Tokyo Tei — Restaurant in Maui

The staff was incredibly kind and I loved them, so It hurts my soul to leave this review but this place tasted beyond bad, it is borderline not edible. I swear I hope Im just unlucky because the little interior details everywhere is absolutely formerly Japanese immigrant level stuff, a history slowly fading away in Hawaii. I wish I could help in preserve this culture that I cherish so dearly (it’s a very personal connection I have with this immigrant Japanese diaspora)

But the flavor is not just subpar, it was flat out bad. The fried stuff was greasy, and the pickled cabbage is musty and old. I wish them success in their restaurant business, but they seriously should not be making Japanese food. I would love for them to learn and then bounce back, because the legacy that emanates from the walls of this place is rich and real. They just have nothing food related to back this legacy up.

I actually tried to finish the food to be polite, but I gave up (I later learned that The original multi generation owners sold this business to a new entity of some sort, and I wish these new guys the best of luck, but based on my visit I just have to give them the stars. I really hope this place...

Zero stars needs to be an option (1star is required to post a review n that's being WAYY too generous) Mac salad was miracle whip, end of story..well, it usually would've been but the shrimp n vegetable tempura was so disgusting it needs to b mentioned....Vegetables inside tempura were soaked in oil n inedible(they were mush n disintegrating) Let staff know and showed them the insides of the inedible tempura but no concern or even offer to remake, just pay ur money n leave hungry basically. Told the waitress the mac salad was made w/miracle whip n she acted surprised like she had no idea..."oh,.really?" she said. Oh, not to mention we waited so long for our food, 45 min but then I noticed in the distance from our table, our ticket was still on the spinning thing the cooks grab from to start an order..had to bring it to staff's attention n then ticket was taken down n food came out about 15 min later.. so yeah, an hour for our inedible food to come out. Completely disappointing experience all...

I really don’t like leaving negative reviews but this was honestly one of the worst meals I’ve had. I arrived around 7pm, was seated, ordered my food, and didn’t receive my meal until close to 8pm. The restaurant was at half capacity at most. I ordered the teishoku combo and was disappointed by how little food there was in the bento box. Three small pieces of kalbi and four thin slices of sashimi. I’ll admit the sashimi was incredible quality but that was the only remarkable thing about the food. Service was incredibly slow and my waitress only came by to check on me once. I noticed another family who seemed to be waiting a while for their food, too. Hope management...