Little Tokyo Japanese Restaurant

Better customer service at Walmart and fish was old. I didn’t eat more than 1 piece of a roll and the arrogant sushi chef said there was nothing wrong with it, didn’t offer to make something else or take it off the bill. This place used to be packed all the time, should have known when there was no one at the sushi bar eating. I am really upset because it food and service at knew time was amazing.

This is my favorite local sushi place. I crave their eel salad and eel sushi. The staff is always friendly and the food is always in time. The hibachi is another alternative and very entertaining.

Cam here with my fiancée recently. We had the lobster roll and chicken & vegetable tempura. The lobster roll was not good. The fish in it did not taste fresh at all, and that overpowered the flavor of it.
The chicken tempura tasted like it was made from freezer burned chicken. And the vegetables were actually pretty decent. Service was ok, but food quality was not.

It was a cold night and what’s better to eat than some hot ramen tonkatsu! I come here for the buttery goodness they call soup and it’s well worth it. When I come here, I split the ramen bowl into two and it still almost seems like the same amount! The main area has a stage for guest to sing for free. I think that only happens after 8pm?
The sushi is okay… But usually after a few bottles of sake, everything tastes good! I can’t say the same about the singing. Lol
I feel they need to upgrade the karaōke system or speakers. The sound quality isn’t up to par with some of the competition and it doesn’t seem like they care too much for that aspect of the whole entertainment spectrum.

My first visit here after a long time, I come in the front door into the entry way. There is the hostess stand with a sign on it that states to wait to be seated. A young woman is leaning on it, digging through her purse and applying makeup. I stand and wait for a hostess to come. Well, the young lady throws her purse down and asks how many in my party. I said one (myself) and she asks where I want to sit. For those who don’t know, this location has four «rooms». A dining room area, hibachi area, sushi bar and alcohol bar (I have not sat here, only assuming you can order food here as well). This particular visit, the day before Thanksgiving, mid-​afternoon, I chose the dining area. It was empty. The second visit (yesterday), I chose the hibachi room, which seemed a little more lively. However, walking in for the second visit, a gentleman came in behind me and the hostess seemed to be shocked that we were not together. It was quite uncomfortable, and I don’t know if she wanted us to sit together so they could save on service or what, but it was discomfiting.
The entire restaurant is extremely neat and clean. Very impressive. Service was not as stellar in the dining area.
In the dining area, I had the Beef Yaki Udon, in the hibachi area, I had the salmon hibachi. Both dishes were awesome. Hot and fresh. There are absolutely no complaints about the food. The hibachi chef was amusing and quite the entertainer. Please keep in mind that if you are a single diner, or if your group does not fill the hibachi bar, they will seat another party with you. But both times I went, they were not overwhelmed with customers.
This is a very cool concept in my opinion: four rooms, each with their own personality and specialty. I am just not sure that I feel comfortable in this restaurant as a lone diner because I just felt odd, and I normally do not mind.

I didn’t like the Little Tokyo roll made here. It honestly tasted so bland to me, and I gave the place a second chance, but the rolls were still not as satisfying. Even though there was sauce on it, it still tasted like nothing to me. Service was eh. Maybe I just come on an off day. Sorry.

I’ve been going to Little Tokyo for years and while it is not tops in the city (that honor goes to the sushi bar at Shogun) it is pretty high up there. The rolls are good standard fair and well priced. However, my favorite thing to get here are the various cooked dishes — particularly japanese hearty favorites like chicken katsu — simply a panko breaded chicken cutlet served with a traditional fruity tonkatsu sauce. They also used to run a fantastic omakase/chef’s choice special on Thursdays for 2 but that info may be a little out of date — check with your server because it was a great value for whatever was freshest off the boat. The layout is admittedly a little weird — with separate zones for the main dining room, bar, and teppanyaki. However it is definitely worth a stop if you are in mid-​city.

Sushi was really good and fresh. Atmosphere is just fine. Service was friendly.
I thought the prices were a tad high for lunch.
My favorite sushi (and value) is still Good Times Sushi on Elysian Fields Ave.

Stopped in for lunch, was totally impressed. Ordered a sushi roll and tempura plate, fresh fruit, lots of tempura, rice was excellent they added sweet potato. The chicken was good. The clear soup was good. But the ginger salad was off the change. I will be back. Service was top notch. Thank u for a excellent lunch.

I like this Little Tokyo more than the uptown one. Now that I’m living in Mid City, this one is more convenient for me anyway.
I haven’t been that impressed with the sushi at the uptown LT, so I was happy that the group i went with recently wanted to hit the hibachi at this location. Who can’t love hibachi? So tasty, so salty, so fun. Sure, it’s the same «show» pretty much wherever you go, but there’s something fun about watching the food be prepared right in front of you. And you never know when your chef might accidentally slice off a finger! Mmmm, so fresh!
There’s always more to eat than any human can handle, too. Be smart and share with your neighbor. You’ll still get plenty to eat and it’ll be half the price.
Now I’m hungry and craving hibachi. Will they do a hibachi table for 1, ya think?

The hostess is garbage. She was on the phone, then when we sat down she made my elderly grandmother get up and move for some lady who wanted to sit alone on the side of the hibachi table– so that she could talk on her cell phone the whole time. Then when I asked to speak to the so called manager about the situation and how they treat people the manager yelled at me.
If you want to run to the bathroom– have the sushi
If you want over priced, rude service sit at the hibachi
Screw this place. Don’t bring your loved ones here if you are looking for service esp after they come out of the hospital wanting some miso soup.

The service was impeccable, and I would give our server an A+;we were attended to very well.
This poor review is only about the food.
Ordered the Beef Teriyaki tempura Combo. It’s served on a long rectangular plate with pieces of fruit, to the left, tempura veg and shrimp stacked in the middle, and slices of beef with teriyaki sauce to the right.
The fruit– had a tomato slice mixed in with grapes, oranges, melons, etc. i know that technically, tomatoes are fruits, but that’s weird-I’m sorry.
The tempura was heavily battered and did not have that light airy crispness that makes tempura… tempura. The ponzu tempura dipping sauce was watery and tasteless.
The beef was 50+ shades of grey. I ALWAYS want my seared beef to to have the browned, yummy, «maillard» effect… it’s so unappetizing «steamed» like hey had it. But the syrupy teriyaki sauce was brown enough… uh No. Sorry. Must be nice to have no completion and be the only (faux) Japanese place around.

Now they only deliver through Nola Delivery, which is a total shit show of a service. More on that in another review! And they charge an arm and a leg. Minus 1 star.
Now I’m sitting at the bar, which smells musty. There is literally no sound but a background Tv playing a football game, the hum of the supposedly broken sake machine, and Catherine, the bartender bitching about everything and everyone around her.
I asked if they ever played music and the bartender, said no, Little Tokyo has no WiFi because the owner won’t pay for it. She’d love to play music but doesn’t have the unlimited data to do that. While I do understand her pain, it makes for a pretty negative, crappy environment if the main ambience is just her bitching.
I was really hungry and trying to treat myself after a rough week so I stayed. Even though the bartender ran out with a cigarette right after she dropped my food, I was still feeling hopeful about the Tokyo sampler salad. This new menu item is a bit of all the salads I enjoy: seaweed, poke, and the mango kimchi. It was delicious but it was the only good part of this dining experience. I’m hoping it was just a fluke but I’m kind of disappointed with everything overall.

I visited Little Tokyo for the first time this past Saturday and was incredibly disappointed. The food and sake were great; however, the service was awful!
To start, we walk in and are immediately put off by the hostesses attitudes. After finally getting off their iPhones to address us and squabbling over which would deal with us «I JUST sat somebody. it’s your turn», we said forget it and opted to sit in the bar.
For a majority of our meal, it was just us and another couple or family. One bartender took this to mean she could also sit at the bar and play on Facebook/​banter and complain to the other bartender instead of cleaning the areas around us (once other groups left). The other bartender actually did her job and seemed really embarrassed by the lack of professionalism.
Needless to say, I won’t be returning to or recommending Little Tokyo in the future.

I can honesty say that I enjoy hibachi a lot more than the average person. Little Tokyo had always been my favorite place in the city, until today.
I was finally able to experience their lunch and the service was terrible to say the least. We arrive just after 1pm and were seated right away at a table along with 2 other people. It took about 20 minutes just to place our orders and get waters.
We expected a little wait because they always have to fill up the table, but an hour and a half later… We were still waiting for our hibachi experience to start.
We talked to the manager and she was very unbothered by this. We told her that the hostess said their were 2 chefs. She said yes but after 2pm, there is only one. What?!! We have been here since 1!
So we were forced to wait even longer since there was only one chef. When we did get out food, it was fine. But definitely not worth the two hours it took out of my day.
We received no apology and no discounts.

Sat in the bar and got great service. There is a very casual feel to the place and feel I would be comfortable after the gym or church. Prices were Chinese restaurant prices so, very reasonable and food to take home.
Ginger salad dressing was somewhat watery so, maybe ask for dressing on the side. The fried tofu in broth got soggy very fast so maybe that on the dide too.
Fish in the roll seemed fresh and the rice texture was perfect.
I loved the sticky ribs!!! sticky sweet and scrumptious!!! The meat was falling off the bone and they were big ribs not the little tough red ribs you find in the Chinese restaurants.

I love hibachi. I have eaten it just about everywhere it is offered in the area. This location of Little Tokyo is the best.
The hibachi comes with noodles; hibachi rice is extra. The filet and the shrimp are delicious and the chefs are very good about not over cooking the meats. They let you share, but there is an extra $ 5 charge which includes an extra soup and salad.
Everything is cooked in garlic butter. In my opinion, the liberal use of garlic butter is the deciding factor in the taste of hibachi. They get an A.
The veggies are very well seasoned, but they do not include broccoli.

Today I popped in here for the first time since my last review, which was 4 years ago, so I figured it was time for an update.
We got there and the woman working the front was so nice and friendly. She immediately asked us if we wanted to sit at her favorite spot in the restaurant. We said «sure», and she lead us to a nice and cozy corner booth. It was delightful.
We weren’t super hungry, so we got the vegetarian special and a rainbow roll. The vegetarian special comes with three vegetarian rolls, one of which is an avocado roll, so I was a happy camper. The rainbow roll was super good and between the veg special and the rainbow roll we had more than enough for lunch.
The waiter was very attentive and friendly throughout the entire meal and all in all we had a perfect lunch.

My sister and I come here for hibachi every time she is in town, and we deliberately planned our day so that we could fit hibachi in. When we were seated, we saw that our favorite hibachi guy Calvin was nowhere to be seen. There was another guy working at a nearby table. I was instantly disappointed but I decided to give him a benefit of the doubt.
When the server took our order, she was very much less than pleasant. It may just be that she is having a bad day at work but she made us feel like less than valuable customers. When she brought soup for everyone, she brought 4 first, even though there were 5 people at the table, then said that she would bring the last one, but I saw her bring someone a refill at a different table before coming back with the soup.
Then the hibachi finally started. This guy spoke in a very heavy accent, I don’t know if it’s his normal accent or if it was fabricated. But he kept trying to make «Japanese jokes,» calling soy sauce Japanese ketchup. And calling pretty much everything else Japanese something. He stopped his show to ask us, «What are you? Chinese? Japanese? Korean?» I know that older Asian folks can be pretty blunt but come on. What are you?
Then he proceeded to burn all the food. And the zucchini and our seafood was bland.
Then the server just dropped the check off at our table without us asking for it, before my sister was finished eating, and didn’t make it a point to say «take your time» or anything.
I can’t do anything about crappy servers, but for hibachi I guess I need to call and check if Calvin is working.

Hibachi, Hibachi, Hibachi!
Man, a meal and a floor show, how could you possibly go wrong!
Every aspect of this was amazing!
The Scallops are beautiful, and so big!
The fried rice is not too greasy, and cooked there in front of your watchful eye.
I did feel a little on the spot being flung ingredients like a trained seal, but I caught the shrimp and honked my little horn like a good circus performer.
And this is what makes Hibachi so much fun, isn’t is. the crowd participation.
You get a show that you also get to be a part of.
Although a little bit pricy, it is a must do for any important occasion, Weddings, anniversary, Birthday, Bris (Maybe not, shellfish) but you get the point.
Whereas the Little Tokyo in Uptown is my go-​to place for Ramen, this place blows the doors off with the «Super-​Happy-​Fun-​Time-​Hibachi!»
And that’s my take on this joint.
See you there!
B.E.D.