Tokyo Sushi — Restaurant in Lawrence

On April 7th I decided to make the trek down Massachusetts Street to see what restaurant would be my peek my interest. It was a very nice windy afternoon and I drove all the way to the end of Massachusetts and I felt as though sushi would be the best option for me. The restaurant is called Tokyo Sushi Bar. Walking in it was quite pleasant and really quiet, as I stood in the front waiting to be seated I looked around and nobody was there. I did not think that at lunch time on a Thursday would be so abnormally empty but I was wrong. I waited to be seated for approximately ten minutes and was slightly confused on why it was taking so long to seat someone when nobody is there. I noticed the only people that were working was the waiter and the chef. The waiter finally noticed someone waiting to be seated and rushed to the front to grab a menu. Instantly, after I was seated he brought ice water to me. He apologized for making me wait for so long. I began to scan the menu and was not looking for an endless list of choices but to my surprise there was so many and I didn't think I would be able to choose. The menu was sorted out by categories beginning with popular items, classic starters (appetizers), small plates, salad and soup, sashimi, sushi (nigiri), sushi entrée, classic rolls, specialty rolls, 40% off specialty rolls, 30% off specialty rolls, and finally 20% off specialty rolls. The pricing is reasonable and not expensive at all unless you're ordering a large entree for more than one person. The most you will pay is approximately seven to eight dollars. At the Tokyo Sushi Bar, they have discount sushi everyday of the week. I figured since I have looked over the menu several times front to back I felt I needed to order. For the classic starter or appetizer, I got edamame and the 40% off vegetable tempura roll. Tempura is a Japanese dish of either seafood or vegetables that have been lightly battered and deep fried. Edamame are immature soybeans that come in pods and are steamed or boiled and served with salt, mostly found in the cuisines of China, Japan, Korea, and Hawaii. The edamame were delicious and really fresh and succulent. After about a thirty minute wait my vegetable tempura roll was ready. I was really excited about this dish because I was insanely hungry and because it looked really pretty when coming out. The rolls were elegantly aligned with eel sauce drizzled throughout the seven rolls and was continued on the plate to make it look somewhat like a garnish. I put a roll in my mouth and tasted fully cooked vegetables and seaweed with a slight sweetness of the eel sauce, it was something I had not tasted before. The sushi was rolled very nice with sticky rice and fresh seaweed. The sushi was really exceptional and also had some sort of sweetness to it with a little crunch from the vegetables, they were very delicious. I liked them a lot and I would order the exact thing accompanied by something different, maybe a crunch roll. Overall the experience was wonderful and if I didn't have to wait so long it would have been better. The food was above average and the pricing is not to expensive. The waiter was very kind and he apologized for taking to long which was very...

I usually love this place but this most recent time i went was a bad experience. now i understand that they are a new establishment and are maybe still getting used to all the people that have been coming in recently because of their "half-off rolls all summer" deal. I went in there and wanted to place a to-go order. When i first asked they acted like they did not know what the heck i was talking about, and she told me to wait a second at the podium by the front door. Another waitress then approached me and asked if i had been helped i said no and that i wanted to place a to go order. she then took my order right there, and i asked her "where should i wait?" and she just kinda looked around... she was like "i guess you can sit at that high top table". So I'm waiting and waiting and 20 minutes go by and many different waitresses keep asking me if i have been helped, all of which i reply "yes a girl took my order" they say okay and then ignore me for another 10 mins. by now I've been waiting for like 30 mins... people who came in after me have already gotten their food. To what seems to be the "Manager", comes up to me and asks me who took my order and how long I've been here. i tell him, about 30 mins I've been waiting and pointed out the girl. She comes up and completely apologizes and says it will be out soon. 15 mins go by, I'm there for 45 mins and am getting pissed. i ordered 4 simple rolls off of there like "basic" rolls menu. They weren't like some extravagant rolls or anything. The manager then comes up to me and is like "we usually don't give the half off to "to go" orders but ill make and exception..... and she also put it in for "dine in" so here are some boxes, you will have to box it up yourself".... I couldn't even speak... i was so pissed off. You make me wait almost an hour and it still took them like 20 more minutes to get the rolls to me after they brought me the boxes... like why couldn't you do that before you wasted time putting it on a plate...... AND it took me about 5 more minutes to stop the waitress so i could even pay. honestly no one was paying any attention to me at all, i could have just walked out with the rolls. It is ridiculous that i had to wait a whole hour for my rolls and STILL had to box up my own food? that is not my job and i think i will just stick to Yokohama or WA sushi because that was just...

My girlfriend and I came in on a spooky rainy Monday evening. We were promptly greeted by the bright eyed bushy tailed host and taken directly to our quaint, back of the corner booth(he must of sensed we were trouble ;p) only to find out...our host was also our server! What a treat! Not sure of his name but he looked like a Sven. Sven immediately retrieved our warm bottle of Saki upon request, almost as if he was expecting us. After seating another table of rebel-rousers (multi tasking skills on point) he took our alternate drink orders, my Moscow Mule and my girlfriends orange juice tequila thing she ordered were both killer and coincidentally enough both made by none other than...you guessed it, my man Sven! At that point, we were ready to start munchin on some sushi grindies. Sven took our order of a behemoth Sushi burrito combo thing, a fiery dragon toe of some kind, while we rounded it out with Svens personal favorite(we knew we choose right, if its good enough for Sven, it would be good enough for us!) seaweed, bagged lettuce, and raw fish salad concoction. WOWEE ZOWIEE DID WE CHOOSE RIGHT!!! Not only did Sven take our order without writing a single word, but damn if he didn't get it in promptly and spot on! Our food was so delicious, my girlfriend and I agreed it was on par with Dillons finest "sell by tomorrow" rolls. Anyone who's a townie knows the magnitude of that compliment! We finished our perfect meal and Sven quickly cleared our table of all plates and bowls, in 1 trip mind you (of course, it's Sven!). After asking if we were in need of any other service we told him no and he brought us our check without rushing us in any way to "pay and get the heck outta there!" I can't speak highly enough of our experience. My girlfriend agrees, you can ask her!! Thank you Tokyo Sushi Bar of Lawrence Kansas! You bet your butt (pardon my language)...