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Tanakaya Japanese Restaurant
Categories: Restaurants Japanese Restaurants Sushi Bars Japanese, Sushi Bars [Edit]
130 King StreetLondon, ON N6A 1C5
(519) 850-8838
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- No
- Take Away:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Noise Level:
- Loud
- Has TV:
- No
5 reviews for Tanakaya Japanese Restaurant
5 reviews in English
-
Review from Crystal C.
London, ON
6/15/2010
My husband and I just love this place! The staff (I believe it is family owned and operated, as there is often a young girl doing homework at one of the tables) is unbelievably sweet and gracious.
The sushi is always fresh and delicious, the tempura always crispy, the soba dishes always seasoned to perfection. They have a good (albeit pretty standard) miso soup that starts off the meal, and it just gets better from there.
They used to have a big shelf of neat Japanese trinkets and toys - a lot of Hello Kitty stuff. That shelf is gone now, but they still have some neat little trinkets and things for purchased up at the cash register.
The atmosphere is nice - it's very clean, with modern Japanese decor. It's a small place, but we have never had a problem with getting a table.
All the best to the owners of Tanakaya - we will be back time and time again! -
Review from Karmen Y.
Mississauga, ON
1/5/2012
Wow, I am honestly BEYOND surprised that this restaurant has the amount of praise it does. I am completely baffled by the amount of positive reviews, scratching my head so much it is practically bleeding. It's kinda a surprise because I usually give positive comments for restaurants, but Tanakaya was so bad, I am at a LOSS for words.
Perhaps I consider myself a sushi connoisseur and coming from Toronto, I definitely know how to distinguish good sushi. THIS WAS DEFINITELY THE WORST SUSHI I HAVE TASTED. London has much better sushi in the area - Ozen and Shiki are among my favourites.
tl;dr: I went 1 year ago, and possibly they may have improved since then, but the experience was so terrible I left outraged and so unimpressed, I basically wrote a review wherever I could to warn people not to go through the same ordeal. I will never come back. There are more authentic, better sushi places in London to spend your money on.
FOR THE FULL EXPERIENCE RECAP:
On a Saturday night in October 2010, we were the ONLY sit-in customers during dinner time (around 6 or 7 PM till we left around 8-9 PM). Despite this, the waiter (I believe the son of the owner) got our order WRONG. We ordered a sashimi boat for $18, and they gave us a SUSHI boat for $17.
Mind you, everything on the menu appeared extremely expensive. My date and I went for the sushi boat hoping for the best "bang for buck". It was not. And I am almost confident the others are extremely overpriced, which I can now understand why to keep this business going.
The horror doesn't stop there. The "sushi" boat had about 10 pieces of absolute crap. It was literally 3 pieces of cucumber rolls with seaweed and rice. 3 other pieces had some dry, unfresh fish. And their sushi was NOT authentic - they included the pickled radish that is used in Korean dishes in kimbap (almost the "korean" version of sushi). I'm pretty sure I ordered Japanese sushi... not Korean kimbap. Even Korean-owned Japanese restaurants don't make this confusion.
I was really upset and frustrated that they got the order wrong AND it tasted below expectations. I politely asked the server if they could get us the right order because my date and I were clearly unhappy. He spoke Cantonese to his dad, which I overheard because I understood the language, and I heard that his dad comment that the order was already made, so of course they would not take it back.
The waiter meekly told us no... and I thought... if this were any other restaurant in London, I am almost confident the order would usually be taken back and corrected, or a complimentary something, or even an apology for the screw-up?!? The waiter just sort of shrugged like that was what he heard, even though I explicitly told him what I ordered. Clearly, not only was food below 0, so was customer service.
They charged an additional $2.50 for drinking green tea, usually given for free at any other Japanese restaurant. The points are sinking into the negative zone. I left the restaurant furious, but did not yell. I made a comment that I wasn't happy, and hopefully leaving no tip also gave a signal. -
Review from Sabahat N.
Calgary, AB
8/14/2011
Walked in here when I was craving sushi one day. I was overall very impressed. Service was very attentive, food came fairly quick, and it was delicious!
The takoyaki was delicious, and the sushi was fresh and tasty. -
Review from Ahmad A.
Toronto, ON
5/3/2011
This place is great! The sushi is fresh and made right in front of you! The only drawback is that the rolls are a little small. The location also adds to the value of this place. Tucked in a little corner of Covent Market, it is a great place to eat, with live music and tons of things to do/look at.
-
Review from Alan K.
London, ON
2/10/2011
The best aspect about Tanakaya is how clean the place is. Each time I've been there, the place has been spotless. The service is ok (sometimes extremely friendly, sometimes standoffish) but the food is consistently good. The tempura is nicely crispy, the maki rolls are always fresh, and their beef yaki soba is always a solid choice. The one thing I'm not fond of is their broth for their noodle soups but that's just a personal preference as I know many who love it.
