Tokyo Garden

The interior of Tokyo Garden was crafted by traditional Japanese carpenters sometime in the 1950's. The fine nailless all natural wood construction is hard to find even in today's Japan.

There are large murals of Mount Fuji in the main rice fibre matted Tatami room, and a mural of a Japanese fisherman w/ cormorants catching fish in the night in the blazing fire light over the full service bar painted by Bennett Wilson whose Japanese painting technique was developed in the Central Valley.

The vintage outdoor neon signage seems to be from the 1950's and still announces Tokyo Garden's location in all its colorful glowing glory. Maybe Tokyo Garden can be declared a historical site for its interior design as well as for its rare neon art.

Those who appreciate Japanese aesthetics in woodworking or American neon art will find dining at Tokyo Garden as a way to support its continuing existence as a hidden jewel & as an extension to what was Japantown farther south where Kogetsudo-, Japanese pastry shop still operating, and the old Japanese Buddhist Temple still stand.

Toshi, one of the partners, has a good sense of humour so there is a giant inflatable Godzilla as well as the mini Godzilla forever imprisoned in a cage whose bars drip toxic radioactive acid to keep him
immobile. Brother Tommy injured his foot so wishing him a full recovery. Regards to Etsuko who helped us during our stay.

Japanese food leans toward traditional Japanese American. No outré Sushi rolls like Tempura battered rolls w/ county fair tasting mayonnaise, sriracha chile sauce, sweet eel sauce all at once or salmon & philly cheese combo where no Alta Cucina Italian nor Japanese would dare tread.

Mixed Tempura of shrimp & vegetables are great. Batter is crispy, light to be dipped into the Sho-yu/soy sauce & Dashi/broth inflected Tempura sauce. For nonpurists, it can be poured over steam rice for added flavour instead of having pure white rice as a palate cleanser. Of course, the vegetable Tempura would be ideal for vegans.

The Sashimi is exemplary w/ raw cuts of Maguro/crimson flesh tuna; fatty, orange pinkish Shakè (shah keh); oily omega 3 & 6 rich Hamachi/yellowtail tuna; steamed Tako/octopus. A little light green Wasabi/Japanese horseradish & touch of Sho-yu and mouthful of white rice does it.

The 8 oz or 12oz rib eye steak & sweet Teriyaki sauce is great for those adverse to gifts from the sea as well as chicken Kushi Yaki or Teriyaki for those not into red meat.

Good tasting Miso soup is automatically included when ordering the main dish. Refreshing Japanese Cucumber salad meeting vegan standards is another counter balance to a meat emphasized meal.

I ordered the O-zeki Sakè Platinum Junmai Daiginjo- which paired well with all the ordered dishes. Subtle melon bouquet. Dry, light acidity to balance the sweet, slight fruitiness. Peppery, refreshing bitter finish.

The peach cobler vanilla ice cream is tasty w/ pieces of sugar & cinnamon cooked fresh peaches. A touch of the American South.

The lunch menu is more limited to foods that can be prepared more quickly since many lunchtime diners are on a schedule. Dinner menu is more extensive. Call a day ahead if you want the Kaiseki Deluxe menu that includes Creamed Lobster.

http://www.tokyogardenfresno.com/tokyo_garden/menu_files/tokyo_garden.pdf

On Sundays around 6pm there is jazz night w/ different ensemble every night. Nice way to spend a sophisticated early evening whie enjoying a full service bar & pleasantly eating Japanese cuisine.

For schedule of jazz events:
http://www.jazzfresno.org/index.php/events/8-tokyo-garden-jazz-jam-sessions

5 Yelp stars for one of those rare Japanese restaurants that offers a historic building site experience. Surprisingly in the San Joaquin Valley and not in L.A. or S.F.

This review is for BOTH a regular visit to Tokyo Garden for dinner as well as a private banquet for a group of about 30 people. Tokyo Garden was absolutely amazing for both of these very different experiences. Here's why I like them so much:

Service: Some of the best hosts/servers/cooks in the Central Valley. On our regular visit, service was fast and all of our orders came out exactly as promised. For the banquet, not only did the food/drinks come out quickly and as ordered, but the owners went far above and beyond to make sure that our dinner (a rehearsal dinner for a wedding) was a very memorable event that all of our guests raved about for days to come. They even helped with the wine and cake we brought ourselves. I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND Tokyo Garden for this type of event.

The Food and Drink: As always, really yummy. We really enjoyed the sukiyaki and teriyaki dishes (the beef teriyaki steaks are some of the best I've ever had, even in Japan, but the salmon and chicken are both good too), and the accompaniments (tempura, sunomono, and soup) were also really yummy. Even with such a large party, the dishes all came out perfectly prepared. They also make one of the best Singapore Slings in all of California!

The Ambiance: One of the few old school Japanese eateries still remaining in the Central Valley, and full of charm. The restaurant and bar are both really visually stunning and a bit quirky all at the same time. A/C is great and bathrooms are ample. Parking is usually easy.

All in all, this is a great restaurant to enjoy either an intimate dinner with a couple friends/family or a large banquet with a couple dozen other people.

Since Tokyo Garden has closed I now have to drive down to Little Tokyo in L.A. to get real Japanese food.

This is Old school Japanese. The food is good the waitress is always so sweet. This is a family owned restaurant there's like two people who run the whole place. So when it's busy remember there is like one guy cooking everyone's food. And one waitress. It's a great place to just chill,eat some edamame have some Sapporo's and relax. This isn't a cookie cutter restaurant.

Five stars for the Sunday evening jazz! It's always good, and you never know who will show up to jam!

Four stars for the sushi and service.

The interior was built about 50 years ago, and it's pretty interesting, although its age is showing. I wouldn't change a thing about it, other than a thorough cleaning, done very carefully so as not to damage the wood work.

I have mixed feelings leaving the review I'm about to leave as they did sport complimentary cookie/gumdrop flowers for Valentine's Day, but here goes.

We were ready to order when we were told that we had to order off the special Valentine's Day menu. Now, it wouldn't have been a problem if the special menu wasn't so limited. After a few words with the waitress, they allowed us to order off the regular dinner menu.

We ordered a zensai, shabu shabu, and the beef sukiyaki and the waitress quickly questioned us on how much we were ordering. She stated that it was "a lot of food", and we insisted that we were going through with the order. Never have I ever been told that I was ordering too much.

Although their rice was mushy, their beef sukiyaki was delicious. Their shabu shabu on the other hand was far from tasty. Their broth is hot water, plain and simple. Zero, I repeat, zero taste aside from the dipping sauce they gave us. We felt as if we were being tortured to eat the bland contents of the pot. We eventually started rolling everything in the sukiyaki sauce and though it did help get it down, we certainly left with discontent.

Came here with a friend for an assignment for our music class , because they had a Jazz performance going on . We decided to buy food to commemorate for the performance . We came here thinking we were going to buy sushi but when we got the menu it was really limited to just rice based dinner plates . We asked if they were serving sushi but the waitress said it was going to be busy so they weren't going to be serving sushi . My friend and I were kinda whatever , so we bought the beef sukiyaki and beef teriyaki .

For 15$ we thought it would be worth the price since we get meat , rice , soup , sunomono , etc . However when we got the plates we were kinda like "what ?" portions of meat were small . Sukiyaki was literally all vegetables and only like 5 strands of noodles . Probably only 6 pieces of beef too . We were a little upset but we thought of it as a ticket to come watch the performance for our paper .

When it came to getting the food and our check it took like 10 minutes each time because there was only one waitress working . It's understandable and i heard the restaurant was closing . Really wanted to enjoy the food here . The store and atmosphere was really nice though !

I finally got around to going back to Tokyo Gardens this holiday weekend. It has been probably more than 20 years since my last visit. My family and friends went there for all of our special events in the 60's, 70's and 80's. It was a real treat because of both the charming Japanese-inspired atmosphere and the delicious, carefully-prepared and presented food. The waitresses were authentic and wore kimonos, Japanese music played in the background, sukiyaki was cooked at the tables and you had your choice of sitting in one of their booths up front with delightfully carved wooden dividers, or in the back on the tatami floors with rice paper doors. Of course, there was the handsome bar area too, for cocktails.

Sadly, things have changed quite a bit. For one thing, the place was not packed at 7pm when I arrived on a Saturday night. In fact, it was almost empty. It appeared only one traditional booth and one of newer sets of aluminum tables and chairs were filled in the front. The waitress who seated and served me was very friendly and efficient, but wore no kimono. Instead of Japanese music, I got to listen to a Food Network program playing on the TV in the bar.

I don't know when they stopped cooking the sukiyaki at the tables, but it was a disappointment to me. That was one of my favorite things about Tokyo Gardens in the past. I have to say the sukiyaki itself, while good, did not live up to what it was in the past either. The flavor was rather bland as if the chef skipped the step of searing the beef first. Since it was prepared in the kitchen, I'll never know.

Two other complaints about the food:

1) the tempura dipping sauce was not the same as it used to be. They used to use tentsuyu, dashi laced with soy sauce and mirin, and they provided a dab of grated fresh ginger on the tempura serving plate to stir into the sauce. It was epic! Now, the dipping sauce tastes more like watered down soy sauce.

2) they don't serve up the same variety of veggies in the tempura dish anymore. It may be a small thing, but at $18.95 for my meal, I want presentation. Put some green vegetables on my plate to complement the orange and yellow ones.

In summary, while Tokyo Gardens is still acceptable as a dining establishment of average (3-star) quality, it pales in comparison to its former self. Toshi (the owner) needs to revitalize the place and reinstate the practices that made Tokyo Gardens so special to all of us. Barring that, I'm hoping someone with vision will buy the restaurant and make it stand out once again.

Four star- japanese dive bar! This place has been around forever and it has probably never changed anything about anything over that time.

Went in after an ArtHop night for a late bite and some drinks. They have live music frequently and tonight happened to have jazz quartet (Jazz counselors?) playing.

By the time we were seated the hostess/waitress/owner?? told us the kitchen had just closed but she would have them make our food as the last order of the evening. The kitchen puts out standard Japanese food but they do it well. The teriyaki rib eye was very tasty and cooked to perfect med rare. Their tempura was super crispy and not greasy at all. Do not miss their chicken wings...8 pieces of crispy wings dipped in a sticky sweet soy based sauce.

Wash it down with a Tokyo tea or a Midori sour and bask in your Japanese dive bar Zen moment.

Possibly my favorite restaurant. I love the atmosphere this place has, a little retro, like maybe in the past it was one of the coolest places in town.
The menu is not extended, but every dish is just amazing. Light, full of flavor, the kind that makes you full but without making you sick. There's a delicate balance in all the flavors. Tonight we had beef sukiyaki and beef teriyaki, which both come with miso soup + cucumber salad, shrimp and veggies tempura and dessert.
I recommend it to anyone who wants to try a different Japanese cuisine, a more authentic one, different from what American people are accustomed to. You'll not regret it. And the waitress is the sweetest lady ever.
It is my happy place.