Green Tea Lounge

I’ve been to Green Tea Lounge since it opened and it seems to be going downhill. By no means is it bad but the quality of the food just doesn’t seem as good as it used to be.
My most recent visit was for their dinner Sashimi Bento. You get to select a variety of options for your bento. When I opted for California Rolls, they told me they were out of avocado and tried to offer me cucumber rolls. Having no choice i just went along with it. When the bento arrived, there was avocado… I’m guessing they ran across to the supermarket to pick one up.
My favourite part of the bento was their Tempura. You get quite a few pieces and the variety is nice. Some pieces of tempura you don’t usually find which is great.
The restaurant furniture is starting to get a bit beat up… Especially the booths. They are quite dirty at this point with the fabric seating.
This place is still worth a visit but probably not the first choice in J Town

If you have lots of time, and like spacious restaurant and want to be neglected by friendly servers and have some cheap decent homemade style food, look no further, give this place a try. If not, look further, like across the street, do yourself a favor and go to Nakamura or jtown by the sea.
During my visit, the servers were chatting loudly by the bar, much louder than the guests. This place is huge, it was very quiet with less than 10 guests eating here so I could hear all their conversation clearly. I sat there waited for a long time before one of them came to my table to take my order. When I was ordering my ice cream the server repeated my order 3 times to confirm, I did not know why and which part she didn’t understand.
Me: chocolate Cake with green tea ice cream please
Waitress: green tea?
Me: yes
Waitress: green tea jelly ?
Me: green tea ice cream
Waitress: green tea. That’s it?
Me: green tea ice cream with the chocolate cake…
I only had the desserts, just wanted to eat something small so I can leave. The desserts were average, nice presentation tho. the mille crêpe only had 10 layers, thick and chewy, so the cake probably stayed there for while. Chocolate and green tea Mille crêpe are the only two options they have. Somehow the green tea one was reserved and not available until 5pm. Green tea ice cream was fairly sweet.
Pros: cheap home style Japanese food, loner and introverts friendly
Cons: er… not so attentive servers and confusing store layout? w

Layout of the restaurant is awkward and makes no sense. One side is the restaurant, other side is their display/​shop.
Food: completely suck. We couldn’t understand why they were so busy. Their gyoza was so oily and tasteless, their takoyaki ball was all filler and no squid with some nasty bright pink artificial ginger and their tonkatsu (pork) ramen was the most tasteless ramen we’ve had. There was three tiny pieces of pork with half an egg and two slices of artificial fish meat. Our meal ended up costing us $ 27. Definitely not worth it.
Service: they only had one server working when all the tables were filled. We knew she was super busy so we just waited for her to approach us to order. Finally, another server came to help her. The food didn’t take too long to arrive but we had to ask her for serving plates and spoons.
Definitely would not come back.

I won’t be returning to the Green Tea Lounge. The place has a bit of a run down feel to it. The scuff marks left by the table on the wall, for example. The service was friendly, but my main problem is that, for two of us, the first meal arrived ten minutes before the second meal did. That’s a rookie mistake. Who serves two meals ten minutes apart? Really bad. The food is okay, but not stellar. The pork ramen only had a few small pieces of pork. There are loads of ramen places in Toronto where you can get better. Not recommended.

Decided to give this place a try last night with my friend. Nice little café. Had the Soba set with chicken. Chicken is a tad dry, but everything is tasty. The best part of the meal is dessert, I had the black sesame ice cream. The ice cream isn’t super sweet and can taste the black sesame. Overall the atmosphere is good.

Although it sounds like it’s the same entity as the Green Tea Café in the main J-​town shop, they actually offer somewhat of a different menu (no hamburger steak :(), but the curries and the noodles are there, though they’re not exactly the same either. If both places are open, I would recommend going to the café location unless you’re coming for desserts.
I was here for dinner on a Thursday night and the place was empty. The interior looks kind of like a school cafeteria so it sort of felt a little lonely eating here when it’s so dead. It’s not meant to be a fancy place, it’s supposed to be Japanese comfort food, so I can’t really complain about the ambience much.
While it’s supposed to be comfort food, I didn’t think the prices reflected that, particular for the dinner boxes. I got a sashimi dinner box that was $ 20, which I probably could’ve got at another place for $ 15 — especially given that the main part of the bento box was just a salad. It was actually my second dinner of the night (had a fairly late lunch) and I was able to finish all of it — I doubt you’d get full from it if you were really hungry.
The quality of the food in the bento box was decent though. I wasn’t expecting anything good from the sashimi based on the picture (even though they’re right next to the fish market.), and neither should you. The mackerel I got was good, but grilled mackerel really isn’t hard to mess up — it’s essentially what you would get from any basic Korean restaurant. The sauce on the salad was bland, and they probably should tell the customers to add soy sauce to the cold tofu (the way hiyayakko is supposed to be eaten), or else you’re just eating plain cold tofu. What was surprisingly good was the multigrain rice lol, I would never order that anywhere because I’ve always preferred white rice but for some reason this place has multigrain rice that’s so good I would get that over white. Odd. You might also be surprised that this place has the best gyoza I’ve ever had in the GTA, but it’s not a gyoza shop so I don’t really think it adds much value to the overall restaurant.
I’ve never tried the desserts though but they look good, I would definitely be willing to come back and try them. The service was also super friendly and efficient. Even though they were closing up, they never rushed us to leave and let us take our time. I’m not against coming back here either, I just think that I would rather hop on next door to the café instead for their hamburger steak.

Horrible food. Crazy expensive for what they serve. Taste of food are only edible. One of the bento box have sashimi in it god it was awful for $ 16.99!!! Chicken karaage was not done right at all. It was one of the smallest menu that I can find that nothing in it I really cared to eat. On a Friday night it’s empty I should have known better and not walk into that trap. If it’s that empty on a Friday night I should run… I have seen multiple of these Japanese style café in Vancouver BC they are successful always have a lined up every day the locations does not even matter since it’s so hidden and prices is way more reasonable than here and dessert menu was amazing. This place is a joke when it comes to dessert. On a Friday 6:30pm the dessert display fridge was actually empty!

The lunch special was a tad bit pricey. However, the quality of the food makes up for the higher prices. Soba noodles and chicken katsu were really good! I’ve heard good things about their desserts and I’m definitely down for trying them out. Will stop by again for lunch!

Ordered the lunch combo sets. One breaded chicken and one teriyaki chicken. The mixed rice option was very tasty! I am going to try to cook that rice on my own. I added on the green tea milli crêpe dessert and black sesame ice cream. I was charge more than what the menu stated which I really hate so 1 star off.
Service was very fast and friendly. Décor was a bit old and worn out but the awesome animé drawing on the back wall made up for it. 4 stars for solid food and service. 1 star off for higher than expected prices compared to the menu. ****

Wanted to get a light lunch that tasted good at the same time and this place definately accomplished that.
Cold soba $ 10.80 — comes with shrimp tempura and a rice wrapped in a thin layer of tofu I think. The noodles tasted nice when dipped in the sauce. The shrimp tempura was large and fresh. I especially liked the rice wrap. It had a hint of sweetness and tasted great. One of the healthiest meals I have had all week. No wonder the Japanese people live so long.
Tempura udon $ 10.80 — came with the same shrimp tempura and rice wrap. Noodles a bit on the soft side but still had that chew which I like.
After seeing all the pictures of the crêpe I had to try one even though I am not a huge fan of crepes. Green tea crêpe $ 5.80 with black seseame ice cream +$ 3. Comes with whipped cream and fresh fruits. There were probably a good 7 – 10 layers for the crêpe and it this is probably the first crêpe I have ever liked. It went well with the whipped cream and ice cream.
Service was excellent and friendly.

Great little place for lunch, they have unique combos and I like how you can customise them. I got the soba set and everything was in good proportiobns. Multigrain rice was soft and went well with chicken cutlet and soba.
It took really long to get our food but they were apologetic about it and they gave us 10% discount and free ice cream which was very nice. The décor seems a bit outdates but it feels homey there.

Came here for dinner on a Wednesday night around 7 PM. Completely walked by this place, it’s so inconspicuous, located beside Shisho Tree Café. As others have mentioned, it is a shared space between two restaurants, Niwatei (I think) and Green Tea Lounge, so that is a little bit confusing. But the staff here are really nice, there was one main girl working, and unlike what other reviewers have mentioned, I thought her English was perfect and she was actually very helpful at answering questions.
The food is simple, Japanese comfort food. Curries, sushi, ramen, soba noodles, bentos, etc. I got tempura soba noodles because I wanted to try something different. It’s nice that they ask whether you want the tempura on top or on the side, so that you don’t have to have soggy tempura. You also get two inari on the side. I thought the tempura was great, very light and crispy. Inari was standard. Noodles were also pretty good, and the broth tasted light and naturally flavoured — I wanted to drink all of it at the end. Afterwards my friend and I both got some dessert to share. We tried the green tea mille crêpe as well as the coffee jello with vanilla ice cream, and both of them were really good! In the end we each threw in a $ 20, which was a steal considering the amount of food we both ate.
The restaurant wasn’t very busy, and while our server was nice, there were times when she got caught up chatting with some of the other patrons or some of her friends or something. Luckily we weren’t in a rush to get anything, but I think she could have been a little more attentive or could have come to refill our water more. I would still recommend this place though for a casual meal, great value for your money!

I came here last week because when we visited Shiso Tree next door, lunch was already over, so I thought I’d give this place a try.
The soba was average, it seemed a little to floury, but everything else was really good. Curry had a good taste, and the cutlet was cooked well.
The cold tofu was my favourite dish, I liked it so much I ordered another plate!
I’d definately come back for lunch again, though I wish their dishes was a little cheaper.

Soba set dinner with Chicken cutlet was the perfect portion. Love how delicate the portions are measured to allow no food to be wasted on the plate. I love how we get to choose multigrain rice, texture was perfect. Friendly server, decorations may need some touchup, booth seats cushions were a bit stained. Overall, the taste of the food was good.

One of few places that I know of where you can get soba noodle soup! The soba set is great… I usually get it with breaded chicken and the chicken is nice and crispy, lean, and there is a nice amount of meat… not just batter and a skimpy amount of meat with fat. I love that you can get multigrain rice too!
The half portion of Japanese curry and soba noodle soup is perfect for when you can’t decide which one you want. The curry is flavourful, and smooth. Mmmmm yum!
Most of the time the server is the owner, she is very friendly, fluent in English (I read some reviews about bad servers), and very talented! She makes the desserts… the green tea layered crepes are DELICIOUS! If you order a pot of tea and a dessert it is a $ 7 or $ 8 combo (I love the soba tea!)

Good if unspectacular quality of food negated by extremely haphazard service.
This is one of the newer places on J-​Town (I personally find it interesting, if a bit disappointing, how every single restaurant in J-​Town feels like a fresh-​out-​of-​college start up — with their home printed menus using Microsoft Word and easily-​confused staff). Its location is very odd in that it occupies half of what used to be Congee Royale, but then half of THAT half is occupied by a different ramen place and you can’t order combine orders from the different places. Confusing.
We were a bit full so we just opted for the special which is a soup soba and a curry rice for just under $ 11. Each bowl was a bit smaller, which suited us fine, and leaves me wondering how would one single individual down both dishes (because the meal was clearly meant for one). The soup was good though unspectacular, and I actually rather enjoyed my curry, which was flavourful and thick the way Japanese curry is supposed to be.
The main problem is the service. Firstly, they lack English skills. They can take your orders just fine (actually, they got confused with that too, and we also had a tea that we ordered never came to our table) but the moment you ask them anything about the dish, they have zero clue on how to answer. This is made worse by the fact that every time one of us tries to get their attention, they seem to not see us even though they were walking within 3 feet of us. I don’t know how to describe it, but their heads kept on being tilted slightly down and not up to look at if there are tables that needed attending.
They were polite, mind you, but it was extremely frustrating at their inability to grasp even the most rudimentary questions about the food. Aside from that, I enjoyed my curry, my wife enjoyed her soba, and as far as I know my friends enjoyed their dishes too. Solid 3 stars, knock one back down due to frustrating service.

Lovely Japanese café for cake & simple noodle! Lunch specials available!

I love Green Tea Lounge’s concept of serving Home Style Japanese food. Simple and delicious.
I love the idea of able to customize my Soba Set ($ 9.80) the way I prefer from the salad dressing (sesame mayo), the protein (breaded pork), the dip (sweet miso sauce), the rice (multi-​grain).
It was quite filling and the pork just prepared perfectly: juicy and tender inside, crunchy and crispy outside. I think I going to order the Curry with Breaded Pork ($ 9.80)!!
There is also some small bite (Natto for my Unilocal friend?) or some sweet.
As the name implies, they also serves pots of loose leaf tea and even Matcha Tea.
Service is friendly and cheerful. The waitress has this cutest smile just like the girl next door…
I usually go to Café Green Tea for a quick bowl of noodle but they closes early at 7 pm every night. now I know where I can get some home style Japanese food for dinner!

After accidentally dining at Mifune I was determined to finally try out the Green Tea Lounge. I ordered the soba set, which is in my opinion a fair deal. You get soba, rice, your choice of fried item, salad and miso soup for under $ 10. Good portions too; just enough to fill you, but won’t make you feel extremely bloated. My favourite part of the meal was the soba, which was great on a hot summer day. The rest of it was fairly average. Dessert menu however sounds overpriced, simple ice cream is around $ 4 or so for 2 scoops of flavours such as green tea or sesame, which can both be bought at asian supermarkets. Also service is kind of weird. Walked in, waitress greeted us but didn’t tell us where to sit. I had to confirm with her that it was ok to sit anywhere I wanted because she didn’t say anything. But other than that no major issues with service.
Environment is also quite neat! There are manga-​esque murals on the wall, one of which is just a sketch near the kitchen awaiting completion. They also have a blackboard with a historical figure of the day complete with drawing and description which I found kind of neat.
Overall this is a neat place to have an affordable lunch, but may not be good enough for me to keep coming back to it though.

We were at J-​Town to pick up groceries; it coincided with lunch so decided to eat at Green Tea Lounge.
My sister and I waited to be seated, but the server just awkwardly watched us without any greetings — definitely a stare down there. We took the reigns and just sat at an open table. About 5 minutes later, menus and tiny glasses (slightly bigger than shot glasses) of water were brought to us. I had the Soba Set lunch; for under $ 10, it’s a great price considering you get a salad, miso soup, 3 pieces of ebi fry, rice and soba. I have no reservations to say that I enjoyed the meal; could it be that I was hungry and had to watch my sister eat her meal for 5 minutes as I waited for my food? Once the meal was finished, asking and getting the bill seem to take an eternity.
This restaurant has great potential (the food is pretty good and reasonable), but management/​the owner should invest in developing service.
Good for: eating lunch if at J-​Town with a lot of time on your hands