Review Totoya - Auckland Central

First time visited today, definitely will come back again, super lovely 8 free tasty side dishes. The restaurant was busy, tables filled up very quickly!

A small restaurant with only few seats but the food was pretty good especially the generous portion of side dishes. Spicy pork was very delicious but the pork katsu was a bit small tho compared to other Korean restaurants.

Awesome Quality, Cheap and Very Yummy! Can get side dish for free as much as you want. Side dish is freshly made on the day, everytimes have different types of side dish. I get refill two times. haha It is wondeful service. Always busy and fast to be no vacancy tables. so better to book table before come. All mains except noddle come with rice.

A small restaurant serving a variety of korean dishes. They also provide many refillable side dishes. It gets really busy during peak hours, do expect a long waiting line.

Excellent value for money and friendly service! Delicious mains and you get free side dishes. We arrived just before 11:30am on a Saturday and there was already a queue outside. They were very generous with the side dishes which were delicious!

We had dinner here not too long ago. That night was crowded. The restaurant was not too big but comfortable. The food was tasty, prices very reasonable and the serving was average size. The service was friendly and efficient. The side dishes were free and could be replenished. Booking is necessary. Strongly recommended.

One of many long standing Korean restaurants in the shore and they have been very nice to us. The food remains very good and amazing side dishes. My only regret is not having a big enough stomach for all the options.

Awesome awesome Authentic Korean food. You want to keep on coming back. Hard working staff that produce very friendly services and very tasty food. Excellent value for money, sides dishes are delicious. Have plenty seating, upstairs and downstairs but at busy time there will be a queue waiting which means this is a very popular eat out. Limited parking spaces but free street parking on surrounding streets.. Guarantee parking spaces dinner hours or weekends on the streets. Good serving size. Credit cards can be used for bills over $50. Highly recommended.

Cosy little Korean restaurant that provides good food at a reasonable price. The servings are rather generous in comparison to other places, especially the side dishes where they offer more variety - in this case there were 8 sides with a couple we've never had anywhere else before (savoury pancakes and possibly mackerel fish?). We ordered the Tofu Salad, stirfried Beef Bulgogi and the Beef Short Rib soup. Very busy at lunch even if you come early so would recommend making a reservation, otherwise will need to wait in a queue. Only critique is that staff should be a bit more attentive but all in all would still come back to try more dishes.

Always happy with Totoya's food. Seriously, most of their menu satisfied me. However, they have the best 갈비찜 (steamed beef ribs with soy sauce) in Auckland. Whatever you order, they serve you great amounts of side dishes without any charge. Amazing!

RAMEN!!!! It's so popular you'll feel guilty sitting some more after eating because the people outside are waiting and looking from behind the glass wall outside. :) The side dishes are, on its own, amazing!

This is becoming my favorite Korean restaurant. I just love their dishes and side dishes. Pretty cheap for the amount of food you get.

Good food. The line outside for opening time was a good indication we had chosen well, and a full restaurant within minutes of opening, showed the place is quality people enjoy...

Phenomenally good Korean spot. Try the Mackerel and the stir fried kimchi with bean curd. Thank you for a fantastic meal!!

Totoya has amazing tasting Korean food. Cons: 1/ They're always busy, and they do not accept reservations, so you will have to wait in line to get a table. It can also get crowded at times. 2/ The parking is pretty bad. The same one exit/entry that can only fit one car at a time. Pros: 1/ Extremely generous, they have the most side dishes out of any Korean restaurant in New Zealand, and you can ask for a refill, 2/ Their takeaway packaging is very good, 3/ Their menu is very cheap considering the portion sizes, 4/ The staff are very kind, always have a smile on their face despite how busy they are they never stop working. On the basis of food and staff alone, I would say it's my favorite Korean restaurant in New Zealand, but just be prepared to wait in line.

Left my hat with you guys when having lunch today to celebrate my friends birthday with a cake. Would you please have a look if it’s still there? Called but no one picked up.

Great little Korean place. Food is full of flavour and you get plenty of sides. Yum!

The variety of side dishes is just a WOW. Everyone of them is delicious. I can say that the side dishes are better than the main food which is the reason why I’m giving it a 4 star and not a 5. Everything else is spot on.

We had dinner here not too long ago. That night was crowded. The restaurant was not too big but comfortable. The food was tasty, prices very reasonable and the serving was average size. The service was friendly and efficient. The side dishes were free and could be replenished. Booking is necessary. Strongly recommended.

We live in central Auckland but we always go here for their amazing Korean food. That’s how good it is. I honestly love all their food (especially the spicy pork, beef ribs, kimchi stew and fish roe stew) The staff is also super friendly. My all time favourite Korean restaurant!! Highly recommend

many side dishes, all the food that we ordered are taste good! Yummy!

Best korean resto in shore! So many side dishes. It's heaven!

Love their food!

Food was nice，especially the option of side dishes. Worth a try. Can't expect much on service and speed. Always busy, better book in advance.<br/>

Simply love this place! However price went up from $15 to $17 recently did not impress me.

Had dinner here on a wednesday night. Very busy had to wait for 15 mins though we booked a table. And portion is so small. The food is tasty but wont come back again.

Was my favorite Korean on the shore. Reasonable priced and so many free small dishes (What a bonus!). If you looking for a good feed of Korean family type of food, this will be a good choice.

Another Korean restaurant i loved in Auckland! Colleague brought me to this place during lunch break. It's quite busy during lunch time.<br/><br/>We ordered tofu soup and spicy pork! Its nice to have some hot soup in a chill day. They have so many side dishes before your meal comes up. Kimchi, spicy fish cake, vege pancake were so good!<br/><br/>Really want to try their seafood noodle next time. I was so in love this dish when i was in Korea.<br/>

Decided to try out this place because of the side dishes. We ordered a bibimbap and spicy pork. The variety of side dishes are quite different from other Korean restaurants that we have been (apart from the standard cabbage kimchi). We especially like the little pancakes and fish cake. There’s also this sardine side dish which we have not seen before. I agree with some of the reviews that the mains portion is small compared to the price of the dish. Having said that, the portion is more than enough for us. So, although the sides are refillable, we ended up too full for a second helpings. The flavour of the dishes is also not as ‘refined’ as the likes of DaAmSo (which is my benchmark for comparison). Would have given this place a ratings of 3.5 if I can but have to settle with 3 for now :)

High standards Korean foods and services. Fancy side dishes, tasty, Affordable and friendly service. A good place to have lunch and/ or dinner.<br/><br/>Our favourite on the menu is the bibimbap.

Came in for dinner yesterday night. This place gave out free refills for side dishes. There side dishes were so delicious. I liked them more than the main dishes. People should just come visit for the side dishes. No kidding. It was also my first time trying Korean cold noodles. The noodles tasted so nice because of the hot weather. Fried fish was also super crispy. Best Korean restaurant I’ve been to so far!

Generous portions and heaps of different sides to choose from. The waitress is helpful and hardworking and still provides a great service all the time. Top Korean restaurant on rosedale.

Had dinner here with my fiancé. As mentioned by another person, menu needs to be updated. Lots of things no longer available in the menu. We ordered the Braised Beef and the Spicy Pork. Came with lots of side dishes. Beef was lovely. Cooked so tender that falls off the bone. Would recommend it.

Menu should be updated, many items have been removed from the menu. And a lot of dishes were sold out. There were not many options left. <br/><br/>The food was good and provided many side dishes, which was very nice.

My favorite Korean restaurant in north shore. They have 8 side dishes which are always yummy! And their roe soup and chicken soup are good. They serve purple rice i think it's tasty

Korean buffet with a decent selection but the quality is average, and the environment is below average.<br/>Personally I’m unlikely to go there again.

Really enjoyed the bulgogi here. The purple rice was very good. Great to have side dishes that can be refilled many times. However the restaurant can be very busy with a long wait. The customer service is okay and overall it is good enough that I definitely would enjoy coming back here.

A little korean restaurant that can get quite busy especially in the weekend. The al tang(fish roe soup) i had was pretty tasty with a generous amount of fish roe in it. I love the purple rice that came with the mains. This is the only korean place i know of in auckland that generously serves you 8 side dishes. The only drawback is that the other mains (e.g. bulgogi, bibimbap) portions were rather small compared to other places

Great place to enjoy All You Can Eat Korean sides ranging from a variety of kimchis to seaweed salad and more. My favourite side was the broccoli with a special red sauce. On the other hand, mains were a let down given the high pricing and small portion. Nevertheless, portions are not a problem if you are happy to fill yourself up on the delicious sides.

Updates: we came back here again for dinner because we like the small sides. This time I had spicy soft tofu soup and my partner had chicken teriyaki with rice and salad. The food is as good as previous, so as the sides. Some of the sides were different than we had last time when we came in for lunch. The waiteress was also more polite and friendly. We felt more comfortable this time and had a good dinner. <br/><br/>This is a very busy little Korean restaurant. You will have to wait for seat especially on weekend. While you are waiting, no one will come and tell you that you will be seated once there's an empty table and of course you wouldn't know how long you need to wait.<br/><br/>We came here because we know they served many small and nice side dishes. They are still nice as they are but the price of most of the mains were increased. Food wise I would rated 4.0 but the staff really weren't friendly at all. I said thank you for bringing us the hot tea but he didn't even look at me.

This Korean restaurant has the most side dishes 8 served compare to other Korean restaurant that only served 4! For the value the food are so cheap and delicious! If it is not because of the distance I would not mind to dine it here all the time whenever I crave for Korean food! Highly recommend! 👍🏻<br/><br/>Atmosphere: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️<br/>Food: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️<br/>Service: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Was told the side dishes at this place are good and it did not disappoint. 8 side dishes with good portion and tasted good. I prefer the side dishes more than my bibimbap. They use purple rice for the bibimbap which is healthier.<br/><br/>Customer Service: 7/10 <br/><br/>Food: 6.5/10<br/><br/>Side dish: 7.5/10<br/><br/>Atmosphere: 6.5/10<br/><br/>Date: Jan 2017

Really poor service and unfriend staff. When me and my friend came in to the place, the waitress ignored us just like can't see. We found a table for two people so we just sat down. As the waitress had no interest to came over, we came to the counter took menu and ordered, by then she asked us to move to a table for 4people with no reason. After we moved, she organized chairs beside our table and left one beside my right which blocking the path way. So I had to move the chair to my left side where the chair should be. I don't know why I have to do all these works as a customer who just want have a lunch. The food is just fine and the environment is dark. Won't come back ever again.

Came here for dinner on saturday and the place was packed! We had to wait for around 20 minutes before being seated. It's all forgiven though because the food was really good! We ordered the beef bulgogi, pork belly, beef ribs and the tofu stew. All of their barbequed dish were really yummy, especially the bulgogi. Hands down it's our favourite item that night. The only thing lacking was the tofu stew, it was really bland.. But their side dishes were awesome! Would come back to try off the other menus.

Understaffed and extremely poor service.<br/>The staff paid very little attention to us and although we waited 20 minutes for seats, they almost gave the table to customers that arrived later. The environment is pretty dirty, they don't clean up the spilt water on the floor which might cause people slip. <br/>Overall a unenjoyable dining experience definitely not worth the wait, and not coming back again.

I always saw this restaurant and I finally got the chance to come here. I ordered the bulgogi with rice and side dishes. After waiting about 10 minutes my food was served.<br/><br/>The bulgogi was okay but the side dishes were delicious. The bulgogi also came with a light seaweed soup. The portion was very big and I could barely finish it all. The meat had a little bit of the flavour but the onions were very nice. There were a variety of side dishes and I enjoyed every single one.<br/><br/>The service was okay, the waiters serviced quickly but they weren't very polite. Overall, this isn't one of my favourite places to go.

Totoya used to be good decent portion and price, but few weeks ago I went back the portion decreased, price increased and the taste changed as well. But I love going there with my family because my mum really likes their side dishes.

I have been wanting to go to totoya for the longest time! And i finally got to try it tonight. Being a Saturday night it was quite busy we actually had to wait a while for a table. <br/><br/>We ordered the pancake, neng myun (cold noodles) and the kalbi jim (stewed beef short ribs). The food did not disappoint! I was so impressed with their side dishes! It was an amazing spread. Definitely the best side dishes i had in a while. Everything was tasty! The highlight for me was their dotori-mook (acorn jely) their spicy moo, their fresh kimchi and the fish cake. I can just happily eat their side dishes with rice! <br/><br/>They also use red rice which I really like. My kalbi was moist, juicy and tender. I was also in love with their pancake, seriously..... can eat that all day! The cold noodles was not bad either, It was quite refreshing....<br/><br/>Overall everything was awesome! I can't wait to go back and try other things in their menu.<br/>

service is so bad，i don't want to have dinner in here again. When I went into this restaurant, no any service. And I already set in our seat, no waitress get menu to us and service is too slow

First and foremost, parking is easily available outside the restaurant, considering that we arrived at a peak hour - parking lots werent hard to get. It was full when we arrived but they have 2 levels of seatings so all's cool. <br/><br/>The side dishes were sooooo good. According to my Korean friend, he said the sides and mains were very authentic and great tasting in his opinion. For all that refillable side dishes and 3 main courses, bill added up to $45. I will definitely recommend!

We went there on a weekday lunch time, it was busy. Arrived at 1250, was ignored for 15 mins and I had to approach to the waitress to ask when a table will be available, as there were two tables yet to be cleaned up. Finally got a table at 1345. Had to go to the reception to get menus ourselves as we were ignored again after we sat down. The food I had to say was average, don't think I will go back again as the long waiting time and poor service.

This is my favorite Korean restaurant in Albany. The side dish is yummy, but apparently the service is getting worse. Maybe they are too busy to look after the customers, but I still expect better service.

My mum frequently buys the "Korean bento" boxes for dinner when she can't be bothered cooking 😂<br/>This place does really good authentic Korean food - and this is coming from a Korean! Their side dishes will be one of the best <br/>Very reasonable price, good portion<br/>I feel like quality has gone down a little from when they first opened however<br/>If you go unbooked it can be hard to find seats<br/>Worth a try if you like Korean food!

Don't bother unless you're Korean. Really felt discriminated against - although we got a table, it took ages before anyone thought to bring us menus. The Korean family that came in after us and placed their orders after us got their food at least 10 minutes before ours started drifting out. We had ordered the set menu - the sides came out, eventually one piece of fish came out, after asking, they brought us the rice. When I asked if we were to expect any more, the guy mumbled something about we should have more fish and wandered off.<br/>The food was nice enough, but the service was terrible. The young men who were serving didn't seem to want anything to do with us, even when I went up to pay - they just avoided me and started wiping down tables! Eventually a nice lady came out of the kitchen to take the payment, and to her credit didn't argue when I refused to pay for one of the meals on the grounds that we hadn't received all of it.

This is one of my top favourite Korean eatery in the Shore. You get many types of banchan (side dishes) with the mains that you ordered. The rice is mixed grain rice, purple and healthy! Price is reasonable. Always make a booking a day in advance if you want to eat here, they are always packed or come when they just open. Since they can get quite busy sometimes it's quite hard to summon someone for water, refill of side dishes etc... The place is family-run and quite small but the food is delicious!

Wow, the wIt was looooonnnnngggg, and the serviced sucked.<br/><br/>The ladies seating and taking orders, HAD ZERO command of English, which I think us applauding for this day and age, living in a multi cultural city, thT Auckland is.<br/><br/>The food, wouldn't draw me back again at all, but that has more to do with poor service!

We went there because another Korean restaurant was closed, the same as clients besides us =). That was my first time going to this place and I was surprised how popular it was. It was lunch time and full of people. Lots of Japanese picture on the wall while it's a traditional Korean restaurant- although they also offer Japanese food like teriyaki don. <br/>Fried tofu is ok with the sauce. Cold noodle is so so but like it because of the hot weather. Pork rib soup with potato is popular, which is ordered by lots of people. <br/>(just want to upload more photos while Zomato remind that I can't select more than 3 photos- wired).

I think this place is definitely in the top 3 out of the korean restaurants in auckland for me. Food portions are quite big and relatively cheap, and there is a wide range of tasty side dishes. There is an option to have a lot more side dishes than usual for $12 and u get a fried fish too thrown in there

Food was fantastic, however service was very slow. Got told 10 minutes and ended up being 25 minutes. Would go back but wish they had a takeaway menu so I could preorder.

The service was so crappy that I almost got into a quarrel with the male waiter there. Here is the story. It was very busy and we were waiting in the queue like all the others. Soon tables became available and we became the first in the queue. Meanwhile, a pair of Korean couple walked in, they waited in the queue for like 2 mints, then they spoke to the male waiter in Korean. Apparently, it looked like that they wanted to push in (unless they made a booking but it didn't look like it because otherwise why did they first wait in the queue and I didn't see a table with a reservation sign on it.) I didn't notice at first but my girlfriend did and looked at the couple. At the same time, a table became available and I walked to the table as people would normally do. The male waiter then looked at me with an angry face and said to me: "You wait!" I was shocked as I couldn't figure out the reason why he was angry at me...  So I was like "what do you mean? I am waiting, its not like I am pushing you to hurry up." He was like :" You wait!" again and gave me a look and then he walked right to the Korean couple, obviously he wanted to invited them to the table first! I was very upset by the time and said what's wrong with you? We came in first, this is your service? The couple saw it and they were embarrassed themselves and said "oh sorry you go first". I wasn't mad at the couple but I was however very angry about what the waiter did and said to me. Maybe there was a misunderstanding of some sort like maybe the couple had actually made a reservation, but the waiter didn't speak a lick of English and had a very angry and disrespectful attitude. Even if he said 'booking', just one word would have avoided everything presented above.

foid Never failed, but downside is hard to book a table :(, maybe you are too popular, but please pick up your phone when you can even you are busy, note down the number and call your customer back.<br/>cheers.

Price 4.5/5<br/>Service 3.5/5<br/>Food 4/5<br/>Atmosphere 3.5/5<br/>Best korean food in Albany<br/>Cheap and full<br/>Recommend 'AH Gu Jim'.

Delicious kimchi stew and side dishes!! Especially the fish one! Service is good also! But the cold noodle is a little bit disappointed. Will come again for the kimchi stew!!

One of the best Korean food over the shore, if you want cheap BBQ Korean then I suggest you go somewhere else. Quiet little place with good quality food. Must try pork bone soup.

RUNNERS UP - This place comes in second place for the BEST Korean in the CHEAP EATS division. This place is always jam packed with Koreans, and to me that speaks loud for its cuisine. We sat down and enjoyed all the many starter dishes as well as the Teriyaki chicken and spicy pork!!!! Seriously bursting with flavour. The staff we extremely friendly making it for a pleasant evening. The decor is humble and slightly Asian appropriate. Would highly recommend this place!!!!

Definitely a great Korean Restaurant. Had a takeaway lunch, it was rather large but beautiful flavours.Don't be put off when you first walk in, it is always busy and this is a great sign of a great restaurant. I would book to come here.Great service, will definitely come back here

Definitely one of the best Korean restaurants in Auckland! They are always full so we were super lucky to find a table here. Very tasty full of flavour and very generous portion. Definitely recommend their beef ribs they were super tender and full of flavour. <br/><br/>We were struggling to finish our food! Definitely will come back again!

Don't let the name fool you this is a full blown Korean resturant great food especially the beef short ribs. Also you get 8 side dishes to go along with your meal and these aren't the simple kimchi variant they are full blown meals them selves!! Awesome place it's my go to place when I am craving Korean short ribs!!

This place is apparently always super busy and they say you always have to wait very long. We came here once on a Sunday and they were closed. Came back on a Saturday at around 1.15pm. And it was super packed. They were too busy to even greet us when we came in and ignored us for a good 20mins until they started clearing up the tables and there was a space for us. They couldn't speak English either so it was a bit hard to communicate with them. Food was alright, they have many side dishes that were pretty good. The main dishes were a little bit smaller than an average portion size and flavour weren't as goood as other Korean places. Overall a good meal but don't think I'll come back again. Hygiene also not the best but could be worse.

Great food! Though I am unsure if this is more of a fusion between Japanese &amp; Korean, as this place is owned by Koreans. We ordered Korean food for lunch, and tasted excellent. The bonus are the 8 complementary side dishes and complementary seaweed oyster soup. To top this off, customers can help themselves to free coffee at the shop front's Korean/Japanese style coffee machine. Wish there's more of this type of restaurants in Auckland.

If you want to try great authentic Japanese food I highly recommend totoya. the waiter was amazing how he managed to serve so many people because the restaurant was full last Saturday night.<br/>We were the only European family dining and we struggled to understand the menu so we just ordered what we knew.<br/><br/>If you can ignore the decor this is the place to eat. <br/><br/>We were a little concerned when we were sat upstairs in a room that looked like a staff room with no other guests but before we knew it the whole room filled up with diners.<br/><br/>The waiter brought us forks as well as chopsticks, we were served tea and water on arrival.<br/>Food came out quickly and oh my gosh, value for money(total cost of 85.00 for four)! the food was outstanding, the flavours and freshness were the best. along with the main dishes, side dishes were served which lead to us having way to much food. My children felt it was awesome to experience authentic Japanese culture.<br/>Thank you we will be back again!

We ate here at 2pm after finding the outlet shops next to the restaurant. What a find! The menu item #3 which offers the variety of dishes is the best! We ordered 3 meals $13-$15 each &amp; it was plenty for my hungry teenager as well as for me. The food was fabulous &amp; the people friendly.

The best I've been to. Excellent service, great food, reasonable prices.

Good service.Tasty and well presented dishes.Reasonable prices.A great find in industrial Albany.

Fabulous friendly &amp; attentive service, great food the katsu &amp; sushi were divine. A hidden treasure in the heart of commercial Albany.

This is the best Japanese restaurant we have been to! The food was excellent and wonderfully presented. The atmosphere was relaxed, service was smooth and welcoming without rushing the dining experience. Prices are reasonable