Toko

8 Recommended

Food  7      Ambience  10      Service  8      Value  7     

Well, things have certainly changed since my last review of this joint (from about a year ago, below). The menu has been reduced. You can't get any sushi now unless you order the degustation. This is absolutely ridiculous.

The degustation itself is full of pure anglo-Japanese "cool" food. It's not real Japanese. It's not real anything, actually. I'm a Surry Hills poseur from way back, but the place is now so badly overrun by Surry Hills poseurs that you can't breathe in there.

The service is utterly appalling. Staff turnover very high. And the food is expensive. What you're paying for here is the 'scene'. Thumbs down.

Old review:

Toko is somewhere I have returned many times for two reasons only. The sashimi is very fresh, and the cocktails are killer: ice cold, inventive and strong. If you venture beyond these two areas, you will encounter a fair bit of anglo palate pleasing fare, which isn't bad if that's what you're into, I guess.

The best thing to do is pretend you're in Tokyo, get hammered on the quality cocktails, knock back some sashimi, then kick on somewhere else for something more "substantial"... like a kebab.

Jul 28, 2009 

6.8 Recommended

Food  8      Ambience  5      Service  7      Value  7     

We went here for dinner on Friday night and we were lucky to be seated before it got busier. Food was reasonably good.

For entree, we had the wild snapper with truffle oil and pork cracking (very small/fine pieces on top of each slice of raw snapper which could easily be ignored). It was OK but not great. For sushi, we had the spider maki of which the dried seaweed was replaced with very thin slice of radish. The softshell crab filling was still crunchy and the radish balanced the oiliness quite well. The last entree was Nasu Dengaku (miso eggplant) that was a tad too sweet.

Come to the mains, we had assorted tempura, braised wagyu cheek and roasted mini chicken marinated with miso. The beef cheek and the mini chicken were exceptionally good. We didn't order dessert as we didn't find any of those on the menu interesting.

Overall, this place serves reasonably good jap food but ambience wise it could be very lousy and not to my liking. On top of that, the communal style canteen table can be a little cramp as the restaurant gets busier. Despite that, I will still return for its food.

Jul 25, 2009 

8 Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  8      Value  6     

Expensive for the size of the plates,but the freshest quality fish so worth it. Amazing ribs. Went for lunch staff were very attentive. I'll be back for dinner.

Jul 25, 2009 

9.3 Highly Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  10      Service  10      Value  7     

Went here with a group of six and had a great night. Fantastic food, service, atmosphere. It's expensive, but the quality in every respect was outstanding.

Jul 17, 2009 

8.8 Highly Recommended

Food  9      Ambience  9      Service  9      Value  8     

Had a lovely night at Toko. Food was great, I highly recommend the red snapper with pork crackling and truffle sauce! Amazing! Service was good the waiter was very helpful. Only downsize was portion size. The dishes were very small for the price but the taste and presentation made up for it!

Jul 06, 2009 

4.3 Below Average

Food  7      Ambience  8      Service  1      Value  1     

Went there last sat for my b'day. Food and ambience were good but the service was just awful. The staffs at the waiting area was rude and waiters were unattentive. I would say this place is over-rated and over-priced.

Jun 22, 2009 

5.5 Average

Food  7      Ambience  7      Service  1      Value  7     

Went there on a Friday night for my birthday dinner. Arrived at about 7 pm and were seated right away as there was only 2 of us. Got a table right in front of the sushi chefs. Everything was going well as we ordered an entree then our mains then decided to order some sushi. Sushi came out and we requested for some soy sauce. I picked up my first piece of sushi and dipped it into the soy sauce then lifted it up to see a piece of hair on my sushi.

Never one to complain about my food and as I had heard good things about Toko we called a waitress over and she asked where we thought the hair had come from. We said we thought it came from the soy sauce though I couldn't be sure as I didn't inspect my sushi when I picked it up. The waitress then went on to say that the hair couldn't of come from the soy sauce (as the spout from the sauce pourer was too small?).

Regardless of where it came from the waitress seemed to be insinuating that the hair might of been my own. The waitress didn't even come over to inspect as she spoke as she stood next to my partner instead of coming over to inspect my dish. She then took my plate and had to ask someone in charge if it was ok to replace our dish. Our dish was then replaced but we felt a bit awkward as we were seated right in front of the kitchen staff who prepared our sushi.

Even though we got our dish replaced I was not satisfied with the service so I asked a waitress if I could speak to someone in charge. A senior staff then came over and I asked him if he knew about the incident. I told him I felt the waitress thought the hair on the sushi was mine. He said that I must have interpreted her words incorrectly. He said he would have done the same thing by investigating where the hair could have come from. What ever happened to the customer always come first?!

He said that if everybody complained about their food that they would go broke. He said the restaurant was clean (hygiene-wise) and that the hair couldn't have come from the soy sauce. He said the kitchen staffs were hard-core and that it is difficult to get free food out of them and there was a language barrier. The senior staff seemed to get rather defensive, sticking up for the waitress and how she went about handling the situation.

I was getting rather upset. He asked if he could get me a drink or a scoop of ice-cream. We had a look at the dessert menu and we decided to order a dessert.
The senior staff came off as being very unprofessional as he came back a second time after we ordered dessert debating the whole situation and then went on to accuse me of putting words in his mouth and that I was accusing him that he thought the hair must have been mine.

We left rather deflated and very disappointed with the service and professionalism of such an establishment that is Toko. Would not return again.

Jun 18, 2009 

6.8 Recommended

Food  6      Ambience  9      Service  8      Value  4     

Went there on a Tuesday night with some friends, seriously, the Toko cocktails are just great, one of the best I've had. Entrees we had the beef tataki and a tuna dish, was nice but not great. Mains we had the wagu beef, duck and some sushi. To be honest, it was nothing to wave about, it was nice but the size of the dish was just way too small. It was in general a nice place but the price they are charging and the food that they are serving just doesn't balance.

I do agree with what others had commented, just abit over priced and over rated. Might go back for drinks but not dinner for sure.

Jun 17, 2009 

4.8 Average

Food  7      Ambience  6      Service  4      Value  2     

Had heard good things about this place, but was not a good experience. Don't like the fact you can't book. It's fair enough if you're a cheap and cheerful restaurant with a fast turnover but this felt much more like a money making venture for the bar.

Food was good but portions were tapas size and so quite expensive for what you get. Wouldn't go back. we've had equally good food at far cheaper prices elsewhere.

May 24, 2009 

6.5 Recommended

Food  10      Ambience  9      Service  1      Value  6     

Awful service! We went to Toko on 11 May 2009 for my friend’s birthday. There were 8 of us in total. When we reached the restaurant (at around 8.00 pm), a waiter told us to wait for the table in dining area for 56 minutes, otherwise, we have to sit in bar area on the couches. We decided to sit on the couch and ordered entrees while we were waiting for a table in dining area.

It was getting late so we order more and more food. After around 1 hour, the waiter asked us whether we wanted to move to dining area but we decided not to because mains were served for a while. We were totally ok with the seats as we enjoyed the food and chatting with our close friends. We ordered a lot of dishes and were billed $345 less drinks.

The food portion was small but the food was very nice! At the end of the night, one of us, who brought a birthday cake, took a cake to one of the waitresses and asked her to bring out to our table with candles. The waitress took the cake out with small plates and forks but without cake knife. After we sang birthday song and blown the candles, then we asked for a cake knife. Then, one guy (believed to be restaurant Manager) came to us and told us that if you want to cut the cake, you have to pay $3.50 per head.

The whole table felt awkward about his conversation, then he started to explain more. He told us that he does a business and nothing is free. He also offered us a time to think whether we wants to cut the cake or not, if not he will pack the cake back to the original package for us. No apology at all.

Actually, we would not ask them to bring the cake out in the first place if they told us before about the ridiculous charge when we brought the cake to the waitress. Or if they realised later that they forgot to tell us about the charge in the first place, they should at least apologise! We really enjoyed the food though but we were very upset with his conversation. We will never go back again!

May 24, 2009