Tomikawa Sushi Bar Restaurant — Restaurant in Irvine

I want to express my deep disappointment with the experience my family and I had at your restaurant last night. What was supposed to be a special birthday dinner turned into an incredibly frustrating and upsetting evening due to the poor service and unprofessional attitude of your staff.

First, we had to wait an outrageous 2 hours and 40 minutes to be seated, finally getting our table at nearly 8:40 PM. Given the long wait, we were already feeling frustrated, but we remained patient and hoped for a better dining experience.

From the start, we were concerned about the pace of food service, as we had faced delays during a previous visit. When we placed our initial order, we assumed that food would come out in a reasonable timeframe. However, as the evening went on, it became clear that service was once again unbearably slow.

We placed a second round of orders because our initial order wasn’t enough, and my kids were still hungry. However, the food did not arrive as expected due to the slow service. By 9:15 PM, we had still not received our second order. Since we were told that last orders could be placed until 9:30 PM, we decided to place a third order to ensure we had enough food.

At this point, a staff member approached us and, in an incredibly rude and condescending manner, questioned why we were placing another order. He implied that we were ordering too much food, even though we had not yet received our previous order. Instead of apologizing for the delays, he blamed us for ordering—as if it was unreasonable for a paying customer to expect the food they ordered to be served on time.

The way he spoke to us was shocking and completely unprofessional. Rather than acknowledging the long wait times and poor service, the staff acted as if we were the problem. The experience was so uncomfortable that my husband and children lost their appetite and could not even finish their meals.

To make matters worse, despite this horrible experience, we were still charged for two full plates. Then, as if they were doing us a favor, the staff told us we could take the rest of the food to go—completely disregarding the fact that our meal had already been ruined. How is this acceptable? We were forced to pay, despite receiving poor service, slow food delivery, and disrespectful treatment from the staff.

This was supposed to be a special occasion, but instead, we were treated terribly. The service was slow, the staff was rude, and we left feeling completely disrespected. Given this experience, I will never return to your restaurant, and I will make sure others know about the way customers are treated here.

I hope you take this complaint seriously and address the unacceptable behavior of your staff. No paying customer should ever be made to...

My last meal at Tomikawa was back in December 2014, but this return proved to be much better than a previous visit. The menus are visually stunning and the pages are much more organized than before. The presentation appeared up to standard for the Octopus Restaurant chain across California and Yelp indicates that the change began some time August 2015.

Came through for lunch with a group of six and was pleasantly surprised by the menus and service. Drink orders were promptly placed and we were checked on every few often throughout our stay.

Most of the table got bento boxes with a choice of two items, which comes with edamame, miso soup, salad, gyoza, California roll (2 pieces) and a scoop of rice. You get 11 options to choose from ranging from teriyaki, rolls, mixed tempure or sashimi (additional $2).

I decided to go another route and order a few things to share with a friend. To start, we got the yellowtail carpaccio and spicy tuna crispy rice. The carpaccio was BEAUTIFUL. Topped with red and black tobiko caviar, micro greens and edible flowers, the yellowtail was paired with truffle oil, fresh jalapeno slice and yuzu citrus. Perhaps one of the prettiest things I ate so far.

The spicy tuna crispy rice topped with avocado was mediocre. The menu says it's topped with ranch sauce, but we requested to not have it. The crispy rice was a bit glutinous and didn't retain its crunch, so the texture was not what I expected. The heat level is very mild for my preference, so the additon of wasabi was much needed.

We also shared the Heart Attack roll (spicy tuna, jalapeno and avocado tempura crunch roll), garlic tuna nigiri and eel (unagi) nigiri. The Heart Attack was very mild. Strangely enough, the jalapenos tasted sweet and the roll as a whole lacked the "attack" I was anticipating.

Although Tomikawa has revamped their menus and appearances, they still lack the presence and flavor I was anticipating. The rolls are more Americanized, which are doused in sauce or stuffed with imitation crabmeat. At least the taste of the sashimi is a lot cleaner than before and service was attentive through lunch. Still the same rating, but maybe a...

My husband took me here for my birthday dinner, and overall, I’d give the restaurant a solid four stars. The service started off great—the waiters were very attentive and made sure our table was always taken care of. The restaurant itself was clean, calm, and had a nice romantic atmosphere, which made the evening feel special. The food was good, but I do have a few critiques. The sushi rolls were generous in size, so you’ll definitely leave full. My favorite was the shrimp tempura roll—it was crispy, flavorful, and well-balanced. The spider roll was also delicious with its crispy soft-shell crab, and the sumo roll ended up being my husband’s favorite (my second favorite). The Las Vegas roll was decent, but it had a flavor I didn’t quite enjoy. As for appetizers, we tried the chicken gyoza, which were decent, though the sauce was way too salty—it tasted like plain soy sauce. I would’ve preferred something more sweet and savory to balance it out. We also ordered the spicy chicken, but it really lacked spice, and the spicy garlic edamame could’ve used more seasoning as well. I also had the crab hand roll, which was good but, again, the crab filling was bland and needed more flavor. The same goes for the crab in the sushi—it just didn’t stand out. For nigiri, we ordered tuna, salmon, and shrimp. Personally, I prefer wild salmon or tuna for better quality and flavor, so I’d recommend checking on that before ordering. A couple of downsides: we had to wait about an hour to be seated, even though there were empty tables, and the Coke they served was flat with no carbonation, so I didn’t even want a refill. Despite these small setbacks, I really enjoyed the dinner. The rolls were tasty and filling, the service was excellent, and the ambiance was lovely. I’d definitely...