West Street restaurant transformation is complete – and impressive

And the winner of the award for the Best Ever Makeover of a Crumbling Wichita Restaurant Space is...Tokyo Japanese Cuisine.

The new restaurant opened late last week at 446 N. West St., in the spot that formerly held Hunan Restaurant & Club. I always used to drive past that building and wonder what was inside. It rarely looked open, and it was pretty run down.

First-time restaurant owner Sam Zeng completely gutted the building and has turned it into an attractive, modern sushi and hibachi restaurant that looks and smells brand new. You have to go just to see the gorgeous, shiny silver floor. There’s also a sushi bar.

The outside has been vastly improved, too, with a new paint job and some nice stone work on the front of the building.

The menu is almost overwhelmingly huge, featuring 27 appetizers, more than 60 types of sushi rolls, 32 different hibachi-style dinners and lunch specials. I’m interested in the Wichita roll, which has spicy tuna and cucumber inside with king crab, avocado, masago and spicy sauce.

The hours are 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 4 to 10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays; 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 4 to 10:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; and noon to 9:30 p.m. Sundays. For more information, call 316-636-7777.

This story was originally published August 18, 2015 at 10:48 AM.