Taka Sushi and Passion

Came here for dinner for the first time a month ago. I tried many of the small dishes, ramen and sushi, but just felt a little underwhelmed.
First, let’s talk seating. This place is really small. Bad choice for groups larger than 4. Our group of 8 were seated against the side wall as soon as you walk in. You can literally hear everyone’s conversation. Also, when they get busy, people are waiting and staring at you as you are eating making you feel guilty to hurry and leave so they can get their mediocre Japanese food craving satisfied.
We started off with some appetizers:
Tuna Tartar: I actually enjoyed this out of the other apps. Tuna was good with a nice ginger/​soy marinade.
Takosu (octopus salad): just okay… the cucumber served with it was refreshing
Pan Fried Calamari: I think we ordered this by mistake thinking it was a crispy fried calamari. It was more of a sauteed calamari pieces with veggies in some very salty soy sauce
Agedashi Tofu: I love agedashi tofu, but felt like the outer layer wasn’t fried enough, so the tofu was a bit too soggy for me.
Foie Gras: forgot what type of foie gras, but if you don’t enjoy this type of delicacy you won’t like it.
Rolls:
Soft Shell crab roll: it was okay
Tonkatsu: 6 small pieces of fried pork for $ 8 (see pic for reference). That means each small piece is $ 1.30!!! Over priced, the meat was super dark inside and very chewy.
Nigiri: just okay… tasted fresh for the most part so no complaints here.
Ramen: I think this was our group’s biggest disappointment. The broth was so salty! In one of my coworker’s bowl, it was ALL noodles and very little broth. When we asked for spicy tonkatsu ramen, it tasted just like the same broth from the regular ramen.
It’ll be hard to convince myself to come back here on my own dime…
Service was bleh too… there was one young lady who really didn’t know about sushi or the menu. Maybe she was new…
Saw some families bringing little kids to this sushi joint. Whyyy? No offense, but if you’re just going to order California rolls here for your kids, why not just go to Publix and get it for a third of the price???
This restaurant is called sushi and passion… just lacked a little bit of passion.

After two separate experiences here, there is no hesitation that Taka deserves exactly three stars on Unilocal.The joint itself is decent inside, very casual, simple wooden décor. In my opinion, much better places you can eat this type of food for the money if you want a bare bones Friday night dinner. It does have a homey feel.
The sushi is decent. By decent I mean, it’s fresh, expensive, unexciting and oversalted. During the last visit there was an immense amount of salt in both the miso soup and the rolls. Their lunch specials are not the best. A decent sushi plate will run you $ 20 for lunch and still won’t be filling. Other than the salt incident, everything was fine, but I’d probably not come back here again.

I’m a recent NYC transplant, and have been seriously disappointed with the level of food in the Midtown Atlanta restaurants where I live. But after having a hankering for some decent ramen on this cold and rainy afternoon, I did my research, and found this place online. I’m very glad I did, because it singlehandedly reaffirmed my faith in ATL cuisine. I ordered my favorite of all ramens, the shoyu variety (as opposed to the tonkatsu pork broth variety that everyone seems so hooked on), along with a side order of gyoza and two pieces of tuna sushi. First, the service RAPID, the owner and sushi chef, Taka, preparing me the two pieces of superb sushi in the blink of a very hungry eye. The ramen came out quickly as well, a welcome change from some of the glacially slow service of many Asian restaurants I’ve been to so far. I’d have to say that it may have been the most perfectly prepared bowl of noodles I’ve ever sampled, anywhere. It was simply splendid. I downed the entire bowl so fast, that it was like a ecstatic blur. And did I mention the gyoza? It was steamed, as opposed to the stereotypical fried variety, but it was equally as wonderful, right down to the subtle touch of hand scalloping on the edges, another sign of their attention to detail.
Friends, if you like great sushi and ramen, get yourself to Taka, and get down. And incidentally, unfortunately they’re going to relocate to another location, about 10 minutes away, in Sandy Springs, I believe. Just as in NYC, I guess the rent here is suddenly going up as fast as it is in my own home town :(

Alright, I have to be upfront about this: If Taka were a regularly priced sushi place, it would probably merit 3 stars. But particularly considering the cost, Taka only gets 2 stars.
Now if you are a person who only order rolls — stop reading my review now. I’m not you, you’re not me, we have different expectations and tastes.
If you eat nigiri, sashimi, or chirashi, then my review is relevant to you.
Once upon a time (probably circa 2012) Taka was probably one of the best sushi places in Atlanta. Expensive? Sure. But the quality of fish was top notch and that is what matters.
Today Taka is still expensive, but if you order chirashi expect tiny cuts of mediocre fish. Even expect some of your fish to be unfit for human consumption. By unfit for human consumption I of course mean butterfish, aka Escolar, aka Lepidocybium flavobrunneum. Chirashi is supposed to represent what the chef views as fresh and exciting — and to me butterfish represents the bottom of the barrel. Not familiar with this fish? I highly recommend you use your favorite search engine and do some research when you’ve a moment. Keep an eye out for ‘gastrointestinal distress’ and other related phenomena!
The rest of the fish present were bland and unexciting. The orange salmon looked depressingly farm raised. The salmon roe, rather than taut spheres of flavor, were sad and misshapen — obviously either low quality or long past their prime.
And the rice wasn’t even well cooked — shame on you Taka, letting something as central to sushi turn out wrong. Dry mealy rice is not good sushi.
And why was there a golf ball sized portion of pickled ginger? I’d wager I had almost as much ginger by weight as I had fish.
All of this was of course served up with Taka’s typically dour service — which in years past I didn’t mind as the food was great. But today I wish I had gone somewhere else. Anywhere else.

Excellent place to eat! The philidelphia, ICBM, and Home Depot rolls were great. We went around 7pm on a Wednesday and had excellent service.
This is a very small resturaunt, a little pricey, but suprisingly good. Favorite dish was the Rainbow Roll!
I look forward to coming back to Altanta to enjoy again.

Probably one of the best sushi bars I have ever been to. Service was especially outstanding. We sat at the sushi bar in front of a chef named Terry. He was so friendly and such good company. My husband and I had a great time talking to him.
The food was amazing as well. Very fresh good quality sushi.
The appetizer however was a little disappointing. We got the pan fried spicy calamari and it was not spicy and it was just drowned in soy sauce.
I still give this place five stars regardless because of the excellent sushi and the awesome chef Terry! ^^

I’ve been wanting to try Taka for a while. Went last night and was pretty underwhelmed. Service was friendly and efficient. Food just ok. I had the popcorn okra which was tempura okra. This was good a nice touch for vegetarians — something different. I then had the fried pork which was little better than a frozen fried chicken patty. I tried very hard to like it but it was pretty bad. I had oh-​toro nigiri which was just above disgusting. Definitely did not melt in your mouth and in fact was kind of chewy. Not at all a good experience. Lastly I had the Passion Roll which was eel and spicy avocado. Definitely the best dish of the night but again lacking in the deliciousness factor. At this price point, you will do much much better paying just a little more and going to MF Sushi in Va-​Hi. Light years above Taka. Sorry because I really wanted to like it.

First Experience
Positives:
— Fish quality was pretty good
— Decent Parking
Problems:
— Terrible service from the waitress we had. Only way to explain how bad it was is comparing it to a crappy Chinese restaurant stereotype. By the way one of the dishes they dropped off was literally dropped off Crappy Chinese Restaurant Style!!!
— Waiter tried to seat us next to the host stand which is 5 ft from the door and 2 foot away from the host stand when they had plenty of seats in the main room and much more seating in the back & patio area.
— Rice was cold, dry and under seasoned on every piece of sushi we ordered (Roll & Nigiri). Not sure if it was due to the terrible waiter or not.
— Kinda over priced at least for the quality. But in comparison to what I’ve had so far in this area this is definitely a step up. Give you some perspective, I’m from SF and have been to Japan enough times to learn how to talk trash without offending :-)
— Seating arrangement made it difficult to move or decide how to get around the restaurant. Waitresses kept bumping my wife’s chair. Not apologies were made
Of course every place deserves a second chance and maybe I caught them on a off day but will update this when that day happens.
Also last thing, this is my first experience of sushi in Atlanta but have had the unfortunate chance of having sushi in Auburn Alabama.

This spot always satisfies my craving for ramen. Choose from donkotsu, spicy donkotsu, and shoyu ramen.
They have great sushi as well.
Rolls have very minimum rice unlike your usual sushi places. Though this can work against you as well since it might not be filling.
Great little spot hidden on Pharr road next to Sprong shoes. It is easy to miss but look for the green temple looking building and it is located next to it. Half of the parking in front of Taka belongs to Sprong, but there’s additional parking available in the plaza next door and stairs that takes you to Taka.

We went back yesterday on a week night to give them a second chance. The first time was on a Saturday night and yes the service was terrible even as a regular restaurant, let alone a Japanese restaurant. But after last night I understand why their servers are rude.
Two things:
1. We sat at the sushi bar and ordered omakase sashimi plate for two. The head chef (I assume the owner) handed us the big circular plate over the counter with one hand and before we can reach it, he looked away and turned his body to face the other direction and started chitchatting with someone else. That’s extremely disrespectful and is something that I would never expect from an experienced sushi chef.
2. The quality of the fish was decent but call me ignorant, I have had sushi/​sashimi from top sushi restaurants in major international cities including fish markets and restaurants all over Japan, never have I seen a sushi chef truncate their fish into tiny chunks to serve as a sashimi plate so they can cheap out the portion for a regular price. Their salmon last night was falling apart and look what I found from another chunk of fish? A bone (see pic).
I hope the chef made his teacher and parents proud.

So! I finally got to try this place. We were the only ones in here… but that’s ok. Lol. It was passed lunchtime so I guess we missed the lunch crowd.
I was a little iffy about it because there was no one in here, but like I said we just missed the lunch crowd. The restaurant itself is super duper small.
I read great reviews so in order to reassure myself it would be indeed, that good, the chef’s and some of the staff were Japanese. Something you don’t see often anymore.
The dumplings were fresh and handmade. Dough and all. My chirashi bowl was fresh and filling. We both ordered tea and when there was a time for a refill, our waitress did just that. We also had the crawfish roll which was pretty good. They didn’t jip us on any crawfish meat either.
I’d like to come here for dinner one day, when the place has a little buzz. Also, I noticed there was patio dining. I’d like to enjoy a meal out there once the weather is more promising.

Really good sushi. Was able to make a large-​ish reservation on NYE at the last minute and so honestly that had me a little bit concerned. But it turned out great. We ate light but everything was delicious. Prices aren’t cheap but good sushi never is. I’ll be back.

The sushi is pretty fresh and tasty. The ice cream are good. But I guess you could add more meat in the ramen noodle. The place is too corded and we have to sit outside, where is not warm enough.

Came here to try the Ramen. I was not disappointed. I had the spicy Tonkotsu ramen and it was delicious. It was definitely spicy. Exactly how I wanted it. I also ordered the Philadelphia roll and that was pretty good.
They had a large selection of sake as well but I decided to stick with a jack and coke. Next time I will provide my get some sake. They jack and coke was nice and strong
They have a big selection of different sushi and sashimi as well. So many different amazing things to chose from. I will definitely return here to try more sushi rolls and also have the ramen again.

I live right down the street and finally was able to make it over here. We walked in on a freezing 25° Thursday night. The hosted was very friendly and offered us a table in the very cozy heated patio to wait at until our table was ready. She soon then after offered us a table across the way on the patio or a table inside. Since the patio was pretty much empty yet very warm despite the weather, we decided to sit it there. I ordered the uni, however I was notified that they had run out for the night. I chose my next favorite, unagi on the fly and was very please.
The real reason for going was for the ramen. I chose the Spicy Tonkotsu Ramen and was so very satisfied. It was the perfect cold weather meal. I had the Genesis cab to wash it all down. Overall our waitress was extreme friendly and the food was impeccable. The girl who gave Taka a one star review is out of her mind. Taka is defiantly one of my new favorite neighborhood restaurants.

When you drive past Taka on Pharr Rd., you barely even realize it’s there. It’s so tucked away behind other buildings closer to the road, that it almost gets lost in the shuffle except for its big sign over the parking lot.
My boyfriend’s co-​worker from London was in town the other week and wanted to have sushi for dinner one night, so after a quick Unilocal search, Taka came up as a good place to go with lots of four-​star reviews. Bada bing, bada boom, we had reservations for Friday night at 8:30.
As we walked in the door, I noticed the restaurant’s not that big, but it certainly utilizes its space to the best of its ability. There is seating at the bar overlooking the sushi chefs, tables are spaced pretty close together, and the outdoor patio on the side can be converted to a closed space during the colder months.
We were on the patio, but you wouldn’t know it by the temperature. I didn’t feel a bit of cold or a draft the whole time we were there. I will say that service was never particularly fast that evening, but luckily, we weren’t in a rush either.
The first time our waitress came around, we ordered a bottle of cold, unfiltered sake, an appetizer of steamed gyoza potstickers, and the okonomiyaki (a Japanese-​type of omelette with eggs, cabbage, batter and shirmp). My boyfriend also saw ramen on the menu and immediately ordered a bowl of that as well (it took a little longer to prepare, so it was good he did it earlier).
If you’ve never had unfiltered sake, I recommend you try it. It looks cloudier than filtered sake, however, the taste it smoother, in my opinion. It also contains the same amount of alcohol, so you can get hammered pretty easily from it (I was the designated driver that night for good reason).
When the gyoza and okonomiyaki came out, we ordered our entrees: a sashimi platter, a nigiri sample, and three rolls: salmon, dragon and a house-​special UPS roll. Oh boy, this was gonna be a lot of food…
The gyoza was very tasty and our friend raved about the okonomiyaki after he had his first helping. When my boyfriend’s ramen arrived I got a taste and it was a good bowl — not as good as Umaido (no one seems to be), but still very good.
Then the sushi platters started coming, and coming and coming… The nigiri platter was four types of fish draped over rice (salmon, tuna, yellowtail and something) and the sashimi platter was beautiful slices of fish, scallops, octopus and other sea creatures. Gorgeous presentation and quite fresh tasting. At this point, the rolls started to arrive and I was slightly concerned for how much food our table contained.
We powered through it like champs, and it all tasted great, but I tell you, at the end, the struggle was very real. I think just one less sushi roll would have made the difference between stuffed and quite full, but we didn’t know better.
And so, two hours, a bottle of sake and many pieces of fish later, we rolled out of Taka, fat and happy. I really enjoyed the sushi and I would definitely recommend Taka if you’re in the mood. It’s good eats.

The WORST sushi restaurant I have EVER been to. As in not only in Atlanta, but the country and the world. Believe me when I say, this place is to be avoided at all costs. I am still in awe of how crowded it was on a Tuesday night given the rude service and god awful sushi. Here is why:
Service: when my friend asked for a refill on his green tea he got an eye roll instead of a «sure, coming right up». They are so rude they begin to walk away as you are still talking.
Food: the edamame tasted days old, beyond stale. I have never had an issue with EDAMAME for Pete’s sake! The tuna is terrible, dragon roll I couldn’t even stomach.
Ambiance: better inside than outside but could care less by the time our awful service combined with hideous sushi was served.
Just do yourself a favor and stay away. I get that Umi and Tomo are not everyday options but have to be casual spots that are better than this disgusting option.
#stillinshockpeoplelikeit

Taka Sushi is the best sushi experience I have had in Atlanta, and the best I have had since Japan. The quality of the food is excellent, the service was wonderful (including excellent recommendations), and the atmosphere is delightful. I came here for a business lunch and can’t wait to go back with my spouse.
Everything we had and loved:
— Recommended warm sake
— Recommended cold sake
— Miso Soup
— Dumplings (ridiculously good)
— Rainbow Roll (melted on my tongue and had a perfect melody of flavors)
— Tempura Fried Pound Cake with vanilla ice cream and sea salt (unbelievable!)
Taka is an absolute must!

Stop 2 on our date night. We ended up heading this way due to traffic patterns around the construction in the area, and so decided on Taka. I’d heard good things for ages, but having a 5 star review from Daniel B sealed the deal for Jimmy. We found a space in the dozen or so in the parking lot in front of the door.
We sat on the porch, where they had fans going to keep the warm summer night air moving. The space is a little tight on the porch, but overlooks a small courtyard with greenery, minimal art, and a few more tables.
We debated what to order, but each chose a salad, a nigir, and a roll. I had the seaweed salad, hamachi, and spider roll. J got the garden salad, hotate, and ICBM roll. Everything was pretty in presentation. My seaweed salad was cool, but not cold — just right. The rolls came first. The spider roll was a touch on the dry side. The ICBM was nicely spicy. The hamachi was delicious, with the soft, velvety texture that I love and mild flavor.
All in all a nice little sushi spot in Buckhead.

The quality of the sushi and other food I had at Taka was top notch, but the portions were some of the smallest I’ve seen in Atlanta for the price. The sashimi was especially miniscule as it was cut into pieces less than half the size I’ve had at Nakato or Harry & Sons.
The ICBM roll was also quite small in relation to the number of ingredients it contained. While tasty, I’d like to be able to taste for the different fish and textures.
The black cod appetizer was excellent, but following the trend, was also on the small side.
I was happy to finally try Taka, but unless you have a very small appetite, I’d look elsewhere for sushi.
Also of note is that it’s really loud inside.