Tekka Japanese Restaurant

Reviews 3

JE

Jenn W

TL;DR: Quantity, not quality. Caste system for customers: if youre not a regular, you cant order anything regulars get and you get pushed to the back of the line (or cant get in). Sashimi and eel you could purchase yourself. Rice that was sour (too much vinegar) and mushy (overcooked). NOT worth the wait and NEVER going back. My friend and I arrived at 7:20pm on a Friday night. We asked if there would be second seating and Yoshimi said yes, either at 8:30 or 9pm. The wait was fine because it was expected. A couple showed up a bit later and said they didnt make the first seating (even though they got there at 4:30pm) because people in front of them were saving extra spaces and some regulars made a 6 person reservation. NOTE: You cannot make reservations unless you are a regular. Around 8:30pm, a man showed up, waved Yoshimi over, and whispered something to her. He then proceeded to tell us every detail of what happens at Tekka, attempted to school us on sushi, and told us that you wont find ANY experience like Tekka. We soon understood why he said that. Yoshimi came to do the door around 9pm, called him and his THREE friends in to sit at "reserved" seats. Then she came around to take our orders. I asked if there was omakase and she said no. My friend and I ordered the sashimi combo for two, negi hama roll, and two eel nigiri. The only other things on the menu were two other rolls, tuna, salmon, albacore, scallop, and mackerel nigiri. Then that regular and his friends were served two off menu appetizers. If theres no omakase, where did that come from? NOTE: You cannot order food off menu unless you are regular. The sashimi platter finally made its way out after ~15 minutes. The portions were massive - 4 pieces each of tuna, salmon, albacore, and yellowtail, 2 pieces each of octopus, mackerel, and scallop PER PERSON - and each piece was huge. The fish quality was mediocre. By the time my friend and I were about half way done, we didnt want to see sashimi for weeks. It was a disgusting amount of food, but we finished it all. The eel nigiri came out - I dont know how a previous reviewer could say it was "orgasmic" - and the skin was super chewy, they hadnt cut or cooked it properly and Im pretty sure it was just a frozen packet. Ugh. And the rice was mushy and sour, Nobu couldnt even take the time to wrap the seaweed all the way around the nigiri! And the negi hama was horrible. Loosely wrapped, falling apart, even lower quality yellowtail than the sashimi, with frail, old green onions. By this time, the other party had another two appetizers off menu as well as whatever sashimi they ordered. Then Nobu said "KAMPAI!" and cheers... JUST THE PARTY OF FOUR REGULARS. He ignored the rest of us. NOTE: You will be treated as second class customers unless you are a regular. When the other party of two asked Yoshimi what the regulars were eating, she said, "oh, something special," and when they asked Yoshimi if they could order that, Yoshimi said, "oh, no, because we already know what they like." Uhhh, okay. When my friend and I got up to leave, Nobu finally acknowledged us and said all cheerily, "ARIGATO GOZAIMASU! GOODNIGHT!" Too late. Were never going back. Why spend a bunch of money on mediocre fish, when you could just go buy your own and make higher quality rice yourself? More on that regular: when we walked inside he cheerily said, "Oh! You made it in!" Ok yeah buddy, no thanks to you and cutting in front of us with your three guests - dont patronize us. He talked loudly about his friend working on big budget movies - we dont care dude. It was obvious he likes Tekka because he wants to feel special. And if this is the type of person that Nobu and Yoshimi cater to, well, that definitely makes me never want to go back.

SA

Sandy Tang

2.5 year old review, but... This place has amaaazing nigiri and sashimi. Expect to spend about two hours waiting outside its closed doors to save your spot for the 7pm seating. Tekka only seats up to 11 people and if youre the 12th person to arrive, better start thinking of an alternative dinner because that front door locks the moment its filled and it wont open again until 9:30pm. It seems so exclusive but its one of those rare, rare places that are worth the wait and this is the first time Ive ever said that. CASH ONLY -- CASH ONLY -- CASH ONLY I cannot say this enough. We ordered a bit more than anticipated and was short $10 so I had to drive to an ATM while my friend had the awkward situation of waiting at the restaurant for my return of some cold hard cash. I made it to Tekka around 5:30pm on a Tuesday and lucky me, there was a parking spot right in front. I was about ready to feed a dollar to the meter when I noticed my friend was 3rd in line. As he waited in line in the cold, I was in my parked car waiting for 6 oclock to hit before joining him in line. When we finally got to go inside, we were greeted with a warm, intimate seating arrangement (a bar that snugly sits 8 and a table that seats up to 3). SASHIMI COMBO: Needless to say, everrrrybody ordered this. If youre coming to Tekka, youre getting sashimi, period. Its recommended to be shared between two people. Its a big plate with large slices of tuna, salmon, yellowtail, albacore tuna, scallop, octopus and seaweed salad. Im tellin ya, its the ocean on a plate! My favorites were the albacore and yellowtail ...and salmon and tuna and scallop... haha, refer to house rule #1: everything is good, everything is fresh. Everything IS good and everything IS fresh. The albacore darn-right melted in my mouth! Everything was soft and simply delicious. HAMACHI KAMA (cooked yellowtail): Yummmmm! Ive only had yellowtail in sashimi/nigiri form (and love it) and having it cooked this way is just as wonderful. It is subtly seasoned and jam-packed with flavor. HAMACHI NIGIRI (yellowtail): Oh my goodness, its huuuuuuge! My friend tried to pick it up with his chopsticks and it simply flipped over because it was top-heavy from the huge slab of yellowtail on there. You dont even see the rice! It was a beautifully-colored large, thick slice and it was delicious. Kudos to you if you could eat this with everything intact. UNAGI NIGIRI (eel): Unagi is what (eventually) brought me into the world of sushi. This was very good unagi but I must admit, I enjoyed the hamachi more. I was able to eat this without it falling apart so yay! Haha UNI (sea urchin): This tasted like the ocean, literally. Ive only had uni once before and I enjoyed it so I figured, "Why not?" Then I tasted GOOD uni and realized I dont really like it... Hahah It tasted TOO much like ocean for me. Perhaps its an acquired taste and maybe itll grow on me in the future. Overall, it was a very enjoyable dinner experience. I will definitely be back for more, especially since Im the short one who got stuck with the bar wall and didnt get to see the chef at work ):

NE

Nei Ng

I can totally understand why people love this place. They definitely give you monstrous portions that are uncharacteristic of other Japanese restaurants in the city. While I think Tekka scores well in the value department, I thought the sushi itself didnt stand out among other restaurants besides being ginormous. We ordered mainly nigiri, and people arent kidding when they say its huge. One piece was almost as long as my iPhone! I wouldnt bother trying to use chopsticks to eat these. Its perfectly acceptable to eat them with your hands. Dont try to dip it in soy sauce either. Just carefully pour a drop on top of the fish, and shove it in your mouth. The person sitting next to me was fumbling around with chopsticks, and it didnt look pretty. The rice and fish just got everywhere, so save yourself the trouble. The selection of fish was pretty limited, and its mostly regular stuff like maguro, hamachi, and salmon. It was all fine, but I cant really say that their fish tasted noticeably better than other respectable sushi joints. Its just more of it. The best one was probably the plump, sweet, and succulent scallop. They also had ikura that night, so we also got that with a quail egg. I think this is where I thought the quality couldve been better. Maybe the ikura wasnt brined or cured long enough or something, but they tasted pretty fishy. Similarly, the saba was also slightly on the fishy side. For the wait we endured, I was kinda hoping that itd be pretty much perfect. I wish I could comment on the rice, but I honestly dont remember what it was like. Its not a bad place, but I think the wait and hype set our expectations too high. I still have to admit that we did get a lot of food for the money.