Tokyo Japanese Restaurant fires up Southern Hills Drive

Those are but a few of the menu items that has Southern Hills Drive “fired up” about the new Tokyo Japanese Restaurant.

Of course, seven different chef’s stations also has diners on the drive excited.

“We came here Saturday night and had to come back (three days later),” said Doyle Struve of Pierson, Iowa.

Sioux Cityan Dick Salem opened wide to catch a piece of food tossed his way by Chef Gede Suarta. “Ahh, nice catch sir!” Suarta gushed above his grill.

The Tokyo Japanese Steakhouse & Sushi Bar opened Feb. 13 in the old Coyote Canyon site on Southern Hills Drive in Sioux City. The restaurant is owned by the Le family, which also owns and operates restaurants in Cedar Falls and Waterloo, Iowa.

“The business has been solid so far. Everything has come together nicely,” said Blayne Barrs, owner of Barrs Property Development of McCook Lake, S.D. Barrs served as general contractor for the renovation project.

The restaurant offers a range of teppanyaki style grilled food prepared by a professional chef who works before 7 to 10 diners. A full service liquor and sushi bar complements the dining area, which seats about 160. All told, the restaurant and bar hold 230.

Seven chefs are joined on staff by two sushi chefs, 8 to 10 wait staff members and a 15-person kitchen crew.

Booths in the restaurant are leather, tables are granite. Bamboo and ash wood are featured throughout the restaurant, giving it an Asian flair.

“The Le family didn’t spare any expense in doing this restaurant and the end product really shows,” Barrs said.

The Le family, which comes from Florida originally, notes that market research and the demographics of the area led them to believe a venture like this would fly.

And “fire up” the Southern Hills Drive neighborhood.