A new Japanese restaurant has opened just west of old town Keller, with sushi, Japanese food, and robot servers: Called Takara Wok, it's located at 5301 Golden Triangle Blvd., and is a spinoff of Takara Japanese Restaurant, which opened at 3088 Basswood Blvd. west of Watauga in far north Fort Worth.

There are many Takara restaurants across the U.S. - "takara" means "treasure," and who can resist that for your restaurant name. This Takara is unrelated to the rest. It was founded by husband-and-wife Xiaohe and Vina Lin, whose goal is to offer an authentic Japanese restaurant with traditional design elements that make diners feel like they're dining in Japan.

The young couple first opened Takara Japanese in 2021 and have built a following for good quality dishes such as their poke bolls, spicy tuna sushi rolls, and teriyaki steak bento box with fried rice.

The original Takara is still a neighborhood favorite and popular date night destination, especially with its authentic seating area with tatami mats where you remove your shoes — a fun ice breaker for a date. But its proximity to an elementary school has (ridiculously) hampered its ability to secure a liquor license.

Ever nimble, the Lins took over an adjacent space and installed a fun revolving sushi bar with an ipad-style ordering system which debuted in November 2022, brought in trendy robots, and promoted the fact that their restaurant allowed for BYOB.

The new Takara Wok represents another chapter, with many of the menu items from the original Takara, but with a greater selection of sushi and the game-changing addition:

"We were able to get a license that allows us to serve beer, wine, and sake," a spokesperson says.

Other departures: The atmosphere is far less traditional, with cool blue neon and they've brought along some of the robots from their revolving sushi concept. A beautiful display of colored paper parasols hangs from the ceiling, and the food presentation is more edgy. Sushi samplers, for example, come served on ship-style wooden platters, with dry ice tucked in for a fun smoking show.

Food-wise, Takara Wok's menu has most of the dishes that the original Takara has, plus more: more appetizers, more sushi rolls, more "Asian plates" that incorporate elements from Chinese, Thai, and Japanese cuisines.

There are 18 signature sushi rolls in varieties that are sure to please locals with references to Fort Worth such as the Fort Worth roll with salmon, cream cheese, and avocado; the Texas roll with spicy crabmeat and avocado, topped with stripes of seared truffle steak; the Golden Triangle roll with spicy tuna and avocado, topped with crabmeat; and the Hairmex roll with shrimp tempura. These are people who know how to please a crowd.