Tatsunoko Japanese Restaurant, BF Homes

While driving along El Grande Street in BF one time, hubby pointed to this seemingly rundown looking house and said that it was a famous Japanese resto in the area which he wanted to try. The place itself looked old and shabby and it honestly didn't look very inviting at all. So I said next time lang.

Fast forward later, we were on our way to SM BF for lunch with the kids and passed by this street again. Hubby said he really wanted to eat here since he was craving for Japanese so I said fine, sige na nga!

Again, the place looked really dubious from the outside. It looked like an abandoned house, but there were so many cars parked outside. And well, there was an OPEN sign on the door so I guess it must really be a restaurant haha. ;p

I actually did research after we ate here and found out that this place was previously known as Bento-ya and has been in the business for more than 20 years. And they always seem to land in the top places to eat in Paranaque or the South.

I was surprised when we entered and the place was really full (this was lunch on a weekday). The inside looks only slightly better than the outside in my opinion. The place definitely needs a lot of improvement. But if customers keep coming back, then I guess there's really no reason for them to change anything right? ;p

parang carinderia lang ang peg

maybe the wallpaper will peel itself?

There was aircon, but the place was still kinda hot. Good thing there were electric fans.

They have a very extensive menu which you can check out HERE. But I took some pics just to show you how affordable everything was. Nothing over P200 here, wow!

sushi for as low as P35!

There were some items that were not available though. We ordered about a couple of things including tempura and out of stock daw. Anyway, here's what we got:

Gyoza - P90

Tonkatsu - P125

Chicken - P125

Chicken Yakitori with Onion Leeks - P35 each stick

Fried Rice - P90

Gohan - P45

Final thoughts:

- If you're a sucker for ambiance or maybe want to go on a romantic date, then I think this isn't the place for you. Take note, I even saw a cat inside (pet naman ata nila). The place really looks like its been around for decades.

- Food was really good and with the price, you surely can't go wrong. Servings are generous too. Our bill was less than P1k and I'm sure it will cost double or more if we ordered the same items in another restaurant. Your money will go a long, long way here compared with the other commercialized Japanese restos.

- Our orders came pretty quick which was fortunate since there was a table near us who we heard complaining. They were about 7 people and based on what I heard, half of their orders were taking so long. They were almost done eating and after a while, they couldn't wait any more and just asked for their food to be wrapped up for take-out. Then there was a correction with their bill which also took forever! The mom was so upset she was already standing by the kitchen asking for her change. After a while she just said forget it and left. I don't know if this always happens but with the amount of customers during our visit, maybe they should consider adding more staff? We had to follow up our bill a couple of times too, but at least it wasn't our food.

- I read in one review that you could identify an authentic Japanese restaurant if there are actually Japanese people eating there. And during our visit, there were a couple of Japanese customers, so it's a check!

Tatsunoko Japanese Restaurant
452 El Grande Street, BF Homes, Paranaque City
825-0551