Tokyo Japanese Steakhouse — Restaurant in Heath

My wife and I had a rare evening where we didn’t have the kids, so we decided on an impromptu dinner out. Yes, it’s just a dinner date, but as we don’t often have that opportunity, it’s a special occasion for us. She had dined at Tokyo some years ago and said her experience was amazing. The parking lot was almost completely empty when we arrived and, for a moment, we weren’t entirely sure they were even open.

The interior is quite beautiful - which surprised me because you wouldn’t get that impression from the exterior view. It was practically empty when we arrived, so we agreed to sit in the dining area rather than get the Hibachi experience. Despite every table and booth being empty, we were seated directly behind the only other diners which felt a little strange; we would have much rather had a little space and privacy.

There are hollow glass partitions between the sections of the dining room that are filled with glass rocks and sticks (for aesthetic appeal), but the glass was foggy and streaked which made it looked like it hadn’t been cleaned in quite some time. Our server (dressed in sweatpants and hoodie) came to take our drink order. I ordered a beer for myself and a bottle of sake for my wife and I to share. When it was brought to our table, a different person wearing a puffy vest jacket (not someone who was at all dressed like they expected to be there) put a small, screw-top bottle on the table with a single high-ball glass. At similar restaurants, we’ve always had the sake brought in a carafe with two small glasses. At $18 for a tiny bottle, we expected a bit more than what we got as far as presentation and service.

Based on our observations, I decided it was probably not wise to order anything with seafood in it (which nixed most of the menu) and ordered a steak and chicken combination while my wife braved the scallops. We were asked if we wanted any sauce with our meal and requested ginger and Yum Yum. Usually, sauces are brought in small dishes to pour over or dip food into, but our waitress returned with two giant plastic squeeze bottles that were clearly taken off a cart. Both nozzles were caked in dried sauce and had a greasy shine all over the exterior. Since Yum Yum is a mayonaisse-based sauce, I checked the temperature and found it to be as warm as our table. Not wanting to get sick from a sauce that was very clearly not properly temperature controlled, I asked her to take both bottles away and we ate our meal “dry”.

I ordered my steak medium rare - it arrived very well-done with no pink at all. The chicken was tough, flavorless and sat in a pool of grease coming from a mound of mushy vegetables. The fried rice was cold, tasted like cardboard and was almost inedible. I did eat my whole meal – not out of enjoyment, but because I had skipped lunch thinking we were going to fill up at dinner. I regretted that decision as soon as we got home. My wife, thankfully, survived her overcooked scallops, but also left with the same poor impression. Our bill came to almost $80 – which would have been appropriate had it been cooked properly, but we ultimately felt overcharged for poorly-cooked takeout food. I’ve had better meals at Panda Express.

I can only assume lack of regular business has caused Tokyo to get a little too comfortable with cutting corners and not taking pride in their service as it showed in every aspect of our dining experience. My wife and I certainly understand when people have a “bad day” here and there, but this was just apathy plain and simple. We’ve eaten at “Kanji” before (which is literally walking distance from Tokyo) and our experience there was lightyears better. When you have such close and direct competition, you’d think you’d want to step your game up a bit – but for whatever reason, they’ve chosen not to. We will not...

Worst restaurant I’ve ever ate at in my entire life.

We ordered shrimp and sushi and our food came SO quick.

the shrimp had no flavoring at all, not even salt.

The shrimp also felt hard and wasn’t tender at all.

And the sushi ? Oh my Jesus Christ.

The sushi was like putting a raw fish in your pocket for 2 hours then pulling it out and taking a bite out of it.

It was the most raw fish taste sushi I’ve ever had.

And the texture was so bland and dry.

Don’t even get me started with the avocados inside the sushi.

100% the chef picked the worst avocado he can slice on purpose.

It was so soggy and old. I couldn’t believe it.

Disgusting restaurant.

And after ALL of that. We still paid $80 for the bill and tipped the waitress $20 because she was nice.

If I could leave 0 stars, id leave -10.

Do NOT eat here. Save your money. And...

We've eaten there several times over the years and never had a bad meal until today. My wife and I both had shrimp and they were the worst shrimp I've ever eaten. They were so over cooked and tough you couldn't chew them. My wife's California rolls were old and dried up. Her fried rice was old and dry also. I had steamed rice and it was OK as well as my salad was crispy. Our waitress never came back until we were ready to leave and my wife who never complains about food showed her our shrimp because we couldn't eat it and the waitress said OK took off came back dropped our check on the table on the run. It's over an hour drive and normally I'd give a restaurant another chance but something has definitely changed there so it's the last time for me. You should be able to eat a $21...