Tampopo 1

I wish more Asian restaurants carried Japchae. Whenever I have a craving for it I order from Tamopopo1. Both the chicken and beef are equally good.

Good food; comfortable, if sparse, setting; excellent value; excellent service (at least in-store--I've never gotten delivery). The problem with the phone always being busy was corrected long ago. Also, no one's ever pushed the spicy tuna on me (maybe because I always order just that). While the fish may not be the freshest (for that, you may want to try Vic Sushi Bar, which is only about half a block away), Tampopo 1's not really a sushi bar. It's a cheap Korean-Japanese takeout spot. And it excels in that niche.

I was impressed by the filling quantities (very inexpensive for very large rolls. However, they do not serve salmon at all, and really push the spicy tuna rolls (often a sign of masking poor quality tuna). The spicy tuna rolls are quite spicy, and the next time I went I asked for a regular tuna roll. They asked if I wanted spicy tuna and I told them no. The tuna was low quality and stringy didn't seem to be sashimi style tuna. Now I know how they make their money poor quality fish masked by spices, and lots of rice to fill you up.

There's a reason this place is always busy. The food is reliable, cheap and delicious. There have been several times I have ordered something only to find that they've ran out of it. My disappointment is usually short-lived because I wind up ordering something else on the menu that is equally yummy.

I order from here a fair amount -- the food is not bad for a tiny little takeout place. It's nearly impossible to get through on the phone. Tonight, they screwed up my order, and when I noted that, I got the "I really don't care" shrug from both people behind the counter. They offered to fix the mistake, if I was willing to wait an extra 20 minutes (it would take only 3 minutes to cook the item that was wrong). Probably not worth the hassle to go back.