Tanto Japanese Restaurant - Sunnyvale

If you 're looking for a delicious izakaya place that won 't break the bank, Tanto is a great choice! My family came here to celebrate a birthday, so I made a reservation for a Thursday night dinner about 2 weeks before. I 'm glad I did because once we got there, the place was crowded with numerous parties waiting outside as well. It took awhile for the staff to seat us, but once we did, we were seated at a private section tucked away in the back which was nice without all the chatter/business surrounding us. For my party of 4, we ordered around 6 or 7 dishes (I forget haha to share. Everything we ordered was fresh, delicious and perfect to share. The standout for us was definitely the Yaki Onigiri (grilled rice balls even though there 's no filling inside the rice ball, the slight char from the grill made each bite extremely flavorful. This was definitely a pleasant surprise to my entire party because we were thinking how good could a rice ball get? The dish that didn 't stand out to us as much was the grilled squid. It wasn 't anything different from what we 've tried before at other places, so if we were to ever order a similar dish, we 'd get the squid stuffed with rice to try. Overall, I don 't think you can go wrong with ordering anything from their menu just depends on what you want to try and what you 're in the mood for! I 'd definitely come back :

We stumbled on this restaurant by mistake. I thought it was a sushi restaurant, but it was an izakaya. The place was packed and it looked like you stepped into a warm little restaurant in Japan. Food was delicious, only wished that they had some items that were pictured by other helpers. Service was friendly, but maybe due to being close to closing and still a lot of people, we're not as attentive. They were nice and not rude at all, understandably perhaps busy. If in the neighborhood, wouldn't mind stopping by again to try other things.

Definitely get a reservation here or be prepared to show up right at opening so that you can put your name on the waiting list. We arrived at 6 PM, right at opening, and waited about 1 hour without a reservation to be seated. All of the dishes we tried were so delicious, with favorites including the mentai pasta, fried oysters, and steamed rice that was topped with egg and unagi.

Got here around 5, the line was already out the door. I would recommend coming half an hour early if you do not want to wait that long. The staff was really attentive and nice as it looked like they run a pretty tight ship. Among the food we got, I would have to say that there was nothing really memorable or special. The price to the portion size was decent but some can say it is quiet small. Wasabi Octopus (5/5): if you like wasabi this is for you! was fresh and definite a great dish to pair with beer Beef Tongue (2/5): kind of dry, didnt really have much flavor besides the salt aspect. soft yet chewy Crab Salmon Roe Rice (2/5): really really nothing special especially for the price and portion. came in a super small bowl where 2/3 of the bowl was filled with rice and a sprinkle of roe and dash of crab meat Mussels (3/5): pretty salty and could only take the mussels in portions, ate with the crab roe rice Fried lotus root (4/5): on the better side of what we ordered, felt healthy even though it was covered in batter. there was also a filling that was sandwiched between the lotus root which made it a better crunch. Yaki Onigiri (3/5): really just a onigiri with bland flavor, liked the crunch but that was about it.

Price: Portion is with the price is the first thing i noticed. $14 for a sashimi rice bowl. It's hard to beat, and you het plenty of the sashimi too! We order 2 starters , an appetizer, 2 rice bowl and a dessert and a beer. Total is $80 ish for both! Definitely a very good deal nowadays. And yes we were so fulled that we could barely walk out there Food: Octopus wasabi and chilled cucumber: 2 starters that are also my most favorite of the dinner. The octopus is fresh, and the seasoning of the wasabi are a great compliment. If you cannot handle the kick from the wasabi like I do, have it with hot rice. A spoon full of rice octopus wasabi chilled cucumber is bomb! Rice bowls: both of them are decent! The Sashimi is pretty fresh while the steak is cooked to rare! Both rice dish could use some more seasoning though Chicken karaage: okay! Again the portion is huge! Chicken is cooked through and juicy while batter is remains crispy. Not the best chicken karaage I've had though Dessert: excellent combination of mini rice cake and vanilla ice cream. The caramel sauce is to die for. If you have had caramel ice cream from salt and straw before, you may find the similarity here. Yet, this one is slightly more textured and earthier with an added mochi and soybean powder