Rocking Tanuki

I’m not surprised that this place is now closed.
We ate here once with a Groupon deal a few years back and it was the worst Japanese food we’ve ever eaten. The sushi we ordered did not taste fresh. In fact, everything we ordered did not taste fresh.
I always wondered why this place was always offering Groupon deals. They were obviously hurting for business.

Not sure how there can be two reviews on ¹²⁄₁₀. This place has been CLOSED for at least three weeks now.

I came here with a friend and used the Groupon I had. For a starter, he got shrimp tempura, and I had the monkey balls. I really liked the monkey balls, which came with a side of spicy mayo. Who doesn’t love spicy mayo? The monkey balls are simply mushrooms filled with spicy tuna, which is a win in my book. I tried the Rainbow roll, while he thad the dynamite roll, and we shared the spicy tuna roll. The rainbow roll was good, since I wanted a specialty roll with some fresh fish, but I couldn’t decide on which one to get. It was good, but not the greatest rainbow roll that I’ve tried. The spicy tuna roll was OK, and by that time we were both stuffed. Overall, it was good enough that I decided to get Shrimp and Lobster roll to go.
The service was great. Our waitress was very attentive, and kept on making sure we had fresh chop sticks and was very perceptive. She almost knew what we wanted before we even asked. And when I got my roll to go, I usually have to ask for Wasabi to go and soy sauce, but she already had wasabi, ginger, chopsticks, and soy sauce all ready and neatly packed in my bag. If I’m in this area again, I will definitely stop by again. I did find out that they don’t serve alcohol here, but there’s a liquor store nearby. You can head over and get a drink, and they don’t mind. But I was fine with my hot green tea. Sometimes with Groupon it’s a hit or a miss, but we hit the target on this one.

This is the worst service I’ve had in quite a long time. First of all there were only 4 total customers. Still, the service was exceptionally slow. We tried to order beer and were told to go across the street and buy it. Fine, They have no liquor license. Next, I order iced tea. Ten minutes later she returns with a glass of murky Brown liquid. It stinks and is thick and full of floating particles. The waitress is no where to be found so I go looking for her. When I find her and let her know, she looked at me like I was crazy. I then ask if I can get hot tea. Ten minutes later the waitress shows up with a half filled tea pot. I asked her why it was only half full and she walked away mumbling.
I’m very disappointed and will not be returning.

Tried this place last night thanks to Groupon. It’s not a fancy place, but good if you’re looking for something casual. The parking lot was full, but there’s extra parking on the street to the left of the restaurant.
There’s no alcohol, but you can bring your own which I guess is kind of cool. (There’s a liquor store across the street)
Prices were pretty good, and with the Groupon, we got a huge meal for 2 for only $ 30! We had the sunonomo salad to start which was an awesome salad if you love cucumbers. For apps, we had the wings which were so tender and falling off the bone (I recommend) and the bacon-​wrapped asparagus which was okay.
Cherry bomb roll was delicious if you’re looking for something fried and spicy. We also had the Alaska roll which is a lot of salmon with thin-​sliced lemon, and also really really good.

I should have know that I was going to catch some crappy sushi when the place had a Groupon deal. Coming in, as previously stated, I didn’t have high hopes for Tanuki. The reviews aren’t great, it’s out of the way and they don’t serve booze. FML. But I came in with an open mind and a hungry stomach. I ordered your basic Americanized rolls which were so lackluster, I found myself using more wasabi and soy sauce than I normally use. In all honesty, I couldn’t tell you what I ordered and I don’t care to remember. Goodbye Tanuki. Oh, almost forgot; the fried rice blows.

Rocking Tanuki is just down the street from where I live so they already get points for that. But even if I could not walk there, I would still chose them over other sushi joints in the area. The staff are all friendly and the prices are not bad at all.
Last time I ate there I got the veggie udon bowl. I was pleasantly surprised by the richness of the broth and freshness of the noodles and veggies. I am normally weary about ordering noodles at sushi places but this did not disappoint.
Off the sushi menu I found the spicy yellow-​tail to be exceptional for the price. The rice was cooked well and they were generous with the portions of yellow-​tail in the roll. I am also a fan of the specialty rolls they have that feature cilantro and chili peppers in them, YUM!
To top it all off you can bring your own booze! And if you forget the hooch juice there is a liquor store right across the street.
My only complaint is that every time I go there to eat the windows are all shut and the place is really warm, providing a somewhat sweaty dining experience.

This sushi place is ridiculously good!!!
The service is incredible and the food is just delish!!!
The seaweed salad is to die for!!!
I’ve been to many sushi bars and this one is 5 stars hands down!!!

I saw the groupond for this place I don’t usually try other sushi places because I all ready have a favorite and when I do try something new I don’t like it as much.
I decided against my better judgment to try this place and was happily surprised. I got three rolls salmon lovers, Ika-​Ika and a speical the las cumbers.
They where all really good my favorite the salmon roll had a nice crunchy outside and a delicious salmon and cream cheese inside. The Ika-​Ika also had a nice crunch to it. My least favorite was the las cumbers. I want to try it because I’ve never had lemon in a roll before it with the spice w/​lemon was very different compared to the rolls in the past. I found I liked it better if I popped the whole piece in my mouth instead of taking little bites.
My only disappointment is I saw a picture on Unilocal of there dessert Menu and it said green tea cheesecake. So I asked about it but out waitress had no idea what we where talking about. I guess that don’t make it anymore.
All in all nice and unique sushi place. I will defiantly be coming back.

Service is quick, food is GREAT! I came on a Sunday afternoon after church with a friend and got 4 rolls (catterpillar, firecracker, alaska, & dalai lama). The restaurant has nice décor and my overall experience there was great. Sushi chef there is really nice and talks to you unlike other places! I’d come here again!

Best sushi I’ve had in the longest time!
Fresh fish. Kindest waiters.
The prices are great too!

Bought a Groupon for this place and glad I did. Firstly, I love the slight touch of Japanese ambiance it has. The seaweed salad was one of the best I’ve had. Sadly, their tempura isn’t too great. However, I loved all three rolls I ordered. I did not order sashimi so I can’t judge that, but I would definitely come back for their cooked rolls. We had the Spider, Ika Ika, and Shrimp and Lobster roll. The shrimp and lobster roll came with a green sauce that had a very strong lemon taste and it was something I’ve never experienced before. Delicious!

Just ok sushi. I have been here 4 times and this last time was by far the worst! They were out of every dessert, out of quality servers as well. The waitresses had on way too short of shorts! Me and my girl were wondering what the hell was going on? Did we walk into a strip club? Or Brothel? Also the waitress kept mumbling stuff under her breath and if we said «excuse me» she would say «oh nothing». I ordered 2 sets of crunch rolls and normally they are good from here. But not today! Disgusting!
Both sets of rolls had an end piece with no shrimp just a shell from the end of a shrimp. Plus there were little seeds in the rolls that overpowered the taste. We asked for a manager and she was not blatantly rude but also was not helpful. She saw how 2 of my 16 rolls weren’t edible because they were filled with only shrimp shell and no shrimp but offered us no discount. No new 2 rolls. It was laughable. My friend ordered a teriyaki ckn bowl and it came drenched in sauce. When she asked for them to fix it they said it will be an extra charge. She ended up throwing it away. Total waste of money and our time. I will not ever return. It’s half the price at other sushi diners for a much better rolls!

Today I used a Groupon at the Rocking Tunaki for the first time. I really didn’t know what to expect with the various reviews. I chose Chirasi and Octopus nigiri. It turned out they were out of Octopus so I substituted it for Tuna nigiri. Unlike some others I found the sashimi to be great quality but also of generous quantity. Everything was delicious, yet I was particularly impressed with Chef Justin’s presentation of the Chirashi. I’ve seldom had a Chirashi with great sashimi but also with some beautiful surprises, e.g., a little seaweed salad, poki cut tuna as well as regular size tuna.
The nigiri was excellent, and I will upgrade this review to 5 stars if on my next visit they have octopus and it is of the quality I suspect it will be.
Kudos to my Server, Julia, and to Chef Justin.
I will return.

I went there with a friend who had a Groupon and didn’t have huge expectations after reading some Unilocal reviews. It’s on the bottom of Via Las Cumbres where USD is on top of the hill. I guess if you’re in college and you don’t know any better, you can have bad to average Japanese food for a cheap price.
I had the 8 piece sashimi plate plus the veggie soup. Why did I order the sashimi if it didn’t have great reviews? Because I grade a Japanese restaurant by the quality of fish. It was not good. I can’t recommend this place nor could I come back.
The service wasn’t that good and there were flies near and around our table.
The only positive note I can give is that college students can afford it.

This really saddens me to write this. We were big fans of Rocking Tanuki before they closed down. We waited with baited breath until they reopened… only to be greatly disappointed.
We show up on a Saturday evening and the place is pretty busy. While both women who were working there were friendly, they were very scattered. We were told that it might be a while until we sat down. We weren’t really given a time frame, but we didn’t mind. What I did mind was the two extremely rude male patrons who came in after we were already waiting, grabbed some menus and sat down at a table that hadn’t been cleaned without even speaking to the hostess. Um, yeah… I give you an A for initiative, but you two need to learn how to wait in line. I also didn’t like the fact that the sushi chef behind the counter was bad mouthing customers right in front of us. Yeah, customers can be a$$holes, but it’s kind of off-​putting to hear that as soon as I walk in. I felt awkward, like I should apologize or something.
We sat down soon after and our drink orders were taken right away. We order soon after that and patiently wait for food. The hubs ordered the Rabi Cyan roll and I ordered my usual cucumber rolls and chicken Udon soup for the girls. Hubs loved his roll, but my cucumber roll was not good. I get it… chefs hate making cucumber rolls. Cucumber rolls are boring and probably a waste of time, but I love them. This one was barely slapped together with huge hunks of cucumber and watery mushy rice. The nori was tough and my roll didn’t even stay together. Seriously, the nori wasn’t even rolled once. Laziness, I tell ya. But the highlight (lowlight?) was the Chicken Udon. It was gross. The broth smelled like soap and old fish. The minute number of chicken pieces in the broth were gristly and covered in fat. I understand that dishes vary from restaurant to restaurant, but this wasn’t good at all.
I’m gonna give you another chance, Rocking Tanuki, since I can’t seem to quit you just yet. But please don’t disappoint me again.

Water… I need water!!! Drop by here after badminton because the Groupon will expired soon. Saturday noon time and only one waitress working. I just sit and see her runs all over the place. She takes the order without asking us what we want to drink. At least bring some water!!! My bf falls asleep on the table. So I decide to write this review while waiting. Thanks god the place is only half full. The foods come out slow too. Ask for straws and only gives us one. My bf just give me a weird look. The foods finally come out. Not too bad. I have the veggie udon and eel rolls. Overall, they just need to hire another waiter.

This place is close to my house and has decent prices, so I really wanted to like it. The first time I went for the lunch specials where you can choose your own components. My cousin and I both had a roll of sushi, a bowl of miso soup, and seaweed salad. The quality of everything was just okay and the rolls were very small and poorly made. Even though less than $ 8 for a sushi lunch sounds like a great deal, it felt more like an overpriced snack.
I figured things might be better at dinner when there was more of a crowd and perhaps a more experienced chef. Nope! I ordered unagi-​don, a bowl of freshwater eel over rice, and it was horrible. It came on a plate (not a bowl?), which meant there was very little rice. The eel actually had very good flavor, but it was cold. Not lukewarm, but straight-​out-​of-​the-​refrigerator cold. And the whole thing was drowning in sauce. I love eel sauce, but rice should not be swimming in it!
I really want to like this place, but it’s just not worth it!

Went here for the groupon deal $ 10 for $ 20 worth of food. The interior of this place had a very «zen» feel to it. Every table has a tiny plant (sorry don’t know what it’s called) and a tiny bamboo mat for the soy sauces.
There was no one in the restaurant when my sister and I came around 4PM. The server sat us immediately and got our drinks. Right after the server got our drinks we mentioned we have the groupon deal and the server seemed pretty nice about it.
It took a while thought for the server to come out to take our orders even though we were the only ones in the restaurant. We got the Alaskan Roll & Cherry Bomb. The Alaskan Roll was soggy when it came out and the Cherry Bomb was super thin (you can see the seaweed outing from the fried layer outside). The rolls tasted meh. I have had way better. Since it was a groupon deal we weren’t too upset. We both didn’t bring cash to tip so we got the jalapeño poppers to have something to charge on. The jalapeño poppers on a normal price is $ 4 (on Mondays $ 3) and I recommend NEVER to get it. It was tiny (2 half of a jalapeño cut in halves) and tasted bad. I have had waaaaaay better.
The server also took FOREVER coming to get our checks. There was probably 4 tables filled by this time and it took them 10 minutes to get my check. Definitely did not wish I bought an extra item to tip them after that.
Not coming back here.

Ay… this place… yea
Well the first time I came here, I enjoyed a lunch but not a dessert because apparently they ran out… yeah…the place is empty during lunch time but you ran out? Ok.
Second time, I came here with a friend and I was relucant but went for it anyway. Well I had a coke and I asked for a refill… to my dismay the waitress came back and said we ran out of coke!!! Wtf!!! How can you run out of coke when the place is empty and you opened the restaurant at 11:30am and it was 12pm when I asked for a refill!!!
This is is f****d up!!! Food aint that great… chicken in my chicken fried rice was very low quality and chewy… GROSS!!!