Anyone know anything about Tokyo Table?

[kotter]

It seems that a place called Tokyo Table is opening in the old Tony Roma's space on La Cienega. Any ideas about what this is?

[ipsedixit]

Maybe go check it out ... I believe they are offering something like 20% off of any entree as part of their grand opening.

[kotter]

didn't realize they were already open. when i drove by on monday, it seemed that they weren't set up yet.

[Chowpatty]

Looks like they are owned by the same company as Shokudo Japanese in Honolulu -- looks like a corporate Japanese company, hoping to launch a big chain. Still, I would try it, it looks reasonably priced and has some interesting looking dishes. And it will be open for lunch and until 1 am!
http://www.tokyotable.com

[ipsedixit]

Yes, but no alcohol after midnight ...

[omotosando]

I just checked out the menu on line and, in my humble opinion, it looks dreadful. Reminded me a bit of what you would find, say at Denny's in Japan. The interior did look attractive though, from the pics on the website. So sort of a high-end Denny's.

[Chowpatty]

Well, having never been to Japan, I would be excited at the idea of a Japanese Denny's! I like the coffee shops in Mexico that are like Mexican Denny's. Although I can certainly appreciate high end sushi and well-prepared Japanese food, I have a certain soft spot for the Mishima/Famima range of cheap or mundane Japanese food. However this doesn't extend to Japanese curry places, which just don't appeal to me.

[randyno]

It's open now. I went in a couple of days ago. The food is really great. The sushi is very fresh and well made, but they have so MANY other dishes besides that. I loved these rice bowl dishes that cook at the table. Staff is friendly. I'd say go.

[gsmoose]

I scanned the menu a while ago, but the only thing that stood out was... HONEY TOAST! Multiple varieties of honey toast!
Did anyone else drool when watching the Dotch episode with honey toast? How I longed to try that bread sizzled in butter and topped with honey and ice cream. Will the dream become reality soon with Tokyo Table??

Thanks for the reactions to the food! Hope to hear more good things as others make their way to this new place.

[fishybear10]

I looked at the website and it seems to be the same menu as the shoduku in hawaii. I've been to the one in hawaii and it's pretty good especially the honey toast...itz massive.

[carolineoncrack]

Although the prices were surprisingly reasonable and the servers superfriendly, my friends and I weren't crazy about the food (all six of the people at my table were disappointed with their dishes which ranged from steak to sashimi to salmon filet) and the service was spotty at best. But I just attribute that to the restaurant being new. Otherwise I'd go back for the intriguing specialty cocktails and give it a couple months before I go back to try the food again since hopefully by then they'll have their act together.

[PayOrPlay]

We tried Tokyo Table last weekend. It's not a Japanese Denny's, it's much too attractive to warrant that comparison. Perhaps more akin to a Japanese P.F. Chang's. And no, that is not compliment, except to the decor, which is quite nice. In some ways it reminded us of a downscale, louder version of the now-departed and much-missed Umenohana, (but sadly without the automatic toilets).

I agree with everything *carolineoncrack* says above. As others have commented, they have a variety of offerings, traditional and yoshoku. Maybe most focus is dishes served in sizzling-hot plates or bowls: salmon and salmon eggs over rice was decent; garlic shrimp over rice was pretty bad. We also tried "seared beef tataki sushi" which turned out to be lukewarm thin slices of overcooked, slightly tough beef drowning in teriyaki sauce over mushy rice also drowning in the same sauce--this was recommended by the waiter but I thought it was pretty bad. A sashimi platter was OK, nothing spectacular. On the other hand, the "homemade tofu" was very good, and quite a large portion.

The drink menu is extensive but we weren't all that impressed with what we tried: my "yuzu vodka soda" tasted more like plain old sparkling lemonade (and those were definitely plain old limes in the glass) and the waiter tried hard to upsell me to Grey Goose or Belvedere before letting me stick to the (unidentified) well vodka; Cynaburst's Mother had hot sake, of which they had only one choice. PayOrPlay Jr. had something called a "virgin lava flow" which was basically sort of an icy strawberry-vanilla milkshake--he was fine with it, but we've certainly had better fruit smoothies elsewhere.

The service was attentive to a fault, except that at the end of the meal they brought the check without anyone asking if we wanted dessert. The couple at the next table was splitting an enormous order of the honey toast, which looked intriguing but they seemed only to be plcking at it, not showing much enthusiasm.

The price point is not bad at all, given the attractive setting--4 of us got out of there for $100 including the drinks (no coupons or discounts, though)--and the wide menu makes it easier to placate fussier palates, so I guess we might try it again, although other than the honey toast I'm not sure what I am excited about trying next time.

[lvgoodfood]

Very disapointed, but glad we tried it! We tried Tokyo Table today, Saturdat. at around 3:30, late lunch, the
restaurant was surprisingly empty, only two more tables while we were there. True that this is not Denny's, just because the decor is a little more upscale, but the food, well is just very, very average or even below average, very chain
restaurant type. We started with edamame (3.95), which was good, fresh, warm, and nicely salted, followed with rock shrimp appetizer (9.95), also very tasty, but it all went down hillfrom there, we ordered a California Roll (8.95) as a last minute addition to our appetizer order, it came about 2 minutes after we ordered, that was very fast I thought, I am 99% sure that the rolls are premade, it was refrigerator cold, not room temperature cold like what wou will get at a
Sushi Bar or Japanese Restaurant. The roll also had that 'refrigerated' taste, and it was just not good, it was filled with crab salad and lettuce inside, and on top of the roll it had a spread of egg salad, an awful combination, and it
tasted really bad. After this we had our soups, which you can add to any entree together with a cup of steamed rice for 3.75 more per person. The soup was just okay, a little on the cold side. After that our entrees, we had deep fried flounder (14.95), very plain taste, and overcooked. We ordered Crispy chicken with spicy sauce (9.95), and also chicken karaage with tartar sauce (9.95), both chicken dishes were the same deep fried chicken nuggets, one was served with a side of spicy tartar sauce, and the other was served on top of a sauce made with soy sauce and onions. Both chicken dishes tasted the same, and they were not good, very plain, the tartar sauce was better than the soy sauce, but still very plain dishes, by this time we had just stopped eating, just tasting the food and looking at each other regreting being there, while there are so many other good restaurants around. Okay to finish our meal we had to try the cinnamon honey toast that everyone brags about, it looked nice, but was just that, thick slices of bread, lightly toasted, sprinkled with cinnamon, and honey, and served with
vanilla ice cream, nothing more than that, edible, but nothing to write home about. We also had a green tea pot, (3.50) and a virgin lava flow (5.00). Overall I don't recommend this restaurant to anybody, the service was okay, but it seemed like they are still training people. Our bill came to a little over
100.00 for a party of three, I don't mind when the food is good, but you can do so much better for this amount (or just a little more) somewhere else. Sorry, but I can not recommend Tokyo Table!

[activator2006]

I wasn't particular about Japanese food but when I tried out the items, I was pretty impressed. My favorite was the Ishiyaki Bibimbap added with the Korean spicy miso paste. I guess that I'm a fan for the spice. But the Hamachi carpaccio was a killer too. The best that I've tried. But you gotta have the Stir Fried noodles that, at first, looked like a moving dish with the bonito flakes curling in the heat of the dish. But, once I got over that, the taste kept me until I finished the plate. Service was new but being open for less than a month, it was excellent service that I wasn't use to in this town. They were very attentive and catered to my every need. My server, Michael was very knowledgeable about the food and was on top of his game. The other servers were very friendly and seemed to be enjoying their guests. I would strongly recommend this to everyone.

[BenHur]

What is the name of the ice cream that they serve at Tokyo Table? I heard it is made in Hawaii.

[yinyangdi]

hmmm, checked out the Tokyo Table link (above) and the food looks very similar to that which TOT has been dishing out for years.

T.O.T.
Teishokuya Of Tokyo
345 E 2nd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
[phone]
www.littletokyorestaurant.com/totmain...

[pirikara]

I thought this place was actually pretty good. It might be a hit-or-miss place, but if you've spent time among the young crowd in Japan you'll probably get really nostalgic about the Japanese/ Western hybrids they serve here.

A link to my comments and pics:

http://mikeyhateseverything.blogspot....

[ronnie_gaucho]

nice review...ill have to try this place soon. considering i just got back from tokyo a few days ago, i'll wait for a while

[lvgoodfood]

I past by this last Sunday after eating dinner at Fogo de Chao. It was about 7:30 pm, Tokyo Table was almost empty, we only saw one table with customers.