Tokyo Central - Yorba Linda

Tokyo Central, a Japanese grocery store chain, that's been expanding in CA. I've been to three locations in SoCal. This YBL location may be the newest one (I think) and is across from In-N-Out which sometime causes traffic jam entering the narrow street. There are plenty parking spaces in the front and sides of the building. The store is packed (very packed) with lots of imported merchandises from Japan, some obviously written in Japanese, so get your Google translator app ready! To avoid the crowd, I come mid-week and midday. I love, love pursing the snack sections and pick up some Pocky. There must be like 10 different flavors of Pocky and/or Pretz sticks. The snacks are unique, and the flavors are very different from the standard you'll find from your local grocery chains. You have to be adventurous to appreciate the wide selection of Asian inspired goodies - including spices and canned drinks. Where else would you be able to buy canned strawberry milk (my fave) along with herbal sweet ice?! The hot bar is super cool but come early, as the food will be put away by 6PM. I aways get the veggie curry crockett. The hot fresh yam bar is usually out by 4PM so again come early. The sushi bar has both sushi and prepared meals that needs just reheating.The checkout method is odd and structure a way to avoid congestion at the front but causes blocked and traffic for shopper wanting to look at rice cracker snacks. Very inconvenient...I think they should have one line and have the cashier take patrons as a first-come, first serve basis.

I love Japanese food, desserts, and snacks, but unfortunately, the sushi and food at this restaurant were far from fresh -- and it made me quite sick. I tried calling with no answer. We just got back, and I had the baked salmon roll, which contained rock-hard pieces of salmon. At first, I thought it was carrot until my husband bit into it and hurt his tooth. The sushi had a chalky texture and overwhelmingly fishy taste, which was an immediate red flag. I knew I'd get sick shortly after.Paying nearly $20 for two sushi rolls that made us ill and tasted this bad is unacceptable. I genuinely question the food safety practices at this establishment. We live a little far away and couldn't return, which makes this experience even more disappointing. I'm extremely upset and would appreciate a response regarding this issue.

What:This is one of the few, if only, Asia grocery stores in the area and it specializes in Japanese fare (in case the name didn't give it away). Who:Yes, it's a Japanese market with products (mostly) from Japan, but really this is a store for anyone who's open to Asian offerings or has a hankering for Japanese food but doesn't want to drive to Little Tokyo in LA. Plus, the workers I've encountered here are all friendly and helpful.Why:Go here if you're looking for a wide range of Japanese stuff. It has (mostly) high-quality products: meats, seafood, produce, dry goods, condiments, desserts, drinks, snacks, and even hygiene items. There's also a food counter that serves dishes cafeteria style -- you grab a to-go container and scoop up what you want and they charge you by weight. Moreover, there's even a sushi/hand roll restaurant inside!Ambiance:Speaking of inside, it's nicely lit and well kept, with little aesthetical touches that harken back to Japan (e.g. a Daihatsu Midget is dressed up as a fruit cart in the produce section). The Drawbacks:The reasons I'm not giving it a perfect score are 1) some of the items are overpriced, 2) it's not a huge store, so they don't always carry every Asian product I need, 3) the hot food counter closes so early, 4) the lanes to line up to checkout are so poorly organized, as they intertwine with the snack food aisles and cause confusion and traffic jams, and 5) I'm bummed that the restaurant space near the front entrance is always vacant and used as storage [I'd love to see a ramen shop or manga store in that space].Overall: Despite the several complaints I have, I do really enjoy shopping here and am happy there's an Asian grocery store in the area. I give it a great-but-not-excellent grade of 4/5.

We always shop at the Tokyo Central in West Covina. However, we were in the area and decided to check out this location. It was huge! Their selection is incredible. The best part is that they weren't crowded at all. I highly recommend this store!

Daiso for groceries! Every isle is filled with cool (read: unrecognizable to me Japanese) stuff. Expensive and same high quality like Whole Foods, but a LOT more interesting. I will be back! I was shopping for miso soup mix, and found a good selection. Mrs. Yelper and I got the hankerin for miso into which we add rice noodles and shrimp. Nice meal and for us something different. I also got sushi for $18. Wow good but at that price a luxury. TC has lots of hot foods too. Would love to go back for that, not sure if there's a place to sit and eat it. I guess take home. Or in the car.

Tokyo Central Mart's sashimi set and sushi set are of the highest quality compared to other Japanese restaurants.Once you try it, you will know if I am right. I ordered the $115 sushi set because I was in a good mood, and 4-5 adults had a great time with drinks.

I don't know how a successful store like this can still not have its lines and efficiencies figured out. No matter what, this place never has it figured out and it's infuriating. The line winds through the store, they've tried a number of things but never just having efficient cashiers at every check out. Instead, they unusually have 2-3 lanes open and each customer takes at least 3 - 4 minutes. And God forbid you use cash...they scan every bill through a machine, hold it up as if they can discern a counterfeit, etc. I love that this place has most of what I need for Japanese groceries...I hate that it's the only option in Yorba Linda. Please hire more cashiers, please train them to move more efficiently, and please pray H-Mart or 99 Ranch doesn't come to YL or this place will be out of business overnight.

Came here around 4PM on a weekend evening, hoping to grab dinner.Unfortunately, the fresh food bar where you pay by weight was already closed (took off a star for closing relatively early). The good thing is they have a bunch of prepackaged foods you can choose from, such as ramen, sushi, chicken matsu plates, bento boxes (just to name a few). I opted for the Hawaiian bowl, while my partner opted for the okinoniyaki and chicken katsu.They have tables both indoors and outdoors after you check out, with a microwave available to use for heating up food. I loved the Hawaiian plate with tuna and salmon over rice. While the other dishes (which we microwaved) were edible, they definitely dont compare to eating it fresh.I still enjoy this market for a quick and convenient meal when you don't have the patience to wait at a restaurant lol. I would visit again, but next time, I will make sure to come earlier before the hot food bar closes.

I never wrote a review for this store but I absolutely love coming here. They have all the delicious Japanese foods, desserts and treats here. They also sell hot foods and sushi. They even have a bar. They have everything you need. I actually came cause they have some Hello kitty stuff i wanted to get for my daughter and friend. Thank you for amazing customer service and having all the good stuff here. I am editing this cause I wrote my review fast yesterday. But the employees here are so sweet, the parking lot isn't too bad. They have so much variety of snacks, food, cute stuff, even macadamia nuts and chocolates from Hawaii. I really love this store i should come here more often. I highly recommend if you haven't been here yet. Have a beautiful day :) Aloha

I have been to several Tokyo Central markets. I must say that this one is my fav. It is not as big as the one in Gardena, but it is stock up with a lot of goodies. They have the hot foods section, the meats, ramen, sushi, sashimi, and etc. The hot foods get fully stocked at 11am. The sushi and sashimi get fully stocked by 10:30-11:30am from what I noticed. I really like the sashimi here. Always super fresh. The uni in the salmon chirashi bowls are always fresh. The individual box ones..not so good.The downside is they sold out pretty quick. They don't restock until the next day.Also, line to check out could get pretty long.Request for chopsticks, soysauce, Wasabi, and ginger when paying.Go early! Eating area availMicrowaves avail.RR availParking avail