Little Tokyo Small Plates & Noodle Bar

What an complete disappoint! We can here tonight because my wife was craving ramen. We started with the Yakisoba. The stir fried noodles has way too much oil. There was a pool of it at the bottom of the hot plate. Next I ordered the seared tuna salad, that crap of a salad was $ 8.50 for 4 thin slices of uninspired tuna. The salad was a joke and the portion was pathetic. Next we ordered the Little Tokyo roll and the Big Easy Roll. The non sushi chefs back there prepared prerolled sushi since our asparagus was pretty raw and each bite of the snow crab filling was near ice cold. The only decent product was the actual ramen that my wife ordered. I will probably never come back to this dump again. When this place first opened it was fantastic, now quality control has gone down the drain. Only reason the place got two stars versus one is that the staff is very friendly. I hope they can find work elsewhere because with the way operations is ran they will lose more and more business by the day.

We happened to pass by here and saw ramen on be sign. I’m a fan of gourmet ramen, so I wanted to try this place out. I had no idea what type of setting it was supposed to be. With a name like little Tokyo, I wasn’t expecting a Rocky Horror Picture show type vibe. Between that type of music being played very loudly and the mtv playing on the tv, it was not a very relaxing meal for my taste. Very, very distracting.
Apparently this is a college karaōke type place, so had I known that, my expectations would have been a little different before I walked in.
Having said that, our server was very nice and helpful, and the ramen was actually very good. Just not my type of vibe when I am eating.
I will go back to Little Tokyo for Ramen again, but probably not this location, since I don’t live near this one anyway.

Dining in may be better, so I won’t judge there, but my take-​out experience was awful. The service was fine, and my food was ready when I picked it up – no complaints there. However, of the three items I ordered, only my miso soup was edible. The seafood udon, while I expected it to be fishy (that is what I ordered) was incredibly pungent. I guess that should have been a sign to me of things to come. Upon taking one bite, I could taste nothing but a general, non-​specific fish juice taste. It was awful. One bite was enough and I couldn’t eat the rest. The spicy edamame I ordered was also not great — the edamame was limp and had no flavor and tasted like it had been cooked for too long or had been sitting out for days.
The space seems cool and like it would be fun for karaōke, but I will definitely not be ordering out from Little Tokyo again.

Merh. That’s the word that comes to mind when I think of Little Tokyo. I come here pretty often, maybe 2 – 3 times a month, but today’s experience pushed me to write a review. Food is sub-​par, and that’s being generous. Tempura is never ever crispy, just mushy and greasy. The crunchies (for sushi) are often stale, and the crab mixture seems like 30% crabmeat and 70% mayonnaise (gag). They also don’t offer white meat chicken for any dish which doesn’t sit well with me. Besides the issues with the food, the place sometimes has a sewer-​y smell and the air conditioner seems to be broken half the time. I’m giving two stars because the service is wonderful, I live 2 blocks away, it’s not super expensive and they’re one of the few places in the riverbend area that are open late. But honestly, unless you’re in a pinch, I would suggest dropping an extra few bucks on Chiba or Ninja.
Note: to be fair, ramen is one of their popular dishes and I’ve never had it.

Have come here quite a bit because it is convenient but feel like quality has slipped a little. By all means fine for a quick bowl of ramen but the sushi is up and down and atmosphere is pretty dead. Make the trip up to mid-​city for the original.

Little Tokyo is close to Xavier University, so I often go here with friends to enjoy a nice lunch ! They do great ramen here, and I do enjoy it a lot ! The squid balls and half and half squid and seaweed salad are great starters as well. I’m never unsatisfied here. I don’t eat the sushi here much, so I don’t have much to say. However, the Shoyu ramen is great and everything is great about it. A lot of noodles compared to the pork and egg they put in there, but other than that, it’s great. The prices are good and affordable. I like the place a lot. Good place to go to after classes. Atmosphere is mostly quiet and peaceful around 11 – 12. Parking SUCKS though. Maybe enough for 5 – 6 cars in the back. You’d have to park near the bank next to Little Tokyo.

I only tried the reman here. The spicy reman is my favorite. However, the space here is narrow. Every time I came to Little Tokyo, I felt difficulty to get seated into the chair. Many of my classmates also like the dumplings here, and you may have a try!

I was driving around doing some errands yesterday, saw that Little Tokyo was open mid-​afternoon, and realized I was hungry. I was greeted by Erica Badu-​esque music playing a little louder than what I would have expected a restaurant to be playing. The lights were dim, the walls a dark red. The restaurant seemed to be clean. The restrooms were clean and had plenty of paper to get all of your business done.
There were only two people working, but then again, it was 2pm on a weekday, so I didn’t expect too many employees.
I ordered the beef bowl that was supposed to come with miso soup and to drink I had a coke. The miso soup never arrived. The beef bowl was just that. Beef with some sort of seasoning, rice and shredded pickled ginger. It did the job, I was full without having to eat the entire dish.

The food isn’t that great at Little Tokyo, but who really says «Let’s go to Little Tokyo for amazing sushi and food?» Not anyone I know. We all want to go to Little Tokyo for the karaōke. It’s a great venue for singing and sake, and that’s about it. The booths are broken (my husband and I had to coordinate when using the bathroom so the booth wouldn’t fall over when we got up) — this was a little annoying.

AWFUL SERVICE
They all seem to be extremely bothered that you are there… Including the manager. So annoying because there are very few hibachi tables in the city.

This place gets the job done.
Karaōke…3 stars. The equipment tends to have some issues, but the songs choice is decent.
Sushi…4 stars. It’s good, fresh and a variety. I had the causeway roll this time. Crab was crispy. Friend had the Katrina roll and it was decent. Edamame as expected.
Service…4 stars. Waiter was attentive and checked on us often.
Atmosphere…dirty. Stars shine so I can’t give it one for this. Like really. I just kind of ignored it a bit because we were there to karaōke and have a bit of fun.
I’ve been here a few times in the past and it’s been about the same.
Like I said… it gets the job done.

This is one of the few places you can get decent ramen at a decent price in the city. IF you don’t mind the terrible service. Honestly, I probably wouldn’t eat here if it weren’t for the $ 8 ramen and the spicy edamame! I think it’s because this place can’t quite figure out if it’s a sushi place, a college bar or something… different? Typically it’s dead during the week, the service is slow and pretty unfriendly. On the weekends, it fills up with college students and folks looking for sake bombs.
I’ve had some friends utilize the karaōke rooms and they say it’s well worth it. I’ll reserve my judgement on that until I have a chance to try it for myself.

I’m really torn up about this rating because I have a ton of fun here, but I think it may have gone downhill a bit. The floor was nasty (straws, wooden skewers, old food smeared around) and the service was slow. The server noticed the floor and said «yeah some people that work here are kinda lazy and don’t clean as well as they should…» LOL the truth hurts.
BUT they have sushi and karaōke and private rooms! I have gone here for my birthday the last two years and we have had a ball and easily spent enough on drinks to have the room for free. (They waive the rental if you spend enough).
Sooo I’m hovering between three and four stars. Three stars for the service and cleanliness and ambiance but four because I just love private room karaōke and what other options are there? They also let us bring a smoke machine and a strobe light.

Who doesn’t love a nightclub moonlighting as a restaurant?
Strobe lights, pop hits blaring in your ear, lychee martinis, delicious sush, and private karaōke rooms that don’t close till 2! What more could you ask for?
And to all the Little Tokyo haters on Unilocal who can’t appreciate its charm – go grab your California roll somewhere else and stop raining on the parade!

If you enjoy karaōke, ramen, and sushi, you should experience Little Tokyo at least once. It’s a great place to have a venue, get a good group of people liquored up and and belt out songs you’d only sing in the shower or car by yourself. This place offers karaōke in the main dinning room and private room karaōke.
On a rainy day if you are looking for more than phở to cheer you up, try one of my favorite ramens: The Spicy Corn or Tonkotsu. Both are on the spicy side, but will definitely make you happy! If you are only looking for sushi, I’ll be honest, there are better places. Otherwise stick to safe bets like the tuna and salmon rolls. I don’t find the fish to be all that fresh.
But most importantly, I recommend you check this place out and enjoy.

This place sucks! I’ve been here twice in 7 months and both times were poor. The beer is warm, the interior is old and weathered — it includes tons of hand written signs on what is an isn’t allowed… and the sushi chef is clearly not a sushi chef. All in all, Little Tokyo needs to get it together or roll back to one and only one restaurant.
I WILL NOT GO BACK!

While the other Little Tokyo locations are more restaurant oriented, this location seems to focus more on the bar/​karaōke aspect with its limited menus for food. It’s not bad if you are in the area or specifically want to do karaōke, but if you are looking for sushi/​ramen, there are better options out there. But the food isn’t bad, and it isn’t outrageously expensive, so grab a couple of small plates if you are there to do some singing. Which, by the way, you have to– $ 10/​person on average needs to be spent to be allowed to do karaōke in the main dining room. I am not sure what the rates are for the private karaōke.
Some of the items that I have had here that are solid are:
— Spicy Edamame
— Tuna Tartare
— Yaki Udon
— Cucumber Seafood Salad
I haven’t gotten too into the rolls because most of them are loaded with snowcrab, tempura, and sauces, while I prefer more plain fish and veggie based rolls. But I have had friends that have ordered the rolls and enjoyed them. The Tokyo Salad Wrap is pretty refreshing if you order it with a side of ponzu sauce.
I’ve seen a few people here comment on the service. I haven’t had a bad experience with the service, but most of the times I have come here, I have sat at the bar. Service isn’t out of this world, but it isn’t bad. Though, the last time I was there, it did look like there are some staffing issues. The bartender was running around trying to serve all the people at the bar, make drinks for tables, run karaōke, and help wait/​buss tables on the floor. Seemed like a lot for one person to handle.

my neighbor and i went here impromptu. i had been before, but couldn’t remember if i enjoyed it or not.
we ordered the love boat for two. i am a sushi snob. the red sashimi, presumably tuna, was a little… i could tell it was not fresh. The california roll was alright. the miso soup was not so great. it was REALLY salty. I ate some of the salmon sashimi, but stopped, because for some reason I thought I might get sick.
I was right. It was a RACE home!
The service was nice, and attentive, which i appreciate. However, I thought the hostess was a little snobby. No bueno.
Probably won’t return. But I wish it was better so I could!

The service is terrible, Terrible, TERRIBLE. A large group of friend came here on a late Wednesday night and the place was damn near empty. You would think that would make it easier on the server to serve a large party. Not.
The food came out slow and at very different times so our group of 7 did not eat together. The food was mediocre but NOTHING compared to other sushi I’ve had in NOLA. What you really come here for is karaōke so beware you must spend an average of $ 10 per person to sing.
The best part is this, they don’t do separate checks so I spent around 20 minutes figuring the bill for our group. You can only use up to four cards on one bill as well. So our group used cash and 3 cards. I wrote down exactly how much to charge each card on the receipt and spelled it out very clearly to the server. He comes back and says he «accidentally» charged the last card $ 86… Our bill was 137 and there was over $ 50 in cash and two other card. The server says he will void it and charge the appropriate amount. He then comes back and hands the receipt to be signed and it still says $ 86. So we have been charged incorrectly TWICE and the server is apologetic but this is all REALLY unnecessary. The server comes back finally and gets it right but mind you we have paid a mandatory 18% gratuity for subpar sushi and service. WILL NOT BE RETURNING.

So we came here late at night, where else can you really go and get food like this and enjoy a little karaōke? The service is okay, and its entertaining to see drunk people karaōke. We had the following:
— Pan fried Gyoza — this was pretty decent, but then it taste like every other gyoza, so its probably frozen, or it tastes like it
— Sweet Potato Fries — we opted for this because they were out of the Curry Fries, but this was not that great, pretty limp if you ask me
— Tonkotsu — egg noodle simmered in pork bone with chopped green onions, bean sprouts, half of a boiled egg, chashu pork, and fish cake — surprisingly, this was pretty good, you can also choose the level of spicy you desire, I would go back just for this!
I would come again for the Tonkotsu ramen and drunk karaōke!