Great lunch at Kyotoya in Stoneham
I am blessed with two little boys who love Japanese food, and so we've been eating our way through Japanese restaurants north of Boston. A friend suggested that we all go to Kyotoya in Stoneham, b/c they have cheap ($7.95) bento box lunches.
I loved it. The lunch boxes are indeed $7.95 and include soup (miso or hot & sour), salad, choice of 5 appetizers (spring rool, shumai, gyoza, crab rangoon, or chicken wings), 4 side-dishes (California roll, fried tofu, stemed veggies, chicken lettuce wrap, or tatsu-age (ginger battered fried chicken), 5 entrees (teriyaki chicken or slamon, beff w/onions, shrimp & veggie tempura, General Tsao's chicken, chicken or pork katsu), and 5 starches (brown, white, or sishi rice; fried rice or lo mein).
I ordered 2 box lunches and a special sushi roll for the 3 of us. I am not particularly knowledgeable about Japanese food but I thought everything tasted really good & appeared to be homemade. The miso soup had lots of tofu and seaweed in it. The wrappers on the potstickers were thin & the filling was tasty. The tatsu-age was really nice - tiny nuggests of chicken with a very light coating of batter that was rich with grated fresh gingerroot.
I especially liked the lo mein - it was not overly greasy and the noodles were not overcooked. The entree portions were reasonably substantial (chicken katsu and teriyaki salmon were about the size of my hand) and were served with a few steamed fresh vegetables (carrots, green beans, broccoli). The katsu was not my favorite so far (I liked Sushi Island's best) but it was fine. The steamed vegetable side dish consisted of carrots, broccoli, and cabbage, all fresh and none of it overcooked.
The sushi roll was out of this world, and I'm so sorry that I don't know exactly waht was in it - I couldn't read the full description on the paper posted above the small sushi counter, across the room from where we were sitting. it was called Patrick's special and was something like seaweed salad, shrimp tempura and something a little spicy, all wrapped up with thin slices of perfectly ripe avocado. You will all yell at me for eating fluffy non-sushi rolls but I don't care, it was DIVINE.
The restaurant's ambience is not great (it reminds me of countless Thai restaruants that I've eaten in over the years) and the location is not glamorous (it's located in a strip mall), but the the food was delicious, a real bargain, and the staff couldn't have been nicer. Even to 2 moms with 3 small kids. We got there early but the place filled up pretty quickly. They even had "kiddie chopsticks" ready-made and brought them over right away (FYI, Sushi Island does that too).
Long story short, it's been 2 days since our lunch at Kyotoya and I'm trying to figure out how soon we can go back. Looking at their menu I see that they offer a dinner version of the lunch box for $12.95. I can't wait to try more of their menu.
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Kyotoya Japanese Restaurant
58 Montvale Ave Ste B, Stoneham, MA 02180
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tatsu
Nov 21, 2010 10:44 AM
I hate to tell you this but that doesn't sound Japanese at all.
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