Location: 15041 Stony Plain Road, EdmontonPhone: 780-484-1661
Area of the City: West End
Price: Moderate to high (around $15 and up)
Notes: Plentiful parking in a strip mall kind of fashion; take-out is offered
Opened around December 2008 (I think), they were still hanging up some blinds when I walked in last weekend after work. It used to be another Japanese restaurant, Sankyu, which I had frequented a couple of times over the years (it closed down due to staff shortage).
Takoyaki's decor is airy and bright. As soon as you walk in, various shades of grey greet you with occasional splashes of color. On on hand, the room is much more cheerful, on the other, it makes you aware of how close the seating really is. Well, okay, to be honest, it's not the seating that really bothers me, but the hanging beads that I walked into. They blocked my path as I was walking into the restaurant and I felt like a tool fighting through them. So, I guess you can either go around them or through them (I recommend the former).
I walked to the register in the back and glanced at the menu. The restaurant menu is similar to Sankyu's to a large degree with the few occasional differences. The take-out menu doesn't look like it's ready yet, but the owner has placed a number of Sankyu's old take-out menus (but with the old restaurant's name crossed out in pen and with their's written on top). That didn't strike me with a great deal of confidence. [Update: they're in the last stages of printing their take-out menus, thank god!]
I ordered a bento box which comes with two options. A choice of meat and a choice of side. I ordered the chicken and sushi. I also ordered a piece of egg sushi. I'm also a huge fan of toro (the fatty and tastiest part of tuna--also known as tuna belly), so I ordered a piece of it as well. Came to about twenty bucks altogether.
The take-out container comes with the dipping sauces needed for the meal. I usually check the box before I drive home, but I was tired from work and skipped it. Stupid mistake. Instead of chicken, I got beef (which I don't eat). Instead of sushi, I got tempura. And instead of fresh toro, I got canned toro-like fish. That's right, CANNED! It had the salty n' oily taste and texture that meat could only get from sitting in a can for a prolonged period of time.
So I skipped the beef and ate the rest in the container: rice, a mixed salad, and tempura. Nothing special. I could get the same quality food at Tokyo Express, and for much cheaper. It would have been nice if the salad wasn't a boring old mixed salad. Bean sprouts, shredded carrot, cucumber...any of these could've worked. The toro was not good. The egg sushi wasn't made correctly, I think. It's supposed to be a sweet egg omelette. It wasn't sweet at all. It tasted like regular scrambled eggs. And was slightly over-cooked. Disappointing.
***Judgement***
I'm not sure if I'd give this place another try. I am curious to try one of the combo dishes that is listed on the specials tower found on every table. In this case, it would be a sit-down meal instead of take-out. The tuna dice sounded good. But I think that's because an artful arrangement of adjectives in the dish's description.
Based on the take-out...
UPDATE: So I went back last week and decided to try some different dishes: the tuna dice, the korokee (potato croquettes), and the breaded oysters. The tuna dice were six small square pieces of seared tuna and rice. Other than an overdosing of lemon, they were pretty nice and tender. Hopefully, they'll make them larger pieces in the future. The two pieces of korokee were lightly breaded and tasted good without the sauce (which had a heavy balsamic vinagrette taste). The oysters were a little too breaded for my taste and slightly dry. There was a dab of something white on top that I couldn't figure out. Tasted like brie when I ate it with the oyster. I don't think it was brie. Anyway, I still stand by my "skip it", as there are better Japanese restaurants out there that have good dishes overall. However, I will give points to Takoyaki for creativity (of the tuna dice).
3 comments:
I actually ate at this resturant on Monday with a couple of friends. We ordered a Combo for 4 which was an ideal price for the food. The food was fantastic, personally I thought it was alot better than what you described the resturant to be. We had Tuna sushi, it was like any other japanese resturant, but in better proportions (larger). The tuna dice was great, beyond my expectations. I thought the atmosphere was terrific, and NOT too squishy. I don't know about you but this is one of the best japanese resturant in town.
Thanks for your comments, Brandon! : )
There seems to be a breed of restaurant that does a really good job on their specials, but does a fairly poor job on their regular menu. Some of these restaurants end up, after a test period of six months to a year, cutting down their menu to a few key menu items. The higher end restaurants do this to perfect the quality of the dishes. I hope Takoyaki does the same thing down the road. Canned food is not acceptable for a Japanese restaurant (or any other restaurant, really). If they narrow down their menu, focus on the dishes that are popular and taste great (such as the tuna dice that you mentioned), then I suspect they can be around for a long time.
Nice choice of pics!
I'm actually surprised that your recommendation is to skip it though. I always go there for lunch and walk out very full and satisfied :)
I personally have no complaints about this restaurant and actually do recommend it to others. Glad you decided to give it another try though!
Linda
PS - Oh, forgot to mention...I eat a lot of canned fish, tuna included, and what this restaurant uses is definitely not canned stuff.
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