Miyako's Teriyaki & Wok — Restaurant in Washington

Well this is a very pleasant surprise. This place has been here for quite a while now and I had never tried it. It's within a couple of miles of my house but a buddy of mine tried it not long after it opened and wasn't impressed so I didn't try it for another 10 years. What a testament to the power of word of mouth reviews from friends. My family loves teriyaki and we would have eaten here dozens of times if not more if we'd know how good it really is. The prices are average but the portions are a little larger than average which is a huge draw for me since it usually seems to go the other way. The food is fresh and the flavors are great. I love the chicken breast teriyaki and the won ton soup. My wife loved the teriyaki as well and my daughters loved the gyoza plate and the won ton soup. I will try the yakisoba noodles next time around because they look pretty good and if the portions are as big as the teriyaki, I should be well pleased. So what you ask finally got us to try this great little place that will be getting a lot of business from us in the future? Another buddy who I do a lot of dining with cited it specifically as being his favorite place with huge portions. We don't always agree on what tastes best but the portion size endorsement put it over the top for me. I've been there twice in the last week. Businesses pay head, I am a marketer and social media is a big part of what I do. This is a great example of how a bad review can lose you a lot of business and a good review can bring you a long term, loyal customer. I have no idea if that first buddy really had bad food or if it was the fact that he was trying to quit smoking at the time and just cranky. You can't always control the subjective opinions of customers but it's a good idea to always do what you can. I'm saying this in general, not specifically to Miyako's because at this point, I think my first buddy...

We used to love getting Miyako's for our family nearly every week for several years. The food was great and the owner was wonderful. Unfortunately there has been a recent change of ownership and the food isn't close to the same -- we noticed right away and our kids won't eat it. Last week out of the blue our friends said, "Hey, have you noticed a change with the food at Miyako's? I think they changed hands. It's not good". The interior of the restaurant has been upgraded but the food and friendliness simply isn't the same. The old Miyako's deserved 5-star reviews but diners need to know that this isn't the same joint at all. Sad to say, but you should ignore all reviews prior to this one. Maybe the new restaurant will improve and deserve a better rating but it won't be from us. By all means make your own evaluation; I'm sure that different people will be fine with the new food (and you might be very happy with them) but I don't believe the new place should earn business based on past reviews from the wonderful business it used to be. This is Miyako's in name only and should be considered a completely different restaurant by...

Miyako's Teriyaki used to be our weekly treat. Nicely grilled, good amount of food for the price.

But for the past year or so the food prep has taken a turn...Not sure if it's a change in cooks, or maybe they don't care about the customer's request: "please don't burn the sauce"! They didn't care. We stopped eating there.

We recently returned to give Miyako another chance in hopes the Spicey Chicken Teriyaki would be as we once enjoyed. Much to our dismay, the Spicey Chicken Teriyaki tasted like the chicken is dredged in sand, then annointed with the sauce. Unsavory taste, even when I try to scrape all the charred sauce off.

Teryaki sauce has a high sugar content, which tends to burn easily. There is a fine line between properly grilled teriyaki...most cooks add the teriyaki sauce towards the end of cooking as a glaze to ensure the sugars caramelize without burning. Or maybe just cleaning the grill between prep would improve Miyako's results.

We will seek another restuarant that knows how to deliver good teriyaki, with equally good customer...