My party was looking for a Japanese spot that would accommodate 7 people. We called ahead of time to ask about a waitlist and were told there would be no wait time and that they'd be able to seat us when we arrived. When we arrived, the servers were nice and started to set up a table for us. We were separated into two tables but were still next to each other. We ordered a few sushi rolls and a chicken and beef plate. The sushi was okay (7/10). I would definitely come back for the happy hour promos.

Fresh, delicious sushi. Particularly loved the seared sushi specials - so delectable. Soft shell crab with asparagus handroll was super tasty- we ended up ordering a second. Friendly service.

...I'm normally a double tempura kinda gal, but most recently, I've been having the unagi (eel) with a bowl of rice. It's amazing! With the price of unagi these days, it's a steal for $15 + $2 for the rice. Most recently when we were there, 05-11-24, I had the unagi again and my husband ordered the unagi AND the tempura dinner, which was WAY too much food, but we managed to polish it off!! Once again, I didn't see Annie, our favorite waitress, but I know she was cutting her hours. That night, we had Yoko who was also very pleasant. SHOUT OUT to the young girl with glasses (don't know her name yet) but she is very attentive and even though she wasn't our waitress, she refilled our water and asked us if we were doing ok. I'm happy to see this place getting busy again because the quality, quantity (they are known for huge combination plates) and service is above par. COVID seemed to take a hard hit here, but they survived by doing "to go" orders. It's great to see how they accommodated the situation and that truly shows good management.

It's Foodie Friday and where did I go after work??? The answer is Taiko! (And yes, there was a Yelp glitch... this my additional review on all the food that I have there) Since I work in the Lake Forest / Irvine area -- Taiko off Jeffery in Irvine is the perfect food haven for me to go when work is rough and traffic was not a part of my after work vibe. As a result -- the sushi bar with some delicious food, happy hour draft Asahi, and sushi chef Antonio is the way to go. I recently got obsessed with their Uni Cream Udon. So good! Especially in this rainy cold weather. But the other day I was in the sushi vibes and really wanted Uni... wasn't able to get it, but still craving it... I had to get some Uni this time. Tonight I got Nigiri Uni, Scallop, and Toro. For a hot dish -- the Baked Scallops with rice. For dessert -- the special! A Matcha Mont Blanc Parfait... ooooooo... that was unique! It is definitely an Asian inspired dessert, but multiple surprises with it. Don't want to spoil it! If you are curious and craving an Asian matcha green tea dessert, then this is for you! Now... what will I get next!?!

I haven't been to Taiko in years. We were in the area after our weeknight walk. In reading the recent reviews, there's new ownership/management and a lot has changed. Here's what I have observed: First, there's no long line anymore, lol. Second, the menu is a little more expansive than what I remember. It now has a little bit of everything which reminds me of Honda Ya in Tustin. We ordered a couple of cut rolls Uni & Salmon with asparagus, which were decent taste-wise, as well as the portion.

Restaurant is open during Sunday this month and next for a pop up so this is not their regular menu! They said it was a special Pop- up and chef was from Japan. Only 3 choice items on the menu. We ordered the eel bowl and the tempura bowl. The eel bowl was super flavorful and comes with tamago. Small bowl was already a lot of one person. The tempura bowl was not as great as the eel one but was still pretty good. The tempura was crunchy and sauce was superb. It was a bit price but when we got our orders, we understood why it was priced like that. Huge portions. I would like to bring my family to try the eel bowl since we all love eel.

My family has been coming here for 17+ years but this was our first time since the pandemic. We arrived noon on Saturday and were seated immediately, which is a super different experience than before where you'd always have to wait a considerable amount of time on weekend. It does seem like the food has changed quite a bit, and the menu is on the pricey side even with the larger portions. I had the sesame chicken and California roll lunch combo--the California rolls were just average quality compared to before. The sesame chicken was still tasty and they give a lot of salad with honey mustard dressing. The miso soup was salty. Service was on the slower side. Parking in the plaza can be hard to find--I usually find a spot behind the building.

My boyfriend took me here as an early Valentine's Day dinner because I can never say no to Asian food of any kind. This place seems to be always crowded and the plaza it resides in doesn't have an abundance of parking. We had to park against the curb. Luckily, we were seated right away for the party of 2. They are so busy here!!! It's nice to dine in, but due to how popular it is you might be better off ordering to go. I ordered sushi rolls and the two item combo. Personally, I would prefer to order to go next time. Two item combo's presentation was okay. The three item combo seemed to offer more and the portions visually looked bigger. It seems like all of the other items you can order had way better presentation and the combo I chose just looked meh The sushi rolls were amazing and the quality was fresh and as expected! There was nothing wrong with any of the dishes as they all tasted great. I think for $17 bucks the combo is average. My rolls were delicious though! Try this place if you were curious about it, but don't go when it's super busy.