Tokyo Japanese Restaurant

Tokyo is better than ever. Good classic sushi. It’s not fancy Americanized sushi buy consistently good. The atmosphere is charming and the staff super nice.

Once in a blue moon, you come across a sushi restaurant that is so charming, authentic, and delicious that you think you’ve died and been transported to nirigi-​maki heaven. Sadly, this is not one of those places. The interior is adorable in that grandma’s attic/​hodgepodge/​borderline hoarder kind of way, and the menu is huge so you get plenty of choices, but that’s sort of where it ends. I have to give one star because, well, I didn’t get sick, and that’s kind of relevant when we’re talking about raw fish. The other star is for the kindness of our server. The food itself wasn’t what I would call terrible either, but there are a couple reasons why I gave this place only two stars.
When we stopped here, my family and I were headed to the San Juans during the 2015 holiday season, and we decided to head in here after looking around downtown for an open place to eat. My son, husband, and I ordered three appetizers, four orders of nigiri, chicken yakisoba, tonkatsu, and four orders of maki so we could get a good sampling of menu items. The prices are relatively similar to what you see at other sushi places, so we figured we weren’t going to be in for too much of a surprise when when we got our food… if we ever got our food.
It looked like there was only one chef preparing everything, and it’s not like the restaurant was packed or anything, but he was definitely more interested in getting some to-​go orders ready before he even started on our food. It took about 20 minutes for the tiny appetizers to come out; there was basically enough for each of us to have one bite, and nothing came out at the same time. We waited 10-​ish minutes between each dish. I do make sushi at home, and I know it doesn’t have to take that long to make up maki when you already have all your ingredients prepped.
Aside from waiting too long to get each item we ordered, the portions that came out were positively tiny little silver dollar-​sized rolls that came six to eight to a plate. This is where my main problem lies with this place. I have no issue paying $ 13 per roll when I’m actually getting $ 13 worth of maki, but these plates looked like little happy hour deals at regular dinner prices. It seemed like they were trying to cut corners and save money with the amount of food they were willing to give out. For almost $ 100, it felt as though we only got maybe $ 50 worth of food. I don’t expect sushi to be cheap, but there was absolutely no value here. I feel like we got ripped off, and we were all still hungry when we left. The quality of the fish certainly wasn’t high enough to warrant the overpriced bill.
We won’t be back. They did have what looked like a great selection of homemade kimchi that I would love to try, but I’m scared to find out what the price is.

Always wondered why Koreans run «Japanese» restaurants when there is so much great Korean food. Fast and tasty stop on the way to the ferry. Stick with the Korean dishes and you won’t be disappointed. The miso soup is awful…

The place seemed authentic and cute. I ordered the special to go and unfortunately got food poisoning. The server recommended it, but obviously the beef/​kimchi was not fresh. My stomach was a mess for 2 days.

So… If I were rating only on the food… This place would get no more than 2 stars. But… They were so nice! I was coughing a bit and the hostess told me to sit down, and she brought me tea which was really good and soothing. I ordered a lot of food and could barely carry it all, so the lady said, let’s go, where’s your car? And she helped me outside ! 5 stars for service.
The food? Not so great.
*Chirashi bowl. Rice wasn’t sushi rice I dont think, and it wasn’t made well. Dry, no flavor. The cuts were super thin, not very fresh (discolored and texture wasn’t so great).
*Edamame — dry, no salt, shriveled (kind of overcooked)
*Shrimp tempura — small shrimps, big batter. Decent flavor but since we got takeout don’t know whether it was ever crunchy.
*spicy tuna roll — not rolled well, not allot of tuna, kind of dry, and the end pieces barely had tuna.
All in all… I may come back if in anacortes because they’re so nice… But… Would probably settle for a non-​sushi/​sashimi dish.

I have been going to Tokyo off and on for about two years. My two most recent experiences have much improved my impression. Overall, considering the limited Asian cuisine choices in Anacortes, I wholeheartedly recommend Tokyo.
Things I have noted in my recent outings are a brighter, cleaner, improved décor of the restaurant itself. I tend to order simple menu items (maki roll, California roll, miso soup, edamame) so I can’t say much about the more complex menu items, but I can say that all of those items I mentioned seem much tastier and fresher than I recall from older outings. I remember the restaurant usually being very sparsely attended, but both last outings it was very busy, potentially indicating that other people are recognizing what I am regarding the overall improvement in quality.
My sister-​in-​law, who is somewhat of a self-​proclaimed Asian cuisine connoisseur, pointed out that they serve Korean dishes that she sometimes found hard to find where she lives even in Seattle. She also felt the food quality was good. They do have a nice secluded section for larger parties as well which was helpful for one of the outings.
The biggest complaint I have is that the service, while extremely polite and customer happiness oriented, is severely hampered by being understaffed. Especially now that patronage seems to be up significantly, be prepared to wait for one server to manage too many tables. Water is slow to come. Deliveries of different food selections arrive at the table haphazardly. When you are done, the check will be awhile in coming. I tend to want things to happen in a timely manner and while I don’t mind some «dead time» that can be filled with conversation, Tokyo’s waits are simply too long.
Overall, I highly recommend this gem of Asian cuisine in little Anacortes.

The menu needs to have more variety. It only has 11 special rolls and half of them are fried or have cream cheese in them. They are delicious, don’t get me wrong but a couple more options with all raw fish would be nice.
Out of the sushi we did get it was all fresh and of good quality. There rolls were average sized as well. If there were better options so I void be content with eating sushi on the island.

Very mediocre food at best. We had the chicken and salmon bento box. The chicken pieces looked old and were gristly. The salmon also didn’t seem fresh and had a strong after taste. The miso soup was bland and had no veggies and only one tiny piece of tofu. There was a small, small, small side salad but barely two bites. Quite disappointed and would not recommend. Worst of all my stomach ached the rest of the night! Too bad because the server was nice and polite but only improving the quality of the food could help this place.

I am very pleased with Tokyo Japanese Restaurant.
I had to get away from my standard Anacortes fare of Thai and Mexican food so one day I happened upon this little gem. I actually frequented this place so many times in 1 week that I met all of the staff and even started getting free dishes. Woohoo!
The owner (woman) is Korean and so is her husband. She is very friendly and kind while he is a much more quiet individual (have only heard him call for the waitress when sushi was ready).
Fortunately for me, they serve Korean dishes in addition to the typical Japanese staples of sushi, udon and teriyaki. I found their Galbi to be superb, their Soon Doo Boo Jigae to be tasty and fried Mackerel to be delicious.
I would recommend you get the Soon Doo Boo without peas and carrots as that seemed very inapplicable to this dish.
After exhausting every Korean dish on their menu I tried their Japanese dishes. The sushi was decent, though coming from Hollywood, I’ve been spoiled and so wasn’t overly fond of it. I found their udon to be delicious. The fried gyoza was so good. I order it on nearly every occasion.
The waitress is a sweetheart but she does sometimes appear a bit overwhelmed when she has 3+ tables to service. I found I had to remind her of a dish once and ask for my bill on several occasions. I was undoubtedly done because she had taken away my plates – practically licked clean.
All in all, I definitely recommend Tokyo Japanese for the great food, friendly atmosphere and fair service.

Hey you… The young gal working this place… keep it up! Service was amazing. Food was great, I had the bento box which was really good, I think they need some work on the fried items as they were a bit dried out. but everything is fresh and delicious. Better sushi and sashimi than you can get anywhere else in the valley. My girl had a variety of sashimi and was totally in love… along with the sake it was a perfect meal for her. They make their own teriyaki sauce which you need to try! Great find, will go back!

wonderful, small restaurant, spicy squid is amaaaazing

Delicious food, unique to the area, and great service. Went with a friend; waitress was very attentive while we were eating, and let us be while we chatted for a long time after the meal was finished and paid for — perfect!
The meal starts with tea, miso soup, and salad of iceberg lettuce with a sesame/​ginger dressing. The miso soup was outstanding. The salad was okay.
I ordered the bento box dinner, which was huge, had a great variety, and was delicious, and very affordable. The sushi and sashimi were tender and perfectly fresh, with a great flavor to the sushi rice, no soy sauce required. The tonkatsu and teriyaki were delicious and freshly prepared, and not too dry or too overcooked.
It’s a good thing they make such great sushi, because this is basically the only place in the county to get fresh, authentic sushi.

The best part of this restaurant is the atmosphere. It looks more like a Japanese sushi restaurant then anything else around here. The food will scratch the sushi itch. We started with a bowl of edamame and two bowls of Miso soup. Miso tasted great… probably the best I’ve had. I ordered the Yakisoba and my wife ordered a spicy tuna, spicy salmon, and dragon roll. Yakisoba was tasty. The tuna and salmon rolls were so freakin’ spicy my wife couldn’t finish them. Dragon roll was ok, but a bit chincy on the sashimi toppers. I thought at first we’d accidentally ordered the extra hot rolls, but after asking, we were told that is just how they’re made. I wouldn’t say I’m disappointed, but not totally happy. Regardless, I had a nice time hanging out with my wife. We got out of there for $ 38. I’ve paid a lot more for a sushi dinner so I’d say the cost was just a little higher than normal. Not sure I’ll be going back.

Our favorite Japanese restaurant in Anacortes — actually our favorite restaurant period in that town. Wonderful food and great service — what more can you ask? We always get the «box» items and have eaten there for lunch and dinner and both are great.

One star for cute décor and location, but if I could do a half star, that would be more appropriate. A great disappointment. Lured in by a $ 10 off Entertainment Book coupon, the waitress apologizes that it’s a misprint, and only good for $ 5 off.
The menu seemed fairly diverse, yet our 4 dinners ended up looking and tasting pretty much the same. $ 10 – 16 each. Salad= bagged chopped iceberg lettuce with a rare shred of red cabbage, with a bit too much creamy sesame dressing. The miso soup was just as unimaginative, and luke warm. I’ve had instant miso from a just-​add-​hot water foil pouch that was better.
Kaki fry oysters were three thumb sized flat, dry and fishy– fresh out of a cardboard freezer box. By far the worst kaki fry oysters I’ve experienced. I wasn’t sure I was going to even eat them, but the portions of the combo dinner were meager enough that I forced myself to eat them. The tonkatsu was very dry and flavorless. Worse yet, they only gave each of us about 2 teaspoons of tonkatsu sauce to dip in– not nearly enough to choke down the oysters and tonkatsu. They charged extra for a refill on our hot tea.
Tempura was luke warm with one piece of shrimp, one onion ring, one broccoli, one zuccini and two halved mushrooms. To make things worse, the tempura dip was actually cold– like out of the refrigerator, and it congealed the grease the tempura was fried in.
Kyoto in Oak Harbor is orders of magnitude better in all respects, and even the fast food Tokyo Stop in Oak Harbor prepares much more appetizing and tasty dishes.
Went straight to the Donut House from here to get rid of the bad taste this place left in our mouths.

First, I don’t eat raw sushi, so maybe I’m not the best judge.
But I do love Cali Rolls and Chicken Teri Bento. Mmmm…
I had both here, twice, and really was quite satisfied. Yes, the service was a bit slow. But the food was fine, it tasted fresh to me, and the waitress was nice. The price was ok. I would come a lot more if it was cheaper (or if the quality was better).
There really isn’t any other alternatives out here, so your kinda stuck with this place unless you go to Whidbey Island or out to Burlington.
I have no idea how the other menu items are here. Hope this helps the less daring like myself.

I was not impressed. The chicken was poor quality and the noodle dish we had was not very flavorful.
The miso and edamame were poor quality also and our waitress was rather flighty.
The roll we had was pretty good though, tempura shrimp with avocado and cali roll all mixed together in a monster roll. Prices are reasonable, but I would try elsewhere.

I walked through the door with a crisp autumn chill in the air, and was seated promptly. The server could tell I was pretty cold and brought me a heated pillow to sit on. How cool is that?
Anyway, after searching for a decent sushi bar near my home with absolutely no luck, I can tell you that there are several places with mediocre sushi in the surrounding area. Then one happy day I found The Tokyo Japanese Restaurant in Anacortes and can once again get my sushi fix. It’s FRESH, DELICIOUS, and the chef’s are very hospitable and the menu is huge. They also have a good price/​serving ratio. If you’re looking for sushi in the Skagit Valley area, this is the place to go. I know I will be back.

I really want to love this place. It’s cute, the server was friendly and they have an extensive menu of Japanese casual favs. But most of the prices are way inflated – they are ripping off people by asking them to pay 11 bucks for yakisoba which is little more than noodles, sugar n soy, cabbage and carrots!
The yakitori appetizer is gross – it’s a few morsels of chicken and zucchini grilled then stuck on a skewer (never saw zucchini yakitori before in Japan!) slathered in syrup-​y sauce.
The miso soup is acceptable but is lacking in any tofu chunks or wakame – plain jane. The bottled beer is a bit expensive but they do offer the big three: Asahi, Sapporo and Kirin.
The sushi was good for American sushi. It’s the only reason that I feel compelled to (but I won’t) give them three stars. This sucks because I want to try other things on the menu that I’ve missed eating in Japan but I have this sneaking suspicion that I’ll just be disappointed.
Suggestion Tokyo: Cut your menu down to a third of what it is and make it BETTER!

Sometimes the service is great. Sometimes it is unbelievably horrid. One time they told me they were out of rice when I walked in at 8pm. The sushi is fresh and well prepared but zero personality from the owner/​chef. I get the feeling that he does not really want to be too busy.
This is our only choice here in Anacortes for sushi. Therefore I do go as much as I crave sushi (a lot). I am a little biased as I worked at a Japanese restaurant in Huntington Beach CA for 6 years. But I’m also very forgiving… oh…I’ll be back as often as they will let me