Tokyo House — Restaurant in Bellingham

I had the beef bulgogi bento box, mostly because it's fun to say. The food was pretty good, not phenomenal but at least the standard you'd expect from a small place that caters to college students like this. My Miso didn't seem to have usual little cubes of tofu but maybe the source just needed a good stirring, it was still tasty. The beef was good, the salad and the tempura were crisp, the gyoza was good, and I ate all the California roll, which was made right but with imitation crab. I'm not a fan of imitation crab and that's my own personal issue, the restaurant shouldn't suffer in their review for that; however, I wish it was more clearly marked that the crab meat was imitation crab meat in the California roll (in the section with the bento box...I didn't even look at the sushi page which might have told me). In fact, the menu overall is kind of hard to navigate at first, I probably just missed it. The actual atmosphere of the restaurant is loud. There's multiple TVs playing different things with the sound on and there's a ten-second melodic tune that went off either every time they got a phone call or someone walked past the door or something... It was frequent, it was loud, it lasted too long and was too recognizable and repetitive; the sound was annoying. The electronic noises were all just too much. I wish I had a chance to eat at the Korean BBQ tables where you can cook for yourself but I guess they weren't open when we went because the hostess didn't ask if that's what we wanted and she automatically sat us on the other side of the restaurant right by the door and the kitchen. I probably won't eat inside again but I wouldn't be against getting takeout. The same woman and a man served us and brought our water and food, they were nice and personable, I like them. But My table mate ordered like 4 different things off the menu for himself and I think that the kitchen staff assumed that he was going to share them with me because I sat there watching him eat three different plates of things before I was served my food. I was hungry and the guy I was with was rude, kept eating and coughing right in front of me without even offering a single gyoza. It might be worth mentioning that He was from Indonesia and complained that the ramen was made with the wrong noodles, but they looked like ramen noodles to me (I'm a white chick from here so take that with a grain of salt); however, if you're from Southeast Asia you might be a little disappointed. He also hates vegetables and egg though so I put zero confidence in...

I don't feel good about giving small businesses bad reviews, but this place is in desperate need of improvement. They've let me down both times I visited in ways that are completely preventable that I hope to see change for the better.

I ordered the tempura entree the first time I went and was served square basket smaller than my hand that contained 3 shrimp and 4 vegetables, each relatively small and fried to various consistencies. You could taste the oil in the batter and it diluted the taste of the shrimp and vegetables completely. I wasn't given a plate and it was as if I had ordered takeout. I also ordered a California roll that was okay.

The second time I went in, I was the only customer. I made more observations this time. The worker was wearing gloves while taking my order, and it made me wonder how sanitary the place is. The music was unbearable, though it wasn't much better the time before. The television screen was showing graphic viral videos of people being assaulted in public settings, and CCTV footage of robberies at gunpoint. I didn't ask for them to change it simply because I felt disgusted that they would show that to customers in the first place. The cold temperatures did not help.

I ordered more tempura and a bento box the second time I went and was served larger shrimp tempura than the previous time, but it still tasted more like oil than anything. The bento box contained a house salad, rice, gyoza, sushi, and miso soup. The miso came out almost immediately and wasn't even filled a third of the way with a single tofu cube inside. The katsu was flattened so thinly that some slices made it impossible to discern the line between chicken and batter. The gyoza was soft. The sushi had excess rice over filling. I didn't finish my meal after remembering the person in the kitchen taking my order with gloves on. I figured I could have eaten something better with less sanitation risks at home.

The prices are incredibly high for their lackluster food service and hospitality. There are cheaper places in the vicinity that I wish I would have visited instead.

I understand that many things can't be accounted for when running a restaurant, including needing to make sacrifices for cost, but this place's environment and food did not make me feel welcome or valued as a customer. I want to see this place do better in the future, but if this is how every customer that comes in for casual dining is treated, then I don't know if I will ever want to...

Use to eat lunch here 20 years ago. Food was very good then. Husband and I tried it this weekend because he wanted teriyaki and it was one of the few open on Sunday. We walked in to find 3 dirty tables with one other party in the restaurant. Waited a bit before our order was taken. Asked for water that had a peculiar taste to it. The Gyoza was fantastic with the best crisp I had ever had. The Vegetable Tempura as also very good. Husband seemed to like the tuna roll in his Bento box. We loved the Miso soup although I felt the flavor could have been a bit stronger. The Teriyaki chicken had an odd texture to it and a yellowish color but the sauce was good. We ordered yakisoba to take home. It looked like it was made with Angel Hair pasta and I didn't care for the flavor. The service was fairly good. The restaurant decor could definitely use a refresh both from an aesthetic and safety point of view. There were soft spots/dips in the floor and places where the laminate floor was separating. Walking to the restroom everything looked grimy, that things hadn't been moved or wiped down in years. Would I recommend this restaurant? Probably not. There are other places in town that have better food and that are cleaner. If I got a craving for their gyoza, I'd probably...