Sakura of Toyko Japanese Restaurant

Sakura of Tokyo Japanese restaurant of West Covina, CA isn’t five star quality Japanese cuisine, but they make up with atmosphere and price.

Their menu is chalk full of photos for nearly every item to help unfamiliar visitors makes it easy to decide on what to order. I personally have a problem when restaurants place photos in their menus. This implies they feel their customers are not intelligent and won’t order what they aren’t familiar with. Granted, this tactic may work in middle class suburban cities, but this sort of practice is insulting and unnecessary.

Another issue I have with Sakura’s of Tokyo is the Japanese chef’s are not even visible. Sakura of Tokyo has a sushi bar, but it isn’t in use. It is merely a bar used not for customers to eat at and see the chef at work, but it’s used for decoration with who-knows-what. Instead, they are behind closed doors, which is not typical in most Japanese restaurants and sushi bars. Normally, one would expect to see at least one chef preparing sashimi and sushi behind the counter. This is normally a demonstration of pride and dedicationin of work that wasn't present here.

As for presentation, I was a bit disappointed in the food craftsmanship I am normally accustomed from a respectful Japanese restaurant. With that said, their food isn’t as bad as I portray. Granted a presentation of sushi rolls has expectation of beauty and grace that Sakura of Tokyo does not implore, but it doesn’t mean it’s not good. Just be prepared for their specialty rolls to fall apart if you plan on using chopsticks.

Upon reading the previous customer reviews from other websites, Sakura’s big seller is their bento boxes. Their bento boxes are the majority of their menu options with over 30 variations. Most of their meals come with teriyaki sauce over strips of chicken or beef, tempura shrimp and vegetables, and ginger salad, and white rice. These combination plates usually come with sushi roll of the popular California roll or other options of sashimi (raw fish over rice). All customers begin with a complimentary miso soup.

At the rear of the menu are their specialty rolls. This is where most of my disappointment came from. Their selection of specialty rolls are very minimal with only about five different rolls and five wraps and the rest was sashimi. I ordered the rainbow roll and the caterpillar roll. Within five minutes the orders came out. Usually, these types of orders are handcrafted with precision and take time to prepare. This felt rushed and the presentation from chef demonstrated little effort. I wasn’t impressed.

Even though I wasn’t impressed for the night’s production of food, I wasn’t disgusted. It still was rather enjoyable, it wasn’t overly priced, and their staff is very friendly and fast service made the atmosphere worth while.

West Covina's Best Kept Secret, One World Vegetarian Restaurant

Located in an unsuspecting location of West Covina behind Edwards Cinema is One World Vegetarian.

Now, for you carnivores don’t let the name fool you. In fact, their food will fool almost anyone. I was surprised to find that some of their dishes are created to resemble real meat like their famous Grilled Teriyaki Kabob, which looks like real beef teriyaki. But, you may be hesitant and ask someone if it tastes like real teriyaki, and the answer is invariably, YES.

When I came to the restaurant, it was packed. It was a beautiful day, so I sat outside. In the patio area is surrounded with plants, small trees, and a six foot high rock water fall. It was very enjoyable and relaxing. The waitress gave me peanuts as an appetizer and a menu. The menu is colorful with names like Secret Love (Grilled chicken stuffed with spinach served with slices of cucumber and tomato) and Infinite Love (Grilled veggie chicken covered with tomato sauce and veggie cheese served with steamed broccoli) or the Patriotic Royale which is a veggie steak marinated in their own barbecue sauce.

With dinner options like that, you might wonder how this food is prepared and it may even strike your curiosity as it did with me.

For an appetizer, I had a side salad with veggie ranch and the spring rolls. The spring rolls are prepared with veggie beef teriyaki, fresh mint, cucumbers, and vermicelli in a rice roll. Both were excellent.

When it came time to order the meal, I had a hard time deciding, because there is so much to choose from. Finally, I ordered the One World Grilled Teriyaki Kabob. It comes with veggie beef with teriyaki sauce on skewers, served with fresh steamed vegetables.

As I sat there, I watched people eat their meals. Everyone appeared to be enjoying their meals with smiles on their faces, and nodding with the look of acceptance of what they chose to eat. One woman in particular was eating a hamburger, and it looks fabulous. Next time I come, I’m ordering that.

My meal arrived and of course it was everything I had hoped. The kabob was delightful. I am amazed how good it was and it didn’t have the squishy tofu texture that I was afraid of. It felt, smelled, and tasted like real beef. Knowing that I was eating something healthier made it all worth while. The service was outstanding. The water was filtered, which is a plus.

They have all sorts of menu items from 20 different appetizers, eight different soups, and eight different salads all priced under $5.90. One World offers a variety of house specials and entrees, lunch specials, including One World’s sub sandwiches, burritos, tacos, and of course, deserts. The best thing is every meal is under $10.

If you would like to see the menu yourself, go to: One World Veggie

One more thing to add. If you find a server dumping water onto the plants; that is because they practice recycling by feeding the plants with customer’s left over water.