This is for the 9811 16th Ave SW, Seattle, location. The reason why I am specific is because there are A LOT of Tomo's in this area. A shortened version of "tomodachi," I presume, and it's a friendly place. The staff are really nice but not the professionalized service you would expect. Most of the staff are transplants from a well-established restaurant near the Aurora bridge, and unfortunately, this place took on all of the bad habits and culture.
Parking is available out front, but the area is pretty busy. Expect to park in an off-street one to two blocks away. This is a tough neighborhood is Burien, so do take care when and where you park. The signage is tough to see, but it is sandwiched in between another American-fare restaurant and an adult entertainment storefront.
Service was good, but not mind-blowing. We were the first ones at the door with a reservation, and they invited us to sit next to the restroom. Thankfully, they were able to accommodate us near the front by the windows and the bar. Please know they take on a $50 reservation fee per person. They add in a 22% auto-gratuity, but after they add everything in including the tax.
A couple of the things that really stood out for me were:
They place all of the eating utensils directly on the table. And they never asked if I wanted chopsticks. It's an Asian-style restaurant, so I felt that was odd.
A lot of the bowls and cups we used were chipped, and the utensils looked very worn and not clean. I did love their water bottles, they appeared handcrafted.
If our tea or coffee is empty, just fill it. I get that service at the local diner, if I have to chase you down or ask you for more hot water, then you didn't earn that tip.
As far as the food, their menu changes regularly, and the substitutions are not easy to get unless you upgrade so ask before you go if you absolutely don't like something. The 5-course experience is $108 per person and they need full participation from the table so keep this in mind. We for example got 3-quarter sized scallops as the main entrée with the set experience and on the main a la carte, it's $48 for 6-scallops so it's a good deal if you want to sample everything. The full dinner was just over the 2-hour mark. Unfortunately, one of the courses were clams. It had a rock in it. They got me a napkin but did nothing about it when I said, "ow, that's a rock in my clam." The tea was a good green tea and the coffee was Cafe Vida served in a tea bage so that was one of the good mentions.
We had more hopes for this location then the experience we received.
Midas 2-stars for the okay high-end asian-style food. Not much value in the experience and the location.
