Tang’s Japanese Restaurant

I went this restaurant with my friends during Hogmanay and she spoke highly of this restaurant — she has been here for several times and said that most of the dishes on the menu taste good. Compared to other Japanese restaurant in town, this place has more choices from sushi, ramen to don. I wasn’t be able to find don in other Japanese restaurant previously. We ordered pork don, beef don, eel don and a spicy ramen (forgot the name, but actually we thought it wasn’t that spicy). All of them were quite good and with sufficient amount. We also ordered a sashimi dish with salmon, tuna, shrimp and some other sea food in it. It was also nice but compared to the one I had at maki sushi it was alright.
The only two things I can complain about this restaurant would be: first, compared to some other Japanese restaurant, it was a little bit expensive here. (But Asian restaurant usually quite expensive in the UK) Two, you usually have to wait for a long time to have the food ready for you. So it would be better to have some chats with friends rather than having a quick meal here.

We waited 45 minutes for a subpar bowl of ramen. The tonkotsu ramen will set you back £14 (same with the other ramen dishes too) and despite the premium price, the broth has been diluted with water too so don’t expect to have a thick soup base for your ramen. Service is extremely slow and you aren’t served by the order in which you enter the restaurant, so don’t be shocked if the table that comes in 20 minutes after you gets their bowl of ramen first. Unorganised and dissatisfied dining experience. You’d be better off going elsewhere… anywhere.

Waited an hour. Food was not as the same in the picture. Very expensive for the portions. Would not go back. Left hungry

Tangs is located in a buzzy central area in Edinburgh next to my wee pal Greyfriars Bobby. I had been meaning to try it for ages as it always looked busy with people behind the steamed up windows eating with chopsticks and I love Japanese food. Tonight unfortunately it didn’t quite live up to my expectations. Service was good and friendly and we ordered food and drinks quickly for our table of 6. We ordered plenty of the pork gyoza’s to get us going which were very good and tasty and went down well. Maki and sushi dishes were also tasty, fresh and appetising. It was the main dishes that disappointed — chicken katsu curry was lacking in flavour and was served only just warm, noodle dishes were also disappointing and tasted like bad take away chow mien. Soft shell crab was crisp and cooked well but had no flavour or seasoning. We had 2 bottles of wine and 1 bottle of champagne which was good and reasonably priced and the total bill for our table was just over £200 so affordable between the 6 of us. I’d go back for the gyoza’s but that’s about it. I’m afraid I wasn’t Tang-​tilised!

What a great find! I come to the Fringe every year and always end up eating fast food for dinner at 3.30pm because there’s no good alternative. This year, in an opportune evening slot, I tried Tang’s and it was great. While I was able to take a bit of time over the meal, I think you could get the ramen and be in and out in 40 minutes if you wanted.
And you should get the ramen. My boyfriend had Tonkotsu Ramen while I had Yokohama Ie-​Kei Ramen. I won. Both were good but the stock in the latter is particularly rich and flavourful. I’d quite like to try the Hell Ramen and see how spicy it is too!
We also had yummy Apple Cider Pork Kakuni — you get a lot considering it’s in the starter section and of course belly pork is very fatty so it can be quite intense. We also enjoyed the red bean mochi, though by that point we were ridiculously full!
They have Sapporo beer, which was my favourite when I was in Japan earlier this year, so that made me happy too.
Plus, the staff were friendly and helpful to top it all off.

We didn’t intend to eat at Tang’s. Our first choice was closed for a summer holiday. We were hungry. The car was in a good parking spot. We didn’t want stodgy comfort food, we didn’t want to wait for a table — suddenly we remembered we were near Tang’s. We had been once before, last year during the Fringe Festival. Once again, we went because it was in the right place at the right time. The food was ‘OK’ but during the Fringe they had a condensed menu and we thought the prices may also have been adjusted for the Fringe Frenzy.
With no other options coming to mind, we wandered along to give the full menu a try. It was fairly busy so we took a small table downstairs. It was a bit like being in a hallway and lacked atmosphere, but to be honest, I don’t remember the upstairs being much ‘cosier’. It was nice to see the full menu and we had plenty to choose from. We love to ‘nibble’ so we got lots of small plates. Nigiri, Maki, prawn tempura, gyoza. Service was slow and I think most of the staff was taking care of the busier upstairs. Every now and again a plate or 2 of our order turned up. We weren’t given small plates to eat from and the server disappeared — we were too hungry to wait so we rearranged things so we could each have one of the food plates, which we held on to for the rest of the evening. Overall the food was pretty good — most above average although I was disappointed with the prawn tempura — the prawn was overcooked and the batter was minimal and a bit tough. I prefer flaky batter with lots of odd shaped, crispy, wispy bits. The gyoza dumplings were very good — the filling was substantial, not just mushy purée like some other places — you could tell what you were eating (veggie or pork).
The star of the night was the peking duck ISO. A large portion, beautifully presented and so tasty!
The surprise of the night was the bill.
£82 for 2 people. No main meals and only bottled water to drink. Yes, the food was nice, but the service and the atmosphere didn’t put Tang’s into the high-​end category that this price suggested. Nicer plates, even some rests for your chopsticks would help raise it to the next level. Next time I want to spend that for sushi I’ll head to Kanpai. This was further put into perspective when I got the credit card statement. I had to laugh when I saw just below our meal at Tang’s was a meal we had at a Michelin quality restaurant in France — 4 courses and wine, £65. Vive le France!

I enjoyed a great bowl of Yokohama ie-​kei ramen with my flatmate after she convinced me to try some local Japanese food. Tang’s fit the bill for what we were looking for.
I have heard about Tang’s –including the fact that the service can be hit-​or-​miss –but our experience there was positive. The waitress who served us was very nice, and she helped us out in ordering and was talkative when we got our bill.
The food itself was great. We also enjoyed some pork dumplings and the bowl of ramen was so large, I almost couldn’t finish it. The ambiance was decent –I was sort-​of put up front by the server, which was fine, but upstairs is more roomy.
Other than that, I can’t think of any reason why I wouldn’t come back at some point. Perhaps at least to practice my terrible chop stick skills. Either way, Tang’s may be in my future.
IMPORANT NOTE:
Tang’s does close every Monday through Friday between 14:30 — 18:00 and reopens for dinner.

Une très belle découverte! Ce restaurant japonais sert de délicieuses soupes ramen et autres plats comme du riz sauté au boeuf ou classiques sushi.
Les prix sont très raisonnables et le personnel très sympathiques.
Si vous voulez changer du fish and chips ou burger allez-​y sans hésiter!

A nice restaurant with good service and tasty food. So why only three stars, because the menu and staff can be misleading, particularly if you have allergies.
When ordering something described as a ‘Vegetarian Bento Box’ and marked with a ‘V’ for vegetarian, you’d assume that it would be vegetarian. I double checked that it was vegetarian and was told ‘it depends how vegetarian you are’. Upon further questioning I discovered that the soup contains fish stock. Seeing as I’m allergic to fish, it matters quite a bit and I’d expect this to have been marked on the menu or told to people when they ordered it.
The food, minus the soup arrived quickly and was good but I’ve been put off this place and won’t be back.

We had been out and about doing some shopping when lunch crept up on us. My daughter likes to say hi to Bobby (the dog statue) whenever she gets the chance so we decided to pop into Tangs which is right behind this grand statue.
The place looks small but has an upstairs area, plenty of seating. Very relaxing environment. The menu is a bit confusing and the items are quite expensive unless you opt for the lunch menu which consists of ramen soups that all look quite similar and not too appetising, in my eyes.
My partner got the lunch ramen bowl which had a very tasty broth but literally had 2 super thin slices of pork lunch meat. I got a mish– mash of items to share with my daughter. She ate well but overall quite an expensive meal for not so outstanding flavours or food.
In general I would say pretty run of the mill Japanese. Not really that special but will do the job if you are willing to part with a handful of cash.

I dream about Tang’s vegetarian bento box. It’s so pretty, it’s so tasty, and it’s more than filling. It’s one of my favorite lunch options in all of Old Town. They do other things well, too — especially the gyoza and the seaweed salad — but I can’t not order the bento box.
Service is always friendly and reasonably fast.

Had gyoza, ramen, a very nice azuki mochi dessert, with a pot of well-​brewed genmaicha. The food was good, the place is cozy, the staff friendly. What else can a hungry traveler ask for?

Worst experience. I asked how the pad Thai was because I was craving it and the girl said people really like it it’s so popular. I was like ok sure how bad could it be. It was so bad it was sour and had some sort of leak in it and just was inedible the noodles were rubbery so so bad. I told her it was bad and she was like ok and gave me the bill didn’t offer anything else and added a 70 p change because I used a card. Really rude about the whole thing and it left me hungry. Don’t eat here.

Very authentic Japanese food. I have not had food like this since I visited Japan. The service was also good and the atmosphere was very nice.

Great Japanese food at a great price! What I really like about this place is that it actually tastes like food tastes in Japan, which sometimes can be hard to find outside of Japan! All in all a fine place for a quick bite.

Continuing my exploration of all things Sushi related in Edinburgh, I headed for Tang’s. Unfortunately it’s not a place I’ll be revisiting.
I ordered the octopus sashimi and concerned by the fact it stated on the menu that it was a meagre two piece portion, asked for double. Upon being served, I should have made it a double figure serving. It consisted of four, cigarette paper thin, slices of octopus that were in danger of floating away in a slight breeze. Accompanied by similarly pathetic wisps of carrot and lettuce that looked suspiciously like the stuff you get in bags at a supermarket. The £7.00 price tag left an even worse taste in my mouth than the rubbery, dry, vacuum packed octopus.
In addition to this I ordered the Kimuchi and Hijiki. The Hijiki was more a bowl of soy beans sprinkled with Hijiki. Far from resembling the flattering photograph depicted on the menu.
The staff were pleasant enough, even if the lone waitress did spend the majority of her time attending to a table of suited businessmen.
Overall a very disappointing experience that left me feeling quite shortchanged.
The Kimuchi was nice, though.

My boyfriend dragged me into this restaurant with the promise that Japanese food wasn’t all about fish. He was right! I actually thought at least half of the menu involved duck, chicken and beef. I had plenty to choose from and if we’d had more time I would have suggested a banquet of small things to share and experience. The soy paper veg sushi sounded intriguing. As it turned out we only had about 45 mins before our ‘late night at the museum’ started and they were more than happy to speed things up for us. I opted for chicken teriyaki which was delicious. It had a barbecued flame grilled flavour. Sweet but not overpoweringly so. I ate the majority of it and didn’t feel overly full. The pork dumpling we shared were very tasty also.
The only annoyance was the shoogly table Something I thought I’d never say about a Japanese restaurant — Would go back! :)

Hey there friendship, long time no see.
This right here is my favourite date-​night restaurant with La Chels (not, in fact, a cuisine). Because it’s so romantic, right? Because it’s got little candles on the table and a violinist being screechy next to your ear? Nope: it has cold dead fish. And that happens to be just how I like it.
Now gather ’round kids, I’m picky about my sushi. Having lived in California and having had the pleasure of dining on sashimi hanging from palm-​trees, I’m forever lusting after it. So, when the cravings reach such a level that even five minutes of gentle weeping into my Special Meditation Pillow didn’t help: I haul ass to Tang.
Oh, wow, yes, please, MOAR. It’s expensive, yes, but that’s sushi for you, at least here in the UK. And I’d rather pay through the nose for some quality cold dead fish, than having to dodge a slimy piece of salmon at Bonsai (review pending, buckle your seatbelts.)
Look, sushi is all about ingredients, you can’t hide anything when you’ve got raw fish, a little vinegar and rice to present. Tang understands this thank the unholy spaghetti-​monster that it does. Just thinking about their salmon sushi makes my eyes glaze over ever so slightly.
The atmosphere is lovely, I never feel rushed, the waiting staff is polite and doesn’t hover (when I’m playing at being a vacuum with my freshly prepared plate of sushi I’d rather not have anyone stare at me with judgy little eyes, thank you) and the prices, though pretty high, are understandable for the quality you get here.
I love Tang. I’m going to climb Arthur’s Seat and gently hum my appreciation in their direction, that’s how much I love Tang. Then I’m going to pick up the phone and make a reservation.

Im sold!
Had a lovely first visit at Tang’s and will definitely be back. After living in Japan, I get deep, crazy cravings for authentic Japanese food. Unfortunately I live in the UK, a.k.a. the land of bad Japanese food. Besides the excellent St. Sushi in Newcastle, I have found Japanese food to be abysmal in these fair lands. ALAS! Tang’s is a beacon of hope. We wanted to get a full tour of their offerings, so we got sushi, ‘tapas’ small plates, and ramen. HELLO RAMEN. Lord, I have been missing ramen in my life. The pork belly ramen, with its delicious meat and deep, rich broth is the stuff that dreams are made of. Small plates, including tako (octopus) balls and mackerel were also quite good. Sushi was fairly good, but not excellent. Will have to give it all a second go. So glad to know Tang’s exists. Now have an easy place to run when the Japanese cravings get overwhelming!

I thought I had already written a review of Tang’s, it just felt like something I would have done without a doubt, as I love this restaurant so much.
I was first introduced it by a friend who I met in first year from Tokyo. She said this was by far the best and most authentic Japanese restaurant in Edinburgh, so I was eager to try. We came together one evening in the new year of 2012 with my boyfriend and another friend to try out the food, and didn’t leave disappointed.
The décor is minimalist, typically Japanese and quite classy. There are two floors, and the restaurant is conveniently located near the grassmarket. We ordered genmaicha tea, and my boyfriend and I went for the veggie bento boxex, which cost £12. I had heard that one of the chefs was vegan and so the vegetarian food here is taken very seriously. I can’t remember what my friends got, but one went for the omnivore bento box.
The food arrived quickly, and the veggie bento box consists of: a seaweed salad, 6 sushi rolls, 3 with cucumber and 3 with avocado, some teriyaki tofu, Japanese sticky rice, and some miso soup on the side. Everything was absolutely perfect. I couldn’t any fault with the fresh sushi and delicious tofu. The genmaicha tea was the perfect complement. The others also enjoyed their meal, and we ending up spending 4 hours afterwards just chatting. The time flew by here. For pudding we shared a plate of mochi, which my Japanese friend (the expert) said were nice but not the same as those back home.
It was such a memorable evening that my boyfriend and I returned here to eat exactly the same thing in October to celebrate our 4^th year anniversary. It was delicious once again, and we cleaned our palate afterwards with some green tea ice cream.
I am surprised at the amount of mediocre reviews here, as I would recommend it to anyone who loves Japanese food.

I know very little about Japanase food, but I do know that this place is vegan friendly, and that they don’t use any MSG, so they deserve a mention for those features alone.
It’s also super handy if you’re visiting the National Gallery as it’s directly opposite from it, just down from the Greyfriars Bobby statue.
We visited this week, and, while they didn’t have any items on the menu that indicated they were vegan, the owner explained that one of his chefs is vegan, and that he would make me a dish that was definitely vegan. Vegan chef = big result!
I had a variation on the lunchtime special, which was a savoury pancake made from rice noodles, and some miso soup. It was lovely, and I’d go back again to see what else they came up with. The owner said that if he had more vegan customers, he would put on a special section of the menu. He’s keen to make use of the skills of the vegan chef.
So vegans — get going!
And for all you meat eaters out there, my boyfriend had the lunchtime special, which was full of various meats — and, in his expert opinion, was ‘very nice’.