Stephen K.
Yelp
After having read so much about this "legendary" restaurant for so many years, I was thrilled to finally be able to attend.
We arrived about ten minutes prior to their opening time, and there was already a pretty long line of people waiting to get in. We were seated as soon as the restaurant opened, though.
Service was not good...at all. We were ignored for quite some time, and were finally able to order after my dining companion got the waiter's attention. After we ordered, a plate of sunomono we didn't order was brought to our table, and promptly taken away when we said we didn't order it. Several minutes later, a dish of edameme was brought to our table, and when we again said that we didn't order it, the waiter asked if we wanted it anyway, and he left it with us, free of charge.
Disappointingly, all of the "crab" items on the menu use "krab" (fake crab). This detracts from what would otherwise be much better food. I know that crab is expensive, hard to obtain at times, and takes a huge amount of prep, but I'd much rather that the fake crab be left off of the menu as it seems to bring down whatever it's used in.
Nigiri fared about the same. The fish portions seem to be too large for the amount of rice, which makes for an unbalanced experience. While I appreciated the wasabi in the nigiri (tucked between the fish and the rice), my companion found it to be too large of an amount for her liking.
Their signature tuna dish, what I was most looking forward to, wasn't super great. There was a spicy background note to the tuna itself, which was what I enjoyed the most. It was tough to eat, though, since the crispy rice patty was so large. Overall, it was just OK, but nothing I'd go out of my way for again.
The slow service repeated when it came time to pay the bill. My companion had to try much harder than should have been necessary to get the waiter's attention so we could pay and be on our way.
Overall, Yoko's was pretty much run of the mill as far as Portland sushi establishments. There are far worse, but there are also far better.