Okaeri Cafe — Restaurant in Richardson

My little sister keeps on asking me to take her to Okaeri ever since our first visit!! This Japanese cafe offers drinks and authentic Japanese bites in a cutely decorated place adjacent to DFW chinatown.

Here are my thoughts on everything I've tried so far:

Matcha Latte w/ Strawberry Foam: this is a Valentines Menu Special, but I really hope this becomes a permanent addition. This is the best strawberry matcha drink I've ever had. The strawberry flavor was very fresh and natural and the foam was delectably creamy. Okaeri uses ceremonial grade matcha, which is evident by the color and high quality matcha taste. (5/5)

Pandan Matcha Latte: Also another limited Valentines Menu drink (was told it'd be available till end of Feb). If you like Pandan, I recommend you give this drink a try! Because Pandan is used in desserts, my only nitpick is that I wish the latte was a tad sweeter. (4.5/5)

Bento box: you can pick and choose your protein and sides for the bento box. I picked the tonkatsu, seaweed salad, and pasta salad. Everything was great!! (4.5/5)

Chicken Katsu Onigirazu: the chicken Katsu itself was tender and still crispy despite being encased in rice. However, the ratio of rice to filling was off for me... there was way too much rice. (3/5)

Omurice: this is my first time trying Omurice. The rice is topped with a tornado style omelette and a Demi glace. The presentation is beautiful. While it's not my favorite variation of a fried rice and egg dish, it was still very solid. (4/5)

Takoyaki: finally had good Takoyaki!! I've been fascinated by takoyaki ever since I was a kid lol, but all the places I've been to always undercook the batter... well that wasn't the case here. The toppings were really yummy and it was cooked perfectly. (5/5)

Customer service was great, and they do a good job cleaning in between guests despite how busy this place gets. There's a bar table right next to the windows with outlets and bag hooks. The wi-fi was pretty reliable, although the seats at the bar top weren't that comfortable. The traditional seating looked appealing at first, but the tables are kinda small. (please take off your shoes if you're sitting in the booths!!!)

Also... as a friendly reminder, there is nuance between a cafe and a restaurant. The seating here is limited as it’s a smaller space, and guests may stay longer to study/hangout/whatever. I wouldn't go here if you have a large party (like more than 4 people, which is...

I found this cafe after looking through the area. Noticing that they had some traditional seating available, I thought it would be a good idea to check the place out so I went with a friend. We went there on a weekday evening around 6 PM, and it was packed. All three traditional seating areas were occupied and the only spots available were near the bar area. I also noticed a few people had their laptops out and were working. For some reason, it had not crossed my mind that this was a cafe (coffee and tea being served). I went to the front and ordered a few items. The menu on their website had not been updated with current prices as there’s a national shortage of eggs, but there was a sign to the side that indicated that the price would be increasing by $2-3. Anyways, I ended up ordering a Takoyaki, Tofu Katsu Doggu, and Omurice. My friend ordered a Omusoba.

I received all my items before my friend even though he had placed his order before me. The takoyaki came out hot. I wasn’t really paying attention how hot it was until I bit into the first one. I’m not sure if they let the takoyaki sit a little before garnishing and serving because every piece was extremely hot. I burned my tongue after the first takoyaki so I recommend anyone trying this dish to be careful when they bite into one or that they cut in half before eating. I posted another picture of how it looks when being cut in half. There were small pieces of octopus inside the takoyaki, and this tasted decent apart from my tongue being burned. I feel like my experience wasn’t too great following that. Everything that came out after looked visually amazing, but in terms of taste, was nothing special.

My friend and I split the tofu dog. This was basically a loaf of bread cut in half with some coleslaw and fried tofu piled on. The spicy mayo barely added any flavor to the tofu hotdog. I wasn’t really a fan and the tofu itself lacked flavor. The bread was crisp and had a crunch when biting into the hotdog. My friend thought it was pretty mediocre as well. The omurice was a little overhyped. Not sure if I’d pay that much (even with the egg shortage) for the quantity I received. It was basically a cup of rice with an omelette and garnish on top. The umami broth around the dish added some flavor, but again nothing special. My friend thought his Omusoba was alright.

If anything, I recommend you go check this place out for the ambiance and...

This is such a cute spot!! We came here to check out their egg sando and some other dishes and we were pleasantly surprised!

The egg salad sando tasted identical to the ones we would buy from 7/11 in Japan. Same texture, consistency, flavor and most importantly, the same taste in the milk bread.

My husband and I ordered some bento boxes and we both agreed the shrimp one tasted better than the chicken one but the chicken one wasn’t awful! It was just okay. The shrimp one is definitely one we strongly recommend to get if you’re going to get a bento box.

Unfortunately though we didn’t love the potato salad, it didn’t feel airy like other Japanese style potato salads but it was still a generous serving!

We also tried out the melon cream soda which was refreshing! Presentation was also nice too, wasn’t the best dessert I’ve ever had though but it was still very enjoyable!

Strawberry cold foam matcha latte was definitely pretty good! The presentation, the matcha flavor, the sweetness from the strawberry. This alone would make me come back! And they have like 8+ other flavor combinations of matcha to try from! Need to try more!

Atmosphere is great, this place was decorated by someone who really loves Japan and Japanese culture! They even have tatami/traditional style seating which I’m personally not used to so I wasn’t a fan of it but it is definitely nice to have as an option. They do have regular seating as well!

Hope to come back again in the...