Little Tokyo Restaurant — Restaurant in Leeds

Little Tokyo is a visual treat. As soon as you walk in, it feels like a izakaya from Japan. The koi pond, the seating, and the deco is very nice. However, that's all the positives I have to say. Visited Little Tokyo as a party of 2, and had made a booking through their webpage.

Food was average at best with some very bizarre choices. Ordered some seafood tempura which consisted of fish, prawns, and very strangely a whole mussel (including the shell!). If it was just the mussel freed of its calcium carbonate shell, then it would have been borderline acceptable. But deep frying it in its shell? That's a no-no. The tempura batter as well was thick and heavy, much more like from a chip shop. Tempura batter is suppose to be light and fluffy, which this was not.

Their nigiri and maki set also had some strange choices. The vegetable maki rolls were asparagus, squash, baby corn, and avocado. Avocado, good and standard filling. But the rest? Feels like they ran out of the standard vegetable fillings like cucumbers, pickled daikon. The quality of the salmon nigiri was fairly good, but everything else was below average.

At least there was a dish I enjoyed! The ebi katsu was really good! Crunchy, light and well seasoned. What I wish the tempura was like.

The thing that really really lets down Little Tokyo, is the quality of some of the staff. It's very obvious that you can tell some of them have not been trained.

Firstly, the server that brought us our drinks brought 1 green tea to the table, and didn't question that it was strange that he was only serving one of us. I had asked for 2 green teas, and a glass of plum wine. The green tea that he did bring was filled to the brim, and he was struggling to balance it when he brought it to table. If he is going to struggle with a cup of tea on a tray, I am most certainly going to struggle to pick up a hot cup of tea that was filled to the brim. It may be a small detail, but its very unpleasant to have to crane down my neck to take tiny sips of tea to reduce it to a level which I can lift it without burning my fingers and making a mess.

Secondly, one of the servers really really wanted us out of our seats. Maybe there was a queue and he wanted to clear the tables as soon as possible. But it makes for an unpleasant experience with a server breathing down your back as you eat. In addition, every time we were almost finished he would try to take the plates away. When all of the customers have finished eating, and no longer holding their utensils is when you ask if you can clear. I had taken the last uramaki off the plate, and before I had even eaten it the server comes by and tries to clear the table. Ridiculous! Was so annoyed. This was pretty much done with every dish. I just wanted to enjoy my evening, but constant badgering by the servers wanting to to clear the table made it a disappointing evening.

It is a shame because the restaurant is so very pretty and fun. They even have a koi pond which is something I have not seen in ages! However, their just above average food with odd choices and abysmal service means I won't be recommending the place to anyone and won't be returning. It's a shame because I'm trying to find a good place for Japanese food, but it's certainly not...

Wonderful experience. Would definitely recommend.

Service and staff: All very friendly and super helpful. They were prompt with our drinks orders and our food came in a very reasonable time.

Atmosphere and décor: The whole restaurant is very well furnished and decorated in a very exaggerated Japanese style. It has a koi pond that greets you as you enter the main dining area which is a great touch. We were seated downstairs which was also set up very nicely. There was blossom trees and bottles of what I assume was sake. The only downside of the downstairs area is the lack of natural light and phone signal. However, there's free WiFi for the latter.

Drinks: We had cocktails, wine and a draft Asahi beer. The wine and beer were really nice but to be expected from any nice restaurant. The cocktails were more special, they had nice twists on classic cocktails such as the passionfruit margerhita. I had a mojito that was above average.

Food: Firstly, the menu is massive and very varied with great options for meat eaters and veggies alike. Lots of seafood too if you're pescatarian or just like that sort of thing! We ordered about 3 dishes per person consisting of a starter, main and side. The starters were amazing and really blew us away which was a fantastic start to the meal. The mains and sides had the same effect, they were truly great quality and we thoroughly enjoyed every bite. Mains recommendations would be the chicken katsu curry, ngiri set (particularly the salmon and tuna ngiri), and the sashimi set (particularly the tuna sashimi). For the starters and sides; the dim sum was unreal and the gyozas were also fantastic.

Prices: Drinks were a little costlier than I would have liked but it's in Leeds city centre so it's to be expected. £5 for a pint and an extra pound or two for the cocktails. Food was very reasonably priced considering the volume of good you get and the quality. I personally spent around £15 for all 3 dishes I ordered and I was pleasantly stuffed at the end.

All in all, great place. Will definitely...

Sorry to leave this review.

Little Tokyo has always been held highly as our go to restaurant.

When seated at our table there was old food stains up the walls and the tables were sticky.

We should have left at that point!

However because we had faith that the food would be good..

We proceed with our order.

Who knows they may have had a particularly busy shift with absent members of staff?

However I'm really sorry to say that the standard of service and food has drimaticaly changed.

The service was well below the standard we expected.

The food tasted refied and frozen.

The tumpura vegetables are obviously frozen dipped in batter!

and then fried...

That's my explanation why the batter doesn't fuse with vegetables. Then the oil leaks in to the vegetables.

"which should never happen"

Causing the same greasy taste to everything.

Not a good tempura batter that we have been served in the past.

Fried from the inside out.

There was a hair on the starter, (I'm not too bothered about that) but the other people in our party said I should have sent it back.

Everything was too greasy and tasted the same.

Polystyrene pots instead of the nice clay pots they used to have and wooden cutlery?

I remember the times when you had rests for chopsticks.

The sushi was very dry and didn't have any taste.

I could go on...

Dirty windows

Sushi wrapped in clingfilm under the counter.

Sorry to leave this review Little Tokyo but your standards have slipped.

Sort it out!

Will not return.

I'm sorry your standard of general hygiene has gone to the wall in what once was a great place to visit for many occasions including take out. I remember having a free drink and seat whilst wait for take...