Tomo Japanese Cafe
For a very long time I promised my sister Shannice to take her to have her favorite cuisine, Japanese. I have never seen a teen so into Sashimi and Sushi. I took the perfect opportunity to make good on my word one day when school was out. Not wanting to leave anyone behind, I took my nephew along for the adventure.
We arrived at Tomo Restaurant (located at 8914 Queens Blvd, Flushing NY 11313) just in time for lunch. Armed with big appetites, a camera and some info about our blog, we entered the newest establishment anxious to get our tasting on. After standing near the entry for a few moments, we noticed the "host" sitting behind a desk in the right corner near the door. We walked up to her and told her it would be 3 for lunch. The "host" called over a waitress, who then seated us, placing the menus on the table without as much as a greeting and then walked away. "Hmm..." I thought, not a great beginning at all. I am HUGE on service, as I think a lot of times it can put a not so great culinary experience to a great overall experience if the service is warm and wonderful.
I took a moment before placing our order to inform the server of the reason for our visit and ask that she pass our material about the blog on to her manager. We then selected the Harumaki for our appetizer. It's a crispy fried shrimp and vegetable spring roll served with rich, thick soy sauce. It was hot and delicious.
Our orders for entrees were Spicy Shrimp Sushi, Tuna Sushi, Yellow Tail Sashimi, Squid Sushi and Sashimi and one of the lunch special Bento Box of Pork Katsu. We noticed a tea pot on out table but the tea in it was cold and when asked about it our server just shook her head.
After a bit of a wait, the Seafood orders came first and they were all wrong. Everything on the plates were in Sashimi form and the disappointed looks on my lunch dates faces were unmistakable. Nevertheless they decided not to have their meals changed as they were quite hungry. The Pork Katsu was served shortly after and was a delightful surprise. It was filled with Tuna Sushi, Fried Pork, a Garden Salad, White Rice, Miso Soup and a sauce made with soy sauce, ginger and sugar. The Sashimi, although thickly cut was "pretty good" (to quote my sister) but the Bento Box was the hit of the day. Everyone left their fish and ate my fried pork.
During the meal, I started to take some photos of the food and decor. Not wanting to leave my meal at the mercy of the chop sticks of my dining partners, asked the waitress if she could take a pic of the back portion of the restaurant(a hung Kimono, bamboo dining booths and Sushi station) for me. She said yes at first then asked my what it would be used for. I explained to her again the purpose of my visit and she then said she needed to ask permission first. We continued to eat while she went to the back to speak with someone. Returning to the table, our server handed me back the camera and said that it wasn't allowed. "Pardon?" I asked, "why is it not allowed?". She said she didn't know but the guy at the back said no. I then asked to speak with her manager or the "guy" but she then quickly told me that he wasn't available.
This was the strangest experience ever! I have never had this happen before and in the words of my younger sister, it was an "Epic Fail). Thankfully we got a few pics before we were restricted (Smh).
So...for decent food, bad service, a backroom manager who refused to speak with a patron and not being allowed to take photos, we are giving Tomo Japanese a C-!
Our orders for entrees were Spicy Shrimp Sushi, Tuna Sushi, Yellow Tail Sashimi, Squid Sushi and Sashimi and one of the lunch special Bento Box of Pork Katsu. We noticed a tea pot on out table but the tea in it was cold and when asked about it our server just shook her head.
After a bit of a wait, the Seafood orders came first and they were all wrong. Everything on the plates were in Sashimi form and the disappointed looks on my lunch dates faces were unmistakable. Nevertheless they decided not to have their meals changed as they were quite hungry. The Pork Katsu was served shortly after and was a delightful surprise. It was filled with Tuna Sushi, Fried Pork, a Garden Salad, White Rice, Miso Soup and a sauce made with soy sauce, ginger and sugar. The Sashimi, although thickly cut was "pretty good" (to quote my sister) but the Bento Box was the hit of the day. Everyone left their fish and ate my fried pork.
During the meal, I started to take some photos of the food and decor. Not wanting to leave my meal at the mercy of the chop sticks of my dining partners, asked the waitress if she could take a pic of the back portion of the restaurant(a hung Kimono, bamboo dining booths and Sushi station) for me. She said yes at first then asked my what it would be used for. I explained to her again the purpose of my visit and she then said she needed to ask permission first. We continued to eat while she went to the back to speak with someone. Returning to the table, our server handed me back the camera and said that it wasn't allowed. "Pardon?" I asked, "why is it not allowed?". She said she didn't know but the guy at the back said no. I then asked to speak with her manager or the "guy" but she then quickly told me that he wasn't available.
This was the strangest experience ever! I have never had this happen before and in the words of my younger sister, it was an "Epic Fail). Thankfully we got a few pics before we were restricted (Smh).
So...for decent food, bad service, a backroom manager who refused to speak with a patron and not being allowed to take photos, we are giving Tomo Japanese a C-!
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