Tachibana is your go to place for Japanese cuisine in McLean. They have been there for long time and are standard setting in the area. You will get Japanese chefs that know the cuisine and culture. Their products tend to be fresh although there are some miss or hit items (salmon sometimes is too briny and the Shrimp is sometimes chewy). If you go for the specials you will not be disappointed. Bento boxes are a hit with my younger kids and the chirashi bowl a hit with the teen. While you will be enticed to go for sushi, also venture outside of the box. I really enjoy the beef and vegetable sukiyaki when I have a cold; it's a big pot of soup with a light broth. They also have a variety broths for ramen that are delicious. Where could they improve? Add some technology allowing online reservations and ordering.

Up front, I eat here at least twice a week. I love the quality of the food and the people who make Tachibana feel like the neighborhood izakaya, the neighborhood (diner) that everyone from the family after soccer practice to the international business makers go to and feel comfortable. Their green tea is phenomenal, and I love their miso soup. It's what my husband brought me when I was at my sickest time and so I will always associate it with healing. Their sushi combos are epic and you can't go wrong with any of them. I love their hamanegi roll and my hubby loves the negimaki with beef (beef wrapped around scallion) or the salmon shioyaki. Come early to get in and enjoy before the rush. If you want take out, order at least several hours before. You won't regret it.

As of writing this review, Tachibana has a review of 3.9 stars at 985 reviews and I must say that is probably a very accurate rating for Tachibana at this current moment. I think that the service is still relatively great for the several visits to Tachibana. The ambiance of the restaurant is quite comfortable with dimmer lighting, large open spacing and nice accenting wooden furniture. The servers and all the cooks seem to have been at Tachibana for years and know all of its regulars by heart which makes it even more comforting. If you arrive early for lunches or dinners, the seating will be quick but I have had experiences where the wait was close to 45 minutes to an hour. Service will almost always be better when the restaurant is less crowded here. Some standout dishes are the Kanpachi collars broiled with Teriyaki sauce, the spicy scallop temaki and Hamachi or Maguro sashimi. I would consider these dishes as pretty close to their specialties and they are quality dishes that are almost always really delicious. The Kanpachi collars are clean but nice and fatty as well so the Teriyaki sauce that caramelizes the fat even more with some sugar makes the collars really melty and deliciously balanced, especially if you pair with some rice and pickled ginger. The Spicy Scallop temaki's are great because they make the choice of adding some fried tempura flakes into the temaki adding some more texture while still having the buttery tender chopped scallops. For the sashimi, their chefs have always been serving good slices of sashimi for a while so it is a reliable choice. For the higher prices, I think these items are definitely worth it. Some things I wouldn't recommend are pretty much anything salmon, I find the salmon to be a bit too briny and not a super clean fatty taste. it is likely that their salmon isn't salt-cured or cured long enough to remove the ocean-like brine aroma. Anything shrimp I find to be a hit or miss, sometimes they come out chewy and overcooked and some are perfect so I wouldn't risk it anymore. Overall, The rule of whether you order 'correctly' or not, i.e. choosing their specialties versus filler items on the menu, definitely is in play for Tachibana. Some of the items can be borderline excellent to quite underwhelming depending on what you order. I think I would return only with company if I was invited but I wouldn't choose to come back on my own because of slight inconsistencies.

I heard that it was the most authentic Japanese restaurant in the area so I booked a reservation since they were looking for great Japanese food. They do not take reservations online (as far as I know) so I called in Saturday afternoon for a Sunday dinner and secured it easily. When arriving to the restaurant the parking was minimal and the restaurant was very busy. We got lucky and secured a few spots but there is also street parking on adjacent streets. We checked in and were seated immediately. A few of the people in our party described the decor saying that it was like we were in Japan. My fiancé and I decided to share the Beef Negimaki, an Ume Shiso Roll, and a Tuna Avocado Roll. Our service was pretty quick. Everything came out staggered but in a good amount of time. We all shared a few orders of Fried Oysters, Edamame, and Vegetable Tempura which were all great (especially the oysters). We really loved the Beef Negimaki. It was a great portion, the beef was tender, and it had a great sauce/flavor. The sushi was also solid. We didn't order some extraordinary rolls to be fair but it wasn't crazy. Since we were there for a birthday, they also gave the birthday boy a scoop of matcha ice cream which was super nice. Not a bad experience and I definitely understand the authentic Japanese restaurant tag it has. I love to come back and try a bunch of their other offerings since the menu is so huge.

A few of us spontaneously decided to get Tachibana for dinner this past Thursday and it was a good first experience for me. A couple of my friends have been here a few times and say their lunch specials are definitely worth the price. The service was pretty quick and we enjoyed our entrees at a round table. Their hot tea was quite enjoyable while we were waiting for the food. DONBURI: TUNA, YELLOWTAIL AND SALMON (9 PC) - 36.50 Not a cheap price and definitely more of a splurge for a regular weekday dinner. This came with a side of miso soup which was pretty standard. The donburi bowl was well presented, with each piece of fish spreading neatly across the bowl in a pinwheel shaped, topped with some garnish, lemons, ginger and wasabi. Each piece of sashimi was pretty thick and they give you a good amount of sushi rice that's been topped with some nori and small slivers of ginger. The sashimi quality was fantastic. I enjoyed the yellowtail a lot. The salmon and tuna were good, too! Overall, this was filling and tasty. I would recommend it if you are down to splurge. A couple of my friends got the beef sukiyaki which looked really good. I may have to try that next time!

Was in the area and wanted to visit again since it's been many years. There's a private lot shared with Peter Changs: the restaurant was not even open but there was a huge line outside. Pretty impressive. Food was delicious. Meals came with soup but I'm BUMMED that the soup was lukewarm. Sushi was fresh. I ordered their lunch bento and it included California Roll(fresh), shrimp dumpling(cold). Tempura( small but fresh). The salmon was delicious and a generous portion was served. Service was good but they were busy.

My friend invited me to eat with him in this restaurant. This is probably a rare occasion that I even step into McLean but this was a unique surprise for me. Walking in here on a Thursday evening, it was pretty quiet for the most part until the dinner rush started to come in. Lots of business men and giant groups of families started swarming in. I thought I was missing out as I stood out in normal clothing. Anyways, I got started with Gyoza (pork dumplings), an all time classic. You can't go wrong with that accompanied with soy sauce + vinegar. Pretty solid crisp on the bottom, soft at the top where you know for sure this is pan fried. Very good. I wasn't craving soup despite how cold it was so I opted for another classic; Tonkatsu. Funny enough the dish came with Miso Soup before the Tonkatsu so I can't really complain. Breaded pork loin and deep fried to perfection. The dish came with three pieces of Tonkatsu all evenly chopped over a small bed of cut cabbage with a small dash of yuzu paste on the side. There was a small sauce bowl of Bulldog sauce which in my opinion the perfect sauce to pair it with. I also got a small rice bowl which was enough for me to eat the entire dish with too. Was it good? I think the Gyoza is good but it's not really much different than other places in the DMV I've been to. It's a warm up for sure. The Tonkatsu was crispy, hot, not too greasy and had a nice crunch to it with every bite. In the pictures you'll see that the three pieces look really big but I don't personally think it was overall filling. Miso Soup, small cubes of tofu and seaweed in a bowl in a steaming bowl. Pretty good, though like gyoza, it's also just something to warm up to before the actual Entrée. The only downside in my opinion is the price point.. Paid around 30 for the Tonkatsu & the 7.5 for the Gyoza... This is not a cheap option for Japanese food. I think there are better options price wise but still worth checking out if you are in the area.

Solid spot for both sushi and Japanese food at reasonable prices. Walked in for lunch and ordered the Sushi B lunch set, Sashimi lunch set, and Chicken Katsu. We also ordered hot green tea, which was topped off regularly throughout the meal. The chicken katsu was perfect. Hot, crispy, not dry, and accompanied by a yummy sauce plus a hot mustard/yellow wasabi. The nigiri in our lunch set were so-so. They tasted pretty average and I expected a little better from Tachibana, but can't really complain for the price. The spicy tuna roll was actually really good and tasted much fresher than other casual sushi spots. The sashimi set came with so much more fish than we expected. Again the quality was just alright. My bf and I agreed the seared tuna tasted a little off and didn't finish that. Overall, an easy and reasonable lunch out.