Tori Tori Celebrates Six Years Of Success On Nov. 7 In Mills 50 Neighborhood

ORLANDO, FL - Tori Tori, one of Orlando's first izakaya concepts, is celebrating six years in the Mills 50 neighborhood of Orlando on Friday, Nov. 7 at 720 North Mills Ave. starting at 5 p.m. The bar was created and opened in 2019 by Sean "Sonny" Nguyen and came after the highly successful DOMU ramen restaurant as part of what is now Small Food Group. Other concepts owned by the restaurant group include EDOBOY, Gyukatsu Rose, and Rion's Ocean Room.

Sonny was also recently recognized as a semifinalist for the 2025 Best Chef: South award from the James Beard Foundation, not a small accomplishment. His journey is filled with community support and the desire to evolve the food scene of Orlando. I interviewed Sonny on what makes Tori Tori such an innovative and successful Japanese izakaya concept and how he is feeling six years into this project in Mills 50.

Q: You're one of the first places to do izakaya as a concept in Florida right? Even around the country, I feel like you were ahead on that front, right?

Sonny: I don't know if we were the first, but would say that in Orlando, back in the inception of Tori Tori in 2017 and until we opened in 2019. It was a 2 year build up process. At the time, there was no business doing that. There was a lot of Japanese restaurants in Orlando doing a bit of everything with sushi, ramen, udon, there's different bits of Japanese cuisine.

In Japan, everyone focuses on one specialty. I wanted to bring that element to Orlando. I wanted to focus heavily on doing our best at one thing similar to DOMU. DOMU focused on ramen, Tori Tori was the next, I guess, evolution of that concept.

Q: What do you feel helped put Tori Tori on the map? You guys always have had customers, but I've never seen it busier.

Sonny: I feel lucky and I think we do have a lot of community support. I think, honestly, we just do things a little bit different. I think for us at the time, we are restaurant, but we primarily focus on the bar and traditionally you go to a restaurant and its mostly about the food. There may be a bar on the side or whatever, but I think with this concept we flipped it. We really focus heavily on the drinks and food is complementing the drinks.

I think us going us against the grain of what people traditionally think of a restaurant or a bar kind of paved the way for other restaurateurs and other chefs to use a similar flow or formula in town and out of town.

Q: One thing I noticed that is different is that the food is really consistent at Tori Tori and I feel that at a lot of places, when you go to a bar, the food quality is inconsistent. How do you balance those two things at Tori Tori to make sure that people still have a good food experience even though you are focusing on the bar?

Sonny: At the core of it's that we're food people, I grew up in the kitchen, so we still have a heavy focus on the food and execution. Consistency is what everyone strives for.

Q: It's hard right? (laughs)

Sonny: (laughs) We're really lucky...our turnover rate is actually pretty low at Tori Tori and a lot of our restaurants. A lot of people have been there since day one still prepping the food six years. It's a lot of the same hands touching the food over time repeatedly.

Tori Tori actually operates 20 hours a day. We have a team that comes in at 7 a.m. that preps until the cooks come in. Then we are open until 3 a.m. and start again at 7 a.m. We operate 20 hours a day, 7 days a week. Bars aren't usually heavily focused on having a prep team come in and make thousands and thousands of skewers.

Q: So its the system and management?

Sonny: Exactly. Yes, we built such a big system, and I think that's why we're consistent. Everything we do is down to the gram for recipes. We're going down to the gram for consistency in sauces and flavors.

Q: The other thing I notice that Tori Tori does really well is customer service. Whenever I sit at the bar, the bartenders are welcoming, friendly and have a good attitude. Even when its happy hour, they are nice. (laughs)

Sonny: Again, every bartender behind that bar has been with us since day one. I don't think any have quit. If you went to Tori Tori 2019, you would have the same faces going into 2025 and 2026. I think that's a big key to our consistency, low turnover.

Q: How do you decide cocktails on the menu or what to provide? The drink creativity is different. The selection is different from other places.

Sonny: Our first bar managers at Tori Tori, when we met up in the office...I told them my vision for Tori Tori. I wanted classic cocktails and high balls. Classic, as in cocktails that have been around forever, but are not on other menus in town. Our high ball machine also makes a difference and helps with volume. Letting the bartenders have creative freedom to put specials on the menu also makes a difference. Giving creative freedom at the bar, while I'm curating the food side.

Q: Switching gears to the upcoming anniversary. How does it feel to hit six years at Tori Tori?

Sonny: I always think about it from DOMU since I track years from that. It's our 9 year anniversary at DOMU and 6 years for Tori Tori...It's been a ride. 9 years is not a short amount of time. We have accomplished a lot in 9 years. It feels so good. I told my marketing director today; I was so proud to see Wine Down yesterday while I was doing R&D at East End Market. It makes very proud that 9 years in we still have a very strong community support. We serve food to serve the community and I'm just happy that the community is reciprocating that.

Q: It's hard to do that right? There's all these new concepts opening every week everywhere.

Sonny: For me - I just lock in. I'm in my own bubble. I have my own schedule where I constantly focus on what's next and what we're preparing for next season. I'm always just in the kitchen. I have all these side quests I'm doing. I block everything else out and focus on us. I think that keeps us relevant and people loyal to our brand. We are not focused on what other people are doing, we are just kind of going our own way.

There's a lot of competition that is going to come into the market. We can't be scared of competition; we have to really embrace it. The more players that come into Orlando, the more the city is being seen. That's my number one thing going back to my first interview. My goal is to help put Orlando on the map.

Q: You definitely have that. You have Michelin recognition. You're on TV shows. You have helped shape Orlando.

Sonny: At the end of the day all I can be is grateful.

Party details: Admission to the 6-year anniversary part is free and open to the public. RSVP and tickets are not required. The first 50 customers will receive a special giveaway and all guests ages 21 and older will get 2 free beers of a select tap. To top it all off, DJ Bootron will be spinning from 9 p.m. to midnight. First day of Tori Tori Anni T-shirt pick up will also be available for those who pre-ordered shirts. Tori Tori is 21+ after 9 p.m. with no exceptions.

About me: Hello my name is Carlos Hernandez and I am a writer and journalist with over 15 years of experience. I write the food and travel blog Carlos Eats (https://www.carloseats.com) and also contribute to several newspapers and magazines on numerous topics.