Tomo Sushi & Ramen — Restaurant in Philadelphia

Our experience with Tomo started off promising, but ultimately was quite underwhelming. It was fine at best, and while nothing was actively bad, most of the dishes were unimpressive and did not give me any reason to come back.

To start off with the good though: it's a really charming and beautiful space! It's very wood-forward, the decorations are pleasant and inviting, and the tables were unique. It's a fairly compact restaurant which makes it feel pretty cozy. Also, our gyoza appetizer (not pictured unfortunately) was the one food item that was really really good. Finally, it's a BYOB which is definitely a plus.

The rest of the food and service was quite middling, however. It took me a while to pick a sushi roll from their "specialty rolls" section, since most rolls had at least one or two fairly odd ingredients that was offputting. I decided to play it safe and go with their "Tomo roll", the first on the list and since it bears the restaurant's name should be a good representation of what they have to offer. It looked aesthetically beautiful... but simply did not taste good. It was very bland, and the abundant cilantro was just weird. My eel nigiri were good, pretty comparable to what I would get anywhere else.

The biggest disappointment was the ramen, which was completely unimpressive. The broth (we got shoyu) had no depth of flavor and something was off about the texture of the noodles. It wasn't actively bad, but there wasn't anything actively good about it either. I would not recommend the ramen.

Finally, the service was ok but all our food was brought out at the same time except one party member's ramen bowl, which came out about 20 minutes later than everything else. We were pretty much finished by the time this person actually got their food, which was a little bit awkward.

Overall I think if you go to Tomo you won't have a bad experience by any means, but you may be left very underwhelmed and probably look elsewhere. Everything looks nice and the sushi rolls do look beautiful, but it makes it a bit more disappointing when most things are...

Fun little spot that is good for a party of 1-4.

Staff were exceptionally nice and very courteous, but it was busy so service was a little slower than some sushi spots, I found it to be a comfortable pace to relax and really enjoy our meal without feeling rushed.

Ordered a single of the saba sashimi +two sashimi for one (the regular size, not deluxe) which was decent. The portion we received for the price was very fair and better than some of the neighboring locations. The fish felt fresh, and most had a good texture. I noticed that most of the grouping of my fish were still connected at their corners like the chef didn’t slice all the way through to their ends but I was able to carefully pry them apart with my chopsticks. The salmon we received was chilled so hard, a couple degrees more and it may be solid, which detracted from its texture and made it rather flavorless. The seasoning liquids they use for their firmer fish are quite lovely, subtle, with slight tang and freshness to contrast the salty sea flavor.

The interior is decorated with a lot of bright wood accents and soft, warm lighting. I saw some tables with BYOB glasses filled with wine, champagne, and a small group enjoying Asahi beers they brought. Other diners like myself drank from the nonalcoholic menu with delight too

Oh! And the house dressing for the salad here rocks. A nice balance between the sweetness, warm ginger, sesame, and other flavors. It’s not too overpowering where it lingers in your mouth too long.

We are glad we made reservations. It looks like the wait was short, but on a busy and warm Sunday night there’s not much room to wait outside...

✨ BEST VEGAN RAMEN/SUSHI ✨ If you are vegan, you must come here! TOMO is a beautiful & cozy ramen/sushi place that has regular choices as well as a mind blowing selection of vegan finds! So many ramen places just offer one or two vegan things and that’s it- NOT at TOMO!

We loved the decor & ambience. It feels like a fancy sushi place you would find in NYC with a cozy vibe. Wooden accents, Edison bulb lighting & plants fill this space.

Now for the food… wow. So good.

What we got:

My partner got the chicken ramen & said it was the best ramen he has ever had. Flavored perfectly, lots of noodles, & the chicken was cooked perfectly.

I got the vegan ramen. Also lots of noodles. The broth was creamy & lots of flavor. I feel lots of ramen shops that do vegan just do a basic veggie broth- but TOMO knocked it out of the park. Lots of mushrooms & the seitan was flavorful & cooked perfectly tender & paired well with the flavorful broth! Ive had a lot of vegan ramen- and this is the best!

They have a huge selection of sushi AND vegan sushi. Not your average avocado/cucumber rolls (but they also have that if that’s your jam) They have mock seafood sushi rolls too. I got the “chao” roll which was vegan cream cheese, mushrooms & vegan cheese. It was really good & a flavor I have not have yet as vegan sushi.

Seriously beautiful food too. The sushi came out on a wooden plank & was artfully placed. Even the ramen looked beautiful but tasted even better!

Do yourself a favor and go here! Its great because everyone can find something here- ramen, sushi & vegan choices! We were so happy we tried this place &...