All the Little Tokyo restaurants are different. The one in Mid-City is the most atmospheric and largest. It's also the only Little Tokyo offering teppanyaki grills, although the food from these is ordinary and expensive, with chefs who put on a show that you've probably already seen. More interesting are the old-school Japanese dishes we enjoyed before sushi took over: sukiyaki, shabu-shabu (both fondue-style dishes prepared at the table) yakitori (grilled meats and seafoodson skewers). The sushi bar is also well-managed.
Little Tokyo is a loose local chain of Japanese restaurants, some franchised and some not. Yusuke Kawara opened the original location on Causeway Boulevard in 1986, making it one of the city's first sushi bars. The Mid-City branch took over the former Chateaubriand Steakhouse following the hurricane. (A long time ago, it was a Shoney's, but you'd never know that now.)
The dining rooms are large to begin with, and the wall of windows adds to the spaciousness. One of them is largely devoted to teppanyaki tables, where the chefs play their usual games with what winds up being ordinary grilled food. A large sushi bar dominates another room, and the bar--windows on two sides--is pleasant for a cocktail or light dining.
If you let the sushi chefs know that you're open to trying the unusual, they'll start pulling out some extraordinary fish.
| Attitude | 1 |
|---|---|
| Environment | 1 |
| Hipness | 1 |
| Local Color | 1 |
| Service | 0 |
| Value | 0 |
| Wine | 0 |
