I noticed place while picking up an order from VIPS sushi. Naniwa-Taro is next door and offers a lot cooked Japanese meals.
Pros:
Lots of authentic Japanese meals to choose from
Staff are very friendly
Cons:
Food takes a while
Small space
When you first come in, you notice the place is very small. There are two tables and then the place where you place your order. This place is mainly for take out. I've been told this place used to be in the TNT food court at Middlefield and Steeles.
One look at the menu and you notice they have a lot to offer. If you're a fan of Japanese food, this is your kinda of place. They have various meals ranging from rice bowls, curry to yakisoba. They had so many items that my GF and I couldn't decide on what to get. We ended up getting the chicken katsu curry, beef oyakodon and an order of takoyaki.
The food itself was very good. It's always a good thing to know that the staff at the restaurant are the same nationality as the food they serve. The curry was your basic curry with some veggies in it. The chicken though was very good, crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. The oyakodon was very good as well. One thing to note is they give you an ample amount of rice. You will be full after a meal here if you eat everything.
Orders here take a little longer to get to you. I think we waited about 15-20 minutes to get our food. This is probably due to them making some items fresh to order. Takoyaki is something you need to make fresh. You can't make it ahead of time and hold it later to serve. It doesn't taste the same and people can tell right away. I don't mind wait time when it comes to reasons like this.
I have a small gripe with the size of this place. It forces you to basically take out. Some of the items on the menu are best eaten right out of the kitchen. This includes the takoyaki we ordered. We only live 5 minutes away from this place but by the time we got home it already wasn't the same as if we had eaten it there. I would definitely be a more frequent customer if they had a better seating area. Still, apart from a few items, you won't notice this too much.
Naniwa-Taro is a great place in the Yonge and Finch area if you're craving Japanese food. I will definitely be back to try the other items I want to try.