INO is authentic. The best part, it’s not sushi centric like most Japanese restaurants in DFW. Their food is more akin to one of those cafes in Japan. You’ll get fares like Omurice, Kare Riasu, Onigri, Katsudon, and other fabulous Japanese food. It’s such a shame that Japanese cuisine is so misunderstood outside of Japan, especially here in America. Not only is it sushi centric here, it’s gringo sushi. Japan has so much more to offer. Fortunately, INO fills that viod. They offer everyday food that most Japanese will eat. They also have an omakase for dinner which is unusual for a restaurant serving this type of Japanese food. I’m very curious and will be back to try their omakase. For today, I tried the Katsu Kare and Nikatsu. It hit all the right spots in the comfort food kinda way. The kare sosu for the Katsu Kare was delicious. Like most Japanese curry, it has little or no heat. The Katsu was delicious. I wished I had another piece. The Nikatsu was well executed. The sauce is not overly sweet like most Katsu here. The Katsu was tender and had a good fat ratio. The flavors here are definitely catered for the Japanese palate. Will RTE!
Shreelesh G.
Tu valoración: 4 Dallas, TX
Good Sushi. good food… an authentic Japanese restaurant. Prices seem to be a bit on a higher side.
Joseph L.
Tu valoración: 3 Dallas, TX
Yowza! To me this place seemed REALLY overpriced for what they offered. Went with my family and the food was good but pricey pricey pricey!
Roger Y.
Tu valoración: 4 Yorba Linda, CA
An authentic Japanese restaurant in North Texas. Who’d a thunk it? Most Japanese places in this area serve those non-Japanese sushi rolls catered to the American taste. Ino Japanese Bistro serves authentic Japanese dishes prepared the way Japanese would like it. Sure you can find the usual chicken teriyaki. But there are a lot of other Japanese dishes like oden, yakizakana, and sashimi. It may be a little pricey for the area but that isn’t unusual for good authentic Japanese food.
Ashley C.
Tu valoración: 5 Houston, TX
I had an awesome experience at this bistro! While there were a few things that I did not like, I definitely recommend it for anyone looking for filling, tasty Japanese food. Right away, I noticed how caring and courteous my server/waiter was. They set up everything quickly and ushered me to my seat. They also gave me a small charm that I keep in my wallet. After ordering my meal, they gave me a small head of cabbage as my appetizer. It was light and flavorful. I ordered«Assorted Tempura with Udon soup.» The Udon soup was so so delicious! The broth was not too heavy and not too light. The texture of the Udon was not too slimy or tough either. It had a few seaweed pieces thrown in there. I am super picky about the saltiness of my food and the Udon soup was the perfect amount. The assorted tempura was also pretty good! It was a bit too breaded and oily for my taste but the actual food inside the batter was tasty. It included potatoes, shrimps and vegetables. The texture and flavor were by far the stronger parts of the dish. Now about the price: I walked into the restaurant already knowing it would be a little on the pricy side. My whole meal was around $ 22. While it was a bit expensive, it is a family owned business and I believe the food and service made it well worth it. Just take a good look at the menu to stay within your budget.
Melina H.
Tu valoración: 5 The Colony, TX
The menu reminded the hubs and I so much an Izakaya we ate at in Tokyo. The have dinners with multiple courses however we opted to dine Izakaya style(small plates). We had a tuna sashimi dish, pork and egg dish, pickled sea cucumber, and chicken yakitori(salt and pepper seasoned vs. a sticky teriyaki sauce). The pork melted in your mouth but the dark horse was actually the yakitori — soooo delish for such a seemingly simple dish. We ended the night by splitting an udon. The broth was the star(as it should be). Our servers were absolute gems and we can’t wait to bring the kids back so they can remember some of the wonderful times we had in Japan. I’m not sure small kids would do well here but tweets with an adventurous appetite would definitely find something new and tasty to try.
Ting J.
Tu valoración: 1 Richardson, TX
definitly not worth it, ridiculous expensive and the taste is like a cheap sushi place. Not gonna come to this place again
Jordan N.
Tu valoración: 3 Dallas, TX
Came here looking for ramen. Saw they only had shoe, miso ramen and this — champion($ 12.95) which is described as a Chinese vegetable soup. Not sure what Chinese is doing in a Japanese place, but the senior Japanese lady behind the counter highly recommended it when she found out that I was wanting ramen. And so champon it was. Champon consisted of pork, vegetables, mussels, calamari, and imitation crab and mini shrimp(last two I don’t like). The senior Japanese lady also gave me a «hot sauce» to add to the soup which was both homemade(some kind of chopped peppers), and a great addition. After seeing the kind of food dished out here, I can tell that this Japanese restaurant doesn’t really try to impress. It’s more of Japanese home-cooking done by a group of Japanese grandmothers. The smoking kind. So really, you’re bound to get some hits and misses. And that seems to be ok. Some people like it that way. But if you want to be 100% guaranteed(good luck with that) that you’ll be knocked out of your socks, or that each of the single ingredient would be of high caliber(no imitation crab or mini-shrimp) — go somewhere else.
Jina C.
Tu valoración: 3 Plano, TX
We went for dinner on a weekday and we were the first ones there. A few more tables got filled by the time we left, but the place seemed to be pretty empty for the most part due to its hidden location. My friend heard they were known for their ramen, so we decided to try their Miso Ramen. It was ironic how ramen was no where to be seen on the menu. We asked the server if it was available, and she did not know… she had to ask the chef! Fortunately, she came back saying it was available. We also ordered Agedashi Tofu as an appetizer(also not on the menu for some reason). The tofu was excellent… full of flavor. The ramen was pretty good, without being overly salty. However, I am not sure if I will return… as service was definitely subpar. The server seemed like she was still in training and there was no one else around.
K L.
Tu valoración: 1 Richardson, TX
Very pricey. Sushi was not even close to fresh. It was old enough that we were afraid to eat it. This was the worst Japanese restaurant we have ever eaten at. My husband lived in Japan for 3 years, so we eat Japanese as often as we can. We will not be back to Ino.
Gaby M.
Tu valoración: 2 Denton, TX
Went there for sushi… Not many sushi options to choose from. Split the $ 27 bento lunch box with a friend. It was ok. Definitely not worth it though! I will never eat here again.
Susan L.
Tu valoración: 4 Arlington, VA
This Japanese restaurant is Japanese-owned and flavors are good. I had the natto salad and curry tonkatsu. The natto(japanese fermented beans) salad is surprisingly tasty and has a slight balsamic taste to it. I would recommend it for an appetizer to share. Their tonkatsu is crisp and soft in the inside. And their curry is good. The dish is a good sized portion and I left very full. Their service is very good and the ladies that work there are very friendly. It’s a great place to enjoy a meal.
Ryan D.
Tu valoración: 1 Dallas, TX
Nothing disappoints me more than seeing great reviews and great pictures from a restaurant only to find out later those items don’t even exist on the menu. Apparently the Dinner menu is completely different than the Lunch menu. I searched everywhere on the menu back and forth at least 10 times looking for Miso soup, Miso Ramen, Soy Ramen, and Ino Ramen. So what about Sushi? Nope! M.I.A. You would think a Japanese restaurant of this caliber would have a wide variety of sushi choices, but on the dinner menu the selection is limited to 6 options. How dumb is that? I ended up settling for a $ 13.00 bowl of Udon Noodles which couldn’t be anymore bland than it already was. Such a waste! Btw, the dinner menu didn’t even have a description of anything. It was just pictures captioned by words. The noodle items, rice items, and starter items were just words, but no pictures and no descriptions of what the items consisted of. Seeing how the lunch menu is a complete 360 compared to the dinner menu, it’s no wonder why this place was dead at 8:30pm on a friday night. INO Japanese restaurant you are the weakest link! Sayōnara!
Ran W.
Tu valoración: 5 Worcester, MA
Small but warm place. The porridge and undo r good. Many kinds of dishes. Near UTD~lol~will come again
Nga N.
Tu valoración: 4 Dallas, TX
Japanese food is already expensive, and this place is a little bit more expensive than usual. I can’t decide if I want to round my 3.5 star to 3 or to 4 for this place. It’s awesome how they have a lot of authentic items on the menu, most I haven’t even heard of. Since it was a cold night, we decided to get soup. Ramen was not on the dinner menu but you can order it anyways. We got the shoya ramen and udon soup. Shoya ramen tend to have a strong fermented bamboo taste that would bother me. Not here though. It was a lot more subtle and tasty. The udon was light and just right when you don’t want any heavy flavors. My favorite thing I tried that night was the salmon rice balls. These balls were huge and super yummy. The salmon was fresh and flavored just well enough to go with the rice on the outside. Oh man. I would go back the rice balls.
Vanessa Z.
Tu valoración: 3 Dallas, TX
Cute restaurant! Unlike most Japanese restaurant s in Dallas who are ran by Korean people, This restaurant is ran by a nice Japanese family. The interior is very nicely decorated! The draped white curtain on the window is a really elegant way to dress up the place and the classic wooden chair makes it look authentic. But the decorations are the only good thing about this place. Came here for lunch on a Wednesday. Not exactly packed but it is so small. After we sat down I saw them turning away a few customers because they ran out of tables. Normally you’d think lunch is cheaper but not for this place. A bowl of miso ramen cost 12.50 which is a lot more than sushi robata and Densetsu. It is over priced and the portion isn’t satisfying too. The bowl looks big but it is really shallow. There were barely any noodles and I didn’t see the normal egg in there. Their tonkatsu is really good. The meat is juicy and the playing looks amazing. It’s great overall. It also came with a small bowl of udon noodles or salad. My miso ramen came with an onigiri! Which is probably the best part of this meal! It’s my first time eating one and it is really delicious! Overall it is over priced and not fitted for lunch.
Jeff O.
Tu valoración: 5 Rockwall, TX
I’ve eaten there a few times for lunch, not dinner. The food is always very fresh and very good. I’ve had sushi, ramen and also most recently the Tonkatsudon. It was DELICIOUS. The pork was cooked to perfection. The portions are more than enough. I could’ve eaten half and still been happy but in typical American style, I chose to finish it all. Two hours ago and I’m still stuffed. T The shop is small, frequented by Japanese and some other Asian varieties. That should tell you something. It is also very much a mom & pop type shop. There are just a few people working there and during a busy time you may just have to wait but it is worth it. Relax awhile. Someone complained $ 27 lunches. There is only 1 item on the menu at $ 27 and rightfully so as there are several nice varieties on that dish. Most lunch menu items are around the $ 12 range and up. Lunch a crappy fast food place will run you nearly $ 7 and not even compare to the quality. Support your local mom & pop shops! The wait for me was maybe 15 minutes… I definitely recommend this restaurant!
Karen L.
Tu valoración: 3 Dallas, TX
I’ve heard great things about this place but only had a chance to try their ramen. I had the Miso Ramen and tried the broth of their Tonkatsu. Both delicious, but I’m glad I picked Miso.(It’s my favorite!) Nothing particularly glorious about the ramen, but I think because Dallas is lacking an awesome ramen house, this place got great reviews. I can’t say I disagree. It was good but it’s not the best bowl of ramen I’ve ever had.
Clara N.
Tu valoración: 3 Richardson, TX
It’s a nice quiet place here… too quiet… It’s a bit expensive here. I ordered the teriyaki chicken -$ 11.75. The sauce is good but the chicken portion is small and it was a bit dry. The orange pieces was sweet though. I wanted to try the curry but chickened out cause it seems like I’m not too fond of japanese curry, but I’ll try it next time with someone who do
Christopher B.
Tu valoración: 5 Tucson, AZ
Delish. Hard to find but worth the search. Great ramen and gyoza. Both my favorites Great great food