Teriyaki 1st

I think the owners are very kind. Efficient service, and great food. I appreciate this mom and pop shop that is easy to park at, and so close to my house. My favorite teriyaki, consistent and charming too: they even stay up to date on posting the ever changing posters for local happenings.
Smile first, see what happens. Oh, and leave a tip. :)

Yes, it’s true that this is the teriyaki equivalent of the soup nazi. The guy always acts like he hates customers and usually lies to walk-​ins by telling them it will be a 45 minute wait and seems happier when they leave without ordering. It’s dirty (sticky tables) and small. Why would anyone go here? Cause it’s yummy. The portions are large. Just cause they hate you is no reason to stay away. Enjoy :)

the food is great but be ready to wait at least 20 minutes for your food. even if you call in a to go order…

Giving 2 stars and Im nice. People saying the best they had. Im like wtf. You guys dont know what is food. This place might be busy but let me tell you the food is shitttt. I was gonna throw it away then my dog was looking at me. Even her she didnt wanna touch the meat. Look at the meat carefully and u guys will see how old the chicken kastu can be

I love this place because it’s always the same, and that is good. That said, the only thing I’ve ever ordered in the 10 years I’ve been going is Large Teryiaki Chicken dinners with rice, salad, and teriyaki chicken. The couple that runs it works themselves to near death making dinners in a hole in the wall and sells it for next to nothing, so you have to forgive them for not having crystal clear English and coming out to chat. Call your order in and it’ll be waiting for you when you get there, otherwise sit and read People magazine or watch TV and wait for the food. It’s worth it, you should leave a big tip and thank your lucky stars that you don’t have to work back there all day, every day, serving people that don’t appreciate what they offer. Yummy!

This is my favorite teriyaki place in Seattle. It’s a total hole-​in-​the-​wall place run by a polite, if not terribly conversational couple. I’m actually not the biggest fan of traditional teriyaki — but like a stereotypical American guy, I am a big fan of General Tso’s chicken. And this place has my absolute favorite General Tso’s. It’s legitimately spicy, and the portions are HUGE. So large in fact that I would strongly advise not trying to finish it all in one sitting. I’ve regretted that every time I’ve done it. Their gyoza is also stellar if you dare order anything more.
The only downside is the wait — usually 30 or so minutes for food, so I advise calling in your order ahead of time whenever possible. It doesn’t have the most inviting dining environment either so I always get my food to go. I still love the crap out of this place though!

The saga continues. He’s such an ass but he has the best teriyaki around (i’ve tried 4 other places). So I confronted him and asked why he was mean and never smiled and made customers feel unwelcome. Who knows how much he understood of what I said but at the end of it I agreed to give him a $ 1 each time for extra sauce but I told him he had to smile at me when I came in. Old man grumpy pants has really good teriyaki. It’s working out well so far.

Teriyaki was hot and fresh, tasty too. We ended up here because our usual spot is further away and we were being lazy. Let that be a lesson!
Of course, as you can tell from all the other Unilocal the service sucks ass here.

Solid teriyaki. As other reviewers have noted, the service is a bit lackluster, but you’re buying an $ 8 plastic carton of teriyaki. I don’t personally expect or really need great service when I’m coming into a tiny place with a limited menu, and I already know exactly what I’m getting. Their teriyaki is fresh, tasty, and is basically the teriyaki meat of your choice, thick sliced sauteed onions, and the obligatory ice berg lettuce salad with whatever that ubiquitous creamy dressing is. All in all, very tasty and good price, exactly what I would expect from a hole in the wall teriyaki place. Sometimes the service factor to me is irrelevant.

I just walked out of this place with my order and still haven’t eaten the food before jumping on here to write a quick review. A friend recommended this place earlier today so I took their advice to come. Okay so the food may be good, but what terrible service.
The man, presumably one of the owners, said maybe two words during my visit, first word being the total price for the food. No «hi, hello, what can I get you» when I walked in, but amazingly took my order without saying a single word. Now that’s some talent!
The second and final word that came out of his mouth was «chicken,» indicating that my food was ready? I was devastated when he didn’t kiss me goodbye as I was leaving.
Now…let’s see how good the food is.

Curt and rude on the phone, even worse at pick up. Barely acknowledged me as he handed me the debit slip to sign, Jeesh.
However, the best teriyaki ever! Fresh, delicious, sets itself apart from other teriyaki joints. Been back multiple times.

Good stuff. The folks who run the place have limited English. I always order for pick up, but they never start preparing the food until I get there. which kinda bums me out, but it’s really pretty good.

The spicy chicken was pretty good. Not dried out like some teriyaki chicken can be and the spice level was just right. You get a nice portion for what you pay for.
The place itself is kind of small at a gas station. Like other reviewers said there are a lot of business cards on the table underneath glass. There are also a lot of old magazines by the door and a TV that was set to golf (at least it was when I was in there).
I won’t knock off any points for this but if you deal with the public develop some kind of personality. Smile. It makes your food taste better. Be some what talkative, even it is a simple «thank you» or «have a good day.» Just a suggestion.
Zipzap Zubidy Bop!

Mom & Pop shop which unfortunately is unable to handle heavy traffic. Thirty minutes for 1 dish at 3:00 is too long. Restaurant is tiny with no air flow. Call your order ahead if you go… drop-​in is painful.

Not the best teriyaki. Average at best. If you aren’t expecting anything impressive then this is a good place to go to for some average neighborhood teriyaki. It’s salty. And it’ll fill you up. But you won’t be happy about it afterwards.

Boo! The guys really rude. Terrible customer service. I wanted to leave but I had already paid. Learn to smile and act like you want peoples’ business!

Restaurant: Very small and disorganized. There are tons of business cards just lying around on the table (Has transparent table cover over it)…What the…
Food: Typical teriyaki like other hundreds of teriyaki places nearby. If I really want good teriyaki, I’d go all the way up to Shoreline at Ichi Bento. Ichi Bento knows how to make good food. Teriyaki Island used to be good until the owner sold the place to someone else… I wont miss the food at Teriyaki 1^st.
Service: Horrible. The Korean guy there doesn’t talk much. You go up to the counter and his facial expression tells you what he would say «What the hell you want.» When my food was ready he just put it on the counter and said nothing… I just thought to myself «What the… I dont expect too much customer service at a teriyaki place but a thank you would have been nice. I asked him if I can get some water and he didn’t seem to be happy about that. He went back to the kitchen and brought back some water… Same thing with the female customer that was in line after me…

I live just a block from this restaurant. definitely best for take out only, and call ahead! they take a while to make it but their food is always delicious. they give huge portions so you can definitely save some for later. spicy beef teriyaki is a favorite. ordering some right now!

This is the best teriyaki in Seattle. Call ahead and you’ll have your order ready when you get there. If not, expect to wait 30 minutes. I don’t blame them for that, that’s on you. Anyone can pick up a phone and make the call. The two people that work there are super nice and every time I eat there I’m surprise at just how delicious it is! The one thing I’m not fond of is that there aren’t any fortune cookies! :(
Side note: You can watch Jeopardy on their little T.V. while you wait for your food and keep your brain churning.

This teriyaki joint is B.O.M.B. You know how sometimes you go to teriyaki restaurant and your chicken comes out tasting dried but bathed in teriyaki sauce because they precooked it earlier in the day?
Well, Teriyaki 1^st cooks everything to order. They take a while to prepare the chicken katsu and spicy teriyaki chicken but it is so worth the wait. The katsu is perfectly cooked, crisped and golden brown. The spicy chicken is the perfect level of spicy and they wok fry the chicken (after grilling it) with other vegetable so that is not «just spicy chicken».
I go here as often as I can over the other teriyaki places near us!