TOT

Teishokuya of Tokyo, aka - TOT, is probably not the place to take your Japanese friends for authentic Japanese food in LA (lest you be mocked and scorned), but it works just fine for the rest of us with less sensitive taste buds or just less sophisticated palates overall.  TOT (and its sister shop Joy Mart) is growing on me a lot.

Complimentary house salad

Mixed Tempura (shrimp & veggies) - $9.00

My fave dish that I've tried so far is the Tuna Tuna Bowl.  Seared tuna + spicy tuna with wasabi mayo and teriyaki sauce over a bed of lettuce and rice - yum!  And because portion-control doesn't seem to be in my everyday vocabulary, I combo'ed it with cold soba ($16 total).

Tuna Tuna Bowl - $12 (alone; or make it a noodle combo by adding just $4 more)

Like the Avocado Tuna Bowl (see below), I could have done without so much of the mayo sauce, but with two differently cooked tuna, it thankfully didn't make the entire dish taste mayo-y.  4/5.

Zaru Soba - $9.50

The soba was cooked perfectly!  The texture and the broth it was served satisfied my soba craving instantly. 4.5/5.

The guys I was dining with also love to eat so they upgraded their bowls to Noodle Combos too... or maybe they just didn't want me to be the only pig at the table.  Either case, A & J opted for udon and the Avocado Tuna Bowl and Chicken Katsu Bowl, respectively.

Oroshi Udon Bowl - $10.50

I don't remember anything special about this udon.  This works both in favor and against the dish.  Ah, well.  3/5.

Avocado Tuna Bowl - $11.50

The Avocado Tuna Bowl was tasty, but they went a little too wasabi-mayo-happy and it overshadowed the tuna.  Just half a teaspoon of the sauce would have been fine given the natural creaminess of the ripe avocado pieces.  3.5/5.

Chicken Katsu Bowl - $10.50

I only got a bite out of this one, but there is little you can go wrong with deep-fried chicken cutlet drenched in sweet and creamy tonkatsu sauce.  That said, nothing overly spectacular, but nothing traumatizing either. 3/5.

The next time you're in Little Tokyo and you're not in the mood of sushi, I saw check you TOT or even Joy Mart for a fulfilling meal.



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cuisine: Japanese
location: Little Tokyo
hours: M-Th, Sun: 11:30 AM - 11:00 PM; Fri-Sat: 11:30 AM - midnight
websites: { TOT | yelp }
attire: Casual
parking: street or nearby lots
notes: Tuna Tuna Bowl!