An Odaiba rooftop perhaps isn’t where you’d expect to find a little piece of Southern California in Tokyo, but that’s exactly what this first Japan branch of the Costa Mesa-born Wahoo’s chain offers. Take the elevator to the seventh floor of the Diver City mall and you’ll be greeted by clanks, yells and the sound of incessantly spinning wheels from the outdoor HLNA skateboard park, where a respectable group of boarders between the ages of five and 45 practised their tricks and lines under the spring sun during our visit. The restaurant itself is housed in a rather uninspiring indoor corner space right next to the park, but is at least fully kitted out with old boards, T-shirts and miscellaneous skate gear, some of it signed by star skaters on past visits, plus two TVs showing non-stop skate, snowboard and surf videos. If you prefer live trickery to recorded boarding, do head for the terrace seats and their unimpeded views of the hectic action outside.
Most customers here order the signature fish tacos, but our hungry reviewers went instead for the burritos, available in both standard and ’wet’ (served drenched in a sauce of your choice) versions. Stuffed full with veggies, rice, beans and salsa, plus a choice of protein (fish, chicken, pork, beef or shrimp), our Classic roll was fresh, nicely spicy and voluminous enough to get even a banged-up boarder back on his or her feet after a tough morning session. Topped with a slightly sweet tomato sauce and an aromatic green coriander sauce, our Wet Burrito was equally laudable, and the condiments helped the high-calorie treat go down without a hitch. Starting from ¥690 for the regular and ¥890 for the wet version, the burritos are great value for the category in question: feel-good food made with basic but fresh ingredients and hearty enough to keep you powered up for hours. The out-of-the-way location also means a lack of queuing – compare that to the chaos of Diver City’s ground floor food court on a weekend afternoon and the choice should be obvious.