Tokyo Wako

A rather ordinary teppan house. There’s nothing special here and it’s a little pricier than most others. The show was entertaining and our food was cooked to our liking. The service was good and there’s lots of free parking in the shopping center and the restrooms are clean.

Poor service. Made reservation on mothers day and they made us wait. Told us wait would be 40 minutes. I know it’s busy for mothers day but that’s horrible. We had a reservation. If you can’t manage reservations then don’t take them. We ended up taking our business elsewhere.

Always a great time and food with family here. I love the surf and turf here. Steaks are tender and the staff are friendly. The happy hour specials rock!!! 4 bucks for hot Sake!!! Give me a few please

Wow this is my all time favorite restaurant. The staff calls me by name! I order the lunch special just about every time I go. We always request the same chef because he gives us a little extra food. Jenny is by far the most personable server when we get her. She gives my daughter extra tomatoes and white rice right when we sit down. It’s always nice to have people like that at a restaurant. it makes the evening so easy and nice. We don’t even haft to order. They already know what we want LOL! I can’t say enough about the food, its fantastic! People are always telling me it’s the same as Benny Hannas. No way! it’s better! The sauce and the salad dressing are far superior. Thank you for raising the bar for restaurants Tokyo Wako!

I can not comment on the food because the wait time was so long .Our party of four went elsewhere.
When we arrived at 7:30pm on a Saturday night we were told it would between 30 and 40 mins, after 20 minutes we asked again was was told 10 more minutes, after 15 minutes we asked again and again was told 10 mins. We had it, we saw some guests that arrived after us get seated before us just because they had a larger party. I suggest making a reservation.
This is a rating for customer service.

We use to go to benihana before, but this time my honey and I decided to bring our daughters here, since they are now old enough to enjoy the chef’s show. They were so amazed to see everything cooked in front of them. I think it even made them more excited to actually eat the food as well. Only downside is the woman they sat us with she was such a Debbie — downer and was being rude to the hostess and chef! Our chef was still a great sport about it and kept the show going! The food was delicious my lobster had so much flavor. Over all good experience and good food.

Love this place! They are very busy so be patient. It’s worth the wait! Food is yummy! Cooks are very talented & waitress’s do their best to get what you need!
Advice: be patient & enjoy the show!

Loved the fried rice. Sushi was fresh and very tasty. The cook was great but the server was slow.

My boss brought extra food back from her lunch for me. Knowing that I’m on a high protein low carb diet, she ordered exactly catered to me. It was delicious. I’m not sure if it’s a teppanyaki Japanese spot, but it definitely was satisfying. Lots of beef and scallops and veggies. All wonderful. I want to try it at the restaurant for myself one day.

I love this place been back a few times parking is convenient. I like the entrance they have a really nice fish pond good for Kodak moment. The inside feels very cozy too. This is my fifth time coming back. First time Unilocal here.

Came here on a Tuesday during happy hour 5−7pm and it was quite empty, able to sit wherever we’d like. The onion type soup and salad was pretty good, both those are normal staples though. We ordered the calamari off the happy hour menu for a good price and it came out hot, but sadly wasn’t so good. I think it came with tempura sauce which I didn’t think went well with it so I asked for spicy mayo. But their spicy mayo was different and I wasn’t a fan.
For my entrée I had the Tokyo wako roll. Couldn’t say no to steak on sushi! The sauce that came with it was amazing. Unfortunately the steak was cold which I wasn’t expecting. And rarer than I prefer (yes, I’m one of those horrible people who like well done steaks). Otherwise still delicious. I was thinking about ordering the lobster roll bc that sounded good but glad I didn’t since it has spicy mayo on it. My boyfriend had the sea bass which was sweet and delicious! Just a small portion to his disappointment. We also shared the tempura green tea ice cream which he loved! It was too much cake stuff and not enough fried batter for me though. Guess I’m just used to Vietnamese style fried ice cream. I still ate all the ice cream & whipped cream though.
The service was a bit on the slower side, so not good nor bad.
Overall an alright experience. I wouldn’t mind coming back to try other things on what looks like a variety of delicious entrees on their menu. I do love their koi pond! And I believe there’s one carp in there!

Delicious food! If you like spicy, ask for the «bobby»!
Bobby was a GREAT COOK! Thank you

The setting/​dining area of this place is a little… confusing…
Our server was really nice but the girl at the front desk had a huge attitude.
My santa anita roll wasn’t that bad! But the yakisoba was a little dry in my taste. Great lunch combo and the general quality is meh.

Yes, because I am a creature of habit and when I find good food and good service I usually return to a location. Especially tepan grill places! Tepan seems far-​fetched and I have to travel two cities over to come to this location, but it really is great. From the mixed drinks, entertainment factor, down to the deep fried green tea ice cream, I do not what I would do without Tokyo Wako. Definitely, make it a point to try their tuna steak, and don’t forget to add jumbo shrimp to your order! The soft buttery goodness of seared tuna steak pairs nicely with a glass of Plum Wine. You have the option of telling the chef to what consistency you want your meat cooked and because it is right in front of you while being cooked sending it back is no inconvenience. This is a family favorite for all special occasions and is on my eight-​year-​olds top list of places to eat. You can’t go wrong with Ninja Chicken for the kids not to mention butter garlic in the fried rice, woooh!

The absolute BEST filet mignon you could find!
The setting is a beautiful.
The hibachi chefs are some of the most talented and entertaining around.
You get some much food for your buck, and all top quality.
Amazing salad, soup, shrimp sampler, veggies, fried rice, and top it all off with your choice of meat.
The food is to die for!
Tokyo Wako is much better than all of their competitors, like Benihana, in my opinion.
I’ve loved every meal I’ve eaten there and it’ll always remain a top choice for a night out.
P. S. Their sushi is excellent as well.

We had a last minute 23 person family dinner on a Saturday night. The dinner was originally scheduled for 7 but then got pushed up to 6:30 to try to make it more accomodating for out ot town family members. We did have to wait but their bar/​wating area was convenient while they got our 3 tables of 8 ready for us.
We didn’t have to wait long. It took us longer to figure out who was going to sit with who at which table.
We did have 6 children with us and needed to have adult supervision for them.
I was sitting at the table that ordered last but also ordered the most.
The kids were scared of the big flames and fire but the chefs did a good job keeping it under control and enjoyable for them.
Our chef was very attentive and added more sauce and butter as we asked and split up the orders as we shouted out at him to reportion the orders for different people.
He wasn’t overly showy and over the top with his performance but enough to keep the right people engaged.
Along with our teppan grill items we got a couple sushi rolls and a yellowtail collar appetizer. I loved the baked lobster roll and the yellowtail collar. I wish they had yellowtail sushi items but the baked yellowtail was so delicious. It was so juicy and tender.
I’m usually a rib eye person but I was fine with the new york strip steak because of the seasoned butter they slap on the steak. We had our chef sear the fat pieces to a crisp and we added it to the plate full of awesome yumminess.
Personally I would have liked the grilled corn rather than the grilled bean sprouts but I think it was only for the kids.
I had only heard bad stories about tokyo wako in the past but I’m glad to have gotten the chance to experience it for myself and I hope to return for some of the sushi, steak, and shrimps…

This place gets packed on the weekends so I suggest you make reservations. They can’t seat you until your whole party is present. I came here with my family on a Saturday night and there was a gang of people. The lady hostess when we went wasn’t the friendliest. She never had a smile on her face and you can tell that she doesn’t do well under pressure.
We got seated all the way in the back since it was so crowded, so the entire time, it was hard to get our waitresses attention. She came to check on us like 3 times throughout our whole meal, but more towards the end, she stopped coming. I had to ask a busboy to get her for us.
As for food, I love their food. Back then they didn’t have any vegetarian meals for non meat eaters. I used to just eat vegetables, but now they have actual vegetarian dishes! I always get Buddhas delight, which comes with tofu steak, carrots, broccoli, peppers and udon. They have spicy sauce in it but it’s not spicy at all. Their udon is more on the soft side, I prefer my udon noodles chewy, but i guess I don’t mind. The tofu steak is BOMBBBB! I love love love it, I can eat that as a meal everyday. Their meals also come with a side salad and soup! Ask for their mushroom soup instead of their miso soup, the mushroom one is my favorite.
They will also ask you if you want white rice or fried rice, always order fried rice! It’s an extra $ 2.50 but it’s sooooo delicious. I think it’s because they put 2 kinds of butter in it and sesame seeds! Yummy!
As for dessert, you must get their white chocolate chip ice cream. They have white chocolate chip pieces inside as well, it’s so yummy.

I really wanted to give this place a kick-​ass review, but I can’t.
I was thrilled that I could get a reservation here on Valentine’s Day, day of. When I got to Tokyo Wako, the the restaurant was booked solid and couldn’t take any walk-​ins. My reservation time was 6:30 but my party still had to wait another thirty minutes to get seated. After being seated, my party had to wait an additional thirty minutes for the chef to come. Our chef was really talented, he put on a good show and the food was pretty tasty, but some of my party complained that their meat was really dry. After thirty minutes, and our dinner/​show was over.
Wait: 1.5 stars
Show: 4 stars
Service: 3.5 stars
Food: 4 stars (I had the sashimi salad, it was delicious and filling.)
Ambience: 3 stars — could use some updating
I really wish I could give this a better review, but I can’t.

This review is just for the sushi here. I know that that they are known for the teppan-​yaki grill but my friends and I really wanted sushi so we opted to sit at the sushi bar. Came here on a Saturday night and the teppan-​yaki dinning area was pretty packed so if you are planning on doing the whole teppan-​yaki experience I would recommend getting reservations like others have said.
The servers were friendly and attentive. I ordered miso soup and the sashimi salad which is basically an assortment of sashimi (tuna, halibut, albacore, etc.) on a bed of spring mix with tomatoes, alpha sprouts, and tomatoes. The dressing used was called wasabi yuzu vinaigrette. The dressing was yummy! Felt like it really elevated the salad to another level. Dressing wasn’t spicy at all so for those that don’t like heat no need to worry about that! The fish tasted fresh. Big thumbs up for the salad. Docked a star because I thought that their miso soup was subpar. I’ve had miso soup at a lot of other restaurants and the coloring of this soup was very light and I felt like it was watered down. Aside from that had a great experience!

This was the first restaurant I’ve been to since moving to Monrovia. I didn’t really have high expectations, given that we had tried to go to Maki & Sushi first (but wait was too long), but my chirashi bowl was pretty decent. We sat at the bar, which was fine since we wanted sushi anyway, but right away we figured out that teppanyaki is what this place is about. Probably fun for a special occasion, but I doubt I’ll experience it (done the Benihana thing before). People looked like they were enjoying it though so definitely a fun ambiance.
Everything in my chirashi ($ 17) was buttery deliciousness except the halibut, of which was really chewy. The rice was perfectly cooked and seasoned, and I had learned while in Tokyo, the rice is the most important part! It came with salmon, tuna, halibut and mackerel. My friends’ sashimi salad looked fresh and the rolls came out well presented.
Service was good and we were warmly greeted and attended to. I thought the front entrance was really cool!