Shh- don't tell....Toraya has the best sushi in Boston!
May 12 '02
The Bottom Line If you love sushi, come to Toraya. You will be wowed.
I have a secret. I have debated whether I want to reveal it here on epinions, because then it won't be a secret anymore. And then all of you are going to flood into my favorite restaurant, and I won't be able to get a table, and that will make me very grumpy. But I am dying to tell my secret, because Toraya is just so good.
Oops- I said its name. I guess now I'll have to tell you. Toraya , a Japanese restaurant in my hometown of Arlington, Massachusetts (next to Cambridge and just a short drive to Boston...), has the best sushi I have eaten in Boston. It is so good that I, a die-hard sushi fanatic, have been known to go there up to three times in a week. The fish is consistently fresh, served in generous portions, and prepared with the upmost care. You can't beat it.
Now, it's a secret because, unless you live in Arlington (and maybe even if you do!), you would probably never notice it. Located on Mass. Ave across from Stop and Shop on the West side of town, Toraya is a tiny, unassuming storefront restaurant. You can either park on the street in front of the restaurant or in a small lot in the back.
ambiance and decor
When you walk into the restaurant, you will immediately notice how small it is. There are perhaps six tables and a small sushi bar that seats about five. Overall, I would doubt that the restaurant could seat more than twenty people. It tends to get a bit busy on weekend nights, and they do not do reservations, but I have never waited more than fifteen minutes for a table. They also have take-out if you don't want to wait for a table.
The decor is pretty typical for a small Japanese restaurant. It is pretty minimalist with a bamboo screen separating the eating area from the door and simple furniture. The entire restaurant, including the small bathroom in the back, is very clean.
If you sit at the sushi bar, you can watch the sushi chef preparing the food. It's fascinating to watch, and I am always struck by the unlikely combination of speed and care that he takes when making the sushi.
The dress here is casual. You can pretty much wear whatever you want, and you'll be fine.
service
The service is unfailingly friendly. The sushi chef always smiles and nods when you walk in the door and when you leave. I have never seen a different sushi chef there- it is always the same man. I would be very disappointed if it were anybody else- he is amazing. There are usually two waiters or waitresses, and they are always polite and helpful. Generally, the service is efficient and well-paced, although when the restaurant is busy and gets backed up with takeout orders, the service can be a bit slow.
The food
Toraya serves cooked dishes as well as sushi. You can order your sushi a la carte, or order one of their recommended combination plates. I'll get to those later.
Sushi and sashimi
The fish at Toraya tastes as though it came out of the ocean just moments before it arrives on your plate. It is that fresh. It is tender, and its freshness allows you to truly appreciate its beautiful taste and texture. The sushi rice is perfect- just the right consistency, just the right blend of sweet and salty, and compliments the fish perfectly.
The sushi prices are also quite reasonable. Two pieces of nigiri (a nigiri is a strip of fish on top of a ball of sushi rice) cost between $3.00 (mackeral, striped bass, octopus, fluke, crab, and others) to $5.00 (sea urchin). Sashimi costs a dollar more for three pieces of fish. Other fish choices include tuna, salmon, yellow tail, shrimp, squid, cooked eel, flying fish roe, salmon roe, and giant clam. There are also nightly fish specials. The last time I was there the specials were fatty tuna and trout. There are also vegetarian nigiri options- egg, shiitake mushroom, asparagus, and avocado.
Maki (sushi rolled up with rice in flat pieces of toasted seaweed), ranges in price from about $3.00 (asparagus, soybean, Japanese pickles, cucumber) to about $6.75 (fried soft-shell crab with spicy mayo). My favorites are the una-avo maki (cooked eel and avocado, $4.50), and the tempura maki (shimp tempura with tobiko and spicy mayo, $5.50). Also good are the California maki (crab, avocado, cucumber, tobiko, $4.50), spicy tuna maki, and yellowtail and scallion maki.
Appetizers
Toraya offers a wide range of appetizers, ranging in price from about $3.00 to $7.00. My fiance adores their shumai (dumplings stuffed with shrimp, served either steamed or fried, $4.50), and gets them nearly every time we go. The tempura appetizer, ($5.25), is also quite good, and comes with two large shrimp and an assortment of veggies. The tempura batter is perfect- crisp and flaky, then melty as you hold it in your mouth, savoring its taste. The agedashi tofu ($5.25) is also very good. It is a generous portion of tofu that has been lightly battered and fried, then served in a light broth with scallions and some daikon radish. When you break through the tofu's fried crust, the tofu inside nearly melts into the bowl. Yum. Also good is the vinegared octopus and vegetables, ($4.75), and cucumber salad ($3.50).
All entrees come with a bowl of miso soup. This is not your run-of-the-mill boring miso soup. Even this soup tastes as though someone really cared about its preparation. It leaves you wanting another bowl.
entrees
Entrees range in price from $7.25 to about $18.00, very reasonable for Japanese food in the Boston area! And all of the dishes have more generous portions than I typically find at Japanese restaurants. There are sushi and sashimi entrees, tempura, agemono (food dipped in bread crumbs and deep fried), yakimono (broiled or grilled dishes), nabemono (pot-cooked foods), and whatever specials are being offered that day. I'll highlight some of my favorites.
My all time favorite dish is the chirashi ($13.50). Chirashi is slices of raw and cooked fish, egg, fish eggs, and veggies served on top of a bed of sushi rice. Toraya's chirashi is fabulous. For $13.50, I doubt you could find such a beautiful and generous assortment of food anywhere else in Boston. And the variety of food changes every time I go, which makes it fun to see what I'll get. There is always tuna, octopus, salmon, fluke, yellowtail, crab,shrimp, egg, marinated mushrooms, tobiko, and mackeral in Toraya's chirashi. Depending on the day, you might also find tuna wrapped in seaweed, cooked eel, sweet shrimp, snapper, trout, bass, scallop, clam, squid, salmon roe, or other tasty bites tucked into this dish.
The sushi moriawase ($13.50), an assortment of maki and nigiri, is always good. So is the makimono combo ($11.50), which comes with tuna maki, california maki, and eel maki. The sashimi entree ($13.75) comes with a generous assortment of raw fish, all of which will literally melt in your mouth with their freshness.
Some of my favorte cooked entrees are the shrimp and vegetable tempura ($13.50), and the sukiyaki ($13.25), which is thinly sliced beef, tofu, veggies, and rice noodles cooked in a rich broth, served with white rice. Toraya also offers various teriyaki dishes, and some noodle dishes, including tenzaru ($9.95), which is noodles cooked in a broth topped with shrimp tempura.
Lunch
Toraya is open for lunch Monday through Saturday, and offers a tasty lunch menu. The best are the bento boxes. If you've never had a bento box, you need to try one! What it is is a large, shallow box separated into various compartments. Into each section, the chef puts a small portion of some kind of food. My favorite is the sashimi bento ($10.50), which comes with a generous assortment of sashimi, rice, salad, pickles, and bites of tempura, agemono chicken, shumai, and sometimes some maki or fish cakes.
There are various donburi dishes offered at lunch. Donburi is various toppings served on top of a bed of steamed rice.
Relative to the dinner prices, the lunch prices are a bit expensive (from $6.95 for a noodle dish to $10.50 for chirashi or sashimi), but again, the portions are generous, and the food is delicious. All lunch dishes are served with miso soup.
Other things you should know
Toraya is open for lunch every day except Sunday, from 11:30-2:30. They are open for dinner Sunday through Thursday from 5:00-10:00, and on Friday and Saturday they are open from 5:00-11:00.
The restaurant is located on 890 Mass. Ave. in Arlington, and their phone number is 781-641-7477.
There are many vegetarian options.
Kids are treated very well at Toraya. There is not a children's menu, but they are very accommodating, and will make pretty much anything (well, within reason...), that you'd like for your child. Kids usually love tempura- who wouldn't love fried food? The last time I was there, there was a little girl at the table behind mine who really liked the tofu in the miso soup, and didn't want to eat the broth. So the waitress, without even being asked, brought out another bowl with lots of tofu and just a sprinkling of broth, which the little girl was very excited about.
Final thoughts
In terms of variety, freshness, and value, it is hard to beat Toraya. I really can't think of any cons to tell you about, because there honestly aren't any. I have been to Toraya countless times, and have never had a dish that was less than excellent.
So now my secret is out. Make the trip out to Arlington (it's really not that far..), and give Toraya a try.
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Epinions.com ID:
lapook76
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Location: Arlington, MA
Reviews written: 61
Trusted by: 40 members
About Me:
Busy, busy, busy...
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