Taste Of Tokyo — Restaurant in North Charleston

Yikes. This place does not deserve its 4 star rating. If you are expecting a buffet, find another restaurant, this isn't a buffet. It's only sushi and hibachi. They are really heavy handed on the spicy mayo, had to scrape some off to actually be able to taste anything besides mayo. It was like every sushi roll that had a sauce went for a swim. The cooked food was rough too. It's pretty hard to make shrimp both over and undercooked at the same time, but somehow, this place managed it, twice. Almost charcoal one side, almost uncooked on the other, same with the sausage. Not just 1 unlucky piece either, all of them. I even went back for a 2nd bowl to give them a chance at a do over, and the 2nd plate was just as bad. I think they just chucked it on the flat top and never flipped anything. No seasoning. The cheese wontons were cooked to death. They popped open in the fryer, leaked all the cheese out, and came to me as empty, greasy, hollow shells. The egg roll was super dark and greasy. Seems like it's been a while since the oil was changed. The fried rice was dry and bland. Chicken wings had potential, good flavored seasoning, but came out doused in uncooked cold teriyaki sauce and ruined any chance they had at greatness.

The place is also quite run down. Booths and chairs needed to be replaced or refinished 5 years ago at least. As you walk in, there's a big pile of half ripped open cardboard boxes on tables with duck sauce and the typical Chinese take out items and plastic silverware. This isn't a date night kind of place. A Waffle House feels more upscale.

I honestly think this place only survives because it's conveniently located near tons of hotels. I can't understand why it has so many high rated reviews. I guess if you're drunk and in a hotel room, anything tastes like 5 star food.

It seemed to have a thriving stream of Uber eats drivers, which also explains the prominent placing of the grab and go items by the entrance.

The waitress rubbed me the wrong way too. She asked "How was the food?" and I very politely told her "Not bad, I've had better. You might want to pass along to the cooks they need to flip things on the flat top." Then I showed her one of my two tone shrimps. Her reply? "Well, I think you must have enjoyed it, you even went back for another bowl." Like I said at the...

First off, I don’t know what it means by a buffet in SC but in CT (from where we came to visit) it means displaying the food with labels and we can serve as we want. But this place gave us a paper to write on about what we wanted and the items didn’t have their description or ingredients written on them. I am a vegetarian. I was looking for some safe and sure vegetarian stuff with the names. There was not enough people around to even ask and nobody even came to the table to see if we had any questions. So, it had an item named as Cheese wontons. For me, that means cheese in a wonton. Also, in the special instructions portion I wrote VEGETARIAN (in caps) just like this. But again they served the cheese wontons with crab. It may be a normal way to prepare that but as a first time person in the restaurant and a vegetarian that is not so common for me. The owner is so rude and doesn’t know a thing about customer service. She didn’t say sorry once or offer to us that we don’t need to pay. That is the least that someone can do in that situation. But she kept arguing and arguing and explaining that she didn’t know that I was a vegetarian. Well obviously you didn’t know but when I had written it on the paper, how come the staff concerned didn’t read it either. How come after writing it clearly nobody paid attention to it. I have been to restaurants before and sometimes when they are not clear about something they come back and confirm but nothing like that happened. Everything here was so bad - the buffet is not a buffet but actually feels like an exam and they say it is all You can eat but nobody gives you the sheet of paper to write what you want, they also charge you $5 extra if you don’t finish, they had no salads, they have no dessert options other than a kiddie size strawberry ice cream, all of their food portions were so small (my vegetarian sushi came with only 4 pieces). After all this their buffet charges are $20 each which is ridiculous. This place didn’t even seem 1% hospitable, or even hygienic. PLEASE DONT GO. We were 3 people and were so disappointed and frustrated by the time we left that we told the staff that we will not...

Food Review – Taste of Tokyo, North Charleston, SC Visit Date: Saturday, August 9, 2025 – Around 6:00 PM

I have been a loyal customer of Taste of Tokyo for years since April 2019 because of the consistently tasty food. It’s been one of my favorite spots in North Charleston, and I’ve often recommended it to friends and family. On this particular visit, I was excited to bring my out-of-state relatives here so they could experience the food I’ve enjoyed so many times before.

While my relatives did compliment the flavor of the dishes, our evening took a disturbing turn that has permanently changed my opinion of this restaurant.

During the meal, one of my daughters pulled a metal strand—the type you might find from a metal food scraper—out of her bowl of her favorite dish. She showed it to the table, and I immediately brought it to the attention of one of the workers (an older lady who sometimes wears her hair in a ponytail). She agreed to remove my daughter’s meal from the bill, which I appreciated. However, she then handed us another dish intended for my other child, which felt strange given the seriousness of what had just happened.

By that point, our appetite and mood were gone. We decided to leave immediately, regardless of how much food was left uneaten.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the only unsettling thing we saw. Two young men were sitting at a nearby table waiting for drinks. The youngest worker on staff dropped an empty glass cup on the floor. Instead of disposing of it, she picked it up, filled it with tea, and served it to one of the young men at the table.

This visit left me embarrassed, especially in front of my relatives, who I wanted to treat to a wonderful dining experience. Instead, they witnessed my daughter pulling metal out of her food. I am deeply grateful that my daughter always checks her food before eating—otherwise, the situation could have been far worse.

Sadly, I will not be returning to Taste of Tokyo. This was more than just an accident—it was a serious lapse in food safety and hygiene that I...