- Joined
- Jul 3, 2014
- Messages
- 23,576
Please move to the Dining Review sub-forum if better suited there. 
I hesitate to write this post as dining reviews are so subjective (and I’m not really sure how to write this without sounding whiny), but I had a chance to eat at Takumi-Tei this past weekend and wanted to share our experience. As a setup, I had really been looking forward to trying this restaurant - the menu looked interesting, I had high hopes. It was me and DS9 - admittedly a ‘nice’ restaurant for a 9 year old, but he’s a good eater and will try new things.
Reservation time was a 6pm, we arrived 10 mins early and were seated right away. The restaurant was maybe 30-40% full and we were seated at a table right by the kitchen door that had abundant foot traffic - definitely not the best table location in the restaurant but I was there with a 9 year old, I get it.
The decor was nice, but rather subdued and understated. You see a lot of over the top decorated / designed restaurants these days but this isn’t one of them.
Service was prompt and very helpful with the menu. I was indecisive and ordered the Omakase Tasting Menu with accompanying drink pairings, DS had the children’s menu steak. The Tasting Menu is pretty much over the top, but it’s an interesting option if you want more of a dinner ‘event’ and something totally different. You can see a description here.
The first half of the courses were quickly paced (almost too fast) but then things slowed down quite a bit. The main steak course took a decent amount of time and at one point the CM brought some children’s menus over and did origami with DS to pass the time. I thought this was excellent improv and showed they were paying attention to the time, which was impressive.
Didn’t really take pics, but this course was the “Temari Sushi - A chef-selected assortment of oceanic delicacies.”. Snooty comment warning - at this price point I was expecting more fish and less rice.
This was the “Nikomi Wagyu - Braised Wagyu - Roasted Bone Marrow, Braised Jackman Farms Wagyu Short Rib, Yuzu Kosho, Wasabi Shiso Bavaroise, Warishita.” Half of this was really good, melt-in-your-mouth short rib. Half was a pretty big fatty connected tissue mess that I really didn’t care to eat (and didn’t).
This was followed by a Wagyu Pairing, which is pretty much the main course. Mine was arguably over-cooked, but I didn’t say anything (I’m not really one to send things back at restaurants). I liked DS’s children’s menu steak better, if I’m honest.
My favorite part was the Tea Ceremony at the end, plus the tea was really good!
Every food course was “good/ok” but nothing was “wow good” from my perspective. The tasting menu - supposedly the restaurant’s ‘signature’ offering - left me a little flat for that price point. Portion sizes at some of these ‘nicer’ restaurants slant smaller these days, and this place is no exception. I may or may not have had a snack somewhere else before leaving Epcot later that evening.
The tasting menu was also relatively steak heavy, in retrospect I wish I had stuck to sushi, sashimi, or a fish entree - I think that’s really more of what I wanted out of this restaurant and I just ordered the wrong thing.
So, I’d like to give this restaurant one more try - preferably on a date night with DW next time.
But otherwise not quite sure what to make of this place after our first visit. I didn’t walk away with any serious critiques, but I didn’t love it either. YMMV!
Just one person’s ramblings, but thanks for reading along. Happy to answer any questions.
I hesitate to write this post as dining reviews are so subjective (and I’m not really sure how to write this without sounding whiny), but I had a chance to eat at Takumi-Tei this past weekend and wanted to share our experience. As a setup, I had really been looking forward to trying this restaurant - the menu looked interesting, I had high hopes. It was me and DS9 - admittedly a ‘nice’ restaurant for a 9 year old, but he’s a good eater and will try new things.
Reservation time was a 6pm, we arrived 10 mins early and were seated right away. The restaurant was maybe 30-40% full and we were seated at a table right by the kitchen door that had abundant foot traffic - definitely not the best table location in the restaurant but I was there with a 9 year old, I get it.
The decor was nice, but rather subdued and understated. You see a lot of over the top decorated / designed restaurants these days but this isn’t one of them.
Service was prompt and very helpful with the menu. I was indecisive and ordered the Omakase Tasting Menu with accompanying drink pairings, DS had the children’s menu steak. The Tasting Menu is pretty much over the top, but it’s an interesting option if you want more of a dinner ‘event’ and something totally different. You can see a description here.
The first half of the courses were quickly paced (almost too fast) but then things slowed down quite a bit. The main steak course took a decent amount of time and at one point the CM brought some children’s menus over and did origami with DS to pass the time. I thought this was excellent improv and showed they were paying attention to the time, which was impressive.
Didn’t really take pics, but this course was the “Temari Sushi - A chef-selected assortment of oceanic delicacies.”. Snooty comment warning - at this price point I was expecting more fish and less rice.
This was the “Nikomi Wagyu - Braised Wagyu - Roasted Bone Marrow, Braised Jackman Farms Wagyu Short Rib, Yuzu Kosho, Wasabi Shiso Bavaroise, Warishita.” Half of this was really good, melt-in-your-mouth short rib. Half was a pretty big fatty connected tissue mess that I really didn’t care to eat (and didn’t).
This was followed by a Wagyu Pairing, which is pretty much the main course. Mine was arguably over-cooked, but I didn’t say anything (I’m not really one to send things back at restaurants). I liked DS’s children’s menu steak better, if I’m honest.
My favorite part was the Tea Ceremony at the end, plus the tea was really good!
Every food course was “good/ok” but nothing was “wow good” from my perspective. The tasting menu - supposedly the restaurant’s ‘signature’ offering - left me a little flat for that price point. Portion sizes at some of these ‘nicer’ restaurants slant smaller these days, and this place is no exception. I may or may not have had a snack somewhere else before leaving Epcot later that evening.
The tasting menu was also relatively steak heavy, in retrospect I wish I had stuck to sushi, sashimi, or a fish entree - I think that’s really more of what I wanted out of this restaurant and I just ordered the wrong thing.
So, I’d like to give this restaurant one more try - preferably on a date night with DW next time.
But otherwise not quite sure what to make of this place after our first visit. I didn’t walk away with any serious critiques, but I didn’t love it either. YMMV!Just one person’s ramblings, but thanks for reading along. Happy to answer any questions.
