Toku Unagi & Sushi

This restaurant is very subtly charming upon entry. Have not even looked in the 2nd dining area to the opposite wall of the sushi bar. Being on the 2nd floor of that intersection of WeHo does add to the experience. Was so good I went 2 nights back to back after trying. Beautiful presentation and quality cuisine here. Sushi chefs craft their dishes timely with care. Salad tasted so fresh. Their style of spicy tuna gets just a touch of sauce on top while the rice cakes they rest on are a perfect texture and thick and wide style. Topped off with bell pepper makes the color accents pop aside from the sweetness and tartness they add. Wagyu nigiri was delectable with rice that stayed warm inside from the meat. The garlic chips may have been freshly fried. Creamy Crab Croquettes are 2 nice big pieces with an amazing tomato based sauce. Great crunchy outside and rich filling inside. The small bites handrolls are scaled down open faced portions but are standouts as well. Wanted to try the traditional main course first over the other option. A Matsu/Medium can easily be enough to share between two persons especially if trying small dishes first. On the second visit I had one all to myself and the rice being so good was a bit heavy in the end. The unagi sauce itself was not overly sweet and sticky like I'd expect. Make sure to try it with some of the provided sansho pepper. It makes your tongue tingle like a buzz button flower while mixes well with the unagi flavor. A superb creme brulee ended the meal well. Lastly, I really have to rally for their Uni Shooters. The mix was perfectly balanced without too much of sake or sauce.

A bit disappointed because we have been wanting to try this place for a long time. Not only its service is very slow, we tried to understand that they might be understaffed that day, but it was beyond timing that we expected to be. It took 20 mins to place an order and another 30 mins until our food arrived, and if you think you'll get a check right away after asking for it, you're wrong. It took us 40 mins and multiple call outs to get the check because we needed to be somewhere and it was just a waste of time waiting over waiting over waiting. They also didn't provide some utensils that we're supposed to use like the big spoon to scoop the rice from the big bowl, and it took us an hour to get our sake after placing the order.It was truly disappointing experience. I hope they'll improve with better service and enough staff next time.The food itself is nothing extraordinary. if you've familiar with unagi don or hitsumabushi, you won't think the price and service (and the drive) would be worth it. Other tables surrounding us also experienced the same thing. They waited for 30 mins and they never got any menu and they ended up grabbing it at the front. It's very crowded and we had rsvp, but the place is very intimate.

I decided to stop by since I was in West Hollywood for the first time in a while. Since it was a Friday, the restaurant was busy.The place was busier than I remembered, and I ended up waiting about 10 minutes. I regretted not making a reservation.The food took a while to come out, and the server checked in a few times to see if I wanted to order appetizers. But I wanted to save space for sushi!!Unfortunately, the omakase was sold out, which was disappointing.I would love to come back and eat here if I'm in the area again.

As others have mentioned, the price vs portion is off but it was a great experience. Having fresh unagi or pre-packaged drenched/marinated in sauce is your choice. Would I come back, yes but only if I'm in the area. PARKING When we arrived, parking was free under the shopping complex. SERVICEIt was a little confusing because there wasn't really anyone around when we arrived, even though I had originally phoned to make a reservation that had been pushed back. Overall, the dining experience was average nothing mind blowing FOOD Yellowtail Carpaccio = 4/5Jalapeño dressing with renkon chipUnajyu Matsu 4/5A perfectly prepared directly imported Premium whole Japanese Unagi, steamed and broiled with Toku's exclusive sauce, over bed of rice. Served with Japanese pickles and soup.Ohitsu Matsu (POUR OVER) = 4.5/5A perfectly prepared directly imported Premium whole Japanese Unagi, steamed and broiled with Toku's special sauce, sliced over a bed rice, served along with a pour over tea/broth and ganish. Served with Japanese pickles and soup.Clean ambience no issues when dining.

If you're a diehard unagi fan and would love to try unagi imported directly from Japan and prepared in a traditional way, then Toku is your best bet. Don't fret if you don't like unagi because they also have other items on the menu that are delicious as well. The only downside for me is that it's just quite pricey; however, once you understand all the preparation they do for the dishes, it seems fair to me. I would recommend getting reservations as it does get crowded, or if you're lucky like me to come in without a reservation and get lucky with bar seating. || L O C A T I O N / P A R K I N G ||-Cross streets are Holloway Dr. and La Cienega Blvd.-Free parking structure located beneath the establishment. Like many Yelpers mentioned, it is quite small and cramped, but hey, it's free parking and you have an attendant watching over the garage.|| F O O D ||Premium Matsu Ohitsu - I never had anything like this before so I decided to opt for this instead of the typical unagi with rice set. The pour over broth with the rice was a perfect palate cleanser in between bites of flavorful unagi. Such a wonderful experience.Sashimi Omakase - holy guacamole, these slices were so thick and fresh! The sushi chefs were definitely generous with the cuts. Note that they give you all the fish in a platter so it's not like your typical omakase spots that give you each piece one by one.

This place was DELICIOUS - but I have to admit... I liked everything else more than I liked the unagi, which is supposed to be their specialty. I came here with a friend for a friend date and we ordered a la carte. The eggplant dish was so good I devoured the whole thing and we had to order a second one. The uni dishes were so fresh and yummy. My friend LOVED the unagi, but for me, I thought it just tasted like any other unagi. Don't get me wrong, it was good, but I just liked everything else so much more.The restaurant is fairly small, but they have a bar area and it seemed like you can walk in and get a table. I had a reservation. The service was friendly and food came out quick! Next time I come here I am definitely trying the a la carte.

The udon & unagi set here is perfection--tender, flavorful, and elevated. I also tried the unagi liver soup, which I loved, though its bold flavor might not be for everyone. A must-visit for unagi lovers.

We got the biggest platter of eel and we got the biggest platter of sashimi. This place is cute, definitely a hidden gem, but the space itself and the utilization is a bit awkward and most of the clientele seem to be either Japanese tourists with no idea about the neighborhood OR locals who have absolutely no idea how awesome this restaurant actually is...

Top three most disappointing experiences I've ever had at a restaurant. Heard great things about this place and went with a friend so we could try lots ofItems. What a terrible mistake that was. For starters, the service is a joke. Atrocious. Rushed. Hassled. Comically impersonal. And I don't give a damn if people think "no one goes to a sushi place for the service." When it costs this much, yeah they do. If the sushi was great, I would't have noticed. Unfortunately, the service was better than the food. This is a place for eel lovers? No, the eel was cheap crap. I've eaten the fish all over Japan and if the eel they served me was imported from there than it must have been from the frozen food section of a grocery store. The rest of the fish was immediately forgettable. In fact, I barely remember all the nigiri and rolls we ordered because the only one that had any distinctive flavor was the salmon. I will admit, though, that the soy sauce they apportion to every customer was quite good. I was told the shrimp tempura here was epic. It was an epic fail. When they first put down that plate with two shrimp and GIANT hunks of friend vegetables I thought it was a joke. Sadly, the joke was on me. If you love sushi, do not let the joke be on you and avoid eating here.

It was such a good experience. Food is good, service is great, everybody is so kind. I plan to go again.