Another not great meal-Japanese in East County-Tokyo

mmm-yoso is not on vacation.  Cathy is blogging while Kirk is resting...or digesting...whatever.

Fortunately, Tokyo has closed.

Hi, I am back yet again, blogging about the good, the bad and the ugly. ..and yes, again, The Mister and I have had a lousy meal.  But, lets be positive and start with the good.  The hot tea is free. They have chopsticks on the table and don't ask you if you want a fork, even if you are Caucasian. Oh, and they have specials poster on the wall when you walk in, so you save $1 on some of the food.

There, that's over with. We used to come here a lot. Its in the same parking lot as the ATM of my Credit Union, and for being in San Diego's East County, well, its kind of 'exotic'. Its Japanese...sort of.  Maybe we could call it 'working man's Japanese', if we were being polite.

I have apparently become a Japanese food snob...and I swear I used to really *like* this place.

Here are photos of the menu, if you think you might want to venture in .

We decided to try the Vegetable tempura appetizer ($3.95). Seemed like a good,safe choice, and not expensive. Wrong. Look.  You can click and enlarge the photo.  I just stopped using flash...I somehow knew this would be yet another not great meal. More of a pancake batter, not too light...but a good variety of vegetables: sweet potato, mushrooms, carrot, broccoli. Not great, not overly greasy...the batter was kind of heavy tasting/thick.  It was cooked all the way through.

Then The Mister said we should try the Sushi Trio- a set of 18 rolls -9 for each of us ($7.95) three each of spicy tuna (no tuna flavor), cucumber (generic) and California rolls (made with the fake krab stuff). Pretty much a waste of calories.  I am glad they gave us a big ole pile of freshly re-hydrated wasabi, anyhow...and, the rice was good.

We got one of each of the specials listed on the front board.
The Teriyaki chicken box with a piece of fried fish and the hibachi chicken bento box with egg roll. ($6.25 each, usually $7.25)...um...well, the chicken was...dark meat, boneless...that was good. The teriyaki was not sweet, not salty. It was...um... dark in color. The sides of rice, salad, pickled veggies were OK. The fried fish was mackerel, which I liked primarily because it was fried and crispy. The fish itself was ..um...not a great grade of mackerel and would not have been good as sushi in any way, shape or form. I ate the fried tail.  I eat fried shrimp tails, too.

The hibachi grilled chicken was in a sort of maybe ginger garlic sauce...and, you know, just not good. The egg rolls however were more lumpia-ish and *quite* good, filled with chopped pork and crispy cabbage and veggies.

Oh, the food was not at all what I would call great...I do remember we got a curry here and liked it, last year or maybe the year before...and the soups and noodles used to be good. But basic chicken and rolls...they don't seem to be able to do very well. I don't know why they are still open. If you are in this area, just hop on the freeway and go up 125 and it'll turn into 52 to get to Convoy Street.

Tokyo Japanese 755 Arnele Avenue El Cajon 92021 M-F 11 a.m.-8p.m., Sat/Sun 4:30-8:00

Comments

[nhbilly]

Pictures look sad :-( Always tomorrow ;-)

[Cathy]

Thanks, Bill. I need to remember that I will most likely be hungry again...

[mike]

Best sushi price it town! I have lunch here all the time. Food is great!

[Vicky]

Ugh! I measure a Japanese restaurant by their quality of tempura and the freshness of their sashimi. Looks like I won't be going there. Thanks again for the heads up, Cathy! Have you checked out Aloha Sushi in La Jolla? Although the food is not completely authentic as they do this Hawaiian/Japanese fusion, but the sashimi and roll quality is amazing! Good luck on your next meal!

[Cathy]

Hmmm, Mike. OK, I haven't made a meal of the sushi, and the rice is good....and its not like I won't be going to the ATM on a regular basis...I can try one of the lunches and see if I was just having a bad night. Thanks for dropping by to comment again.
Hi, Vicky! I'm not sure if the sashimi was not fresh; the tuna was just was flavorless... a lower grade I think. I will be giving Alhoha Sushi a try...soon. Its now become a running joke with The Mister and I...how bad can the food be from this place.... :)