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| - I had such high hopes for this place! After seeing the "coming soon" sign, I eagerly checked out their website and was excited by the prospect of a build-your-own teriyaki bowl with so many great sauce and veggie options. However, after trying Tokyo Joe's for the first time a couple of weeks after opening, I don't plan on going back.
To give credit where it's due, the decor was nice, and the staff were very friendly. The cashier was patient with me and let me try a few of the sauces before I locked one down - I went with the yakisoba, which was kind of a sweet and spicy peanut sauce. So far so good!
Up until this point, things were going well and I was looking forward to a tasty lunch. $10 was a little steep, I thought, for a teriyaki bowl (I got a large, dark meat chicken bowl, add veggies), but I'm happy to pay a premium for the customization options, tasty food, and a good size portion. Unfortunately, after trying the food, I was upset that I spent any money on it.
Here were the issues:
-Soba noodles were over cooked and flavorless. Honestly, I would have been fine with the texture if they had flavor, but alas, no such luck. Quick fix: boil in salt water
-Chicken was completely flavorless. Like literally, flavorless. I was so shocked because chicken thighs are so easy to cook and they totally soak up the flavor of whatever they are marinated with. Quick fix: add salt and pepper to chicken prior to cooking! Better fix: marinate the chicken or soak in brine prior to cooking. This was a total missed opportunity.
-Same as the soba and chicken, veggies were as bland as can be. Also same as the soba and chicken, some salt would have gone a long way. Additionally, if the veggies were sauteed rather than steamed, I think they would have been much better.
-Even with the sauce (and I ended up asking for extra), this tasted like food at an old-folks home.
I'm hopeful that Tokyo Joe's will start adding some seasoning to their food, but in the meantime, I can't recommend this place to anyone. If you're just looking for a good teriyaki bowl (which up until this point, I didn't think you could screw up), do yourself a favor and just go down the street to Samurai Sams.
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