was supposed to be ours. When we were all clearly confused, the bar manager came over and said «Oops, sorry, she ordered two of the same thing.» He then SWITCHED the significantly larger one on our table with the SMALLER one that was still on the tray, and took the big one to the back.
That was weird… but not as weird as neither of them ever coming back with my order, at all.
I expected the manager to walk right back out with my ahi tataki, but 20+ minutes passed, our only entrée had been eaten by then, I knew they weren’t COOKING the ahi, and I hadn’t heard a peep about how they were fixing the problem.
And the whole time I was just sitting there, wondering if someone was eating the larger serving that hit our table first. Did he think I just wouldn’t notice or wonder about that weird maneuver?
I never received my entrée. This place has SERIOUS issues.

There’s 2 Tokoname restaurants (Manoa & Kailua), along w/​a food truck! Manoa has more of an authentic Japanese restaurant feel, less modern, but much bigger than the Kailua Tokoname. And if you see the food truck at a rally, it’s always a good option.
There a sushi/​bar area along w/​a lot of seating in the dining area. Good for casual dining w/​good sushi!
Service was friendly & fairly quick and the food was well presented. I would recommend the combo special where you get 2 choices w/​miso soup, salad, tempura, rice & pickled sides (I got miso butterfish & ribeye steak). It was all good, especially the butterfish, however, the miso soup was very bland & watery.
All in all it was a great place for casual dining w/​good Japanese food.
There’s also Happy Hour from 9pm-​closing.
I liked how we were about to get reservations right through the Unilocal app :)

This place never let’s me down! Just appetizers and a couple rolls this time and it was all delicious! The Lanikai roll is ridiculous and enjoyed the Majuro roll as well; additionally had some gyoza (prepared perfectly) and the firecracker shrimp!

I got the veggie fries which were something different and new to try. It was pretty good… I had the California roll, but I don’t really remember how they were… One thing I do remember is that the miso soup tasted strange and the rice also had a strange flavor to it. I ate it because I was hungry and didn’t want to waste food, but I don’t think I’ll be rushing back.

We saw all the great pics on Instagram, but man did Tokoname fall short. For the prices that we paid, I don’t think the sushi was all that worth it honestly. $ 40 for the Kin Sampler with 8 pcs of «exotic» sushi, which included unagi, ika, maguro, hamachi, Uni, sake, ikura, and ebi.
Idk but to me that’s not really what you would call exotic. I was expecting like amaebi or at least chu toro, but nope, $ 40 for sub-​par sushi.
My partner got the nigiri teishoku, which also was not worth $ 23.
We tried the manoa sampler, which had Gyoza, tempura fries, a weird tasting egg roll, and fried chicken (which was the best part).
The service was really good though, he just forgot to refill our waters, but hey, it’s a Friday night, I don’t blame him.
The best part of our meal was probably the hotate, which was huge and sweet!
But, overall, waaaaay overpriced for the quality of sushi they were serving. Plus, my Uni tasted close to rotten. I’ve had really good Uni, so I know how it should taste, which is creamy and sweet (Tokoname Uni didn’t taste like that).
Overall ³⁄₅. Wouldn’t be back.

Food: For Japanese food in Honolulu, barely 2 stars. My chicken kataage was like a half order of Chicken McNuggets. The miso butterfish was sweet from sugar and mirin, not miso flavored; and tiny. The sushi rolls were small and compacted tight like it were rolled as play-​dough by a child.
Service: our waitress was pleasant, pretty, and brought our food, so I gave her 20%. But this is only because I know from many years how hard that job is. As she approached the table, she never greeted us, never introduced herself, never made eye contact, just put down the menus and said «can I get you something to drink?» When we said «just water,» she just went away. This, dispite the young man waiting on another table demonstrating the proper reception audibly and within view. If someone had taught their staff appropriate service protocol, no one consistently employs it.
Atmosphere: We had made reservations, but were asked to wait — even though half the restaurant was empty. No problem, only a few minutes. But rather than offering us a choice of the several empty tables in the front room, three people came to set the farthest table in the corner of the back room for us. This made me feel the wait was unnecessary, and we were merely props to make the place look more busy. This also effected our ability to get any further attention from the service folks.
Again, if you’re looking for the «Americanized» fast food version, Tokoname could be your kind of place. But for real Japanese food in Honolulu — for the money and for «local people» — I could pick a dozen places off the top of my head.

Tokoname is one of those restaurants with great potential because the quality of the main dishes is definitely good, but it falls short of because of the value and service.
I ordered the tebasaki chicken and made it a teishoku (miso soup, salad, rice). The tebasaki chicken ala carte is $ 9.95, but to make it a teishoku, it costs an additional $ 5.95, which comes close to $ 17 after tax. I’ve been to many Japanese restaurants, and $ 17 for a chicken teishoku is definitely expensive, especially considering the teishoku consists of very standard components. For that same price, you can get a butterfish or a shrimp tempura teishoku at many establishments.
However, if you’re fine with the expense, I would recommend trying the tebasaki chicken here. The outside is crisp, light, and not oily while the inside is tender, moist, and served nice and hot. The salad that comes with the teishoku has dressing that is far too sweet for my taste or my family’s taste. If you feel the same, I would recommend drizzling some shoyu in the dressing and mixing it in — this balanced out very nicely! I also tried the sampler platter with chicken wings, spring rolls, vegetable tempura, and gyoza. I enjoyed the chicken wings and the vegetable tempura. I, however, didn’t care for the gyoza (minimal filling) and the rolls (contained cheese, which I can’t say I really liked in this case).
Service could use some improvement. I think my family of 4 would have been fine if we were seated at a larger table. However, our table seemed more suitable for 2 people, 3 at most. Especially given that we had a sampler platter, we were very short on space. It seemed that it would be apparent to the staff delivering our meals that the table was overcrowded (with plates having to be constantly shifted and extending all the way to the edge of the table). Yet, no one took the effort to clear away some of the table to make our dining experience a little less cramped. Given the ambiance of the restaurant, I would have expected more attentive workers.
Overall, this would not be my first choice for a Japanese teishoku restaurant, given the many more reasonable options with better service and still delicious food.

It is a peculiar feeling, half confusion, half loneliness, colored with dismay and flashes of rage.
I sit, scrolling down the reviews of Tokoname. «The best miso butterfish in town» she says, «everything was super tasty» says another, «AN EXTREME GREAT FIND» jumps out at me, mocking, jeering.
How?
HOW?!!
It happened, didn’t it? Yes. Yes, I distinctly remember the permeating flavor of chemicals, perhaps chlorine or a delightful economy detergent of the lemon variety, turning my miso soup into a bowl of poisonous slop. So dreadful my husband sipped it and said «Oh God, something is wrong with that!»
My husband, a veritable Japanese food snot who expects everything to taste as though it has been prepared by wrinkled hands in the Hokkaido countryside, likes to declare that the quality of a teishoku can be determined by the deliciousness of the preceding miso soup.
We are off to a bad start.
«They say this place has excellent miso butterfish» I offer up hopefully, as though saying it will make it so.
The salad arrived. It was large and pretty and I exclaimed, perhaps too brightly, «this is a great salad!» A great salad it was not. Cloyingly sweet dressing with an overwhelming flavor of sugar on top of sugar with a gallon of sugar made it… revolting. Inedible. Disgusting beyond all measure. After an initial mouthful of sticky, candied lettuce I glare at my salad bowl. I look around the relatively crowded restaurant. No one else is glaring at their salad bowl. We are alone in our disappointment and it is unsettling.
«A woman said their miso butterfish is the ‘bestest’», I squeak, hoping the purportedly magical fish will somehow redeem the day.
The magical fish arrives. It is disturbingly even in its pale brown-​ness. Their are no char marks, no blackened edges, nothing that suggests deliciousness and it is tiny.
It is also gross.
Sweet. So very sweet. Not as sweet as the salad dressing but a close second. My mouth is filled with the flavor of sugar, which settles into a very fishy butterfish. I eat butterfish specifically because it is not fishy. I eat butterfish at every Japanese restaurant I go to and this is the first time I have found it completely inedible.
I am beginning to be filled with feelings akin to anger.
I look around. No one else is angry. My husband is laughing at my buggy eyes and flared nostrils.
Alone.
The tempura is edible. Far from good, but edible. My girls refuse to eat their ramen. I taste it and am filled with sad understanding. The tonkatsu is like cardboard with a crust and the Japanese food snob is very disturbed by the sauce. I think the sauce is okay-​ish. I think the sauce is far better then most other things on the table.
We agree that we will NEVER come again.
We agree that if we had money to throw away, we would have paid and left our food on the table. Uneaten.
We agree that we probably should have done that even though it would have wasted money.
We pay, leave a nice tip (it is not the waitresses fault that the food is horrid), and walk out. I look disbelievingly at the other patrons, I search for wrinkles of disgust, for looks of confusion, for wide eyes that say «Why is this food so utterly awful?». I find none. I do not understand.
It is like a nightmare. A cruel joke. And I sit, scrolling through the reviews, wondering how anyone with any sense of taste could possibly eat at Tokoname and not feel cheated and offended.
I expect, at any moment, for a camera crew to jump out and some hyper Japanese host with a glitter bowtie to yell the Japanese equivalent of «HAHA! You have been pranked! We fed only your table food prepared by 5-​year olds! «
I has not happened.
But.
But I think it still might.

Tokoname sushi is a pretty interesting spot, well traveled by locals and the main Japanese restaurant in the middle of Manoa Marketplace. The place is classy and the interior is well kept. My family was in town so we stopped by to use a gift card on a Tuesday evening, only to find out that everything is 25% day. Come by to try at a discount on Tuesdays, but earlier is better! We got a table at 5pm no problem, but the place was absolutely hopping by the time we left.
My sister and I opted for the one-​choice Teishoku, which included a protein, miso soup, salad, tsukemono, rice, and the «chef special.» I chose the Furikake Salmon, and my sister got the Miso Butterfish. Both were not terribly large, but enough to complement the meal. The Furikake Salmon was pretty amazing, just be aware that it’s topped with a dynamite type of sauce — spicy mayo. The Miso Butterfish I wasn’t as keen on, it had lots of flavor but seemed overcooked and slightly tough. My sister enjoyed it though.
The chef’s special was a panko-​fried salmon belly type of thing, two quarter sized pieces that were bursting with flavor. They should make that a main dish!
The salad was a nice mix of greens with julienne carrots, but the dressing wasn’t so good. It had a nice ginger flavor but it was ridiculously sweet. I’m not sure if that’s the normal dressing composition or if someone had dropped the sugar bag in there on accident.
The tsukemono was also on the sweet side, I ate the pickles but couldn’t finish the daikon.
My parents got the spicy ramen and the sake dynamite roll. I didn’t try the ramen, but the salmon roll was pretty tasty and had a huge baked topping on it. If you want a smaller meal, I would consider one of their specialty rolls.
Overall, it was an enjoyable experience. The servers didn’t check up on us much or fill our waters often, but I can understand since it was a busy evening. I’ll probably come back for special occasions or if I find myself in the area again.

My experience at Tokoname was filled with both highs and lows in both food and service. I presume it’s the highs that keep the restaurant busy.
My brother, sister in law, and I visited on a Thursday evening for dinner, and it was quite full, so we put our name in. The hostess asked if we wanted a table for two, but we said three. When we returned half an hour later, she didn’t have a table for us because she had written that we needed a table for two. We opted to sit in the bar instead of waiting for a table to open for us, but we could have done that earlier without needing to wait. We pushed two tables together since they’re pretty small.
We ordered several things, including appetizers. The edamame was quite good, but the agedashi tofu had an interesting texture that none of us had experienced before — thick and almost stringy. The flavor of the eggplant was delicious, but the texture of the skin was tough. We also had a sake sampler of peach, Fuji apple, and lychee flavors. We liked the Fuji apple best, then lychee, but the peach grew on us as we ate more food.
A different server brought over an appetizer sampler platter, but we didn’t order it. I think our waitress confused it with the sake sampler.
I enjoyed the vegetable tempura that had an assortment of pumpkin, sweet potato, and carrot among others. You don’t often get kabocha in vegetable tempura, so I was excited about that. The texture was crispy, and it was yummy overall.
For dessert we had fried ice cream, which also was good. Who doesn’t love fried ice cream?
As we were ending our meal, our server offered takeout containers, and she even brought little cups with lids so I could also take the tempura dip.
There were lots of aspects of dinner that I appreciated. The tempura and fried ice cream were great, and service at the end was extra good. However, there were also aspects that felt off putting: our reservation being recorded wrong, inconsistent food quality, and feeling like our server wasn’t always listening.

My parents love this restaurant!!! It’s a good, reasonably priced Japanaese restaurant with good-​sized portions.
Just had a family dinner here last night to celebrate my sister receiving an award from the Japanese National Honors Society at UH. We got here right around 6pm and even though we didn’t have reservations, the restaurant wasn’t too busy so we got seated right away!
We always enjoy the free edamame that the give— I personally love the salt that they sprinkle on it! So good!
Last night I ordered two appetizers for my dinner: the miso eggplant and agedashi tofu. My husband ordered the shrimp tempura teishoku. My sister ordered the wagyu hamburger teishoku. Both of my parents ordered the combination dinner: one had shrimp tempura and tonkatsu, the other had shrimp tempura and some kind of chicken. The teishokus and combination meals all come with miso soup and salad. Their salad dressing is delicious!!! Tastes like some kind of miso dressing.
All of us thoroughly enjoyed our meals and none of us could finish so we had leftovers to take home! But we had to stuff ourselves a little more with dessert! We had a melon soda parfait and an ice cream sundae! The ice cream sundae had cornflakes underneath all the ice cream, giving it a nice crunch! And you can never go wrong with melon soda!
Definitely a good place to check out if you’re in the mood for good Japanese food!

First time here because of gift cards. It was good but is it «gonna go out of my way to come back» good? No, not really. We all had teishokus. They were okay…
Miso soup was good-​nothing extraordinary.
Tsukemono – some of us liked it, some not.
Teri-​chicken was interesting. Good, but not your typical. The tempura was good and a very generous serving!
Tempura ice cream was generous, but I just couldn’t after having tempura for dinner.
Service was fine. Not outstanding.
Nothing was bad, but not my first choice for Japanese food.

Made reservations for two without a glitch online. Arrived and we were greeted and seated quickly. There must have been a large private party because we heard cheers and laughter during the night. It was crowded (good sign). Our server, Drew, was super efficient and made tasty recommendations. We enjoyed a number of appetizers and sushi to share. The spicy rock shrimp was too spicy for me. Our table shared the agedashi tofu with bonita flakes, steak with onions and mushrooms, the Zen sushi, and ikura with quail egg. Everything was super tasty. I might add the quail egg was a first experience and quite a distinct tasty. Enjoyed the first time dining experience.

Tokoname is tucked away to the right side of the bottom floor of Manoa Shopping Center. Tuesday nights are packed — and for good reason: 25% off, all day! But, if you’re thinking of using your discounted gift cards in combination with the 25% off, forgettaboutit. (That would be a deal too good to be true!) If you’re coming for dinner, reservations are highly recommended.
The atmosphere is casual, and the menu is fairly large, and extensive, with lots of options for dinner/​lunch «teishoku» combinations. But if you’re not particularly hungry and prefer to order ala carte, you can definitely do that too.
There aren’t a lot of fancy roll offerings as this place seems to specialize in custom bento boxes. I ordered the assorted nigiri set — it was beautifully presented, but I was surprised to discover large amounts of wasabi hidden underneath almost every bite, after I had already mixed a hefty amount into my soy sauce dipping dish. :(I guess I’m so used to eating sushi in LA where they don’t do that. Sighhh… 8 pieces may not look like a lot of food, but it fills you up pretty quickly.
I stole bites of tempura and miso yaki butterfish from my dad — clearly, I ordered the wrong thing. That stuff is GOOOOOOOOD. Like, melt-​like-​butter-​in-​your-​mouth good.
Anyhow — I wouldn’t mind coming back here again — but only on a tuesday, with reservations, for the butterfish.

Tokoname is one of my family’s favorite places to eat. The convenient location a couple minutes from my house is also a plus. Tuesday’s are 25% off your entire check, so it was quite busy when we arrived during lunch time around 11:45am. We were seated in about 5 – 10 minutes after arriving there.
I ordered the Teishoku B with miso butterfish and chicken Katsu. These are definitely my two favorite all carte items here at Tokoname and highly recommend them!
Tuesday’s are a deal with the 25% off and you get good quality food. This place is great for groups, but make sure to call in early to make reservations because the restaurant was packed our entire time there.

We had a dinner for 12 people this evening. It was the Tuesday night special 25% off! Wow! That was great to start!
We ordered the Tei Shoku special which consisted of 2 shrimp tempura, and vegetable tempura and a choice of another entrée. After reading the reviews, I opted for the Miso butterfish. I was not disappointed.
I thought dinner and service was really good! Tempura was light and crispy.
Great place for a group and it was reasonable, especially with the discount…

This restaurant is located in Manoa and I probably wouldn’t have come here if it wasn’t for a gift card that I received for Christmas. Finally had time to check it out this past weekend so I made a reservation for 830 through Unilocal about an hour before we decided we were gonna try this place out.
There’s a lot of parking in this area so finding parking wasn’t a problem. We arrived there about 15 min prior to our reservation times and was seated 5 minutes later. We were offered water/​tea and complimentary edamame as we decided what we were going to order. The restaurant felt like we were in a japanese place because even the chairs felt a bit smaller than your usual restaurants.
We ordered fire cracker shrimp appetizer, the appetizer platter, and the maguro dynamite. The portions were smaller than I expected for the price we paid for. The firecracker shrimp was not the greatest. The shrimp was super small and the batter was too much with the sauce that made it mushy to even taste the shrimp. The appetizer platter that came with 8 pieces including ahi tuna, salmon, hamachi, and ebi. My boyfriend had this platter and stated that he’s had better and the only thing that was good on that platter was the hamachi and felt it wasn’t worth $ 20 for the whole platter. I had the maguro dynamite which was spicy tuna baked on top of the sushi with crab mix cucumber roll. It was different from regular sushi I’ve tasted. It was good but I couldn’t finish it all because the topping and how it was baked on there made it pretty filling.
The service was attentive and friendly. Our waitress kept checking in on us if everything was okay and kept refiling our water and tea. The restaurant was loud, it felt kind of hard to hold a conversation in there. I had to repeat myself quite a few times just to speak over the noise. I’d say this place is pretty pricey for the quality of food that we’ve experienced. Luckily we had a gift card to help with the bill because for those 3 items we got, it came out to about $ 50 excluding tip. Probably won’t be returning to this restaurant based on that experience.

Parking is bountiful, so no problem there. A
The chairs are like ones one would find in an elementary school. Wooden with a blue pleather, unpadded seat. C–
There are a good number of tables which can be pushed together to seat larger parties. B
It’s quite noisy in here. Hard to hear the conversation of our own party over the other patrons’ chatter.
Holy crap!!! D
The salad dressing is sickeningly sweet. Need to add shoyu for balance. D
The fried eggplant appetizer sauce is very sweet. We poured the agedashi tofu sauce over the eggplant. Major improvement. C–
Tonight’s manager’s special = curry tonkatsu. B
The agedashi tofu coating is very gummy and rubbery. C–
I am very sensitive to MSG, and this being my second meal of the day, I have to report that the results are not pretty. F
Our waiter gave us good service. B+
Will not be returning to this restaurant.
Side Note: I must add that I wholeheartedly concur with Rachel S’s comment about the oil, and I took it one step further than Rachel. I puked. Not pretty either.

FIVE STARS for Tokoname Restaurant & Sushi Bar. This has to be one of my favorite home-​cooked style Japanese food in Honolulu. The place is located in the Manoa Marketplace on the ground floor. It is very handicap accessible and kid friendly. The menu is very large. The food is fresh and tasty. The quality is easily a step or two above other home-​cooked Japanese restaurants on the island. We loved this restaurant so much, we went two nights in a row!
First off, let me start by saying that the staff and employees of this place ROCK! Extra kudos go out to Ms. Janet, manager server, who went out of her way to make our meal memorable! My sister and I loved the tea that they served on the first night. During our second visit, we wanted the tea but it tasted different. Manager Janet literally brought out 10 different combinations /​styles of tea in hopes to replicate the tea we had the night before. THAT is customer service. (and I’m not high-​maintenance because I did not request this).
The food is outstanding! I got the Tokoname special with the Miso Butterfish, Tempura, and Grilled Saba. First, the miso butterfish was quality cut of meat made with a delicious deep flavored miso. It tasted rich and delicious. The Grilled Saba tasted like it was grilled over a BBQ grill because it has a nice smoky taste to it (most restaurants just pop it in the oven, which makes it taste bland). The tempura was nice a crunch and flaky. Nice cuts of shrimp, kabocha squash, eggplant, potato, etc. Grade: A!
We also ordered an appetizer of Kampachi (baby Hamachi) from the islands. The fish was buttery and oily in a good way, yet it had a nice chewy texture to it! It tasted like it was pulled fresh from the waters of Hawaii. ONO! One order comes with about 8 – 10 pieces. Grade: A!
For dessert, we ordered the green tea ice cream. Creamy and delicious! One serving comes with a generous 3 scooops of ice cream. Tasty tasty tasty. Grade: B+
What I loved the most about this restaurant is that everyone is generally happy. The servers were cheery and helpful. The bus boys were very fast to clean up. And best of all, everyone made sure that my elderly mom had a nice meal! THANK YOU!
Food Grade: A!
Service Grade: A+
Worth the Money Grade: A–
Overall Impression Grade: A!