Tokyo Central

First time at this grocery store and super impressed with the large selection of Japanese groceries and ready to eat meals. The sushi selection was amazing. The family bathroom was super clean. Very much impressed and hope it'll stay this way. We'll definitely be back often.

Also, they have tiny little carts for kids to shop with, as well. Our son really had a good time shopping with us.

What I love about this place is the hot bar of Japanese comfort food or sometimes "street food." While I don't eat meat, the chicken karaage looked incredible. Their agedashi tofu was amazing. The only downside is that the hotbar closes early. I found out the hard way when it was closed up by 3pm. They also have a great selection of Hawaiian deliciousness. Their grab and go section of various sushi, chirashi, onigiri and what not was fantastic. The chirashi sushi was about $15, and pretty sure it was a decent deal. Fish tasted amazing.

This has been my go-to place for years to get food items from Japan. Great selection of pretty much anything you need including rice cookers and beauty products. They have items prepped for your 和食 as well. If you've never been here and you're into foods from Japan, you gotta stop by here!

I came here during my visit from Virginia and let me say this place is my new favorite place for Japanese food and kitchen supplies.

The deli has a wide variety of ready made food like sushi, onigiri, takoyaki, ramen, even mapo tofu! And for a great price!

They also have lots of Hawaiian food for those who miss the taste of Hawaii!

I can't wait to come back here.

I lived 5 minutes away from their Costa Mesa location for 3 years, and I also had the chance to visit a few other locations. This location is just as well kept as any other one. Their standard for pulchritude, order and cleanliness are evident. A few things have a bit of a markup (I attached a pic of one of those items) but if you mostly come here for food, you can't go wrong. Their sushi section alone is definitely worth a trip here: always fresh and with lots of variety. Only thing missing is someone saying 「いらっしゃいませ！」as you walk through the doors but everything else about this place rocks!

P.S.: Their "proudly" made in Japan sign made me chuckle. Were they being sarcastic at their own quality control or do they take true pride in it and were using the quotations for extra emphasis? We shall never know!

Tokyo Central at West Covina is the market I must go to every month, at least once per two months after I moved from Glendora to Pasadena. I love it.

It's 7 years ago, and I permanently moved from Shanghai to LA, I visited almost all the Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Thailand, and Philippines markets but I was not satisfied. I am a professional amateur chef, I need good materials. Yes, I found most seasoning, raw food, cookware, dishware, and tools in the markets, but I was not satisfied until I found Tokyo Central randomly. It filled in the blank part of my requirement.

Why am I saying that? Tokyo Central always has the best quality foods. For example, the rice, I could find good rice in other Asian markets but Tokyo Central in 2016. The Nishiki rice from Japan was so soft and so good. The pity is that the Nishiki rice became a Product of UAA since COVID, became much worse than before. Nowadays, I still don't have good rice to eat.

Tokyo Central has a big canteen just beside the entrance, you can buy the food, sit and eat them in the canteen. The canteen provides seasoning sauces like ketchup and soy sauce, tempura sauce, etc. It also provides a microwave oven, cold and hot water, forks, knives, and chopsticks. You can warm your food there and enjoy them, very convenient.

Tokyo Central also provides buffet-to-weight foods, not too many options, around 20 kinds but very balanced. There were tempuras, fried chicken, fish, vegetables, takoyaki, okonomiyaki, yakisoba(fried noodles), and rice. The buffet station was closed for several months by the pandemic as well as the canteen. Now some of the buffets changed to prepacked and some are still pick-as-you-want.

There is also plenty of sushi, rice ball, bento, Japanese style desserts, Japanese style cakes, all you can eat in the canteen after paying them through the counter. I love those onigiris (triangle rice balls) even though the price is getting higher and higher recently.

It looks like they shorten the opening time of the canteen after the pandemic, I didn't get the chance to have lunch there several times.

I think I know Japanese food well, and I cook them well. I think I am qualified to say that since I translated one Japanese food dictionary and one Japanese cookbook. I can get most raw food from Tokyo Central when I'd like to cook Japanese food. I can get okonomiyaki powder and sauce there, as well as takoyaki powder and sauce. I can get various Japanese seasoning sauces there as well as thin and thick noodles.

The raw fishes for sashimi, are good. The premium beef is good. Also, the bags of Japanese pickles, are authentic and delicious.

(to be continued)

Craving for some Japanese sushi, or ingredients? then this place is the place to be. I always come here to get my Japanese fresh sushi and meats. Always a treat to come here.
For some reason, every time I shop here, I end up spending way more than I should. Everything looks so good and tasty.

I enjoyed shopping Tokyo Central. Well designed and colorful market. This is one of the most organized and fully stocked store in the area. The staff is helpful and friendly. Produce is fresh and quality. A great place to shop for Japanese products. Tokyo Central Market is a well managed store and always clean and the staff are very friendly.

This Tokyo Central is always more crowded and busy compared to the Yorba Linda location. This store does have a section at the left entrance(next to DFC express) that sells gifts and hobby items such as plushies, Gundam plastic model kits, anime figures, and other Japanese gift ideas. Bento options tend to be limited past noon on the weekend as many people shop here. So, if you want to pick the bentos you like come early. Parking is not bad, if you are willing to park a little farther and walk. There is an area with tables and chairs for eating. There are water dispensers with Styrofoam cups for cold, warm and hot water options. There is also a microwave if you wanna heat up your food such as ramen, pasta, curry, etc.