Went for grand opening since my parents wanted to check it out. Prices are expensive for produce but when they have items for sale they are reasonably priced. There is a TON of ready made food and packaged snacks and desserts etc. and the food was pretty good for the price. The pricing for the ready made food is actually very reasonable for what you get. I'll be back to try out some more of their prepared food! read more

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Awesome Japanese grocery!!! I wish the one in San Diego is at least as big as this place! Of course the one in Gardenia I think is the biggest one in southern CA. We need to bring a huge cooler and buy dry ice so I can buy some bentos and sushi plates! I think due to the holiday tomorrow it's still not as busy as it would have been on a regular Sunday. We got a parking right away but they're all very narrow. Will be back for sure with my cooler!!! read more

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this tokyo central location opened within the last year and it's really nice! the selection of fresh produce, fish, ready to made food, and snacks is truly astounding! everything was well stocked and i enjoyed my experience browsing. i was particularly impressed by the ready to eat section where it is $10.99/lb, there's lots of tempura, fried chicken, vegetables, cooked fish, and everything smelled delicious! i'll definitely be back. read more

Tokyo central is really about the prepared foods. They have aisles of other stuff, but stock is inconsistent, and selection is limited. The two food islands featuring hot items, mostly, were about 75% filled at 9:30 am on a Saturday. Ten might be a better time for that. The other cases, lots, and lots of them, feature other prepared items, including sushi and sashimi, with many combinations of that and other foods. It seems impossible that they could sell all of this, but I am told they do, regularly. I tried a pound of their hot stuff. The yakatori and teriyaki were both very tender. My favorite though, was the tempura shrimp on a stick. The food was okay, but perhaps not great for breakfast. The shopping carts are small. Be sure to wear full shoes pushing those carts, as the narrow wheel base can be a pinky toe destroyer. Be warned. Produce and meat prices are high, like Whole Foods high. Just an okay store that I likely will not revisit with so many other options at better prices. read more

Made my way over here and wow! I can't believe how large this location was. Every spot I turned there was something new and exciting to check out. What impressed me the most was the hot food bar. The chicken teriyaki yakitori was so good, I cannot wait to try it again. I also tried a spicy tuna roll which was really good especially for being pre made. There were all kinds of various fresh musubi's made to order as well which I can't wait to go back and try! read more

Tokyo Central - Hot food bar - International Grocery Near Me - Irvine, California

Organized, stocked, helpful staff, fast checkout! This had just about everything we were looking for plus! Huge selection of pre-made fresh foods and everything grocery you could want with regard to food. It was crowded but it had a good buzz of excitement being recently opened. Very clean and organized. Huge produce and meat selection. read more

Tokyo Central - Recently Opened - International Grocery Near Me - Irvine, California

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food, 10/10 service, fast and 10/10 market vibes, pretty good lots of ppl and can get crowded but there's tables to eat outside or you just take it home! they have hot food sections and everything u can imagine, it reminded me of a mini don quixote, closest u can get to japan read more

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So happy to finally have a Tokyo Central in Irvine, even though getting into the plaza from Culver and finding parking can be hectic at times. And not to mention the influx of customers waiting around the hot food islands, so waiting alongside them or navigating around them without being in the way of others can be an additional stressor haha. But the treasures found within this magical market soon override the stresses. And staff are quick to replenish items, so wait times are fortunately not that bad. After grabbing some savory, crispy, juicy, fresh, piping hot chicken karaage, I like to take a look through the frozen aisles and drinks sections. For a smaller store, they have a nice selection of goodies, like frozen Hokkaido cream puffs that somehow don't need to thaw before eating, different types of gyozas from different brands, individually portioned beef gyudon packets, a huge variety of mochi-based desserts, and bottled coffees that remind you of konbinis. There's something for everyone, for any time of the day. The ceiling is high, so it doesn't feel cramped or stuffy. The shopping experience sort of follows a flow in one direction, so you naturally end up at the cashiers after seeing everything, but you can always walk back if you're not ready to check out. Seems like the cashiers operate at maximum efficiency, which is appreciated during peak hours. read more

This location is very long and narrow inside. If you forget to pick something from the front area, you must walk back to the front all the way from the back. It's a quite a long walk especially during the weekend when store is crowded with customers. I wish store made two cashing area, front and back. they wanted to have us walk through all the way to the back thinking we will buy addt'l items but when customer wants just couple thing and in hurry, we don't even look anything else but rush to cashier. That's the reason why I stop coming here but continue going to CM store that I am very familiar. If the store will have two cashers at front and back, I may come here. read more

Follow the yelp , visited this market today ( just know they are new opening) Fresh egetables, fresh meats and the food bar so delicious( no oily) looks healthy food many of choose by pound and enjoy later . read more

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I Called Twice & Received A Voicemail Both Times. I Left One Message. Very Disappointed That No One Picked Up The Phone!!! The Phone System Needs A Selection Menu So That Calls Can Be Transferred To Certain Departments. read more

Y'all need to fire whoever's making the spicy mayo salmon poke. Did they at least try it before putting it on the shelves? read more

Tokyo Central - Spicy mayo salmon poke - International Grocery Near Me - Irvine, California

Went to the grand opening event the past Sunday and was impressed by the variety of produce, snacks, and pre made food. The staff handled the line well, we came 15 minutes before opening and got inside within 20 min. There is a sushi restaurant inside and table seating outside. The layout is a bit weird having the hot food bar in the center but overall way better selection than TC Costa Mesa. Since it just opened it could be good to wait 2 weeks or go at on off hour time. read more

Finally made it back here with my brother to try some of their food at the hot bar. We came around 11:30 so the selections were plentiful. They offer a cup of soup for $1 which is a good deal. They had egg drop soup, hot and sour soup and miso soup. I love hot and sour soup so I had to try it, the takoyaki (octopus balls), shrimp tempura and a vegetable croquette. I also bought a freshly made teriyaki unagi onigiri. We ended up bringing the hot food home after running one other errand before making it home. Note to self, the food is best eaten right away because it is not the best at room temperature and microwaving the fried food just makes it soggy and oily. The hot and sour soup was disappointing as it was not vinegary enough. The soup had enough crushed chili peppers in it to make it hot but it needed more vinegar to give it the desired "sour" taste. Overall the food was just okay today but I haven't given up hope and I will be back to try other things. My overall rating for today's visit is a 3.5 read more

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The Sushi is very good. I buy their Salmon and Yellowtail take out at least once a week. However, their beef steaks are horrible. I purchased their so called "Rib Eye Steaks" three times and each tine the meat was very tough and almost inedible. The beef price was lower than most stores; but not worth buying it. read more

Wonderful place that my family and I enjoyed!! We had lunch then decided to go stop by and check it out. Moments later we found a bunch of goodies!! Definitely recommending this location and for sureeeeeeee will be back! Good job staff!!! read more

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I'm happy to report the hype has died down and it is manageable to get in and out without too much trouble. They are pretty reasonable and cheaper in comparison to the neighboring Mitsuwa. The yakiniku and meat selection is great with USDA Prime and A5 meat from Japan (which we haven't tried yet) which in quality is the same as Mitsuwa but we have to give it to Mitsuwa for the sakura kuro pork belly no. 1 the best (look for the pink flower symbol). With the help of an associate, we found kanpyo here when Mitsuwa only had large bag fulls that have already been seasoned. They have a large selection of pre-made bentos, rice balls (onigiri), cafeteria food, sake, snacks, candy, frozen food, and a bit of sushi and sashimi. Its similar to the Don Quiote in Honolulu. Also has cute Sanrio bags and Japanese whiskey near check out. read more

The store is big, clean, and in a great location. But there's too much cold food and very few hot options. We needed a grab-and-go hot food box to eat in the car after taking the kids to the dentist and heading to sports. What's available isn't kid-friendly, and most items need a microwave to warm up. I don't like this idea--it's not practical for travelers or busy families. It's the kind of detail that keeps the store from being perfect. The hot food setup needs serious improvement. read more

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Always a treat to shop at Tokyo Central. In the past I'd stop at the Costa Mesa store but this is closer and offers all the wonderful choices. Easy parking, same attentive staff and of course a great selection. read more

Tokyo Central has always been my go to spot to pick up sashimi fillets, so I was so excited to see a location open up even closer to home! Unfortunately, it looks like the quality of fish is not yet up to par with other locations. I've picked up a variety of sashimi a few times from this location now hoping as time passes following the grand opening, things would get better. Looks like they might need some more time to get going. The salmon fillet and precut pieces on a few occasions were sinewy, mushy, and falling apart. The precut yellowtail was very hit or miss, with some bits being firm and fresh while others smelled and tasted very, very fishy. The scallop seemed to be the most consistent in freshness. In terms of the variety, I'm hoping they'll start to offer a greater selection like the locations in Costa Mesa and Gardena. Didn't find any fillets of shima aji, kanpachi, engawa, red snapper, yellowtail belly, or alternative salmon options, etc., like we can usually find in Costa Mesa/Gardena. Will continue to check it out and see if things progress, but it looks like Mitsuwa might be the better choice for sashimi fillets right now. fingers crossed it gets better! read more

Tokyo Central - Fish was not very fresh - muscle tissues were falling apart and mushy - International Grocery Near Me - Irvine, California

It was nearly a perfect visit until a wildebeest of a human being began coughing their brains out (not a normal cough either with very bronchitis type sounds coming out) relentlessly in the produce section while wearing no mask and kind of sort of covering at times. We are in the cold and flu season people. If you know you are sick as a dog, stay home, double up on masks or leave the store. It is really uncool to expose others to your filth. But in the tech age with time thieves everywhere it is all about anti-social (speak to as few people as possible) and selfish behavior. Just look at the roadways. People do whatever they want, whenever they want. Okay, I am off my soapbox. The REVIEW: The store is very full of items and pretty well laid out. Some will find it overstocked but I would rather have more goods than too little goods. Parking is tough as this plaza is super popular and loaded with grocery, restaurants, tea shops etc. I picked up some sake salmon fresh lightly salted and I cooked it medium-rare and it tasted awesome. I wish it were wild vs. farmed but I will see what other options they have next time. The Maeda-en BLACK SESAME ICE CREAM is very good. It does not have an artificial taste. It is a lighter color but moderate or better with black sesame taste. I also got the Maeda-en YUZU SORBET but have not tried it yet. I picked up a papaya but am letting it ripen a touch on the kitchen counter. The wife and I will explore more next time but it was a crowded Sunday afternoon so maybe I will drop in after work one day. It was clean and there were a lot of tempting items. read more

I actually like coming here for the discounted foods after 7pm. They have a good selection of sushi and bento boxes! However... I've been here twice already and had a not so good experience. The first time I came I had bought 3 persimmons with other groceries, when I got home I cut the first one to eat and all 3 had looked good on the outside, but it was rotten. I thought I had just grabbed a bad one, but long story short I had cut all 3 and they were all bad. I had to throw it away and it cost be around $4 bucks. Okay whatever... too late now, I'm not going to go back and complain about the 3 persimmons that had already gone in the trash. Yesterday, I went around 7pm for the deals and has also bought a few groceries including a mochi which is $1.99 (so yummy) but 20% off after 7pm which comes out to be $1.71. When I went to pay, luckily I checked my receipt! I asked the cashier what this tako sushi was for $5.99? She apologized that she entered in the wrong code for the mochi and over charged me. Okay... what if I hadn't checked my receipt? Please be more careful! Then I was directed to customer service (snooty white girl) who helped me get my refund and I asked since there was a mistake and I could have left and not check my receipt, for the inconvenience can you just not charge me for the dollar something mochi? Nope, she had to charge me still and didn't even apologize for the inconvenience. Make sure to check your receipts everyone, and if they accidentally over charge you... there is zero good will gesture and definitely missed the opportunity for customer care. read more

First time at this location and wow the variety of food on their deli section is amazing! They have a fried foods, sushi, rice ball section I got lost there for about an hour or so just drooling. Trying to eat healthier so I actually didn't get their fried foods. Got the fresh rice balls 4.99 and the premade ones 2.50 to compare and wow what a huge difference on the salmon flavor rice balls. read more

selection seems pretty solid, i really enjoy walking around and just looking at all the offerings that they have here. though i must mention that i came here at least 3 times looking for hokkaido milk (powder or even just anything flavored) and couldnt find it. the sushi/bento stuff is great though, love that. seems smaller than the costa mesa location, but thats okay since its also basically right next to a mitsuwa. given the layout of the place, i cannot imagine enjoying coming here in its busier hours (maybe if it somehow could combine with mitsuwa to create a tokyo super-central, it would fix everything). i can imagine there are probably some constraints given the size of the building, but they demolished a super irvine middle eastern grocery store to build this, and that didnt have any size constraint issues. as a long-time frequenter of this plaza, i do find myself missing what used to be here (not just super irvine but a couple really good small restaurants as well), but i can understand trying to capture the demand for japanese import goods, *especially* now that irvine has like 4+ massive korean supermarkets for some reason. read more

Love this place! Not only a good place to buy authentic Japanese product but also a good place to get hot food! The buffet is such a great addition and for the price it's such a steal! The place is a little tight just a like any other asian store but non the less it did not ruin our shopping experience! read more

The girl in pink hair in twin tail buns that works customer service past the checkout area is an angry, bitter, and time wasting person. I made a purchase in error, i didn't know about the return policy about alcohol being non-refundable by law in the state of California. My problem with her is her wasting my time talking with her friend for 10 minutes even before bothering to ask me why I was there when it was clear I was there asking about a return, giving me attitude about the return when I kept telling her I didn't know it was law that alcoholic returns aren't allowed, wasting my time with a false sense of hope saying maybe she can get a supervisor or something, accusing me of lying about how long since time of purchase not even checking the time on my receipt, then giving me attitude and clapping back when I said maybe let future customers know about this for alcoholic purchases with "Should I explain every single law to every single customer?!" She is a rude individual not fit to be in customer service, unnecessarily arguementative, and a horrid waster of someone else's time. To be willingly wasting other people's time like that can only mean she has nothing better to do in her life than to waste time because time for her is not valuable asset to her at all. It's ironic that such an angry and bitter person is in the role of customer service and this experience has guranteed I will never shop here again. read more

I will never buy meats here. We bought around 10 packets of variety thinking that we're buying quality Japanese beef for our Christmas dinner. Majority of them were like chewing on paper with no flavor whatsoever. However the shabu meats weren't bad. It was our first time at this new location. That was a horrible experience and a terrible let down. read more

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Great selection, food is fresh and hot. Clean environment and great customer service. read more

Tokyo Central - Center of store - International Grocery Near Me - Irvine, California

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Great new Japanese market. All the sections weren't filled up yet but I'll be back. Feels like the other Japanese market in the area.

Nicely laid out forcing you to walk through the fruits and veggies section before getting to the meats and sauces areas. Prices are varying... Look for the weekly specials. Great selection in general... especially with the high quality meats and sauces for shabu-shabu, yakiniku, bbq. Parking can be a nightmare.. but when I went midday it was fine. read more

I found a hair underneath the sushi I bought from this store. This was very disappointing. Please make sure your employees wear hairnets or hats when preparing sushi to prevent this from happening again. read more

UPDATE: So I actually did make it inside today. They have employees paired up throughout the store standing around and watching everyone. That's on top of the workers who are wearing green aprons and actually working. The aisels are very narrow compared to other supermarkets. Having more employees than there are customers and trying to navigate a shopping cart given this kind of arrangement is not fun. On top of that, prices are more expensive than their competitors. What a joke! ======================================= Time is precious. Spend it wisely... They only let a few customers in the store at once to add "hype". Some people see the Disneyland lines and think, "oh wow! That's how I want to spend my Saturday!" Me on the other hand, I'd rather go to Mitsuwa, get what I need, and then enjoy the rest of my day. The workers are very nice and apologize for how things are being ran. I'm not mad at them. I'm mad at management for making people stand in the hot sun while whole market is empty. Doesn't make any sense. You've officially been warned... read more

Good prices and selection of Japanese food. Parking is not great, it gets busy and the parking spaces can be small. If you are coming near the end of the day, most of the bento boxes and sushi are gone but you can get a good 20% discount on those items. It's a fairly large store, bummer that they don't have a food court inside. read more

So the parking here is horrendous. And it's always been that way. You just have to be patient or walk from far away. The store itself is huge and clean. The layout is a little mazelike with one dedicated entrance and one exit after the cashier. Unlike the Costa Mesa Tokyo Central there is no seafood counter here. And I felt their butchered seafood and meat selections were less here. But the prepped food - that's the real star here. After a certain time they shut down the hot food buffet so you have to get here early for that. There's a large selection of bento and sushi. And after 7pm all of it is 20% off. There are two microwaves available next to the self checkout. And some tables outside where you can eat. But because those tables are in front of Waka Sakura people use that area to wait, so good luck getting a table to eat at. Since they just opened there will be some growing pains as they settle in. But I am glad to have a Tokyo Central in Irvine. read more

We made a purchase at Tokyo Central on October 17, which included two pears. $2.99/p . The cashier charged us 7.99/eah! The cashier made a mistake and charged us for a set instead. We didn't notice it at the time, but when we found out this week and went to customer service, the female manager with colorful hair had a terrible attitude. She refused to admit the mistake and even accused me of intentionally trying to scam them by claiming I bought a set. I insisted that they check the surveillance footage! I'm really angry about such poor customer service! I'll wait until tomorrow to see the results when I go get the surveillance footage from that day and find out how they handle it. The lady with the colorful hair is really not suited for customer service -- when something happens, she doesn't try to solve it but instead immediately refuses the customer's request! So disappointing! read more

This is an excellent and new Japanese market in Irvine. They have a wide selection of sushi, produce, and bento boxes. They sell eel bowls, beef bowls,currybowls, and katsu bowls. The price s are quite reasonable as well. The market is quite big with a nice ambiance. It can get crowded so get there early. read more

Yes and yes! Yes it was crowded and busy and Yes I thought it was worth all the bumping and pushing. Fresh fresh fresh and clean. I got poke and octopus poke!! Raw if you dont know. Im from Hawaii so I had to check this out they had hawaiian sun and Portuguese sausage lau lau frozen. Also all the veggies you need for hot pot!! I also got pork belly yummm and so much more. Couldn't take pics because all these strangers will be in them lol. So good I drove an hour. They have hot food eel you name it. NOW COME OPEN ONE IN TEMECULA AREAS THANKS. LOVE AND RECOMMEND. read more

I got here in the morning special opening grand opening. They served us some drinks and they gave us our gifts and on top of that. I had a really good selection to pick when I went inside the food court was pretty warm and ready to grab. I also got some specials that I haven't tried before and I was actually quite pleased read more

That store was a disappointment. Let's start with the parking lot--it's narrow, the road is tight, and it's barely wide enough for two cars to pass. They really should've made it one-way, because once cars line up, there's no room to back out. And since the whole area is surrounded by restaurants, there's hardly any space left for parking at all. And then the supermarket--what a mess. The tiny produce section leads straight into fish, with raw fish mixed in with sashimi, then a giant hot food section, and right after that, raw meat. Total chaos. And to my surprise, toothbrushes are in the same aisle as coffee, face masks are stocked with goma sauce, and meat sauces are hanging out next to beans. Totally random. The snack section looks dull and uninspired, while the toy section sits in a dark corner by the checkout with no lights on--just sad. The cashier area was a mess. Everyone's funneled into one line starting about five feet behind the register, with a cookie shelf island in between and no markings. After loading our items on the belt, we realized we'd skipped five people --and no one even told us. Totally idiotic system. Just because the store is long doesn't mean you need to line up every fridge and shelf like a bad game of Tetris. Some aisles are so narrow you can barely squeeze a cart through. And the fresh food? Honestly, not as good as other TC branches. Thought I wouldn't have to drive far for TC, but until they figure out how to actually puzzle their shelves, I'm staying far away. read more

My favorite Japanese market to visit whenever I am in CA. It carries a large varieties of Asian food and fresh sushi. It is similar to the Mitsuwa Market in Fort Lee,New Jersey but has a lot more selection. read more