Tobie Tyler’s

This restaurant now operates as «Infused Sushi & Tri-​Burger», same location, same staff and same food. The Katsu Curry is among the best that I’ve found in California

Solid three stars. I had the Katsu don buri. I like the addition of shitake mushrooms. I actually wanted to try the chirashi, but it was a touch spendy. The décor is a crack up and the ribald jokes of the host and hostess were a crack up. The portions are pretty big, so go in hungry.

My Ratings:
Quality of Food — 2 Stars
Quantity of Food — 3 Stars
Price — 2 Stars
Location — 3 Stars
Parking — 3 Stars
Service — 3 Stars
Speed — 2 Stars
My Story/​Opinion:
Had dinner here once but the only thing I remembered about this place is how my husband’s credit card didn’t work and I was forced to pay for our dinner. We were just dating then. I do however remembered the food is ok and thinking I had better japanese food. I also remember how much they put in your plate but it was mostly things I really didn’t like. Service is ok and the location is ok. Place is a little run down but it’s not ghetto. Anyway, I don’t think I’d waste my money here. I’ll just try to get my japanese someplace else.

I tried a dish here that’s always been on the menu, but I’d never ordered before: Oyako-​don.
Now, I don’t know much about oyako-​don, but I do know what I like and don’t like, and this particular version is just fine. It doesn’t jump out at me as being spectacular, and there doesn’t seem to be any secret to their recipe (there are tons of variations for the oyako-​don sauce). It’s pretty run-​of-​the-​mill.
Especially when compared to the oyako-​don at Sumika. Now that was an exceptional donburi.
What Tobie Tyler’s oyako-​don lacks in secret ingredients, it more than makes up for in volume and good-​olé home-​made traditional taste.
Though I’ve already said this in a review of Sumika, Oyako-​don stands for parent (oya) child (ko) rice bowl with topping (donburi). It’s a play on words as oya means chicken and ko means egg. Apart from chicken and egg (where the egg is cooked medium and just a touch runny), traditionally there are cooked onions and a special dashi (sauce), and after that, it’s whatever else you want to put in it. Tobie Tyler adds shiitake mushroom slices, which is a nice touch. Some other places will add other items like green peas or cubed carrots or scallions.
For $ 8.95, you could do a lot worse than Tobie Tyler’s and this dish alone scores high on the volume and taste for dollars scoreboard.
All in all, this dish maintains TT’s hold on their A-​OK crown in my book.

Over priced for what you get

It is a weird location for a Japanese resturant but it is decent. Overall it was good and not to bad for a Lunch spot. Just kinda random next to the Ramada. Came here for my Boss’s Bday Lunch. I have had better Japanese food. Would I come back? Hhmmm… Maybe.

I know, I know, from what everyone says (and it is all true!) this place is not really what you’d expect. It really is like going into a older, somewhat darker/​rundown Applebee’s or some such similar establishment. The bathrooms are located in the foyer to the older hotel, and near the woman’s bathroom is the door that leads outside to the early 90s style pool. Strange décor? Yes, yes indeed.
My boyfriend and I arrived promptly at 5 pm (when dinner starts), and there was not a single soul in sight. In fact, I was almost convinced the place was closed. But after wandering in and looking around doe-​eyed, the waitress saw us and seated us right away. My boyfriend commented that the place would be good for him and his coworkers to grab a beer, eat, and maybe watch a game on the big TV.
Now, unusual décor aside, the food (especially the sashimi!) is worth the eccentric surroundings! The hamachi I had was succulent, sweet, melted in my mouth, smooth, and not at all fishy. It was one of the few slices of fish that I felt completely comfortable letting rub all over the inside of my teeth and tongue without worrying about catching an unpleasant fish odor or taste. My boyfriend really enjoyed his sashimi plate, even the octopus, which he normally never orders/​ilkes, but it was really great/​fresh here!
I also ordered the garlic mushroom spaghetti. I do not recommend that, the spaghetti was really greasy and kind of bland (I expected large chunks of garlic but didn’t get any). The fruit bowl they serve with it though, is really fresh and tasty. I know, who cares about the fruit right? But you’d be surprised at how nasty fruit salads can really ruin a meal, but here’s it is a good complement.
Will be back to eat more sashimi, and to try their hamburger patty dish.

Surprised I haven’t reviewed this place yet, but maybe because I haven’t been back for a while. I first came here when I used to work for a Japanese company, and they took me here for lunch on my first day.
Lots of different kinds of Japanese food in here, but for the longest time, I came mainly for the OmuRice and Katsu Curry. I remember both dishes being exceptionally large, but over the years, it seems like the Katsu curry gets smaller and smaller.
But today, I decided to try some different, and went for the hiyashi-​chuka (cold noodles). It was actually pretty good, but I was hoping that there would have been a little more to it. It definitely was Japanese sized, so I guess that added to its authenticity… :D
The décor inside is so interesting, in that it looks like a great sports bar, with different baseball caps on the ceilings, lots of TV and a big projector screen in the bar area, but then a wide, bright, open area on the other side that faces to the pool of the Ramada Inn. On a different side of the restaurant, then there is a sushi bar, so its this strange mix of American and Japanese styles.
I tried going once on a Sunday, but it looks like that is the only day that the restaurant doesn’t serve Japanese food, and it is a completely different menu.

Walking into Toby Tyler’s is like walking onto some post-​apocalyptic David Lynch set, in that alternate universe where the Axis powers won WWII and Japan was given the western half of the U.S. This naturally lead to the steady proliferation of Cal-​Japo-​Mex diners in the early fifties which slowly went out of style leaving Toby Tyler’s as the last vestige of a dying cuisine. I imagine myself as a double agent having trekked through the hollowed out buildings that remained after the great battle of Minetaberg to meet my fellow Neo-​Franciscans here to plan the next great uprising against the oppression of the Heisei monarchy.
Okaaaaaaayyyyy???
Yeah so I went off on a tangent there. What really happened was…
It’s a Friday night as I step into Toby Tyler. I find myself getting the staredown from the walking dead dishwasher on break who looked like some psychotic animatronic Disney ride extra. There’s a crew of what seem to be construction workers watching (I’m not making this up) Dr. Phil. Separating the sushi bar from the rest of the dimly lit dive bar-​esque establishment are what seem to be two large fish tanks… w/​no fish.
My buddy and I are seated and I proceed to order some kind of steak on a skillet and he orders the Okonomiyaki. Strangely enough it’s spelled O ko mi ya ki on the menu. Ok… I would be more understanding if they had «stake» or «chinken» or «seefoods» on the menu, but you misspelled the friggin’ Japanese item on the menu? I was actually gonna order the okonomiyaki myself but my friend beat me to the punch. It was amazing to even see that as an option on the menu. They also had mentaiko and some other Japanese style spaghetti on the menu which is hard to find. Although I don’t know if I would have the courage to order that here. But anywho, the food was decent and the ambiance improved as we were able to convince them to change it over to the Laker game. Apparently this is a lunch joint so I’ll try to get down here for a weekday lunch to grab one of their famous bentos.
Adiós, I’m off to plan the rebellion.

The most unlikely weird ass fusion pairing I can think of in the weirdest place. So why even go in here? Cuz Unilocalers liked it.
Gotta agree with Archie and others. it is mostly a 20yr old weird Ruby Tuesdays/​Applebees/​Bennigans décor with the Japanese part oddly grafted on. (from a mad scientist?)
The odd surprise is how good the food is… maybe hit ‘em on a good day, but really surprised.
Now if you’re expecting a traditional japanese restaurant, 1 star. LOL
Depending on specifics of atmosphere and the rest, my mind can’t reconcile between 2, 3 and 4 stars. It’s a schizoid restaurant and makes my head spin. LOL
Like most places, better prices at lunch than dinner.
Would I recommend it? Not my first choices, but definitely underpromises and overdelivers. BTW, the western portion of the place… nice OLD big screen and old bar and good sandwiches, burgers and salads.
This place is a trip.

I thought it will be good from the reviews but the food is only ok…
spider roll, the soft shell crab was cold; spicy tuna roll, not so spicy.
the Unagi wasn’t bad, and good green tea

I read about this place on Unilocal and passed by it frequently.
It was one of those «I don’t feel like cooking» nights — I had been working all day and very, very hungry.
When I got home, the b/​f was into watching the World Series. The only way I could tear him away to eat dinner was to find a place that had a TV. Toby Tyler’s came to mind — so we called to see if they had a TV. A nice lady answered and asked what channel it was on and said that they would have it on when we arrived.
The restaurant is located in a Ramada Inn. The entrance is towards the back — you’d never know it was there. It’s decorated like a tacky sports bar. I had read in the Unilocal review that they had a sushi bar, but it was closed (because of the late hour that we were there).
When we arrived, the TV was on — and yep, it had the World Series playing. There was no one else in the restaurant except for a couple of other diners. From what I could tell, they were a couple of Japanese business men on travel.
We ordered from the «American» menu — I had grilled chicken breast with rice and the b/​f had a sandwich. When the order came, I was really surprised as the rice on my plate was REAL RICE — not the Uncle Ben’s Corrupted Rice that many places serve. DING — that scored a point with me! The Filipino in me was very happy.
My b/​f commented on how good his sandwich was, but I think that he was mostly happy with the fact that he could watch the remainder of the World Series on a BIG screen (we have an ok TV at home, but nothing like what this place has).
The waitress was very attentive and service was great.
We’ll definitely be back in the near future — hopefully we’ll be able to come by earlier to try their Japanese dishes and sushi.

Wow, this is the most unlikely authentic Japanese restaurant I have ever been to. The décor is awful, like it used to be a Ruby Tuesday’s or something, which makes the delicious food all the more shocking. All of their customers are Japanese (okay, the majority) which is always a good sign. We had katsu curry and Chicken katsu. Both were excellent. The Katsu Curry transported me back to the train stations of Tokyo. Very yummy. I will absolutely be going back agian!

This place is located in a Ramada Inn. It is a restaurant that serves Japanese food. I believe it is owned by people from Japan. They serve japanese dishes you would only find at restaurants that are more authentic, like okonomiyaki.

Toby’s is like a cross-​dresser in search of an identity. It can’t figure out if it really is a traditional Japanese restaurant or a sports bar so you end up with this quirky and random sports bar-​looking place on the side of the Ramada Inn that serves Japanese food. But there seems to be a regular set of customers who come here for that quirkiness.
You can order sushi, different cooked items like teriyaki or katsu don, or a combo in a bento box. The teriyaki chicken ($ 8.95) came with an ample portion of chicken but the teriyaki sauce was plain and barely there. And I got a soup and a tiny tiny side of salad. Service was rather touchy — told the guy we weren’t ready to order and he just bolted off instead of saying no problem. Then when we were trying to get his attention for the check, he gave us a quick glance and ignored us. But he did refill our drinks proactively later.
Bottom line: If you are seeking a very random and offbeat lunch in a low-​key setting, this is your place. And as Tu alluded, this would be a great place to have lunch if you are having a secret affair. :)

Place was a weird scene. Call it TGI Friday’s meets Applebee’s meets Gung Ho (the 80’s movie) meets a sushi restaurant.
Now i treated my middle aged buddy Art S. to a lunch here and word of warning, you get the bento box, you get full. It’s $ 11 but you get tons of food. Good food too. The tempura was a bit greasy but the rest of the choices were good. Service was a bit slow but when you get to hear wisdom from a much older man about things like bowel movements, weird growths, and AARP, you dont so much care.
It’s a trek, it’s out there, it’s weird, but it’s worth a trip.

This is such an offbeat, random funky place it’s almost surreal! I really felt like I was in a Japanese «pink» B movie, where I was having a liaison, at the rundown Ramada, with my spicy Japanese office lady in her way too small white blouse. OH SNAP! Back to reality… I’m at Toby’s with my buddy Tbag better know as Archie R.
The funny thing is that once you get past the weirdness of the location (a dilapidated Ramada), name and the interior of this place they have some really grubb’n food. Tbag and I both had the chicken teri bentos and they were EXCELLENT. The best chicken teriyaki that I have had in a very long time. The chicken teri melted in my mouth. Suffice to say… This is what a bento box should be all about. I had no less than 11 different foods which all blended together very tastefully. Other than the name, this is a SERIOUS Japanese restaurant. I would say that no less than half the clientele were Japanese nationals. The only blemish on the experience was the service (took a lot longer to get our food than it should have). I will definitely be coming back to this very random place…

Definitely agree with everyone else that I didn’t expect to see a Japanese restaurant around this area. But, the servers were friendly obasans who knew the menu and made recommendations. I ordered the Katsu-​Don and it was good. The rest of the group ordered specials that seemed to be more on the so-​so side of ratings.
Just one remark — it was a bit stuffy in there and my clothes got the stuffy-​resto smell.

Not what one would expect to be a Japanese place. One, it’s in the Ramada, two, the name Toby Tyler. A Japanese place? Sounds more like a hair salon.
The VP of Sales at my company used to work at Sony so this is part of his secret Keiretsu. Pretty good Saba and Tonkatsu special and I’ve been told the noodles are good too. All the servers knew my co-​worker so the service was pretty darn excellent. Locale is just whacky not just because it’s in the hotel but it’s right off the frontage road facing northbound 101. Drove by hundereds of times wondering. Now I know.

My first question to my husband when he took me to lunch here was, «Is this where you take your lovers?»
First of all, it’s inside the Ramada Inn off of 101. It’s old and on this day the dumpster was in the middle of the parking lot, in front of the door.
The first thing you see when you walk in is the bar… where there is a drunk couple whispering sweet nothings in each others ears. It was funny to watch them stagger out… probably to rendezvous in their hotel room. :)
But, surprisingly, the food was pretty good. I had the sashimi plate… not the best I’ve had, but not bad at all. And the service is really great. Everyone is eerily friendly.
My husband says to keep this place on the the down-​low so the prices don’t go up… but I thought I’d spread the word.