Roboto Tokyo Grill,a thriving local business, last month opened the doors to their newest eatery on Railroad Avenue.It is located next door to the nightclub GVO at the intersection of Railroad Avenue and Gaines Street.
The Asian-fusion restaurant now has five locations, four of which serve the Tallahassee community and one in Lamont in neighboring Jefferson County.
In 2016, Thrillist listed Roboto Tokyo Grill as one of the “15 reasons Tallahassee, Fl is the Best College Town in America” for its yum-yum sauce and “college budget.”
One of the general managers, Jeff Chan, says the motivation for the new location stemmed from wanting to be closer to both FAMU and FSU’s campuses, as well as possibly attract the downtown and South Monroe crowd.
“We do well with the college crowd and even though this new location isn’t far from our West Tennessee location, there’s a lot of food options in-between and we wanted to capitalize on it,” Chan said.
Chan says that they haven’t been very busy since they opened and suspects it is from students participating in virtual learning rather than being on campus.
“The first month was a struggle but the last three weeks have started to pick up,” Chan said. “We have full confidence that when classes are back in normal session that this will be a great location for us.”
Elena Cellitti and Kylie Magner, both FSU students, go to Roboto Tokyo Grill to study, eat and catch up with each other. They called it their favorite location by far.
“This location is very well-managed, clean and gives way more food than the other locations I’ve been to,” Magner said. “It is also a lot bigger than the one on Tennessee, which is where I normally go, so it’s nice to sit down and have our own space.”
Cellitti says this location is also close to where she goes to study and relax frequently.
“I’m always at Serenity Coffee so when I get hungry, I can walk right next door and get some really good food,” Cellitti said.
Chan encourages people who want fast and fresh service to stop by their locations and enjoy some of the Japanese and Korean entrées.
To stay up to date with their new location and/or to share your pictures and experiences with then, use #robototokyogrill.