Tendon Kohaku

First time here was fairly impressive. The egg and squid tempura was perfection in a bowl. The other tempura in the chef special was pretty average. Ask for their spicy sauce on the side, much better that way. Satisfied overall with the food and service. Ambience is very pleasant. Will be going back for sure.Food: 4/5

I really had high hopes for this place, but unfortunately I won’t be coming back. Let’s start with the good: the decor and ambiance is amazing. The lighting is soft and comforting, the wooden textures are cozy, and the dried grass hanging in the ceiling is very cool. We also fortunately didn’t have to wait for a table around 6:45pm on a Thursday evening. However, the food itself was less than stellar. I ordered the spicy kohaku don, and although it was nicely presented, the quality was just not there. Despite the shrimp being freshly fried, the egg was cold and soggy. The other pieces felt like they had been sitting for a while, likely waiting until the shrimp was done cooking. The chicken was dry and was unevenly battered, as shown in one of the pics below. The tempura was on the oily side, whereas I prefer it light and crisp. The sauce was salty and overpowering. To top it off, the rice was not cooked well and had been sitting for a while, since the top layer had dried out, but the bottom became mushy. You shouldn’t be able to pick up a chunk of rice like this! All in all, a disappointing experience to what could have been a very enjoyable meal. Please work on improving your consistency and quality!

When I first came to this restaurant, I was attracted to their design and decoration. I never seen a Japanese style design other than on IG. I like it. The whole ambient and lighting is soft and calm. Sitting space is good too Food wise ; not my cup of tea. I found the tempura batter to be quite heavy. Opposite of how I imagine and what I had from other restaurants before. I imagine tempura to be light and crunchy. However, the mushroom is a wild surprise. It's very juicy. I mean you can't over cook them right? The shrimps, chicken and the other veggies are alright. They still kept their flavours. The chicken is almost over cook. The sauce that the restaurant provided don't have much flavour. But it gets real thirsty afterward Speaking of which. The miso soup is quite salty. Rice portion is consider small. But it's a good match with the heavy batter. You will get full for sure. The tomato is quite refreshing. But importantly, looks good. The drinks are okay. But the bottles have a nice gimmick I like the service. Overall they done a good job. Felt very welcoming. But some waitresses and waiters done a better a job than the others. I feel the passion from them. Really feel they want to help, instead just to be here to work Price wise, i don't think it is justify for the food quality. Kinda over price. But overall, should definitely come here for the gimmicks, and the environment. Would I come back again? Probably not

Was a very aesthetic place and a good chill spot to eat with friends. Was quite busy so make sure you make reservations ahead of time as people were waiting outside the whole time we ate 6:45pm. Food had beautiful presentation but I definitely was still hungry after. I’ll definitely be trying the milk tea, if I go again.. but I think I’m good going once.

We went last year for the grand opening promotion and then again last week. Despite mixed reviews, we really enjoyed both times. There is just enough amount of sauce and super well seasoned even though it doesn’t look like it. The portions are generous. The drinks are a little pricey, which I speculate is due to the containers being one-time use. The kabocha salad was very healthy tasting so it was good to pair with the fried food. Oh and a big plus is it appears that they serve real freshly grated wasabi!! My husband ordered the one with sashimi and was pleasantly surprised by this. My mom also really liked her seafood tendon. Happiness all around and would definitely go back. I thought the price was a little high before, but not anymore with all the inflation.

A wonderful authethentic Japanese culinary experience! It was definitely a worth a hype when it first opened - my family was too hungry to wait for an hour for a table. Friendly Japanese staff members and nice presentation of the dishes - we ordered Signature tendon and udon came with this cute iron kettle for broth. The home made soy sauce is to die for! the tendon came with a variety of tempura including , , and . Some may say it's a bit on pricey side, but it is worth every penny compared to the one at Brentwood food court.

The food was good, but not amazing as anticipated. The tempura wasn’t greasy which is nice, but it also wasn’t very crispy which would have been more enjoyable. Also, for the price, there wasn’t a lot of rice, not enough to match the toppings. There was a wait before they texted that our table was ready…the ‘table’ was the bar with, for me, dangerous high bar stools. I mentioned this because even though I made a comment to the server that the seating is not ideal for an older person and there were tables of people about to leave, nothing was changed.

Situated in Madison Centre, I much prefer visiting this location of Tendon Kohaku than the one in downtown on Howe Street. It’s a bigger space with more tables and free parking. I don’t have to constantly worry about the Impark gestapos while I’m enjoying my meal because my meter expired for a few minutes. We usually get their Anago Tendon, Ebi Tendon, Nagoya chicken wings and a side of seasoned salmon sashimi to share. If it’s your first time there I highly recommend getting their anago tendon to get a good sampling of all the tempura they have to offer. That is, if you like salt water eel as much as me. I often am tempted to ask if I can order a piece on the side as à la carte. Their tempura batter is thicker than what I expected but I understand why. It has to stand up to the sauce that they waterboard the tempura in before serving it on top of the rice. Despite being a big bowl of essential deep fried food, I somehow don’t feel overly greasy after eating it. Their portion size is also quite generous and filling. They also boost that they use a special rice imported from Japan, although to me I wouldn’t expect anything less. Their decor has very modern Japanese elements with the light wood and a natural feel. I can easily feel like I’m at a department restaurant in Tokyo when I’m inside. They also have individual washroom stalls that’s shared with Kokoro Mazesoba. Service was also very solid, but maybe because of their popularity and volume of customers, sometimes the waiters are not as attentive as I would expect, although we never felt ignored. We had visited this place many times now and look forward to many more to come.

Excellent tempura. Delicate crispy batter, not heavy and oily. Portion size is just perfect. You will not feel too stuffed after but you will not leave hungry. Around $20 per bowl. Not cheap but I think it’s worth it.

Zen style decorations and dinning environments, modern minimalism Japanese style. Not too many choices on the menu but that’s easy to choice your favourite items from it. Foods are tasty but small portions! I hope they can put more rices in the bowl, definitely not enough for an adult. Miso soups were a little too salty. Highly recommended the honey melon milk, my daughter is a big fans of it. Recommended!