Worst place EvER!!!!!!!!! We were the first ones there and were promptly seated. We ordered: Beef Sashimi: very good and nicely seasoned. me and my cousin hands down loved this dish. but from our whole meal it's the only thing we enjoyed. Pocky Ball: VERY VERY BLAND. Its pretty much a bunch of muches up albacore (that was not fresh) rolled up in huge chunks of avocados (not that good and unseasoned). I think it was suppose to have smelt egg but didn't see any. FireCracker Roll: I didn't eat this. Actually we had sent this dish back due to the colors on the tuna and albacore. These had to either be VERY poorly refrigerated OR VERY old (please see picture). The tuna was at a dead dark red and the albacore had this weird slimy look on it that did not look appealing at all. my cousin was trying to convince me that they had slightly torched the sashimi's... unless the torched the bottom side of the meat as well and made it smell weird i think not. Now the cousin decided he wanted the Seared Miso Salmon... It looks very very appealing in the picture they have on their menu.. But honest to god it lied. Please see the actual picture that I took there. Flavorless bland and after the lemon it was just lemon. :( This was place was a horrible fail.. I came here to treat my cousin to a small lunch since he was going to be carrying my stuff from the groom expo.. and sigh... failed lunch. read more

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One of the WORST dining experiences I have had in a long time. This includes: 1. Poor, slow service 2. GETTING OUR CREDIT CARD STOLEN 3. Mediocre food 4. High prices 5. Beef teriyaki that resembles dog food (see #3) So my family and I went to this restaurant and right away asked waitress if we could put a little rush on the order since we needed to be done eating in a little less than an hour. Well, the tea and water took 15 minutes to arrive, the first dish (dog food cubes of beef) came out 30 min into our dinner service, a side of rice came after another 10 minutes, our sushi rolls came in about 45 min into our dinner and the waitress forgot the last sushi roll. I was so tired of waiting I went to the sushi bar and asked if our last roll was ready. His reply "I just make what I'm told," no apologies. So I asked him, "our last roll was not on the same ticket?" That means the waitress .... ta dum... forgot it! Lovely. To end it all we complained about the terrible service and the next day got a lovely present in return. More than $1000 IN FRAUDULENT CHARGES ! We would not accuse this restaurant, but this credit card was last used 3 days prior and I don't know about you, but I doubt credit card thefts would wait 3 whole days to try to charge your card. Nope, this was the only time we used the card and what do you know... someone went to BURGER KING AND CHARGED $126!! What can you even buy at Burger King for $126?! 100 burgers?? 75 burgers, 30 orders of fries and drinks? Who knows. All I know is this place is TOKYO WACKO! Excuse the horrible pun. No, this place deserves horrible puns. read more

SMH. No-go for me. Tokyo wako was pretty whacko! 1 star just for the sushi rolls alone which were o.k. and not anything special. I tried the Philadelphia, Firecracker, and Dynamite rolls. Everything else was a major booboo. Let me say that it was a saturday afternoon and it wasn't busy at all. There were probably 3 or 4 other parties/couples in the entire restaurant... BUT -Service wasn't on point. The waiter couldn't answer simple questions based on the menu. He never checked up on us! -Food took forever to come out. Roll-sizes weren't accommodating and a bit overpriced. -Another customer next to us complained about the timing and service. Hm, maybe Tokyo Wako is more well-known for their teppan steak but it still.. it DOES say sushi bar. Comannnn, deliver better! I don't think I'm coming back. read more

Yelped in 30 Words: Small drinks; boring wines; bummer steak, sushi, and shrimp. Ginsu knifery mildly wacko, but we felt cheated: inferior ingredients. Floor mopping with pungent cleaner during entrees. Desultory service; expensive, too! read more

One star for spicy mayo on the side. That's about it. My friend made reservations and when we got there, we were asked if we wanted a table or to sit at the grill. We asked to be seated at a table and we still had to wait for one to get cleared. What's the point of making reservations then, if you're going to treat it as a walk-in?? A half hour later someone finally managed to walk by and ask if we wanted to order....gr. Getting water took forever too (and refills!) We had the albacore with crispy onions - fail (Katsuya, you've spoiled me so). The Four Star sashimi was a bit disappointing too. The fish just didn't taste that fresh....boooo. Spicy tuna and Philadelphia rolls are staples, so those were okay (over priced though). Last thing we ordered was the Dynamite roll which was decent as well. Sad service, not that great quality food. Good think great company made up for a night to make it great! I give them one star because spicy mayo made up for the taste...even if we had to ask for it THREE times. I mean seriously? It wasn't even that busy....sigh. read more

You will not be disappointed in this place at all. The food was amazing and the service was great. Been here 5 times already. The dragon rolls are the best sushi they got read more

As other reviewers have mentioned, this place is like Benihana. Tokyo Wako is located right in the Paseo Colorado, the former Pasadena Mall. Is the place horrible? No, it's not. However, my take is that it really isn't worth your time or money. You pay a premium, which is fine if the restaurant is good. Tokyo Wako as the names suggests is wack. I agree with some others on this one. It's a Benihana wannabe -- And I don't even think Benihana is all that great to begin with. The straight story is that if you have money to spend, it's better to use it somewhere else for Japanese food. read more

Expensive non-authentic teppan-yaki that tastes pretty crappy. The cooking showmanship is "meh" and the actual food is not very flavorful, greasy, and so overpriced. Also, the seating sucks if you end up with an annoying group of people. My bf and I ended up sitting with a family with 2 not-well-behaved bratty kids who were loud, obnoxious, and rude the entire time. I'm never going to another teppan-yaki place in Pasadena again. As far as I can tell, there's only amazing teppan-yaki in Asia. read more

Chef sucked, service sucked, food sucked. This is a shame because it isn't the first time i've been here but this time in particular was extremely bad. First off, a friend of mine ordered a daiquiri and of course i took some underaged sips. A person drinks more before they are legally able to than when they are legally able to imho, but moving on. She asks me for my ID and to which i am very surprised. Usually nicer places don't ask for ID because it isn't professional. They assume you use your best judgement to not do anything stupid and who the hell gets buzzed after ONE drink? Anyway, there was pubic looking hair in my sisters food. It was actually the piece of steak that i was going to eat and thankfully i didn't eat that one piece. The waitress only said they wouldn't charge for her one meal, however, finding curly black hair on a piece of steak would get anyone upset and what we should have done was say that hey, we aren't going to pay for any of this food cuz you know what, what if there was hair on another piece?! Unprofessional service, poor hygiene, and a chef that couldn't light the fire to get the flaming onion volcano going. Bill for 4 people: 100. Waste of money. read more

Overall summary: good, but not great. Nice dining area. Convenient. I will likely come back when I am already at the Paseo, but this is not a destination for sushi. Explanation: I had not been here in a long time, but recently wandered in after a movie (and after discovering a long wait at The Yard House). We asked to be seated in the dining room (rather than the teppan grill) and were seated immediately. The service was pretty slow, even though the place was pretty empty. The yellowtail carpaccio was delicious - the best thing we had. The garlic edamame were good. The spicy tuna crispy rice was OK (I have definitely had better). The mixed tempura was also only OK. I had some sort of mojito cocktail that was way too sweet, even after I squeezed the lime in there. I had to ask the bartender to top it off with some club soda after a couple sips. I still did not enjoy the drink. I will get a beer here next time, instead of a cocktail. read more

Sorry excuse for a benihana wannabe... My recommendation is to spend the extra money and take yourself to a reputable teppan-yaki restaurant. I will never come here after what I've been through. I would rather not go into details- as that would be mean and really really bad for their business. I spoke my mind when I was at the restaurant and hopefully they get their act together for future patrons. not me! read more

I had to wait an hour for my food, When I waiter came to refill my water for the third time I told her I was still waiting for my food and it still took 40 mins longer to get our food. I get it, you get busy but at least let us know you didn't forget or offer us something in the meantime. Worst customer experience. read more

Big disappointment. I went with some girlfriends expecting some strong cocktails and a show and we were disappointed on both fronts. The waitress at the front bar got our drink orders (vodka sodas with a splash of cran) wrong and when we asked her about it, she said they didn't have soda water so she made it with ginger ale instead - um, eeeewwww and why didn't you say something?! When another bartender heard her say that he pointed to the dispenser and informed that they do have soda water (obviously, its a bar staple) and corrected our drinks. Get to know your bar, lady. Once at the table we placed our orders and awaited the show. Well, I think we looked up once. Our chef had no personality and did nothing to engage his audience. It basically felt like we were sitting in front of a grill while someone cooked - no shrimp tossing or steaming onion volcano. A friend ordered a drink to be made with mandarin vodka and they came back saying they didn't have it - yet we could see it through the glass wall separating us from the bar. The food was good enough, but for the price, it's not worth it. I recall Mori in Glendale being a much better experience. read more

Terrible... Crappy service by "waitress'" with zero experience. didn't know the difference between or the price for the two types of melot that they sell. No child's menu other than verbal, and big surprise, didn't know the price. Meal came with salad and soup, which our waitress forgot the bring... after reminding her, she brought them. Both were bad. I had "steak" teriyaki which was dry, low quality sirloin which was cubed and fried on a grill. Presented with warm, but otherwise raw vegetables most of which appeared to come out of a bag. Really, really bad. Please avoid... don't reward such terribly restaurants only because they happen to be where you want to be at the time (The Paseo). Go to the Yard House, PF Changs, heck, even Islands would be a step up from this place. read more

Ten minutes into the performance, I started trippin'...am I at Shogun's, Benihana, or their love child? Onion volcanoes, big slabs of butter, Chinese cooks posing as "Japanese" in their grotesque outfits--surely I have seen all of this before. Yes, I have. Why are all these teppan places so similar? Instead of having different names for the same thing, why not just call all of them "Japanese restaurants that throw shit up in the air, light shit up, and toss shit into your plate and mouth." That would simplify things substantially. Food was mediocre. Then again, it was so-so at Shogun's too. And Benihana. There, you have a threesome of mediocrity. read more

Went here today after going to the movies at Pacific theatres. Hadn't tried it and so the b/f and i figured we'd check it out. For the sushi the prices were i guess pretty standard for the rolls we got. But the taste wasn't as good as i've had. I got and shared the shrimp tempura roll and the spider roll. Really nothing special at all. B/f got the the shrimp yakisoba. It was pretty good but once again nothing special. the main reason for the 2 stars is the service. It started okay, got our water pretty fast, but when we weren't ready to order and then finally were it took forever for them to get back to us. For lunch, when there was nobody else there it took us about an hour from start to finish. When we finally got our check, after asking for it, it took almost another 10 minutes to get our change. Basically, not sure if we'll be eating there again. read more

The food was delicious! The hostess was kind to accommodate that I was a single party. I was able to enjoy the grill, shrimp and scallops my favorite! read more

We had an amazing time the good and service was great and the wow so delicious! Service was amazing and the host was too. Love this place.

Hmmm, not sure why I even agreed to go into this restaurant even when my fiance was already apprehensive. I was just craving sushi. Not the cool kind of sushi, but the one alot of people hate and that is those with the mayo based sauces on top, deep fried tempura style. Yeah, those! Anyways, I was hoping that this place would settle my craving for those kinds of sushi. We entered the restaurant and unfortunately, I hate to say this, I was following a pack of white people inside the restaurant. Not a good sign when you are craving Japanese, but a good sign when you are craving those mayo based sushi's! LOL Anyways, in I went with my smile and my hunger. Disappointed to see that they didn't have a variety of sushi's to offer. I was at least expecting about a couple of pages chock full of sushi, but nope. It was just a half of a page. Anyways, I ordered the dynamite roll and spider roll. Can't ever go wrong with a spider roll, right? The dynamite roll was ehhh... alright. It was just mushrooms and teeny scallops baked on top of a california roll. Not too tasty at all. Hated it,actually. The spider roll was okay. But, like I said, you really can't go wrong with a spider roll. Never returning here. NEVER. Go somewhere else for those kinds of sushi rolls. read more

First of all, the designer of the parking structure must have thought it would be funny to build the crappiest parking strucutre ever. Ate here on a Saturday night and it took me 20 minutes to find a spot. I seriously didn't know which way to go up a floor. Who the heck creates dead ends in a parking structure? The food at Tokyo Wako is not spectacular. Our chef was not all that stellar either. He dropped his spatula a couple of times and didn't fully execute all of his tricks. Lame. The positive points of the night were that we got to use a coupon and they brought out an extra steak and shrimp order so everybody got to nibble on their mistake for free. The birthday dessert is whack too. They charged us $4.50 for a little scoop of green tea ice cream and a photo of you in that lice infested geisha wig. I wouldn't put that on my head, ick. Looking around I think the people that enjoyed the place the most were the kids. To them everything is amazing. But the place is catered to young adults. Hence their alcohol bar and sushi bar. I wouldn't go here again, even with another coupon. read more

Wasn't too impressed with this place. My ex took me here for a date. Its a tourist trap ... over priced ... greasy food. A bad kind of greasy, like they don't clean or change the oil much. But the hostess were nice. Cute girls, flirts with the guests ... well at least with me. Oh, that's why I have an ex now ... can't win them all. read more

Been a while, but went to lunch with 5 colleagues. Will not be back. The place was practically empty. It took 30 minutes for our food to start to arrive. Even then, there was a 15 minute gap between arrival of all the plates. Half of us ordered the lunch special - a simple bento box....those took the longest to arrive. The salmon was dry, the beef was dry and tough...The nail was an appetizer that a colleague ordered....grant it, they were fried chicken wings (at a Japanese restaurant)...BUT the pic says it all...they were fried to death; no seasoning and unbelievable that they allowed them to leave the kitchen and be served.... read more

Tokyo Wako Restaurant - Why would you ever let this leave the kitchen...... - Japanese Near Me - Pasadena, California

I just had a newborn baby and I wanted to celebrate my birthday here. I called a week before and asked to set up a private room for a small party. I explained that i have a newborn. The person I spoke to told me that she was able to do so. Before I hung up, I repeated to her "so its a private room right?" so she said yes. On my birthday itself, I just called to see if I could change the time of my reservation and to my surprise no private room was booked. They said the minimum was 14, so if I had not called then we would have shown up there with an unpleasant surprise. We ended up eating elsewhere instead. Before this incident, I would rate them maybe 3-4 stars, because the food and values are decent. I am tempted to rate them 1 star, but to be fair I think 2 stars is fair. read more

It's my second time coming to this place. The service this time was horrible. A girl name Zoe served us and she was rude and forgot to bring anything we asked. Our fried rice tested like egg and my noodles were tasteless. I definitely won't be coming here again. Save your $ please! read more

Tokyo Wako Restaurant - Japanese Near Me - Pasadena, California

Eh. 'Sokay. I've been here twice and I must say that the one in Long Beach is way better. My scallops were blah as was my Philly Roll and Frank's Tuna Roll. But my water with lemon was exquisite! read more

I came here for my boyfriend's birthday with him and his family. The food was delicious and they came and sang for his birthday. it's definitely better than Behihana. read more

Chef Allen was amazing! He talked to us the entire time about so many cool things...food, life, how to cook, etc. My family and I really enjoyed his presence and the way he made our food! Trust me when I say that your chef makes a difference in how your food tastes when you come here! If you want your food cooked perfectly and just to have a great time with your family, then ask for him! We love Tokyo Wako! Great drinks too! read more

Absolutely disgusting the food made me and my family sick for 2 days pretty sure they cooked us up some old food

It was a cold, rainy night. Yardhouse had an hour wait. Tina-Marie was hungry. Enter Tokyo Wako. No wait and a happy husband who loves Teppan. From the outside it doesn't appear as huge as it actually is. You walk in and it reminds you of being in a fancy restaurant in a Las Vegas casino where you just keep walking, and walking, and walking until you get to your table. Now, the thing with teppan-style dining is you will get seated with strangers unless your party is big enough to cover an entire grill. In this case, the grills seat 8. Usually, the first few minutes are a bit awkward because you don't know whether you should attempt to talk to these other people or if you should just remain quiet and keep the conversation within your party. Enter the Samurai! http://static.px.yelp.com/bphoto/LVpn5JnO0tA0nmX6VrhzsQ/l My ordering of the Samurai drink immediately got EVERYONE to start talking. The Samurai says that it is a mix of vodka and sake with some fruit juice or something like that. I definitely tasted some Midori in there. And you can see the greenish tinge from my "reserve" glass to the right. Anyhow, once the drinks started flowing, our little group started chit chatting. Turns out the group opposite us: Mom, Dad, daughter and daughter's friend had a little six degrees with the couple to our left. One of the girls had made out with a guy that knew the couple and proceeded to rib said girl for that encounter. And even though it was only a kiss, she now felt compelled to stand up for her actions among random strangers. Ahhhh... Teppanyaki! I ordered the Hibachi Tuna Steak and it was fantastic! Hubby got the Ni Ban which was New York Steak with shrimp and scallops. He didn't want any scallops so they gave him more shrimp. He loved it. While sitting there, we noticed a churrascaria across the courtyard. That, is for another time. I can say that I left Tokyo Wako very content. read more

Tokyo Wako Restaurant - Samurai - Japanese Near Me - Pasadena, California

WTF? Do these chefs know any other tricks? Does this sound familiar at all? 1. The chef introduces himself & double-checks your order 2. He throws down some sauce and makes a huge introductory flame 3. He cuts off shrimp tails and flips them into his giant chef hat. 4. He cracks open eggs and AGAIN flips them into his giant chef hat 5. He starts to fry some rice into a heart shape and makes it "beat" 6. He cuts up an onion, stacks it up and makes a Volcano (oooooooh!) 7. He serves us food and we enetertain him with claps! Same old... Same old... If you've been to Benihana once, then you've pretty much seen the exact same show and tasted the exact same food. The only positive thing I can say about this place is that they have a good drink on the menu: "Don Julio Cadillac Margarita". Now for the negative about this positive... it costs $9 and comes in a small glass. Boooooo! read more

Much like the Winter Olympics ... Tokyo Wako would best be described as: Not bad ... but not great either. A couple of friends decided to head to the Paseo location for some Japanese food on a Friday night. The place was packed and I would highly recommend in obtaining reservations in order to avoid the long wait you might expect on busy nights. Tokyo Wako is probably best known as a Teppanyaki restaurant, however, we opted to have a traditional Japanese meal instead. Like most yelpers, I was impressed with the cleanliness and spaciousness of the restaurant. We were promptly seated upon the arrival of our entire party and we ordered the following: red dragon roll, spider roll, eel bowl, and the miso salmon filet. The eel was nicely cooked and the rolls were decent (I was starving at the time ... so perhaps I'm being a bit lenient). Overall, the food was 'AIGHT ... not bad by any means .... but at the same time it failed to impress. What did leave as a lasting impression was that our food did not arrive at the same time. Our entire party were starving at the time (did I mention that?) ... and therefore it was way uncool for some peeps to get their food a good 10 minutes after the others were served. Luckily, mine came first ... hence the 3 stars and not 2 or 1. If you're in the area and in the mood for slightly better than mediocre Japanese food in an excellent setting ... I would not hesitate in recommending this place ... just don't expect to get blown away. read more

This place is EXTREMELY overpriced. Food is Meh. Service is bad too. The waiter we had forgot my order and spilled water on a customer at the next table. read more

This place does still indeed have the happy hour from 5-7PM. They now also have happy hour all day Thursdays! Parking is underground of the Atalantic Time Square, can be hard to find at times as there are a lot of gym goers in this plaza. I love to get the spicy pork belly wrap. So good with the sauces and not so heavy on meat when it's wrapped in a lettuce and cucumber stick. The yakishabu beef is also pretty decent. But my must get here every single time is the garlic edamame!! Yummy in my tummy! For drinks, I go for the Green Apple Martini Slush. It's a weak enough drink for me to finish most of the time. AMEX accepted at this location. I would stick to coming here for happy hour only. read more

We ended up at Tokyo Wako on a Friday night before catching a movie. All the other restaurants in the Paseo were packed except this one. It should have been a red flag. Because we were in a hurry, we stuck with sushi. We ordered chirashi, spicy tuna roll, California roll, Philadelphia roll, and one of their specialty rolls that had shrimp tempura inside. The miso soup that came with the chirashi tasted like the msg-riddled broth you get in a cup-of-noodles. It also had mushrooms, hard dried onions, and, oh yeah, NO miso. The shrimp tempura roll tasted like it had been fried hours before, then quickly dunked in a vat of oil before serving it up on a plate. The service was ...meh. All in all, this restaurant might be good for people who have never eaten at another Japanese restaurant in their life. You can find WAAAAY better sushi for the price in LA, or probably anywhere. read more

I used to like this place a lot. But my recent experience was not great. It took about 40 minutes just to get some sushi and salad. The waiter was poorly trained-- nice, but didn't have the professional things to say when I asked "how much longer." Well, I sincerely hope that the management improves soon. read more

This place sucks the sushi rolls are falling apart. The bathrooms are dirty, and on a Friday night the restaurant is empty.

First time here and I had a server name Melody who just took care of all of us and refilled our drinks without asking plus great service on everything else. I suggest everyone to come here and get her as a sever. read more

Tokyo Wako Restaurant - Japanese Near Me - Pasadena, California

UPDATE: 7/12/07 Okay, sit in the teppanyaki side of the restaurant and see the volcanic onion and flamey grill! That's cool. It's like the poor man's Benihana. ***************************************** I like this place; it's close to my office and gives me a chance to shop at the Paseo after I eat. I can't ask for much more than that. I confess that I am not a sushi eater, so my usual lunch order is green tea and the chicken teriyaki lunch special, which includes a "salad" (iceberg lettuce with a sweet dressing) and four California rolls that go uneaten. It's good food - nothing to write home about., but always consistent. The service is sweet, but slow, and it's a little pricier than most lunch spots. Parking is validated in the Paseo garage. read more

DO NOT GO HERE! The very first time in my life I walked out of A restaurant mid meal. Ordered 2 bowls of noodle soup. One arrived after 20 mins. The next one arrived 30 minutes after with no noodles. We still paid for our sake and beer and appetizer. But didn't touch the noodles so we didn't pay for those. For such service you would think they'd offer to cancel the tab. But they didn't. And worse, on our way out. Spoke to the manager. And the older Japanese woman was not even sorry and didn't even apologize for how they ruined our dinner. read more

Don't bother making reservations. They don't honor them. Every time, and I mean every time, it never fails. Always a 45 min to 1 hr wait, even with reservations. Came here today to celebrate my daughter's birthday. If it wasn't for her, I would've left. We don't come here often, maybe once a year, and each time we do I remember why it's such an infrequent experience. Liz took my reservation over the phone, and when I checked in at 6:30pm tonight, she says, "I just have to figure what table to put you at." Thirty minutes later, I hear her say to the visibly uncomfortable hostess standing next to her, "I can't find a table." When I confront Liz about her lie, and how it's dishonest to take reservations when there is no intention to honor it, she doesn't deny it, nor does she apologize. I've been a patron of this restaurant since they first opened in Paseo. THIS WILL BE MY LAST VISIT HERE. There are other similar restaurants that work harder for your money, folks. SHOGUN has lots of locations (including Pasadena) and much better food. My friends and I will see you guys over there! read more