Lexi W.
Yelp
I might give this one 3.5 stars but for going to round down to 3. My first experience at Taka was a bit disappointing for me, as I had been eagerly reading reviews from when it first opened as well as stalking their (curious) social media. I invited a client for lunch and of course hoped for the best, but what we got was mediocre - with some highlights.
The new Taka is located in the large strip mall at 4600 Roswell Rd, anchored by Sprouts on one end and CVS on the other. It's a large complex with a lot of retail and some residential; The Collection apartments are located in the back. Newly built and obviously designed to be a mixed use complex, it's highly walkable but there's hardly any parking. I was nearly frantic trying to find a spot. (Obviously this is not Taka's fault and I definitely don't blame them, just pointing it out!)
We were seated right away; the OpenTable reservation I made was unnecessary. There's some really nice outdoor seating areas, a smaller dining room and the sushi bar so lots of room to go around.
Service was unremarkable. Our waitress was very friendly but disappeared after taking our order.
We split:
- Seaweed Salad ($5): five bucks seems a little excessive for this but whatever. The portion was large and the quality was higher than I was expecting when I ordered it. Would order again!
- Grilled Brussels Sprouts ($7.70): I hate to say it but these were completely disappointing... I didn't go back for a second bite. The sprouts were absolutely swimming in black pepper, rendering them inedible. We didn't send them back as we had so many other items to munch on instead, but probably should have if just to alert the kitchen.
- Japanese-style Gyoza Dumpling ($7.50): again, wow at this pricing... $1.25 per dumpling just seems so out of line with other restaurants in the area...but I'm wondering if they're all this expensive and I'm just crazy?! [EDIT: OK there are some comparable places price-wise. But damn.]
- CNN Roll ($15; spicy tuna roll topped with sliced red tuna): named for the red-on-red CNN logo colors. Standard and just OK.
- Levolor Roll ($9.70; tuna, avocado and mango roll topped with sliced cucumbers): this is the kind of roll I was hoping for with my Taka visit! Creative, original, texturally complex, tasty AF. YUM. Definitely recommend this one!
- Rainbow Roll ($15.70; eel, cucumber and avocado roll topped with tuna, salmon, yellowtail, shrimp, and avocado): another standard. Once again, just OK.
- Eel & Avocado Roll ($9.70; eel, cucumber and avocado topped with a mountain of red tobiko): this one had the potential to just be another standard sushi roll but the mass of tasty, quality tobiko topping the eel roll pushed it over the edge. Really yummy, and I was impressed with the texture! It was also just beautiful.
- Lobster Tempura Roll ($18; lobster tempura with asparagus, mayo and masago wrapped with soy bean sheets): another disappointment. For nearly $20, I expected this one to blow me away but from both a flavor and texture standpoint it was kind of blah.
All in all, I had hoped for a better meal at these prices. I could tell the ingredient quality was quite high, and maybe I just ordered all wrong, but when looking at the meal as a whole there were just as many misses as there were hits. I was impressed enough by the items we liked (seaweed salad, Levolor Roll, Eel & Avocado Roll) that I'd come back to try some other items, but not if I was paying.