Junkadelic — Restaurant in Tokyo

Tokyo. A food lovers paradise. Some non Japanese food they do very well, others they fail miserably. Mexican/TexMex food is a simple cuisine that manages to get massacred by most places that attempt it. I make my own and refrain from disappointment at usually overpriced establishments who shouldn't bother in the first place. I gave this one a try. Not just to please the accompanying members but why not?! I heard good things. Good things from Americans. They know good Mexican food usually. A dive is a word that has been used to describe this place and it's quit fitting, nice characteristics, a change from the usual bleak pretentious establishments all over this city. The setting was good for what I was hoping would be good food too.

First came the nachos. Made in house it seems, and not the generic handful of Doritos you usually get. Topped with passable gucamole, sour cream and chopped tomatoes (add onions, add cilantro, make it somewhat authentic). It was actually not too bad. The beans underneath it all were a good touch. My only complaint is the size. Japan is known for small portions, a tradition that needs to be broken every now and then.

I opted for pork fajitas as my main. pork and fajitas, an odd combo and my expectations were exactly high. Done in carnitas style with 4 corn tortillas (you get to choose), these didn't disappoint. And no complaints about the size either. My fajita experience thus far in Japan has been horrendous where it's deemed acceptable to compensate with the lack of vital ingredients by throwing a ton of cabbage in there and hoping for the best. No cabbage here. Size up on the beans and sides and they'd be onto something here. The spicy chicken fajitas (spicy coming at an extra cost) is something I would refrain from eating though. If you want chicken, get regular and douse it in the jalapeño sauce they offer which I could eat on its own. The quantity of chicken was meager and the quality didn't impress.

The main downside here is the usual irrelevant Japanese restaurant trait of making a drink order compulsory. it can be fine, but when a glass of any carbonated drinks is 500yen minus tax, that is an offense that should be punishable. This is outrageous and a complete disgrace, along with the mandatory drink purchase. It needs ending. It is theft.

Overall the experience was pleasant and it's nice to know that Tokyo doesn't always fail when it comes to Mexican food. Owners if you are reading, here's a tip for you. When someone is eating, let them eat and do not take their plate away from them when they have lifted the fork to their mouth. And when others are still eating, let everyone finish before clearing the table....

Dear Owner of Junkadelic, we visited your restaurant yesterday and had such an incredibly unpleasant experience. I am still feeling upset and it is truly the first time that I feel the urge to communicate to the Owner (who is probably unaware of what’s happening on the ground) about what happened. There were 7 of us and we made a reservation for 7.30pm. We ordered a round of drinks and food. All the drinks were served in half an hour. By 8.15pm, my friend had her chicken salad. At 8.45pm, the same friend was served her chilli con carne. At this time, we were starving and were wondering where was the rest of our food. We asked the server, she said it was coming. So we continued to wait. At 9pm, one pork burrito arrived. It’s been 1.5 hours and 5 of us in our group have not had anything to eat. At this point, our hunger has made us hangry. I went personally to the cooking station and asked one of the chefs if the food was coming. They said it was coming. Around 10 minutes later, a beef burrito arrives. My friend requested that all our other dishes get served. In the next 5 minutes, a taco rice was served. How many ingredients in taco rice didn’t actually require cooking? There were 3 people in the kitchen and the restaurant was not fully occupied. What made me really upset was when I saw a chef laughing and joking in the kitchen after knowing that we had asked for the food thrice. Please bare in mind that the first friend who had her food served already finished eating. It was so unprofessional and unacceptable that we left the restaurant at 9.20pm, barely touching the rest of our food. 3 of our friends have not had their food served but out of COURTESY, we paid for our 6000 yen drinks when we left. I just can’t wrap my head around what happened as I have never experienced such bad and slow service in a restaurant. Is it a strategy to buy time and make us drink more? What are your chefs doing in the kitchen?? Are they unhappy with working in your restaurant? Could you please, as the owner of Junkadelic, reflect on your service and find out what’s happening in your kitchen? I know from my prior experience and from reviews that your food takes a long time to be served. However, yesterday each dish was served one at a time and more than one and a half hours later, 3 of my friends have not had their food. What’s happening??It is ironic that the name of your restaurant seems to be fitting here. It is embarrassing to have such a ‘restaurant’ in the food and beverage industry. Please do something about it. I hope no one else has to experience the same service that we have...

Updated July 2023: Ah okay yeah I'm sorry but I need to bump this review down a bit from previous.

Second visit: we got put in the closet-like "room" just behind the cash register that looks like a Mexican-themed prison cell. On the plus side, it's 'private' I suppose; on the other hand, it's claustrophobic, and the furniture seems to be just boxes or trunks or something, not real chairs and tables.

But the real downer was, my entree was not served until at least 10 or 15 minutes after the other three people in our party had FINISHED eating. No explanations, no apologies: "the kitchen is busy." Yeah no kidding but I think part of their job is to manage the order and flow of food emerging from the kitchen?

I'm not expecting comped food or seppuku or anything—but it was a little vexing to eat dinner alone while my three friends, who'd already finished, watched me.

Luckily I has half-buzzed from margaritas at the time, and it wasn't till the next day that I realized how absurdly poor the service had been.

I'll be back—but not in the jail cell! I think it's too easy for them to forget about you in there.

Previous, March 2023: Surprisingly good Tex-Mex food. Let's face it, a lot of "foreign" food in Japan is just cosplaying (looking at you, フワフワもちもち食パン), and getting your hopes up is often a recipe for expensive disappointment.

I steeled myself for a big letdown before going to Junkadelic—but I was wrong, and Junkadelic was right. In my humble and biased opinion, everything here pretty much hit the Tex-Mex target. We shared some nachos (photo), and I ordered the chicken enchilada dinner. Rice and beans, yay. Classic margarita on the rocks did not change my life, but far exceeded expectations.

The only weak note was the bottle of red wine we shared, but you really shouldn't be ordering wine in a place like this anyhow.

Service was pleasant and competent, other diners were not annoying. Win-win.

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