This review is for the lunch service only and is bolstered by the SUPER job done by the chef and the waitress. Spoiler alert: this would be a 5 except the bathroom was gross. We did have to wait a little past opening to get a table because they were doing extra cleaning for the seating area but I'm cool with that. Waitress was timely and kept refills coming as well as little annoying things my kids kept thinking of to ask her. She was nice and funny ( like the 10th time My toddler dropped the chopsticks on the floor she told her "if you drop them on the floor again it's a five dollar charge. Do you have $5? No? How much do you have? Maybe we can make a deal " with a big smile which my kid thought was hilarious as did I. I appreciate when staff can interact with my kids. The chef was great. Did all the tricks you expect but with a smile where you felt like he was having fun. As you can see my girl liked the fire so he did some extra for her and she was sooooo happy. Plus the food was really good. The salads were cool and crisp and had enough dressing (isn't it so annoying when it's like a tint plop and half your obviously bagged sals is plain!??) but the soup was a little under seasoned though I like the mushroom slices over the seaweed in this version. We got some fried rice and some plain but the chef had extra fried rice so passed some around- which was awesome. And i'll just say I never pay the three dollar and 50 Cent up charge for fried rice. I am happy to get plain because I think the price is ridiculous but when I tried his fried rice I kind of wish I had bought it. He had some nice little crispy bits in there and all the veggies were cooked really well. Plus the guy knows how to season and I found that to be a great theme of the meal. Between the 6 of us we got every main on the menu and I can say A+. Cooking temp was spot on, shrimp were tasty, chicken wasn't dry and steak was so tender. Also, again, super well season which makes a difference. Everyone- even the 5 year old cleaned their plates. Now I have eaten at this location before and while I think the food is generally pretty consistent I felt like this meal is superior to any one I've eaten there in the past. Maybe it was the chef and his salt, maybe it was the thrill of being open for indoor dining after Covid....whatever it was, it worked. Now I had to take away a point because the bathroom was disgusting. They felt grubby and the floors were not clean and I loathed having to help my kid pee in there. The restaurant itself was clean and I watched the waitresses wipe down all the chairs and tabletops and nothing else was sticky. All of our silverware was given to us in disposable napkins and when we ordered extra sauces they were brought in pre-measured to go ramekin type things rather than bottles of soy sauce. The waitresses wore gloves and shields so overall that was good. We were socially distanced from other tables in the restaurant that were also having lunch and there were hand sanitizer stations all over. read more

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Came here for a Yelp elite perk bento box - but ended up ordering some sushi rolls and could not have had a better experience! The food was excellent and I even chatted to one of the owners and he was incredibly nice - as were all the staff I interacted with! We got the Rainbow Roll and the Rising Sun Roll. The Rainbow Roll was ample, pieces were large and the fish was as super fresh! Delicious! And omg the Rising Sun Roll - cream cheese and crab meat, need I say more?? It's basically a warm Philadelphia roll topped with crab meat and sauces - it's my new fave roll in the area! They remodeled the restaurant this year and the inside is so cozy - I can tell it has a great ambiance...can't wait for this pandemic to be over so we can go enjoy the Teppanyaki tables! And they have a beautiful Koi pond as well. There was a nice outside seating area also. And plenty of parking. Will definitely be back! read more

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Chicken teriyaki dry, bento box was $32. Not worth it. Happy hr I showed up for ended last week. Service at the bar was good/fast read more

Very uncomfortable experience, hostess was nice and we were seated pretty quickly around 7:30pm, but once we sat down the waitress looked over from behind the divider and rolled her eyes ( we are people of color) and didn't come greet us until 20 mins later. Once she finally came over, she was very short & rude, and even told us that certain items (been here before) we requested was not on the menu, in which they were! When she served us soup and salad she slightly slammed the bowls down, loud enough for everyone to notice, and she seemed irritated with any questions or request for additional items. The chef came out about 30 mins later, he was ok and was quick with meal preparation. The rest of the evening was utterly uncomfortable, with her, as she and her manager LITERALLY stared at us the entire time while we were eating, for at least an hour! Almost as if they didn't trust that we would pay or could afford to pay for our meal. We were one of the last parties there before closing, (9pm) in which another ( Asian couple) sitting across from us at another table, also took their time dining and I didn't notice them staring at them the entire time, like they were at us. Overall, very bad service, very uncomfortable ambiance, and felt like we paid $$$ to be visually monitored and treated as a an invaluable customers. This is the WORST Hibachi experience, we have ever had. (My husband & I love Hibachi style restaurants) We definitely won't be back! read more

Fried rice was great 4/5 Salmon skin roll was ok 2/5 Chicken panko was awful and dry 1/5 read more

We went there to get the lunch takeout. It's pretty good. My husband used to eat there a lot 20 years ago when he lived in Acadia. He has lots memories there. There sushi are pretty good and fresh. Salmon bento box is good too. Teriyaki chicken is little bit dry for me. I really like how they pack the togo box. It's very pretty. Due to Covid19, we can't eat inside of restaurant, but will come back again either for a take out or dine inside when ever is available. read more

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Excellent shrimp tempura. Soup was mostly water, with very little flavor, insipid. Salad dressing has weird flavor, not tasty or appealing. Chicken teriyaki ok, chicken could have been more tender, but ok. Sticky rice was good. Service was fine. Very pricey for mediocre food. Interior decor could be more welcoming, to sterile as is, and in need of an update. read more

This location is amazing Never had an issue! Food was very fresh and delicious Service was very attentive and fast! Environment was clean! Ambiance is cozy and warm. They have live koi fish in the front outside they're very well taken care of and so cute! Our Chef was great knew what he was doing! Highly recommend for a cute date night! read more

Tokyo Wako - Emperors Steak, veggies, chicken fried rice &shrimp - Sushi Bars Near Me - Arcadia, California

so the wife and I went there for dinner last night ... the food was good...the chef was fun ... she ordered the emperor steak and shrimp and I had the steak shrimp and scallops ... the steak was well prepared and so was the shrimp and scallops... even the fried rice was on point... not bad for $160 that also had a few drinks involved read more

Great taste and fun show, the server and the chef were super nice. Great service. The atmosphere is fun and welcoming . . . Thank you read more

Tokyo Wako - Nice place . . - Sushi Bars Near Me - Arcadia, California

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Ate here a few weeks ago and did not feel well at all after the meal. My stomach was churning for hours after. Didn't think much of it at the time and I didn't write a review initially, but I felt compelled to now as I was just randomly chatting with someone who is a former employee of Tokyo Wako and told me some horror stories. One in particular was a time when the AC went out and the kitchen became really hot. There was a large tray of chicken that was out to the point where there was a greenish discoloration to it. You would think something like this would be thrown out right? Wrong. Staff was told by management that they didn't want to waste the food and they advised them to cut off the outside parts of the chicken and still use it. Clearly, the restaurant does not have adequate food storage capabilities and management prioritizes profits over customer well being. I will never again dine at Tokyo Wako and would NOT recommend anyone to come here. read more

Best fried rice! The food, the customer service everything is lovely. This Tokyo Wako has always been my favorite!

I haven't been to a teppanyaki in almost 10 years so I was unsure what to expect from it. I came with a group of 6 people. Although we had a reservation, it still took about 15 minutes before we were seated. Inside of the restaurant seemed pretty typical design if teppanyaki places from what I remembered. I ordered the teppan containing filet mignon and chicken with just white rice. The chef came about 10 minutes later and began his show. My group had a few people who ordered fried rice and he gave me the leftovers, which was more than a bowl of white rice itself, for no charge. The food and service overall was amazing.The chef cooked my filet mignon medium rare, which was exactly what I wanted. The filet mignon had great texture and taste. The chicken was juicy and not dry. Fried rice was delicious as well and didn't feel oily. The chef was a cool guy and it was a very enjoyable experience. Overall, I was very pleased with the experience. I don't know the usual costs for teppanyaki since I am not familiar with these kinds of restaurants anymore, but I thought the food and experience was well worth its price. read more

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The was service was awful. We were seated quickly, but had to wait 20 minutes for service. Our server was apparently new. She wasn't too familiar with the menu. She didn't check on us throughout the dinner. Because they had her assisting the grill tables with drink orders at the far side. My whole experience was a little disappointing, and I hate to blame our server. Better management of staff is in order, since other staff had time to gather at the Hostess desk. read more

I came here with my family for my birthday celebration. They accommodated our special needs family member and the service was impeccable. I really enjoyed the flavorful assortment of food I had and appreciated the variety of choice. I got a free ice cream for my birthday and a song from the staff. Habachi shows are always the best and it was very enjoyable. I might come back here next year for my birthday. A solid choice read more

We visited on Sunday 20 min before closing at lunch time 2:30pm the restaurant was pretty much empty. The manager( Taka said in his very broken English which was very difficult to understand that we needed reservation it was obvious he didn't want our buisness . When I was leaving and a caucasian couple came in he told them he could help them. I then turn around and confronted why they were able to stay. Taka seated us right away. I been coming to this restaurant for 30 years and have never had such a discriminating experience. read more

Love love love this place! The sushi chef really knows what he is doing. I have had yellowtail from other places and it's no where as good as this chefs! and the ambiance is great. The food is amazing, and the service is also great! read more

Tokyo Wako - Yellowtail Carpaccio - Sushi Bars Near Me - Arcadia, California

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I love Tokyo wako dine in but they need to do better about take out. I paid $20 for rice no meat , miniature side salad and mini soup. Complete tease. What a bad idea for my night shift read more

Tokyo Wako - Very tiny sorry side salad $4.75 for literally one handful of $.99 salad bag. Ridiculous it's maybe 2 oz - Sushi Bars Near Me - Arcadia, California

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Tokyo wako has been a family restaurant for all our big events and our go to lunch spot to go for many many years. Always had amazing services and good food. Till a few weeks ago where MR Luis cooked for us ! His was really rude and so unprofessional. Just thinking maybe he was having a bad day and not putting much in to that he would cook for us today. So he doesn't be rude agin I told him a head of time what we wanted and how. I asked him for double ginger and my sister in law asked for double of the pink sauce and he made a rude and disrespectful comment to her " should of told him earlier!" And that the same comment he had said to my mother the last time. Having to clam my brother down because no one is gonna disrespect his wife I told the new manager and didn't want to make a big deal because this man was still cooking our food. The manager said he will talk to him. read more

Tokyo Wako - This is MR. Luis! He is very rude and disrespectful - Sushi Bars Near Me - Arcadia, California

1 for service! Horrible horrible server. We were still eating but asked us to pay the bill? We were so surprised! Good food but we will never go back. read more

We had a great lunch at Tokyo Wako. Made a reservation for 4 for a weekday lunch. The hostess and manager greeted us at the front entrance and were very warm and inviting. We were sat at a teppanyaki table and after 10 mins, they closed our table to additional parties and the chef came to cook. What a great experience, as at other teppanyaki places, we've had to wait 30-45 min read more

Food was great. Service was on point. Definitely would go back on the next occasion for us.

Update!!! I will never go to this Tokyo wako again. Haliey M, our waitress, is a fraud. I noticed that the amount to the card charged was $20 more than what was on the receipt. I asked the manager for help. He showed us a picture of the receipt. The signature isn't even close to ours. FRAUD!!! They must have printed a new receipt and left themselves a $20 tip!! Management said he can't help but I can dispute the charge. I said I think I should do more than that because this wasn't just bad service, it's straight fraud. PLEASE check your charges, especially when Haliey M is your server. I'm pissed. I go to Tokyo wako pretty often. It's my favorite restaurant. I live relatively close to 4 of them. The service tonight at this location was not good. Im giving the whole story so some things were small, almost insignificant however they added up at the end. We had a reservation and waited 20-25 min to be seated. We ordered as soon as the waitress was ready since we already knew the menu and we were hungry. She brought my soda in a kids cup, no biggie. She changed it right away :) plus my daughter was there and I ordered for us so easy miscommunication. Our salads and soups came out, I was eating my salad and there was a huge chunk of paper that I was chewing on. I showed the waitress, she asked if I wanted another, I said no. I didn't want anymore soup either, I figured I'll just eat what is cooked in front of me. I asked for double pink sauce from the chef for my daughter and I. When he was giving us the sauces he said chicken for my daughter & I said "she ordered shrimp" & he said that the sauce can be used for anything. I was confused & said okay. The filet mignon was delicious, rare, Just as I ordered. The lobster and shrimp were burned/charred (it's not normally like that) and I didn't like it at all. There was no lemon used for cooking, usually I see lemon on almost everything. My daughters order was the last on the grill, that's when I noticed there was only chicken left. I told the waitress we ordered shrimp & she confirmed that we ordered that & I let her know that the plate was chicken. Side note: my daughter was also ordering sushi rolls & the second one wouldn't be in for 40 min however we ended up canceling because we were ready to leave. We also asked for a to-go box for my extra food. Back to the chicken, she asked if I wanted to order a shrimp plate and I said no thank you, as we were already packing up. She said that the chicken plate was cheaper anyway so she wouldn't charge me for the shrimp, only chicken that was about $2 less...Wait. WHAT?! Haha. I almost laughed because ...I've never heard of being charged for a plate that I didn't order before and my daughter didn't eat a bite off of it.. I told her we didn't want the chicken plate so she ended up not charging us. The restaurant was realllllly busy. I waved her down for the first refill however didn't ask for more since it seemed so busy. I wasn't happy with the experience at all, especially paying over $80 after all was said and done. In all honesty, the restaurant is usually good so I'll probably go back. Maybe to a different location or when it's not busy. Definitely not happy with the outcome this time though. read more

Tokyo Wako - Fraudulent tip from Haliey M. - Sushi Bars Near Me - Arcadia, California

2 stars for the staff. Our seater, server and chef were all very nice. The seater let my son feed the koi fish out front which was fun for him and much appreciated. Otherwise we had a very disappointing experience. I wanted to order the "choose ANY three" and I really like shrimp so I wanted to order shrimp for two of the choices and filet mignon for the other. I was told that wasn't allowed it has to be 3 separate things and you can't order the same choice twice. That made no sense to me so I just ordered the choose 2 instead because I wasn't interested in any of the other options. Our soup came out barely warm. My mom had me taste one of her scallops to see if it was just her or if it tasted bad to me too. I had to spit it out. It was awful. Totally old and reeked and tasted of fish. I told her not to eat any of the rest of hers. The smell on the way to the restroom past the bar and alternate non teppan seating area was unbearable it smelled like feces and sewer gas. At the end of the meal my mom and I were each charged $5.00 for our fried rice which was confusing because on the menu it says it's an up charge to add chicken to the fried rice. They explained to us by turning down the offer for chicken we were just losing out because it's $5.00 for fried rice whether you get chicken or not. It does not say that anywhere on the menu. We could afford the extra $10 for our fried rice but that really wasn't the point it was kind of sneaky to do. Other teppan places don't do that which is where we will be going from now on. We are disappointed as this is the closest teppan to where we live and it used to be great but after today we won't be going back. read more

For starters, I've been coming here off and on for about 15 years. Any place with a koi pond is a huge turn-on for me aesthetically, so I was already won over. The food is very consistent and the show is pretty typical of what you'd expect from this type of restaurant. I can only see a volcano and hear the sound of a train so many times though... do you have anything else you can do? Surprise us! I have a little secret just between us Yelp buddies and the reason for the five star rating: the server/bartender, Jonathan, is hands-down my favorite! He is attentive, helpful, and obviously wants you to have a great time! His smile could melt an iceberg and can equally charm the pants off a giraffe (if giraffes had pants)! If he's working, that's who you need to sit with! Dining room gets pretty hot in the summer...they need to upgrade their air conditioning. read more

The teapon grill show is so so. Chefs aren't as enthusiastic as Benihana's. The food tastes about the same. When you can get a seat at Benihana's this is a decent alternative. Drinks are decent. California rolls are about the size of a dime. Not the greatest. The service is good and the people are very nice. read more

I dined here for the first time last week and I'll likely never go back again. The food was okay, though definitely overpriced for what it was. We ordered two subpar entrees and one iced tea and it was around $100. The serving size was a big large so I supposed that justifies the price point. We sat in the dining area because I didn't want teppanyaki. What bothered me the most while waiting for our food were all of the spiderwebs and the amount of dust all along the windows and on our table, and my cup was noticeably dirty. I understand that cleaning all of the corners and crevices of a restaurant can be tiresome, but they had about 4 waiters just standing around, talking amongst themselves. With that said, our server was very nice and attentive. But having worked in food service my self and from a consumer perspective, I was beyond disappointed. read more

Awesome food with out chef "Bobby" he really enjoys the cooking and the back and forth with the customers.. he has always prepared the food to perfection. Lastly.. they have to fix their restroom smell!!! Yuk!! read more

Came here last night with a group of friends to grab drinks and dinner. Bartender was extremely nice and had the best drinks, we ordered exotic lychee and fuji apple sake. Loved it. Our waitress, couldn't really hear what she was saying and kept rushing us. I think our meal should have came with ice cream but we never got it. We asked for Chilli and she never got it for us. Had to ask a bus boy to get it for us. We would go back just for the bartender, she came to our table to check on us. So sweet! read more

Good food Good quality Good chef Good service Worth the price Unique performance of the chef Entertaining read more

Don't bother with this place for lunch. They offer a two and three item combo but you can only have one of each item. Want two orders of steak or chicken, your out of luck. 1star for stupidity and poor customer service. read more

Ordered the Hibachi Chicken for take out and the chicken was dry & tough. Even after putting it in the oven to tenderize it, it was still too tough to eat. I called for replacement or refund and manager informed me that he would have to "see it" and I should've let them know immediately. Well, couldn't do that as the establishment was closed. I'll just have to run to the Pasadena location instead. read more

Definitely love this place. We've been coming here for the past couple of years for New Years Eve which is also our anniversary. Although we live in Pasadena, we like the one in Arcadia better. The food is great and the service is as well. read more

The garlic edamame was *chefs kiss* and I wish I ordered two of them! The Tokyo wako roll was definitely a bit different but was great nonetheless. I kind of wish our waitress was more attentive as the place was nearly empty during lunch time and I would have loved more ginger in the side before finishing my sushi. Overall, delicious! read more

Tokyo Wako - Garlic Edamame - Sushi Bars Near Me - Arcadia, California

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Such a great place , food and service is excellent. I was able to place a reservation for a party of 25, they were able to accommodate and provide excellent service through out our dining experience. Will be coming back! read more

Food is great, service was okay, but after dropping $200 would expect a place to have cleaner restrooms and floors. Bathrooms stunk! Ventilation in our part of the restaurant was terrible and the dining area was extremely hot! My son slipped on the floors due to grease buildup! Expect more out of a place with such high end prices. We will enjoy our expensive leftovers, but please improve your facilities. read more

The last two times I've been here it's been terrible. I'm so freaken upset about the service here how much it's changed. And also the cooks. They sick!!!! My veggies tasted like OIL and they were burnt and my filet miñon which I ordered Medium was well done and burnt. I was so unhappy with my meal the last two visits. And let me emphasize that the woman in the front not both women just one woman was so freaken rude I didn't like her she ruined my experience and I've been coming to this restaurant for over a decade. I don't even feel like coming back here read more

Tokyo Wako - Burnt squash. Oily veggies - Sushi Bars Near Me - Arcadia, California

The meat was over cooked; it was medium and I wanted medium rare. It was tough as shoe leather. The shrimp and scallops were tough as shoe leather. the vegetables were too salty, like brine. You are paying for a shoe that is ok. But the food is way too pricey for the quality read more

Food was good. Service was nice. Resturant had nice decor, spacious, and clean. I loved the koi fish outside. read more

I've been here a few times over the years and it gets a little more disappointing each time. Inside and outside, the place isn't very clean. The service gets slower and a little worse each time. They forget our orders and drinks, and we have to flag them down and remind them. The food and portions are average at best. Not great value. I have only ever been here for dinner on weekend nights, so I can't say how it is for lunch or less busy nights. But based on my experiences, I would say you should pass on Tokyo Wako for special occasions. read more