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Kitto Japanese Noodle House
Category: Restaurants Japanese Japanese [Edit]
Third Place Books17171 Bothell Way NE
Lake Forest Park, WA 98155
(206) 363-0438
- Hours:
Mon-Thu 11 am - 9 pm
Fri-Sat 11 am - 10 pm
Sun 11 am - 7 pm
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Private Lot
- Attire:
- Casual
- Price Range:
-
$
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Delivery:
- Yes
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- No
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Good For:
- Lunch, Dinner
- Alcohol:
- No
- Caters:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
Jens J. said: "I happened to be up on Benson Hill around lunch time so I thought I'd check out New Zen. I was here once with a couple coworkers for lunch well over ten years ago, but other than the name being the same, New Zen was unrecognizable…" read more »
26 reviews for Kitto Japanese Noodle House
26 reviews in English
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Review from Morgan L.
1/15/2012 1 Check-in Here
Not bad, not bad. While waiting for sandwiches from Honey Bear we couldn't resist trying Kitto since we both enjoy sushi and we were curious.
My boyfriend and I tried the California Roll and Tempura Shrimp Roll. Honestly, it was good. Much better than grocery store sushi but not nearly as tasty as my regular sushi spots. -
Review from Heywood J.
San Francisco, CA
3/27/2012
If I could give this place 0 stars, I would.
I had chicken udon, and opened this yelp account with the soul purpose of hopefully keeping at least one person from making the same mistake.
Bland soup, with a few crappy udon noodles, onion slices, and darkmeat chicken. My friend got the sliders at the BBQ joint next door, and was so unsatisfied, he had to go to yet another place, the honey bear bakery, and got yet another shitty meal.
If your hungry in lake forest park, do yourself a solid, and stay away from third place books. Try lake forest bar and grill, or head over to edmonds. -
Review from Di G.
Edmonds, WA
2/18/2012
My sister and I bought a Groupon for it and didn't realize it was in a food court inside a bookstore that felt like a community center.
It took about 20 minutes to get our food -- from a food court restaurant!! That's ridiculous to me!
And when we did get our order, it was not good at all. My beef teriyaki didn't taste at all like teriyaki. It tasted like they just cooked up some cheap flank steak and poured soy sauce over it right before serving up.
My sister had a unagi roll -- meh
Yakisoba had mushy noodles and the pork was just so so.
Overall, being in a food court isn't an excuse for mediocre food and I was highly unsatisfied with the meal. -
Review from W M.
Seattle, WA
4/21/2012
I'm sorry to do this, as I used to enjoy coming here. This is by no means a great place, but they used to hit the mark with a few dishes and seemed nice.
I had the prawn/veggie tempura and as it has been of late, it wasn't cooked properly. The batter was extremely oily and goopy/doughy/gloppy uncooked under a veneer of crispness. The veggies and shrimp are not the best quality and the mix they give is pretty lame. I remember the prawns being large and fresher with a nice selection of quality veggies. no more!
Also, the bubble tea bobos were easily two days old, totally falling apart.
Don't serve food that's going to turn loyal customers away.
The kicker? I had the food remade and it was just as bad. So long, Kitto. -
Review from Hingdi B.
10/24/2011
1 star for convenient location - right next to Third Place Books in the food court.
Parking: it's shared with the Third Place complex.
Ambiance: Well, it's a food court, rather loud, there's usually lots of people, even during the middle of the week in the middle of the day - there's students (Shoreline community college), elderly ladies holding flower club meetings, etc.
Service: Again, it's a food court and you don't have to pay for service so why complain?
Food: This is where I take issue. The chicken in the chicken teriyaki was hard to recognize. I'm used to seeing a whole breast cut into slices but here they threw in small shreds of odds and ends. It was mixed with bean sprouts and cabbage into more of a stir fry. The sauce was thin and lacked flavor. The yakisoba noodles also lacked flavor. It had roughly the same veggies that were thrown into the chicken teriyaki. I had to douse both with hot sauce. I tried the california roll - was on par with the rest of the food.
Recommendation: My 6 year old son would say no, and I would have to agree.
Extra tidbit: It's a Japanese Noodle House owned by Cantonese. The owner told me he learned to cook in Japan and then improved on it mixing in some Cantonese style. He should have left well enough alone. -
Review from Marie H.
Kenmore, WA
2/13/2012
Awh, I don't get the hate Kitto's is getting. This is one of my favorite restaurants. Sure, not the most authentic dishes, but they make the best Walnut Shrimp, Singapore noodles and Mushu Pork around. I am hungry just talking about it. The employees are always nice, and when we order it for delivery, they always get it here quickly.
I wouldn't recommend their Broccoli Beef, though. Its the one thing I've found that I really dislike here. (Of course, it's my favorite at other restaurants).
Honestly, I couldn't care less about where the owners and cooks are from as long as they keep cooking my food the way I like it! -
Review from Paul K.
Seattle, WA
5/29/2011
By far the worst ramen i've had in the Seattle area. Let's go through everything:
Ordering:
The lady on the phone was extremely slow. It took a 5 minute 23 second call (not on hold) to order 2 bowls of ramen, order of cali rolls, and 2 spring rolls. Really?
Parking and location:
It is in a book store in a great parking lot. Plenty of places to park and grab your food.
Broth:
The broth was awful. I ordered the chicken and beef, and the broth tasted like swansens chicken broth.
Protein:
Meat looked gross and the chicken looked gross and tasted worse
Go somewhere else... -
Review from William B.
Seattle, WA
7/15/2009
A teriyaki fan, I always get chicken teriyaki wherever I go. Here it is served with primarily bean sprouts and rice and a what seems like the stringy end of the chicken. It's alright but I have had way better food. The Katsu is not bad but still nothing to write home about.
My biggest issue with the place is cleanliness. One of the cooks, I have never seen him wash his hands, and have seen him just turn around and blow a snot rocket into the trash, then return to cooking. I have even heard a horror story about him going to the restroom and just lifting his apron slightly to take a piss then returning to work. I will never order from them if he is working, and I typically only order from them when I am stuck there at Third Place waiting for a bus.
Don't waste your time there. Go to another restaurant in the commons. And if you want teriyaki, go to Ichiban in Kenmore about a 3 min drive from there. -
Review from Val R.
Kirkland, WA
2/18/2008
Hey Dean,
Dude how the hell can you say this guy is actually Japanese? He's as Chinese as SARS. This place used to be owned by Japanese folks, but they've recently sold to a Chinese family, hence the freakin' Chinese dishes on the menu. But they do look and sound alike.
Pros: Absolutely nothing at all.,, Wait the Miso?
Cons: Everything. Food was cold, and Shrimps mixed in Mayo?
You can always spot a Japanese restaurant that is not owned by Japanese people from a mile away. How? Look at the menu. If the menu consists of Chinese/Korean/Thai, etc items, then most likely the owners of the restaurants are that of the nationalities listed above. Kitto's menu had Beef and Broccoli, Sweet and Sour pork, Bubble tea, their Miso had eggs in it!! It's not egg drop soup!
Japanese restaurants that are owned by Japanese people never sell other dishes such as Chinese, Thai, Korean, etc. The reasoning behind this is "meiyo." Japanese people feel that it would be a dissservice to their customers if they are trying to make a dish that they are not proficient at. So this disservice or dishonor of one's cuisine is why you never see bastardized restaurants owned by Japanese restaranteurs.
So why do I have a beef with this place? Well my girlfriend was hungry and we decided to try this place. Knowing that they weren't Japanese, we decided to order the Honey Walnut Prawns. What we got was an absolute insult to anyone who shells out their hard earned 9.75 for this piece of shit. What we got were six prawns that were microwaved and mixed with mayonaise, sugar and walnuts! Yuck. To top that off the broccoli that came with the dish was still frozen. Kitto translates to Shithole in my book. Fuck them! -
Review from Rachel B.
Seattle, WA
10/20/2006
Well, the gyoza were good and the miso soup was pretty good (though it had soy sauce in it which was weird.) The beef yakisoba sucked. The beef part was ok but the noodles and vegies in the noodles were very bland and pretty greasy. I was excited to see so many bean sprouts in the dish but even they didn't liven it up enough.
I would certainly get the gyoza again and maybe I'll try the singapore fried rice. -
Review from Nourisha W.
Seattle, WA
10/20/2009
Some times a restaurant is a full blown production. Some times a restaurant is just a restaurant. There are no bells and whistles, just good, hearty food. As a certifiable foodie town, Seattle is full of restaurants that pull out all the stops. To my delight, it is also full of places that let you sit down, grab a bite to eat and then be on your way. Kitto Japanese Noodle House was such a place.
It is located in the Third Place Books Commons in Lake Forest Park. I tend to hang out at the Commons because I can pick up books, read, write and get in some great people watching all while enjoying a good meal. Kitto offers many of your typical Japanese dishes with a variety of rice, noodle, teriyaki and tempura options in a food court setting. The staff was very friendly and the service was quick. The highlight was that I can order fried rice and it's actually edible!!! More than edible even, it's good! Maybe you have never heard of Kitto, but I invite you to give it a try. I'm sure you will find it a great place to grab a bite to eat and then be on your way. -
Review from Paul G.
Seattle, WA
11/23/2008
WOW is this place BAD, and I don't mean that in a Michael Jackson sort of way. Really how hard can it be to make a decent bowl of rammen? I was flabbergasted that the broth was bad, what was added to it was bad (seemed to be a frozen veg medley), and the noodles were bad. How is that even possible?
You can make a passable rammen at home with just a 50 cent store package and some fresh broccoli- and maybe a piece of chicken or two if want to get all gourmet.
I am still shaking my head. -
Review from Chinook H.
Lynnwood, WA
6/11/2009
Chinese have got to be the most unsophisticated restaurant operators. The Japanese are able to take something foreign and elevate it. The Chinese take something foreign and screw it up.
This restaurant is an example of how Chinese operators screw things up. Bad. -
Review from J K.
Seattle, WA
At first I thought, this ramen is more like pho than ramen. But I ate it anyway. And I was pleasantly surprised. It actually wasn't that bad. It's not really the sort of ramen I usually crave with all the fatty soup and such, but the noodles at Kitto are actually worth eating.
Listed in: 100+ Seattle Japanese Joints, Ramen
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Review from Boo R.
Kirkland, WA
8/3/2010
Kitto bills itself as "Japanese Food" and even has a neon sign which makes this proclamation. But to be succinct, whatever it is that is served there isn't Japanese food, no matter how you look at it. While inauthentic Japanese food is common, inauthentic Seattle-style teriyaki is not. William B. is spot on about about the Chicken Teriyaki being nothing more than a bean-sprout stir-fry with thin bits of chicken. It bears no resemblance to the teriyaki at any other establishment. It looked to me that it is just an angle to serve up something that has much less actual chicken than its name conjures up in the mind of the average customer. No wonder they had a sign up saying that they were tightening up their refund policy, and "not what I expected" was now less likely to be a valid excuse to return it.
I think that I had the ramen there once a long time ago, and it was ok. At least it wasn't way outside expectations like the teriyaki.
I really like the commons area and the bookstore. But next time I'm around there for lunch, I'll try one of the other options. -
Review from Brian H.
Bothell, WA
12/12/2010 2 Check-ins Here
Good General Tao Chicken, and bubble tea.
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Review from Kelly M.
Seattle, WA
7/19/2007
On my way home from work today I decided to stop by Third Place Commons in Lake Forest Park and check out some of the restaurants inside the mall on a whim. So I poked my head inside and decided to try out Kitto. When I arrived everyone was just sort of standing around during the doldrums between lunch and dinner but as soon as I ordered they all sprung into action to make me some yummy chicken yakisoba. Unlike some places, they didn't pour loads of sauce on the noodles and so it didn't taste too salty. Overall, I had a pretty good meal here and I figure I'll be going back. Apparently the Singapore Fried Rice is good.
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Review from Eutreptia V.
Lake Forest Park, WA
8/21/2009
We love their chicken yakisoba, udon and potstickers.
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Review from Kimberly l.
Pleasanton, CA
3/15/2008
The food here leaves something to be desired. I love there tea and the people who work there are always friendly, but sushi is usually luke warm and everything else is overly greasy. The food always seems to leave me feeling sick and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.
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Review from Yago P.
Bothell, WA
7/27/2011
fast food inside a bookstore... not bad at all.
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Review from Robyn H.
Seattle, WA
10/5/2005
If you're anywhere near Third Place Books, try the Sinapore Fried Rice at Kitto. Its a mixture of everything good in a stirfry. Family owned and very friendly, the employees make your visit a bright spot in the day. I like the Sinapore Fried Rice so much, I haven't tried anything else!
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Review from Amos P.
Seattle, WA
6/28/2010
Good agedashi tofu and walnut prawns. The sushi is only grocery-store quality but the noodles and other cooked items are dependably good.
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Review from Carla S.
Seattle, WA
1/24/2010
I just tried Kitto for the second time last night (delivery!) and I gotta say that they're pretty good! I'm encouraged. The first time I tried them, I thought they were "fine" - a mix of good (the sushi) and not-so-good (the lemon chicken). But last night, I was more conservative with my selection and everything we had was good. So, I'd say the trick is in the ordering. We had the spicy mapo tofu entree (very good), a spicy salmon roll, a california roll (a little dull), miso soup (good), and gyoza (great). The sushi was fresh and well-rolled - not spectacular, but satisfied my craving. The gyoza were some of the best I've had - not too greasy, which is what I usually think about gyoza.
Because they're a low-price, medium quality restaurant over all, you can't compare them to 'real' sushi houses. But test them out. I'd have given them 3 stars ("A-Okay") except that they deliver!! Which, for sushi (or anything besides pizza in this neighborhood), deserves ano extra star. -
Review from Nanon M.
Seattle, WA
3/31/2010
Nope, not again. I would rather eat the crusty leftovers from Safeway's hot case. The Ramen was very bland and my sushi was cheep. I hope I don't get sick in the morning.
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Review from Marie S.
Shoreline, WA
10/19/2009
This is easily the worst sushi I have ever eaten in my life. I got a spicy tuna roll and it was clear that whoever made it was brand new to rolling sushi. The thing was not made with sticky rice and desinigrated when you tried to eat it. Also I'm pretty sure their "spicy" sauce is Sriracha. Waited 15 minutes for my order and I was the only customer there with 2 guys working. Just terrible.
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Review from Denise G.
Seattle, WA
11/30/2009
Best California rolls within 5 miles - great soups and teriyaki. Prices are good and you can usually find a coupon in the mail or Hometown Values. Beware though, the online and offsite phone ordering still has many bugs to work out. Better to just call the store to place your order.
