Little Tokyo — Restaurant in Killeen

If you're looking for sushi, don't go to Little Tokyo. They don't serve sushi, as they don't make sushi rice. My partner and I ordered the gyoza, naruto roll, chriashi (which comes with miso soup and salad), the romantic roll, and a bottle of sake.

The hostess asked how she could help us, rather than offering a table. We asked for a table for two. She repeated her question "How can I help you" another two times before we finally got her to understand that we wanted a table for two. We were starting to think that the restaurant was reservation only, given her reluctance to seat us. Nearly every table was empty, which made this interaction even more awkward and confusing.

The gyoza was the only thing that tasted good, but it had a chunk of bone in it, and it was only lukewarm when it hit the table. Two minutes later, we were eating cold gyoza with bone shards.

The naruto roll looked good to me, but my partner thought it looked weird like maybe the fish was not fresh? I didn't agree with that, but I do see how the sticky sweet sauce it was doused in may have been off-putting given that it is a cucumber wrapped roll that's intended to be fresh and light. The cucumber was sliced so thick, rather than paper thin, and it looked like it was sliced by an amateur, not a sushi chef. As a result, it was impossible to pick up a piece without it falling apart completely. It was difficult to eat and not enjoyable.

The miso soup was bland, and strangely sweet. I have had miso soup from many different restaurants before, and they differ slightly from one place to the next, but I've never had a miso soup that tasted like it had sugar added to it, and I've never had one that I felt needed any soy sauce. This one did.

The salad is not something I ever expect much from, as it is usually just some lettuce with shredded carrots and ginger dressing, but this salad was all the thick white core parts of the iceberg lettuce. The part that you usually throw away. It also had nothing else in it other than lettuce and a very watery dressing.

The chirashi was not chirashi. Chirashi is traditionally served as a bowl of sushi rice with assorted pieces of raw fish on top. This was not that. It was a very large plate, about a foot and a half in diameter, with 2 pieces each of tuna, salmon, yellowtail, snapper, and whitefish sashimi. Most of the space on the plate was filled with radish. There was a tiny mound of half frozen seaweed salad, the ice made it crunchy, and a small mound of octopus salad. Lastly, was a little bowl of rice topped with what looked like eel sauce, sesame seed, and furikake. I dug under to taste the rice without any toppings and it wasn't sushi rice. It was plain white rice, without even any salt. I couldn't believe it. I reached over and scraped some rice off of my partner's romatic roll, and it was also not sushi rice. Just plain unsalted white rice.

Lastly, the sake. I ordered my favorite Sho Chiku Bai Nigori sake, and even specified that it was the green bottle. I was served Sho Chiku Bai Daiginjo (this one is in a clear bottle with a pink label). The bottle was already open, so I went ahead and drank it anyway because I'm not here to waste alcohol, but it wasn't what I wanted and the food was so bad that I didn't bother to try ordering another bottle of the sake I wanted.

The total came out to about $100, which is what I would expect to pay for really good sushi. This was not that. Everything was low quality. It was definitely overpriced for the quality...

Bottom line up front: I would eat here again. Don’t go in there expecting Applebee’s prices, it’s not that sort of joint. The food quality was pretty good and the prices were on par with what you’d expect of a Japanese restaraunt. I’m not here to dispute or reinforce other reviews, I’m only providing my perspective.

The Environment: I stopped in and had lunch with my family on a Saturday - we decided against sitting at the Teppan Grill and chose the regular dining area. Seating was decently spaced and clean at the booths as well as the tables. It was comfortable - and even with a weekend lunch crowd - it didn’t feel like everyone was on top of each other. The dim lighting helped create the illusion of intimate space and the other patrons faded nicely into the background while we carried on our conversations.

The Service: The hostess greeted us promptly and we were seated immediately. The server was at our table just as the hostess stepped away. She made a mental note of our orders and returned in a blink with our drinks. Throughout our visit, our server was attentive to our questions and good about keeping our drinks topped-off.

The Food: We chose our lunches from the bento box menu options and also ordered a decent sampling of 8-9 varieties of nigiri sushi as well. Each of the bento selections included a main meat, 4 pieces of California roll, 2 pieces of fried gyoza, and fried rice. The shrimp tempura bento meal came with 2 pieces of pre-packaged battered shrimp along with some vegetable tempura - decent, but definitely not created from scratch on-site. The steak and chicken teriyaki bento meals had 5-6 slices each and both were pretty okay, but not great. All of the side items were standard fare and of good quality. Our sushi arrived on two large platters; the visual presentation was great and the cuts were uniformly consistent. If judging the nigiri sushi in the categories of portion size/thickness of meat, flavor, and freshness on a scale of 1 to 10 - with 10 being best - I would rate their nigiri sushi a 5 in size, 7 in flavor, and 8 in freshness. The cuts were not skimpy, but they were definitely not the most robust pieces I’d ever seen - very good,...

Showed up 5 mins early for our reservation. Had to wait 30 mins before being seated because of "insert fast spoken excuse". Had our order taken by our server who seemed kinda out of it. She can back 10 mins later and tossed the sushi roll into the table, and then for the better part of the meal was gone. Chef came out and did his thing which is always entertaining. The whole time the what I assumed was bus girl got our refills, took finished plates and was overall friendly and kind. Soon after getting the food platted my fiancee found a metal shaving in her food....not good. Our server came by to ask how our food was after being absent most of the meal, and I politely showed her the metal shaving, simply saying that she may want to tell the chef to check his tools. 10 mins later the manager came, offered to replace my food, my fiancee's food, and my little sisters food... But not the other 2nppl at our table who ate from the same cook top... Also not good. Serve then immediately brought checks and togo boxes...while I had a mouth full of food. All in all, the food tasted good as usual, the chef was awesome, but the service was pretty poor. Between having issues making the reservation ( called 3 days ago and was told I had to call day of. Called day of and was told it had to be made atleast one day prior), having to wait because of a reason that wasn't clear, our server spending most of the night looking at her phone, and then trying to rush us out the door I was gonna rate 2 stars and be done. But the bus girl was so charming and attentive she kinda saved the night by getting refills, clearing plates, chatting with customers (you know... The servers job) all while still clearing empty tables, cleaning, and sweeping floors. Didn't get her name, but if her manager sees this (we were there 1/12/21 between 7-9) she deserves...