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By Elena Kadvany
Tokyo Subway, a three decades-long Japanese staple in downtown Menlo Park, is closing Wednesday, Dec. 24.
“I’m going to retire, what can I say?” said owner Toshio Akabori. He opened the diminutive restaurant at 605 Santa Cruz Ave. (one storefront away from the corner of El Camino Real) in August 1985, and said he’s been thinking about retiring for a while now.
Tokyo-native Akabori’s lifelong dream was to open a restaurant in America (according to this December 2010 review).
He worked his way up from hotel kitchens in Japan to Guam, where he cooked and learned English; he then took a culinary apprenticeship post in Missouri before landing in Menlo Park.
See more on Elena Kadvany’s blog Peninsula Foodist.
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Farewell Akabori-san. Our family enjoyed your restaurant many times. Glad you achieved your lifelong dream. Happy Holidays!
We have been coming to your restaurant for more than 20 years. Hope your retirement will be long and very good. Thank you for many a very good meal! We will miss you.
We’ve always enjoyed Tokyo Subway as a great alternative to the bigger and less “soulfu”l neighborhood eateries, and eaten many meals at the bar while watching jeopardy. Totally unique and we will miss it, but very happy that it’s paved the path to a happy retirement!
What great experience the Tokyo Subway team have brought to Menlo Park.
Thank you!
You will be missed.
Worst sushi ever. I have no idea how they managed to keep the place open for so long.
I wish the owners a very happy retirement 🙂