Sakura of Tokyo

So last Friday our company decided to finance us for a day off and pay us to go bowling!! What a great company we have:) We decided to go to the West Covina bowl, and afterward we can try this Japanese restaurant call Sakura of Tokyo. Well the day didn't start off too great though, as they had some nasty accident on the 210, closing like 4 lanes or something like that, and so it funneled everyone to the 605 and the 10, so the 10 and the 210 were completely backed up and what would take 20minutes took 1hr 30min.... So we were suppose to get there by 1pm. I made it there first at 1:45!! The others didn't get there until almost 3:00. It was the first Betz bowling.....competition...no that's not the right word...exhibition...nah that doesn't work either...disaster!! yes that's it, the first Betz bowling disaster!! We are probably the 4 most non talented bowlers in the history of humanity. We each had 2 games and at the end, our combine scores for 2 games each did not exceed 400, that means we average less than 50 a game!!

So what, at least we know how to eat...well B and E had to go so it was just TZ going to eat....We went to this place called Sakura of Tokyo, located at 533 S. Glendora Ave, West Covina, CA 91790. It had it's own private parking lot, and the interior was very Japanese, and it might have been authentic at some point in it's past history....however, as soon as I heard the staff spoke amongst themselves, I knew I was in trouble. They were speaking in chinese!!! So they showed us this menu that had pictures in it on most of their dishes, I am growing even more concern. We decided to have spicy tuna and sashimi as appetizers, and for our main, we had teppanyaki and nabeyaki udon. Those of you that remember, teppanyaki is similiar to the ones we had in Sambi, except here they serve it as a sizzling hot plate instead of cooking it right in front of you. Nabeyaki udon is simply udon served in a pot instead of a bowl(nabe means pot or kettle).

The appetizer came, I was surprised that it was fairly good, even though the portion was immensely small for the sashimi. Had they cut it any smaller, you would need a microscope. At least the Salmon and Tuna were fresh and tasty. The spicy tuna was ok, average fare as far as spicy tuna is concern, nothing compare to Noshi's spicy tuna or Sambi's ninja rolls. The teppanyaki came, it looked good, all piled up and everything....with bean sprouts! Worse, the hot plate was actually designed with the center protruding up, so that it looked like the content was much more than it really is.

The nabeyaki udon came....it was the worse, I mean worst nabeyaki udon I have ever had. Seriously, what kind of udon was it? Thousand year old crispy udon? The fish cake was cut way too thick. It was greasy.....and I can taste the generic soup stock they used to make the broth, stuff you can get at the market, instead of making their own stock.... only redeemable quality was it was hot(as in the temperature), I make this stuff as my staple diet on a almost daily basis, I can do better with my eyes closed and using only my pinky!! If I were to compare this place's product with say Hanaichimonme's soup stock, this stuff here would be pour down into the toilet and flushed away immediately....Needless to say I was completely disgusted with the place.

Honestly, they had some nice ingredients for sushi and sashimi, but they were too interested with their own pocket books to give decent portions. The hot cook fare was completely junk. It is simply the worse Japanese food(not counting Japanese fast food) I have ever had... I find this most discouraging.

Overall

Parking ****************************************B+, private lot

Environment************************************B

Service*****************************************B-, nothing speical, waitress was nice, the old lady (probably owner) was scary.

Food********************************************D-, would have been an F- if it wasn't for the sashimi

Drink*******************************************B-, at least they had sake and Japanese beer...

Overall*****************************************C--/D+ I would not recommend it to any one....unless I really dislike them.