Tiny japanese restaurant with a more traditional non-sushi menu.
Reviewer: Jason
Total Reviews: 1040
Reviewed: 4/11/2006
Rating: 8.5
My photo gallery
Hot on the heels of the lunch rush, we found ourselves waiting for a table at Tanto in Sunnyvale. The japanese restaurant was completely filled but luckily our wait was only 5-10 minutes. Terry was hoping we wouldn't land one of the elevated tables since he's not particularly fond of taking off his shoes before eating. It was just his luck we landed a table in the tatami seating area. As Adam and I were taking off our shoes, Terry attempted to bypass the japanese dining etiquette and swung his legs into the tables with shoes on. A waitress passed by and quickly told Terry to take his shoes off. DENIED...it was hilarious and I suspect they were going to punish us with bad service...haha.
We sat for awhile before the waitress dropped off 2 lunch menus for 3 people? Maybe they ran out of menus? A table next to us emptied out and 2 people sat down and were immediately brought out teas and menus. Hmmm....maybe we have a different waitress? Another table emptied out and 2 customers sat down and were promptly served teas and menus. We sat a good 10 minutes before a waitress asked us to order. We made our orders and they finally brought out tea. Terry and Adam's tea was lukewarm while mine was probably heated with a blowtorch. It was so damm hot to the touch that I had to wait towards the end of lunch to drink it.
For lunch, I ordered the Udon and White Tuna rice bowl combo and shared a onigiri with Adam. The restaurant was clearing out and would have expected faster service but who knows...maybe we were flagged for breaking one of the rules.
My combo came out on a nice tray and everything looked delicious. The white tuna was amazing and green onion/seaweed/rice mixture was nearly perfect. The noodles were chewy and broth was some of the best I've had. My combo was a winner and definitely a repeat order.
My grilled rice balls finally arrived and they were straight out of a frying pan. Frickin hot, watch your mouth or you'll burn it. It was stuffed with either crab or fish? I couldn't really tell which it was but with fish roe, dried shrimp/fish?, green onions, on crunchy rice, it was a new taste for me and I enjoyed it. Crunchy on the outside and the crab/fish mixed in the center. Good stuff.
The food was a hit and almost identical to what I had at Gochi Fusion Tapas. In comparing Gochi Fusion Tapas vs Tanto for my lunch combo, it's a tough call but I think Gochi edges out on the fish rice bowl with larger fish portions but Tanto's fish appeared to melt more in my mouth. The Udon at Tanto was a clear winner against Gochi. Broth was full flavored and noodles were chewier. I guess it could be a tie but the main difference was the service. I clearly loved the food but was a bit annoyed with the slow and insipid service.
RETURN VISIT for Jason!9/19/2008 - 9 Rating: Dinner menu was incredible. We arrived at 6PM and were told they could seat us if we can eat in 1 hour since we didn't have reservations. Since we were the 1st people to arrive, the entire kitchen crew whipped up our dinner in 5-10 minutes. It was awesome.
- fried squid - karaage (weakest dish of the night) - sashimi (maguro, hamachi, sake) - grilled cod (miso flavored?) - yakitori beef and shrimp ($3 each, kinda pricey but kinda good) - grilled pork and vegetables (stir fried pork belly and vegetables with bonito flakes on top)
We drove up to Tanto and I was instantly concerned. The place was TINY on the outside. I could only imagine how crowded it would be inside.
Sure enough there was a line to wait for the table. We ended up waiting a good 5 minutes until we were seated. They have tables that are standard ones you would see in any restaurant. And they have the traditional japanese ones that require you to take off your shoes.
Much to my disappointment, we were shown a table where we were required to take off your shoes. I attempted to get in with my shoes on, and was told that I need to take them off. :( I'm not crazy about the idea of taking off my shoes before touching the menus and food. And trying to eat with other people's shoes right next to my table.
Then we waited awhile before ordering. I was getting disappointed as other tables were getting service before we were. It took forever for us to get tea, and hwen it did arrive mine was tepid while Jasons was scalding hot. Odd.
I finally did get to give my order - the Salmon Teriyaki lunch. It was one of the most expensive items on the standard lunch mini-meu. But it looked like it covered all the bases. Miso, salad, tofu, shrimp tempura, california rolls, rice, and potato salad.
The food took awhile to arrive - again it seemed like we were waiting longer than others. When it did finally arrive, my disappointment completely receded. This thing looked impressive. Quite a large selection of food, and portions were decent. Each item wasn't overly large, but the combination of all of them left me happy.
And every item was very good. There really weren't any other sushi selections on this menu, but I was blown away by the California Rolls. They were not the best I have had, but they were really really good. Real crab too.
The Salmon teriyaki was moist and crumbled easily under the chopsticks. The potato salad was tasty (wish I had more of it), and even the cold tofu was tasty with some chopped onions on it. Shrimp Tempura was solid - not terribly large, but not overly greasy at all. A fresh-tasting selection indeed.
If it wasn't for the attitude of the servers I would have bumped my lunch up to a 9, even with the somewhat high prices. I felt the prices were justified for the food quality. I look forward to trying the San Jose location, but I don't think I could return to this Sunnyvale location.
“probably ordered the wrong stuff. ramen was lackluster, comparable to ramen rama, some clams not open at all after cooking, also came w/ weird seaweed-filled rice ball. friends' udon + rice bowl specials looked pretty good though ($7.50).”
7/12/2007 2:33:49 PM
hippo ate...
Roasted rice ball with salmon, Potato ball
“Roasted salmon rice ball was really good. Potato ball was OK but presentation was a sight to behold. NOTE: there is a $15 minimum PER PERSON for dinner. I got the rice balls (2), potato ball filled with octopus (3), and fried tofu.”
