Review Tokushima - Fitzroy

Great no fuss and frills cosy japanese. Friendly service. Had the pork belly ramen - belly was a little tough but the sauce on it was delicious. Big bowl so great value for price. Sashimi plate was good, the sashimi was fresh, not super top quality but still tasty. Thanks for a nice week night dinner. Apologies, photo is after I dug into it as I was hungry!

The teriyaki don was microwaved chicken slices that was drizzled on with diluted teriyaki sauce. Rice was jasmine rice and not Japanese rice. Nigri also used jasmine rice that wasn't seasoned properly. Pickled ginger was mixed with preserved lemon and wasabi was watery. This isn't anywhere near Japanese cuisine.

This small Japanese restaurant felt very intimate perfect for dates. The chirashi Don was great although portion is on the smaller side. The sukiyaki don is sweet and tender and also on the smaller side. Food comes out fairly quick so perfect for quick bite. Food - 6 Service - 7 Vibe - 6 Price - $$$

Not sure why so many other places get more attention - probably because they appeal to the younger generation. In which case they are missing out on some excellent Japanese food. The duck was superb. Salmon and tuna was fresh and tasty. Service is excellent. Wheelchair friendly (except if you need to use the bathroom). Kid friendly. Parking pretty good after 6.30pm. A must visit.

I wish I could rate this place higher, it looks like a traditional mum & pop Japanese eatery. The food there was one of the worst I've had in Melbourne. It is far from authentic, traditional Japanese cuisine. The Chirasi Don had tuna and salmon slices that were cut without much skill or technique, with lots of sinew and rough edges. It also had a cooked prawn that felt and smelt a bit off. The rice was more Jasmin than traditional Japanese short grain. It felt like something you made at home in a hurry from leftover food. The $21 ramen was too salty and felt like instant noodles at best. It had a decent portion of meat, but it was not tender nor well flavoured. Absolutely can not compare to a proper Japanese ramen.

Oishi food. Very authentic ambience of an izakya. Tsugoi! Host/chef was very hospitable. Whole family loved it and plenty of food options to choose from.

Perhaps not the most authentic Japanese cuisine, but it does always taste great, it's moderately priced, and the owners are lovely.

We come here all the time. Love the food, love the atmosphere, and love the service. It's quite small but very cosy and relaxed, perfect for conversations. The food is fresh and delicious. We love their House Special, it's our must order every time. The staff are courteous and genuinely friendly. It's become one of our only two permanent date night go to restaurants.

This small Japanese restaurant felt very intimate perfect for dates. The chirashi Don was great although portion is on the smaller side. The sukiyaki don is sweet and tender and also on the smaller side. Food comes out fairly quick so perfect for quick bite.

J’s score 3.5 stars.  J had a solo lunch here on Mon 29th of April. <br/><br/>Nice place, small and quiet.  Staff were gentle, friendly, efficient & unimposing. <br/><br/>Water was brought out & refilled regularly. <br/><br/>There was free miso soup (which was not mentioned, a nice surprise) - it tasted very nice. <br/><br/>Complimentary apple slices were included also!<br/><br/>J had a Tofu Don ($13) > Moist tofu and included onion, carrot, mushroom, zucchini, spring onions & lots of ginger. The rice was a bit crunchy. Overall not huge on flavour, but a nice dish nonetheless.

Fresh ingredients, but lacked authentic flavour. Ordered agedashi tofu, ramen and California roll. Not great value, the ramen at $20 really felt unfair.

Not sure why so many other places get more attention - probably because they appeal to the younger generation. In which case they are missing out on some excellent Japanese food. The duck was superb. Salmon and tuna was fresh and tasty. Service is excellent. Wheelchair friendly (except if you need to use the bathroom). Kid friendly. Parking pretty good after 6.30pm. <br/><br/>A must visit.

Quick late lunch.<br/>An enticing menu complimented more so if you get to see the dishes being served at other tables prior to your selection!<br/>Excellent presentation and beautifully prepared, we decided on the Okayo Don (chicken, with egg, onion and rice and Tori Don (chicken with vegetables and rice).Nice decor, friendly and efficient staff and good value.

Food is OVERPRICED and nothing special. I paid $20 for a seafood ramen and it looked not up to that price. Not Japanese ramen/ udon style but Chinese noodle that you can buy everywhere at Asian stores, served in ramen stock (maybe) with COLD seafood!!!! <br/>An extremely normal fried rice that you can cook at home cost $16 and it tasted so Bad. <br/>First time but not good experience. I will not come back. <br/>There is a surcharge if you paid by card but the staffs even did not let you know before hand until I check my bank account and find out. <br/>Please be reasonable at your prices and food quality. <br/>

Had the sushi main which was $23 and totalled only 8 pieces of shoddy sushi with too much rice for each piece. The rice was not properly flavored, and I don't think it was even the right type of short grained rice. It was powdery and weird. The ginger was low quality and had a chemical taste. Not a good meal. The lady serving me was nice and the tuna was decent quality which is the only reason it isn't a 1.

Had the sushi boat a couple of months back. The rice was so mushy the texture made it taste foul. Not sure if the fish was fresh either but the rice in the nigiri was very very bad.

This place always has great bento boxes made from authentic ingredients and recipes. No curry sauce out of a packet here! A great lunch made thoughtfully.

My friend and I came in for lunch and had 2 terrible meals, and overcharged. The green tea which is usually always free was $7. and both me and the person next to me had to ask for extra chicken because only 2 tiny pieces came with our Bento Box. My friends meal was full of MSG, and neither of us got wasabi or fresh ginger. When we went to pay the bill, it was over what the menu had advertised. Absolutely terrible experience.

As far as Japanese restaurants go, it's not bad in terms of authenticity and flavour. I resent paying for a Chicken Katsu Curry though, when the "chicken" part is more of a concept than an actual meal. 1mm thin sliced chicken, crumbed and fried just tasted like I was eating deep fried cardboard. I sent it back to the kitchen, and they sent me a new one exactly the same!

This is the place I go regularly for lunchbreaks. Lunch menu is relatively cheap compared to the neighbouring Japanese restaurants. Drinks are a bit pricey they should lower it down rather than always trying to upsale to customers. Don comes with miso soup and fruits which makes the whole meal satifying. Service is good. Food comes very fast. Wish there will be more customers coming to this small restaurant.

Because of this stupid restaurant, I finally create an account for Zomato!<br/>The food of this store was terrible, because they charge you such high price but give you extremely bad dishes. The $22 main size sushi have 8 pieces in there, and each sushi was very small, without any decoration or further cooked. Just tiny raw fish on vinegar rice. They even smaller then those $12 fast-food sushi box. <br/>Believe it or not, just order it and you will become so angry at there. I would prefer to give 0 for this hilarious restaurant.  Shame!!!

The food was the worst japanese good I ever had. <br/>I told the owner the chicken was dry. The owner told me it's just their style. Honestly, I can eat better japanese in a food court than this restaurant.

A great neighbourhood restaurant. Spotlessly clean, friendly service, great choice of food & reasonably priced. Definitely on my return list!

Tokushima reminds me of the style of “neighbourhood Japanese” restaurant I have enjoyed on travel. Not over stated, plenty of the standards that you expect to see on a Japanese menu. This is not high end Japanese rather a good solid “place for casual dining” style Japanese. If you are looking for high end may I strongly recommend Wabi Sabi just a few doors down.

I am sorry but this shop is terrible. It's a simple quiet shop with decent decor and ambience. Service was good but slow. The problem is the food. Probably one of the worse Japanese food I had in awhile... The Raman was bad... Soba was bad.... Don was average... Service size was small and food is pricy. Gg

While this place isn't terrible, I find it hard to understand how it has remained in business for so many years given the rapidly increasing calibre of other dining options nearby - there are even many on the same block!<br/><br/>If this was a Japanese restaurant in a small country town, or even in a largely residential suburb outside the inner city it may be a great addition, but given the variety of other restaurants close by, and even several noteworthy Japanese restaurants, I fail to understand how this has remained open.<br/><br/>I've given it a try a few times over the years, and while it has never been bad it has never been particularly good. Maybe it just isn't to my individual taste.

Food was bland.<br/>Portions are average.<br/>Price was expensive for this quality.<br/>Ambience was normal.<br/>Service was good.<br/><br/>Nothing worth remembering here.

Terrible 30 mins wait time for lunch time bento box, which was so horrible when j got back to work -- not worth it !!!

Good little place. Very friendly people and good food. Decor not great but not a big deal. Unfortunately no good beer.

Great secret spot. The food here is great, the decor is cheesy and it's always queit. Perfect. no hipsters, just good food.

Had to sign up to urbanspoon to tell people not to go here. The worst. So overpriced it's insane. Sushi was like it was made 6 days ago. Tempura portion was so small I could hardly see it. Edamame was like chewing on bark. When I said I was still hungry, knowing the bill was at $75, I was asked if I wanted to order dessert.<br/><br/>From now on whenever I have a bad meal I will compare it to tokushima. <br/><br/>And I know, deep in my heart, I will say "tokushima was worse". Every time. Every single time.

Avoid. Tiny servings, alarmingly overpriced, disappointing quality. I'm still hungry.

Terrible food. Not worthy at all to be open in Melb! <br/>I popped in for a handroll. The chef said he can make one. Off he went & literally opened a can of tuna, chucked flakes of in with long grain rice, no mayo, then haphazardly put seaweed around it. Everything was falling out. It was for a child but couldn't eat it cos the filling was falling out. AND he charged me $3.50 for it!!!! I kid you not the handroll looked like a 5-year old made it. I couldn't believe he sold it to me! He had no shame. I don't think the owners were Japanese. <br/>Terrible x 1000

Not Japanese. This was a waste of money, the food was cold soggy and chinese.<br/>I had the Yasai itame which was a soggy salty vege slop, and tonkatsu which tasted like it was from the freezer. The agedashi tofu was soggy and disgusting, this place can not call it self Japanese. the food is salty greasy and way over priced, I would not recommend anyone eat here

Authentic. The food was pretty yummy and was very similar to food I had in Japan. The serving size wasn't very big BUT by the time I had cleaned my plate I was full, so it was the perfect amount. One thing I did not like was...it cost about $3.80 for coke zero, but they gave it to me in a glass (so it wasn't even a full can) and it was room tempurature with no ice.

Ordered the bento box as a take away tonight. For $22.00, the servings of meat were too small. Not good value for money in my opinion.

Fake Japanese. The shabu shabu was wrong. The bento box was also wrong. The teriyaki chicken in the bento box was just some chinese stir fried chicken There was also some terrible bone dry crumbed pork cutlet in the bento box. Adding the spring rolls into the bento gave me the impression that this is just a very random selection of what's sitting around in the kitchen. The Japanese joint at Uni offers much better Japanese food than this place.

Good value. Shabu Shabu for $25 was delicious and great value. Service was fast, will definitely eat there again!

Best sushi in town. This place has, without question, the best sushi ive had in melbourne, and the soft shell crab is to die for. plus we had some squid dish that i cant remember the name which was incredible. the service is splendid, being able to see the sushi being made is a nice touch. classic and elegant yet unpretentious this is probably my favorite restaurant in melbourne and will remain a very frequent choice

Disappointed. I have eaten at the Tokushima twice and I found the food to be just ok <br/>The staff were great the price was ok <br/>My partner ordered take away and the dumplings were burnt at the bottom and i found that the food was just ok the staff were nice but I would not return

Good food, polite staff, just slow service.. This small, simple decor with very polite service staff serves good Japanese food. It’s not bad service, just slow and simple. The scallop sushi is awesome! So if you the time it’s worth a try.

Service and okonomiyaki were great, everything else was a little drab and tasteless.

Not worth the price and the time... I don't mind the decor.. just nice and simple... quite comfortable.. went there with my partner<br/><br/>the Food itself... is rather average... if anything, quite sloppy and not quite 100% Japanese, in a sense that it's not really rustic Japanese taste... more of a combination on Chinese food that has Japanese name to it ( had Gyudon, croquette and Gyoza, The Croquette in particular was rather tasty and creamy.. but that's it ) <br/><br/>The Service... is VERY SLOW on my table... we were the first there... seated... and ordered.. 15 minutes later.. still no food.. which was fine.. then another table of 5 and another one of 2 people was seated... and they ordered... still no food at all.... then after about 10 minutes... a couple of entree was out.. and we had them in a reasonable time.. not too fast.. but what pissed me off is... the table of 5 that got in after us ... as time passes by (about 15 minutes)... 90% of their foods (entree, etc. ) was out before us !! and they had bento box and donburi varieties and such... and we only ordered a couple of donburi bowls and a small bowl of miso soup.. what a joke!! <br/><br/>not going back there.. just because... the food was average, the service was crap, and the price was expensive as hell compared to other restaurants nearby such as peko-peko, cocoro that has a better flavour overall.... really not worth it.

I love you Tokushima. Make me fresh sushi and give me somewhere to hide at lunch time.<br/>For dinner try the tofu steak

Disappointed. I thought I was going to eat good quality food when I was on Smith St looking for something Japanese to eat. But to my horror, I was in a cheap, overly priced restaurant like any other Asian restaurants I've been to. The restaurant had a nice interior, the waiter was kind but not Japanese. I think the best part of the menu is sushi as you can watch your food be made but the proportion wasn't even satisfying. I would recommend to come here for the sushi but for anything else, you are just wasting your time.

I love it there. The food is always delicious and the staff are some of the nicest around. I particularly like the sashimi and the spicy sushi roll is my all time favourite.

Food tasted and looked more like Chinese food rather than Japanese. Tereyaki was watery and rice wa not fragrant. I will not be going back there.

Nothing Special. Tokushima is a simple looking restaurant and you can't really tell it's Japanese til you step inside. The food was average as I have had better of the same elsewhere.<br/><br/>Mr P and I shared the Okonomiyaki to start and I really enjoyed it. It had a generous amount of seafood in it and was presented as a bit of a deconstructed okonomiyaki as there wasn't too much egg in it holding it together. The sauce was yummy.<br/><br/>I was disappointed with my main of Katsu don which is pretty standard Japanese main. The pork cutlet wasn't crunchy and was a bit dry and tough. There wasn't that much egg on top and there was stock throughout the rice which was okay but I much prefer the flavours of other Katsu Don.<br/><br/>Prices are above average for the type of meal and for the size. Service was average. Probably will not return.

To my astonishment, this restaurant served Chinese wanton noodles as Japanese ramen. In addition a Katsudon (pork curry with rice) was served cold after a wait time of 40min for the meal. However I do think the sushi and sashimi does taste nice and would come back to eat that, but not the rice noodles.

Really great. It's really, really good here!<br/><br/>If tokushima had a makeover... One that'd make it look like all those new and groovy places in smith st, it'd be packed out every night. But as it is, in it's unassuming almost dated '80's looking room (when Japanese restaurants were starting to pop up in Melbourne) it doesn't ever seem to be more than half full.<br/>The food is great and has traditional dishes you might expect, plus a load of other interesting numbers.<br/>It may not be as modern as wabi sabi, or as cool as cocoro, but it has plenty of extremely competent and interesting dishes. <br/>The sashimi salad is one of the best dishes on smith street

Good value for money. Very cheap and authentic. I would come back.

It's the real deal humble Japanese food and service, ie not the Chinese place pretending to be Japanese . This is a really intermate place that we always enjoy, fantastic!

Ok, but try harder!. Good food, but not value for money, the banquet consisted of nothing and was very pricey per head! could be better! I am still hungry!

Unassumingly appealing. This tiny and quiet Japanese eatery, tucked next to A Bar Called Barry, might be easily overlooked but head inside and you'll find a homely ambiance coupled with friendly service. The food is delicious -- the sushi/sashimi platter for two is jaw-dropping-- and the sake is warm.<br/><br/>A favourite amongst the Collingwood/Fitzroy locals and those who've decided to venture through the doors. Highly recommended.

Because my brother is a bit of a weeaboo, and is crazy about all things Japanese, including the cuisine and because we like the close proximity of Smith St, I think it's my brother's mission to visit all the Japanese places along the strip. With grandma in tow. We normally head out on a Wednesday or Thursday and this particular trip took us to Tokushima, on the end of Smith St near Victoria Parade. David had told me about this place before and how he liked the Japanese food here more than most other Japanese places in Melbourne, so I was looking forward to it. The decor is simple and understated, but it was still quite tidy and cosy with the Japanese dolls and sake bottles dotted around for decoration. We started off with some agedashi tofu, my brother has a bit of a thing for it. The tofu was a little lighter in colour than I expected, but it was quite nice, nothing offensive but nothing terribly remarkable as well. I decided to order some inside out californian rolls, I've always fou

Tokushima is great value for money, and they dish up some great classic Japanese dishes, though on our last visit, they seemed a little understaffed, as the one waitress was rushing around a bit. Still, though the service was a little harried, it was flaw