Tanto Japanese Restaurant in Sunnyvale

Not every dish is good but there are many good dishes.

Great dishes especially those grill fish in the lunch bento box.

I have been coming here for 20 years when they were authentic Japanese Izakaya located in a smaller location further down El Camino. They served authentic Japanese tapas to accompany drinking and mingling with friends and colleagues. They have shifted their clientele now to serve non-Japanese customers, and their strategy is paying off with lines out the door (before the "New Normal") and the menu is also catering towards the local preferences. During SIP, Tanto is offering a good selection of set meals for families to enjoy at home. Keep up the good work, I shall return when this is all over.

The wait was a little long, but worth it.The salmon and white tuna sashimi was excellent.The pork salad had shredded cooked and lightly vinegared pork and was very good The halibut sashimi was only ok to my taste. The butter enoki and shitake mushrooms had surprise bacon and were good/ok.The black sesame ice cream tasted like smoky sesame oil and I didn't care for it.The ice cream with red bean was delicious and is a mountain of ice cream with a swirl of red bean paste on the side surrounded by little rice-only mochi balls.Very interesting and authentic menu. Looking forward to coming back to try more!Second visit:Salmon sashimi was again fantastic. White tuna was very good. Next time will try another fish though. Garlic steak was good but wouldn’t reorder. Minced miso pork wrapped in lettuce cups was literally a head off price in a cup and tasted very fermented. Would not order again.

Be prepared to wait up to an hour without a reservation, though I must say the wait was well worth it. Tanto has a wide variety of tapas from the familiar to the utterly unique. Some of these unique dishes have been the reason for my friends and I frequenting this location. Secondly, the pricing when compared with the level of food is unbeatable and the sake selection is wonderful. Bring and appetite, you won't be disappointed if you love Japanese Tapas.

Over priced..mackerel sucks.. sashimi so small..need I say more?

The service was polite and efficient, and the food was off the wall flavorfully delicious. The food presentation was artistic and abundant. From the sashimi salad and stir fried udon noodles with pork to the orders of deep fried and grilled smelt with roe; each were highly flavorful. New for me was and incredible was the monk fish liver wrapped in thinly sliced halibut. Yeah, I had an eating experience worthy of repeating. So if you're visiting like me make Tanto Japanese restaurant and must stop.

This place was buzzing on a week night, loud atmosphere but lively, tight seating but cozy, smaller dishes but they'll fill you up so good!

Great little place with authentic Japanese.

This site is my preferable restaurant. Of all restaurants I know I favor it most. I always suggests to my friends to go to visit this place. Whenever I I need a decent lunch, this place comes straight to my head. very good and food and a rich menu.courteous staff members, and nice vibes. Not less important, the pay is reasonable. I praise this place with no doubt.

This excellent restaurant is completely out of place in its area, where it is surrounded by fast-food restaurants and uninspiring store fronts. We went there twice in a week, and there were guests waiting for tables at all times. We waited 10 minutes the first time and 2 minutes the second time. The menu, containing perhaps a hundred different dishes, is a bit overwhelming for someone like me who is not too familiar with Japanese food. Each dish is described in around three words. The waiter was helpful, but there was only so much he could do. I was happy with my selection, but it may have been mostly luck on my first visit. On my second visit I had sashimi, which was excellent -- especially considering how cheap it was.

So delicious! Every dish was unique, and offered an interesting set second flavours for the epicurean appetite. My favourite dishes were the Hotate butter uni nose, Umaki Tamago, and the Kani Gratin. Also good were their oyster dishes and the Uni Shisho sashimi dish. The uni was not quite as creamy or delicate tasting as hoped, but the portion size was decent for the price. Last, we tried their ice cream dessert - beware, it is a lot to share and we could barely finish it after all the food we ate.

Most food was sub par or just okay with the exception of the yaki onigiri. Service is pretty poor as they pretty much ignore you after serving food. I wouldn't normally mind this type of service at a Japanese restaurant if they weren't expecting tips, but they try to get you to pay tip on taxes as well.

The food was good but expensive. Service was attentive. My only complaint was the short haired hostess behind the table. She had such a poor manner with a grumpy face and a rude gesture. I hope owner replaces her with someone more pleasant to interact with. If she is the owner, I am not returning.

Good variety. The spicy cod roe onigiri was sooo yummy!

Legit Japanese food with fresh seafood! Tonkatsu (fried pork cutlet) was crispy but when you get it as a bowl, it gets covered in gooey eggs. The eggs does make it a bit soggy but more flavorful! Udon was perfectly chewy and broth was light and full with umami. A small side salad was provided for all lunch plates and bowls.Ambience is homey and comfortably dim. Make a reservation if you have a large party during lunch! It gets packed by 12 and can be pretty loud, which made it a bit difficult to talk to people.

This excellent restaurant is completely out of place in its area, where it is surrounded by fast-food restaurants and uninspiring store fronts. We went there twice in a week, and there were guests waiting for tables at all times. We waited 10 minutes the first time and 2 minutes the second time. The menu, containing perhaps a hundred different dishes, is a bit overwhelming for someone like me who is not too familiar with Japanese food. Each dish is described in around three words. The waiter was helpful, but there was only so much he could do. I was happy with my selection, but it may have been mostly luck on my first visit. On my second visit I had sashimi, which was excellent -- especially considering.

awesome delicious food! Be sure to come around 5:40 in order to get a table at 6pm.

My friend recommend this restaurant to me. It is wonderful! The sashimi test wonderful. Sashimi salad is kind of oily, but well flavored! I ordered hamachi Kama, too. It was great one. Low oil and low salt. The ice cream is my favorite! And when I sit done I saw my Japanese friend in the other side. They recommend this restaurant again and mention this is one of the best Japanese restaurant in the Bay Area!

This 4 stars is based on CP, prices are reasonable. Unfortunately, flavors and tastes earned 3 stars. The ika meshi probably was the better dish, interesting sauce, fresh ika. The sashimi on the salad was not very fresh. The eggplant gratin tasted strange, think it was the cheese. Beef tendon was too sweet. Omelette with eel was so so. The rest very so so. Dishes all came very fast. Service was okay.

The ambiance is pretty low key, with dim lighting. It's a popular place but you don't really need a reservation - I went on a Friday night and was able to get a table pretty easily. Food itself was pretty decent and we enjoyed it. Their selection of beers is pretty sparse though, since they have Sapporo on tap and only the large bottles of Asahi. Still a nice mellow Japanese restaurant experience.

Japanese style tapas restaurant. A bit expensive but the food is good. There is quite a bit of rice in every dish though

Nice, authentic place. Good food. I wish you'd have pictures in the menu.

Looongg wait time. Ok, food and no they don't have sushi.

Good vibes and decent food. Would recommend to anyone.

Excellent Japanese food. Go there often for their bento lunch specials.

Good place to have some small Japanese entries.

Great food, high quality, nice atmosphere. The seafood was excellent & very fresh - especially the sashimi.

Excellent taste. Fresh and delicious sashimi. AND they have room for 1 person!

My favorite dish was the spicy tuna bowl, which reminded me of poke. A great place to go share sashimi with friends. Plenty of sake choices, noodles, grilled and fried choices for those not into raw fish. My servers were thoughtful and attentive.

This shop doesn't look impressive from the outside, but their food more than makes up for it. Give the beef tongue a try! It's amazing.

Amazing and authentic Japanese tapas. We had the pork belly, scallops with salmon roe, squid stuffed with rice (sauce on side), and the beef tongue. Everything was delicious and that was the perfect amount for 2 people.Will definitely be back here and will make a reservation next time to avoid the 30min wait!

Loved my food here. So delicious!

I love authentic Japanese cuisine. I've been going here for years. It's always delicious.

Excellent food and good service

We reserved through phone call in advance. The service is good and quick. Overall, the taste is excellent.Salmon sashimi is very delicious and fresh with decent amount. Grilled beef tongue is also recommended.

Straight up good Japanese food. Lots of options, the karage and monk fish livers are my fav!

We tried to eat here at about 9pm on Saturday night -- Google said they were open but they stop seating new customers at 8:30pm. Blah. Restaurant has a good reputation but we didn't get to try this time. Went to En down the road instead.

Really nice Japanese food, but you NEED to have a reservation

Pretty good place for a meal. We ordered couple donburi and a cold noodle dish. The food tasted good and the meal was pleasant. Only bad thing is I wish the check didnt come out with the food. Although they didnt rush, it felt rushed. I would definitely come back again and recommend the place to friends.

Unagidon was reasonably priced, service was extremely quick. The portion of unagi was quite large for the price. It was a little less fresh or perhaps slightly overcooked to what I'm used to but still quite delicious.

They have wider variety menu and delicious!

Small and cozy, food is great. They are known for their garlic clam ramen and their daily Bento lunchbox specials. It turns into a Japanese snack bar at night.

Great good, great atmosphere, unique dishes, friendly service, and friendly prices at that!

Try the kimchi fried rice in clay pot! It's very good. We had several tables ask us what it was when it arrived. In general all the food we tried was so good and the portion size is worth the price. The three of us ordered 6 dishes and had over stuffed ourselves and had some food left over. Staff was very friendly and quick! A few cons, it is very noisy when it's full and the air gets a bit stuffy (low ceiling). If couples want privacy, there are more private seating available.

The dishes are delicious and authentic Japanese style with modern twists. The portion is very generous for a tapas and it makes difficult to try many dishes at one visit. They need to be creative something like a smaller portion with lower price. Service is very quick and friendly, but needs to be a little more attentive.

A wide variety of tapas, picking - cant miss. Approved by japanese coworker.

Red snapper (tai) chazuke sends me back to Japan. And the only place we stay for deserts.

We ordered Onigiri and uni fried rice, the two most popular dishes on google reviews, and omelet with spicy roe. The omelet turned out to be very creamy and tasty. But we were very disappointed by the other two - uni was very bitter, and you never knew whether your next bite of the onigiri would be too salty or no flavor at all. We ended up ordering a 4th dish hoping for better luck - the chicken kaarage. Nope, it was so plain that I finished the mayo half way thru the kaarage and kept adding red pepper flakes. There were also pieces that were too skinny to be chicken meat and were straight up fried flour. In the end we were very glad that we only waited 5 minutes for this place. The good parts about this restaurant:1) we were very full after all that rice2) there’s a clean and bright korean market across the street that you can wander around and digest all that rice

hard to find parking spot during rush hour and the front desk lady is unfriendly and mange the waitlist in a very poor way. Suggest the owner to use some online waitlist !