Kyotoya Japanese Restaurant

We used to eat there quite often. New ownership. Confusing menu. Pricy. We won’t be returning.

I’m thoroughly unimpressed by this place, which is a shame given its pretty convenient location.
A friend and I ordered there and she picked up. The folks were all nice and pleasant, so that was a plus. However, the food was nothing to write home about. The problem was that the chicken and the beef that I got (separate dishes) both had the same odd texture that I’ve never really experienced with real meat before. It almost tasted fake. The mango and beef dish sauce was a big too thin for my liking as well.
It would have been more or less somewhat forgivable if the brown rice didn’t have this soft, mushy texture. When I order brown rice, I want to feel like the soft hull of the rice when I eat it. This brown rice was pretty much white rice with a tint of brown color and worst of all, it had no taste. Not a fan.

Got their menu in the mail, was really hesitant to try a new sushi place since sushi island was so amazing n fresh but moved to another location unknown at the moment, I don’t regret it! Great sushi fresh and fast delivery too! :)

The new ownership changed the direction and overall texture of the place 180*. Gone is everything that made it worth visiting. There is nothing left that makes Kyotoya special. Just another fork in the drawer.

I wanted to like it. I wanted to believe that we were the only ones there at for lunch at 12:30pm on a Saturday because people just didn’t know about the place… I always take the bad news first, so let’s start there.
The service is not good. When we walked in, there was no one in sight… no customers, no staff. It took a few minutes before someone came out and seated us. There was definitely a language barrier with our server. She got our appetizer order totally wrong (we didn’t find out until she brought us the wrong stuff after a long wait) and she did not seem to understand that «That’s all for now» means we don’t want to order anything else at the moment. After trying to communicate this to her several times, another server had to literally come push her away from our table. When we ordered entrees, both servers came to take the order. I asked if they could make one of the lunch boxes vegan (normally it comes with a California roll and only meat options for appetizers). They said they could substitute veggie maki and a spring roll. When our entrees came a while later, they had partially veganized the lunchbox, but still gave me the California roll. Luckily, I had someone with me who was happy to take my castoffs.
While the service was slow and frustrating, I could tell they were friendly and really TRYING to serve us well, so I give some credit for that.
The real positive here is the food. It was delicious! I had the summer rolls (without shrimp) and the general tso’s tofu lunch box. The tofu was super fresh and flavorful and the portions overall were large.
It is very unlikely that I will be back to dine in, but I could definitely see grabbing take out (a la carte– just in case!) since I enjoyed the food so much!

This place has so much potential but was just gross. I went the other day after receiving a menu in the mail. I had the Pad Thai and it was flavorless noodle slop. The chicken seemed kinda sketchy and it had kind of a funky smell. Too bad because the interior is really nice and seems to be fresh and new. However, it was dead silent in there. Some noise from the TV or music would go a long way.
I only had the Pad Thai but it was bad enough that I will not be back.

The remodel is nice however there still seems to be some kinks worked out! Extremely long wait for the food however they did give us $ 10 off our next trip. Great crab ragoons!

I’m a big fan of Kyotoya. The renovation is nice and really opened up the place. They also have a full bar now (including Mai tais!)
You can’t beat the fresh sushi here. I usually stick with the simple stuff– tuna and salmon nigiri and an occasional roll. I also am a sucker for their seaweed salad, though the crab rangoons were one star (we had one with no crabmeat). The prices are great– especially for lunch. Service is quick and good.

Went here with a buddy on a whim, and when I saw it was recently reopened, I was a bit concerned. In the end, my meal was decent, but nothing I would necessarily crave to want to go back. At nearly 6pm on a weeknight, the place was pretty empty with only a few other patrons inside. The place itself was nice inside and there are a couple of TV’s on the wall. Unless I’m at a sports bar, I don’t really see the need for TV’s in restaurants, but that’s just my thing. I started with the crab ragoons which were good. For my entrée, I went with the chicken in peanut sauce. There was also some mixed veggies in there and I had white rice on the side (brown rice also an option). I was simply a bit disappointed in the chicken itself as it felt a bit chewy to me. Service was good though and prices were reasonable given the portion sizes.

Sadly, I will never return here. I thought I had previously done a review, as it’s somewhere I enjoyed going to. I really loved their lunchbox special; the options, the price and the service was always friendly, but as this is a 1 star review, all of what I just said must no longer hold true, and you are correct. Here was my experience.
They shut down for quite some time to completely renovate the place. I really wanted their delicious tempura and sushi, so although I had no companion today I decided to go. The renovation is in fact quite beautiful, the interior is stunning, there is no denying that.
I’m on my lunch break from work and arrived at 11:40 and was surprised to see it completely empty. I was thee only person in the entire place, I thought maybe others don’t know they’ve reopened?
I wasn’t necessarily surprised to see a price increase after the renovation and it seemed fair, but I definitely was disappointed by the changes to the lunchbox special options. This is basically what everybody orders, and it’s because before you were able to really customize your lunch, you could choose your soup, your entrée, 2 sides and rices/​noodles. Now it had become somewhat standard and all you pick is the main entrée. No more hot and sour soup as an option, and no more salad at all. I did ask her about the hot and sour as I’m not a fan of miso, she went and asked and came back, saying I can only have miso. I accepted this and my bowl of soup, and then I waited… and waited… and waited
About 20 minutes later some other people finally came in, were seated, given menus etc. Another 10 minutes go by and a guy came by to ask me if he can take my [long empty] soup bowl away, at which point I asked him, was my food close to being ready, because I had already been waiting 30 minutes.
«Do you want to take your food to go?» «Well is it ready? If it’s ready I’ll eat it here» «Ok so just cancel your order?» «So it’s still not ready?! …Ok I will just pay for the soup» «OK» and he walks away and then that’s it… it was confusing and annoying. So I’m sort of like, ok what’s the official word here? My waitress is at a table near me so I said «here’s $ 3 for the soup» she barely acknowledged me.
Not ok… I was alone for 20 minutes, tempura doesn’t take that long. Why 30 minutes later my food still wasn’t ready I have no idea, but after that experience I will never, ever return.

I enjoyed this place. Although the food lacked the same zing as the Japanese food in Hawaii, the the food wasn’t that bad. Nice atmosphere and convenient location. Located right off the main road and in a nice strip mall type complex. Service was very good and the waitress was very attentive. Kind of pricey for the the portions, but when you’re on vacation, it’s not that bad, I guess. I would go again.

Great price for the lunch bento box. Food was good for the price. Not crowded at lunch time. Service was attentive as well. I hope to try their special sushi rolls next time. $ 15min on credit card.

OVERALL: Fairly good Japanese restaurant for the Woburn area. Low-​key and not crowded.
The RESTAURANT: The place is hidden in between a laundromat and a dry cleaning service. Went during lunch and it was not crowded.
The FOOD: Came here for the Lunch Bento Box for $ 7.95. It came with 6 items! It came with a choice of miso soup which was good. The meal came with salad and AWESOME ginger dressing! I had the pork katsu (good portions) with crab rangoon and brown rice. For the side-​dish I opted for the tasuta-​age (ginger battered fried chicken). This did not disappoint at all. It was way better then the pork katsu. The crunchy-​ness of the batter and the moistness of the chicken was a WIN!
I will come back for the tasuta-​age and the salad!

Very close to where I live and very convenient for excellent sushi. Wonderful waitstaff.

So I gave Kyotoya a second chance and I am going to leave my rating at three stars.
This time when I went into the place, the restaurant did not have a fishy smell to it like the first time I went there on a very hot day. The temperature was comfortable and it appears as though the air conditioning problem earlier in the year was simply a fluke as they did have working AC. That being said, I sat at the sushi bar and noticed that the thermometer in the glass case was a bit high for sushi at about 48 degrees.
I think everything was just OK that I ordered at lunch and it was certainly very affordable. If there is one thing they have vs. the competition in the area is the lowest prices on Japanese food and sushi. I was pretty shocked to see a Sashimi special for $ 11 that included 9 pieces of Sashimi for example even though I did not order that.
I ordered the Bento box to get a mix of different foods for lunch. For a second time my very affordable $ 7 bento box really was just OK. The chicken lettuce wraps they served were very watery and difficult to wrap the lettuce around. I had to eat with a fork and the taste was good, but by putting the meat in the wrap for you the lettuce gets wilted and nasty. I didn’t like the brown rice as it tasted like Trader Joes microwaved frozen brown rice.
I also ordered the sashimi salad for $ 8. This was the highlight of the meal, although the sushi chef went way too heavy handed with the spicy mayonnaise and ruined half of the fish for me. I have a pet peeve with restaurants serving you sushi quality fish and they smother it in nasty cheap mayonnaise. I hate it because it takes great fish and turns it into cheap crap. The sashimi salad did have a couple of pieces of fish that didn’t seem to be of the freshest quality, but I really enjoyed the octopus in the salad. Overall I thought this was better than average sashimi, but not great. The prices they have will keep them in the running for a quick and affordable lunch in the future, but they will not win me on a night time dining spot with no real atmosphere or liquor license.

The sushi is always good here. I’ve been here mad times and know what rolls are the best. Real friendly too. BYOB! Great prices.

I end up in Woburn every couple years for business and I always find myself back at Kyotoya. The owners are Chinese, if that makes a difference to you. Most of the sushi/​Japanese restaurants around Dallas are owned by Chinese as well.
So the ambiance is average+. It’s good, it doesn’t have any out-​of-​place pictures of James Dean or non-​autographed photos of some no-​name football player, so kudoes to you Kyotoya!
The food is good and plentiful. For $ 7.95, you get a Bento box lunch special where you can choose your appetizer, entrée and side dish. I chose the california roll (3 pieces), the crab rangoons, and the pork katsu. It comes with miso soup and a salad. All of it was above average and it’s a great deal for all that.
They used to have a sushi lunch that included 3 rolls for $ 10.95. Not sure where that went. They must have been losing money on it and got rid of it.
All in all, this place is great. If I’m in Woburn again, just look for me at Kyotoya. I’ll be there scarfing sushi.

I love this place. It’s not far from where I live so I am a frequent customer.
It’s a small place but they have really good sushi! There hospitality is always pleasurable and they are very very nice!
Whenever I go there, their sushi is fresh & delicious! The menu is not too overwhelming. They have a good variety of sushi styles, rolls, and they even have hand rolls! Their miso soup is good. I usually just get sushi but my boyfriend has gotten other dishes that I’ve had the luxury of tasting.
I always get their hot tea (which is $ 1 with UNLIMITED REFILLS!)
I highly recommend this restaurant to anyone!

My husband and I moved to the Boston area a year ago. We assumed we’d find great sushi wherever we went. Boy, were we disappointed! It took us 6 months to find Kyotoya and we almost didn’t go due to the location. Now, you can’t keep us away!
Every once in awhile, Kyotoya has a not great day. Fortunately even their «not great» still equals awfully darn good. And then there are the days that are simply transcendent. My husband loves the hokigai (surf clam) nigiri. At least twice we’ve ordered it and it has been so fresh that the only way I can describe it is «it takes like the sea»… clean, sweet, oceanic. We usually stick to their more basic rolls since we’re a bit of sushi purists (no cheese in sushi ever!). The salmon with avocado, the sake (salmon) nigiri, and the striped bass (I think they call it «white fish») nigiri, the unagi and avocado rolls are some of my favorites.
Combine all of this with friendly service and incredible ease of getting a table and I love this place! Oh and Kyotoya is BYOB; so feel free to bring along a nice bottle of sake, wine, or beers.

This is a really great spot and their lunch specials and delicious. The price is very reasonable and the service is great. It’s a small place in Montvale plaza and it can get busy at night.
The sushi is amazing, that’s like all they have.
Their party platters are really good, my neighbors have gotten them before for parties and I am looking forward to ordering a few for my upcoming graduation party.