Little Tokyo Restaurant — Restaurant in Galena

Little Tokyo in Galena, IL, WAS a pretty good Asian restaurant... but not anymore. My husband's shrimp dish was absolutely disgusting. The shrimp were NOT deveined and were cooked BEYOND rubbery, almost rock-like. The waiter, who mostly could not understand nor be understood, was to replace his order with beef, which was supposed to be very fast. After the first ten minutes, we had begun to tell the waiter to skip it and just bring us a bill for the drinks we'd received. He kept saying chicken was coming fast, something we NEVER ORDERED. (Although we asked for the manager/owner multiple times, we kept being told "No manager ".) Twenty minutes later, he still hadn't put in the new order. Meantime, my food (which I had hardly picked at due to my husband having nothing) had become cold; my hot tea never refilled. We, again, asked for the drink bill. The unmodified bill arrived after 30 minutes or so, quickly followed by THE WRONG FOOD. We brought the bill to the front counter, again stating we were dissatisfied and wanted to speak with an owner or manager. I spoke with someone, who identified herself as the manager, on their phone. She argued that, since the restaurant had "costs" in making our food, we would have to pay the bill in full. Then she tried to insist we should, at least, pay for half. We stood our ground and got her to back down. We left, frustrated and hungry, but with the promise that the owner would call me to discuss our experience. Thankfully, Galena has no shortage of excellent restaurants; so we went elsewhere for a LATE, but delicious, dinner. We have phoned and stopped in many times over the last 7 weeks to try and speak with the owner; we have never been able to speak with him/her in the nearly two months since. Although any place could have an off night, this much time passing with NO RESPONSE is UNACCEPTABLE. THIS was LOUSY customer service... to say the LEAST. We have ZERO intention of returning, and highly discourage other diners from subjecting themselves to this venue. There are far better choices in our town.

In response to your reply:

"First,you both eat soup and salad"

Yes, at this point, we had no idea how wrong this meal, which was a couple's dinner TOGETHER, would turn out.

"when we bring shrimp hibachi and bento box,you complain shrimp cooked over,then we try to ask you want change something different,your husband pick steak ,it take some time,we are no buffet,we can't give you right away"

It shouldn't have taken 20 minutes before the replacement order was started!

"then you eat your bentos,your husband eat rice and mix vegetables when you wait steak,you eat half plate your bento and your husband finished fried rice and mix veggies"

I said I PICKED AT MY DINNER. The rest is untrue. My husband didn’t eat ANY of his veggies, by the way. That's not the point.

"then you try to pack rest to go"

The waiter packed it, not us; we left it.

"and ask talk to manager,then my employee try call me,you tell me how you don't like it,then I said it is ok if your husband complain his shrimp is no good,I never say you have to pay your whole bill"

Yes, you did... he said/she said.

"I told you ,we can remove your husband's meal from bill;you just need to pay your food,because you eat half,then you ask your husband,then he said if you want me pay bill,l will give you 1 star,and never come back,this is your choice ,that is no problem"

True.

"finally,I give you solution is remove both meal just pay for your drink"

This was the solution MY HUSBAND AND I INSISTED ON, not you.

"this is best way I can do"

This could ALL have been avoided. I waited SEVEN WEEKS before posting the negative review. THE BEST you could have done was have the owner reach out to make this right. We tried, over and over, by calling and stopping in to make contact. It's LOUSY customer service to avoid the customer complaint. This review is absolutely true, and is more the result of bad customer service than one dinner issue. Publicly arguing with it is evidence of the restaurant's...

Me and the lady decided to order carry-out from "little tokyo" while staying in Galena for a getaway. We called to play the order, which seemed to have gone smoothly, and we were told to pick the food up in around 25-30 minutes. We got there 32 minutes later only to wait an additional 10 minutes for the food. This alone was not a big issue, however, I was surprised to find a bill that was roughly 25 percent more expensive than it should have been (compared to the prices they had listed online). I payed it and said nothing, as I was sure to lose any argument regarding the matter. I received the food all in one large bag, barely able to contain its contents. Upon getting the food back to my hotel room I had found they had placed the "sushi" I had ordered (which was $8 dollars more than on the menu AND was incorrect) on top of all the hot food. As you could imagine, even a short 12 minute trip back to the hotel and warmed the sushi almost to the point of ruin. In the end, the sushi was saved by a 12 hour stay in the mini-fridge. The food itself was good, but it was hard to enjoy it when the experience as a whole was...

Little Tokyo is a surprisingly delicious gem in downtown Galena. We have been wanting to go for awhile and glad we finally did! The actual restaurant is much larger than we presumed with two indoor dining rooms and outdoor seating as well. I’ve had a lot of mediocre ginger salads and miso soups but their soup and salad was actually super good and a great way to start off. Our table got the hibachi for two (which honestly could be enough for 3-4 people if you start with an appetizer), a couple sushi rolls, and the crispy Asian chicken. The hibachi rice and veggies were incredible and so flavorful. Nothing felt overly fatty or greasy and everything tasted really fresh and cooked just right. For Japanese food, this is by far one of my favorite spots I’ve been to in a long time. It’s authentic and well prepared. Pricing given this being a Galena restaurant was pretty fair as well and we had tons of leftovers to take home. We will absolutely...