Okaeri Japanese Cafe & Anime — Restaurant in Rockville

My husband and I thoroughly enjoyed our visit. Things were fairly priced, which was helpful since we ordered a BUNCH of things to try. We travelled from over an hour a way just to try it and we left extremely satisfied. Here is the rundown of what we got: -Strawberry souflee pancakes. They were to die for. Super light and fluffy. It practically melted in my mouth. And the flavor was perfect, just the right amount of sweet. -Hamburger steak with a extra of a potato croquet. It was a good option for a savory item. Yummy, but not too crazy of a flavor profile if you are just trying Japanese food. The potato croquet was perfectly crisp and had the creamiest potato inside. -Mitarashi Dango. It has a chewy start and then sort of melts in your mouth. It can be an acquired texture, and may not be the best option for people wary of textures. However, the flavor profile of the sweet soy sauce glaze was amazing! -Takoyaki. I have had these octopus balls before at a different restaurant, and the ones they serve here are just as amazing as the ones I have had before. Did not disappoint. -Onigiri. We got two flavors, a spicy karaage and the konbu. The spicy karaage lived up to the name and was definitely spicy. Perfect if you want something with some spice. The konbu was nicely flavored seaweed with sesame. It got pretty salty in the middle bites, but nothing too salty to make it unpalatable. Drinks. We got a Green tea pot. It was a smaller teapot that I was expecting and came with two cups. Not enough tea to go along with the amount of food we ate, but would maybe suffice if you were getting one meal. I feel like I read on the website that you could get one refill of it, but in the establishment there was no sign or anything obvious stating it. We could have possibly over looked it though. Then I got a blue cream soda (since the tea wasn't enough) it was a good cream soda flavor with a scoop of vanilla ice cream in it. My husband got a yuzu lemonade. He thought it was too lemony, but to me the flavor was a nice balance of tart to sweet. I didn't enjoy the bits of lemon coming into the straw though.

If I had to give any constructive criticism it would be that the seats kind of sucked. They were these laid back chairs. They were comfortable for if you want to sit back and read, but not really good to seat and eat. I had to sit on the edge of the seat to properly eat. There was a little couch area and another seating area that looked better, but they were already taken. And the main floor of the dining area all had the same weird chairs as we had. If anyone with a disability that prevented the use of those types of chairs came in and the other slightly easier spots weren't open it could be rather difficult for them. The only other thing is I wasn't quite sure what to do with our trash. It wasn't the most obvious, and of course no one else was getting up yet so we couldn't copy them lol. We had to ask a worker what to do. It seems a employee waits by a waste area to take your trays when you are finished. I'm not sure if that's all the time or just cause of how busy it was...

Went here with some friends yesterday and got take out. This place has a bit of an odd layout. When you first walk in, its a VERY cramped "gift shop" and the actual restaurant is in the back. They sell typical anime store stuff, prize figurines, cheap cosplays, blind boxes, pins and keychains, etc. Nothing terribly new or exciting. If there are a lot of people waiting around waiting for a table, I can imagine it gets crazy in there-- just like the restaurant. Which, as many reviewers have said previously, is a nightmare.

I can tell by the layout that they modelled this area after a "third space" ie Starbucks or many Asian bakery chains. However, and I hate to say it as I love third spaces, this place simply does not have the capacity for that-- with the anime store taking up half the space, there is a really bad lack of seating issue. The chairs are lounge style and are already awkward to sit in, much less eat in. (We sat down and waited for our food to come out) If this were just a café selling desserts and drinks, this would be okay-- but they also have a wide variety of dinner options. Personally, I think adding a few dinner tables and removing a few of the more "café" styled tables and chairs would improve this place.

Secondly-- the food. I got the Pork Katsu Cutlet Curry. To be fair, I did get it to go, so I didn't get the nice presentation of the dinner plates in house. However, the food was honestly lackluster. The pork cutlet was very good- it has a unique almost sweet and salty flavor. But the curry itself was extremely underwhelming. It was a plain sauce with no vegetables cooked in, which seems unusual. Even most fast food curries in Japan will have SOME vegetables inside the curry sauce, at least onions. This was more like "Katsu Cutlet with Rice and Curry Sauce" rather than a true curry. So I was a bit disappointed, especially because the curry tasted very generic. Not bad, but I could go to any Asian market and get a curry block that tasted just as good. I also paid close to $20 for this dish and I don't think that was a justifiable price-- the cutlet was not huge and there was literally nothing else of nutritional value except a tiny side of cabbage. The dessert sandwich I had was ok, but it was pretty old looking, I don't think it was fresh which was a bummer. I will say-- the Kakigoori (shaved ice) and pancakes I saw looking around the restaurant were HUGE. Those I can say are probably worth the hefty price.

All in all this place has potential to be a fun place to spend an afternoon, as the service is fine and it is a clean establishment, but it needs some major improvements-- seating arrangements are really a detriment, and it is hugely overpriced on the dinner options for what you get, even by standards of the upscale...

Food was 5/5. Speed of food was also extremely quick. Came on a Monday night. Food was ready in less than 10 minutes and soufflé pancakes in less than 20 minutes.

We were initially hesitant because of some bad reviews, but there’s actually a decent amount of seating (around tenish tables and a tatami area on the right that can probably sit about 10 more). It does feel like a cafe and you order on the kiosks. The food came out really fast and very well made, and the taste was authentic and reminded us of the food we had in Japan.

The onigiri was the star of the show. I got the mentaiko onigiri and my husband got the spicy tuna mayo. The rice was cooked perfectly— it was not mushy and every kernel was intact. It’s served room temperature warm and was stunning. Good amount of ingredients too for how big the onigiri is.

I got the shrimp udon and my husband got the demi glace omurice, both had authentic flavors. Broth was light but flavorful with lots of seaweed and green onion. The demi glace was rich and smooth, and the egg on the omurice was so tender and soft. We both agreed that there was nothing to complain about with our dishes and that they were up to par with what we had in Japan.

We also got the matcha soufflé pancakes, and they were 10/10. We’ve had many soufflé pancakes before living in SoCal, and these were on par and possibly better because of their sweet red bean paste, matcha syrup, and the layer of thin mochi on top of the pancake. (There was one review claiming they are too eggy but soufflé pancakes are supposed to taste eggy. That’s how they rise so well and are so soft). They use high quality matcha powder to top off the pancakes and in the syrup with no graininess.

Overall we were very impressed and pleasantly surprised at how authentic the food is! The prices are very reasonable considering the quality of the food too and the technique that is required to do these things well. Definitely come not on a weekend to avoid long wait times :) we’ll...