Top Japanese Restaurant in Torrance
CoCo Ichibanya Curry Restaurant TORRANCE
Palm Plaza, 2455 Sepulveda Blvd C, Torrance, CA 90501, United States
Great and speedy service!I ordered a level 10 Spicy kimchi and tofu curry.If you like spicy food, youll be satisfied.Service is superb as well as friendliness from employees. Price of food is what youd expect from a Japanese restaurant (I paid $10 for a curry plate).Highly recommend!
Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ
24631 Crenshaw Blvd, Torrance, CA 90505, United States
We went to Guy-Kanu Japanese BBQ at the Torrance location to celebrate a birthday. We were a large group of 15 plus a toddler. Restaurant is small and the floor was greasy. For a large group, only one waitress was assigned to our table. Service was extremely slow and unorganized. She never checked on our table and we had to flag her down to place our orders. Some of our orders such as corn cheese, cheese fondue, spicy cabbage salad, dumplings were never placed on our table. Meat plates were small and some only had fats with no meats. The beef Sukiyaki Bibimbap was a bowl of rice with teriyaki sauce, no vegetables and hardly any beef in the bowl. Spinach was swimming in garlic butter. Egg soup tasted like watered down Chinese soup. Steamed edamame had sprinkles of salt. In fact, everything they served was salted heavy handed that some of us hardly drink soda had to quench our thirst with coke soda. Most of their beef plates were of low quality as meats were chewy. We were disappointed at the meal pace as it was difficult to place our order as it was difficult to locate our server. At times, we didn’t have any meats to grill. Our grills were not changed out as they should. Food lacked of quality consistency. They were understaffed as the waiter had to take orders, delivered food and bused tables. Poor management at this location. We will not come back to this location and probably to this chain restaurant.
Hasu Japanese Izakaya & Grill
2120 Artesia Blvd, Torrance, CA 90504, United States
Wow! This place is the best Japanese izakaya place Ive ever been to in L.A. County! Ive been to a lot over the years, and this place is wayyy above the other restaurants in terms of quality, taste, service and ambience. The restaurant looks new and upscale, and the food plating was minimal yet beautiful. But most importantly, everything tasted fresh and carefully prepared. Amazing!!!
Izakaya Hachi
1880 W Carson St, Torrance, CA 90501, United States
Price is little bit expensive, but here is one of the best Japanese restaurants in Torrance, where is called 24th ward of Tokyo. Oysters are good, and all of meat dishes are amazing. Meat lover should go for sure!I strongly recommend to make reservation before the visit.
Kagura Torrance
1652 Cabrillo Ave, Torrance, CA 90501, United States
So, Kagura is one of my favorite restaurants in all of Torrance.Its one of the few Japanese restaurants Ive been to in Gardena/Torrance that serve sake glasses in a wooden hasu box, allowing the sake to overflow. Its quite mesmerizing and twice as cool that its a serving style with centuries of stories; I adore it so much and I just wished more places would do it. Their sake selection is quite good and you can surely find a glass that youll like. For myself, I like the nanbubijin.Ive been going to Kagura for several years now, and I keep coming back for the Millefeuille Cheese Katsu Gozen. This should be the first set you order when visiting Kagura, ignore everything else. The meat quality, paired with the beautiful breading allows for one of the best bites of katsu you can get. Upon first bite, youll know what youre getting into. The set comes with a wonderful bowl of soup, rice, cabbage, and small assortments of other things. Its enough to keep you full, and you should probably try ordering just one side if you were wanting more.Im always a fan of their agedashi tofu, ordering it every time I visit. But the rest of the menu has been often unexplored for me due to their specialty being katsu. Ive tried the steak, which I thought was forgettable, as well as some of the sashimi which was too expensive for what you get.The restaurant is very pleasing to look at. The building is divided into two parts: one side has more private wooden booths, which I love so much for its intimacy, and the other side is an open table layout like other restaurants are.Ive visited as recently as January 2023 and Ive noticed the booth I was at no longer had a button to press for service. Im not sure what the rationale is, but I find that my service has gotten slower due to it. Due to the wooden booth being so private, I often miss a server passing by and fail to grab their attention.Additionally, the reservation system is quite funny to me. They stand by their Yelp Reservation policy, even if its clear that there are empty tables with no one waiting in the lobby. Im not sure if theyre doing it to have an accurate count of customers everyday, but sometimes I think forcing a patron to join the Yelp Waitlist just out of principle is a bit odd.Anyway, thats the main hiccup I have...and Ive been going back and forth on this, but I do think the price is a little bit higher than it should be. After all, the katsu is amazing but the overall presentation still feels like a lunchbox set Id see at any other casual restaurant. Then you end up with a $50+ bill. Anyways, I love Kagura for the food, ambiance and location. Id wished it was open just a little bit later but thats a common theme among many places in the city.Get yourself a glass of overflowing sake, youll love it.
Miyabi Uni
1231 Cabrillo Ave #101, Torrance, CA 90501, United States
Food: 3/5Food is acceptable. By that I mean there was nothing wrong with freshness, smell, taste, or texture, but there was absolutely nothing outstanding about it. It is the quality you SHOULD expect from any half-decent restaurant that serve raw fish. The headline item of uni is also acceptable quality, but it did not impress me. I would rank it around the ones sourced from Santa Barbara that is typically found in most Japanese groceries stores. I will concede that December is not the best month for uni. And while I do not find the price point outrageous, I should note that the large kaisen don pictured has more than my expected amount of fillers like daikon strings, salad vegetables, ginger etc. I personally despise these items in kaisen don. The tamago depresses me.Service: 3/5The staff appeared haggard and running around, but the restaurant was only about half full with an empty patio. It seems to be a problem with division of labor. For example the servers are often bunched up near the kitchen entrance waiting for dishes to come out, and the staff behind the counter, particularly the pasta station, was working non-stop, but nonetheless the food took over 30 minutes to arrive. The politeness and attentiveness meets the minimum expected for a Japanese restaurant.Atmosphere: 1/5The atmosphere is the worst part of this restaurant. The decor can best be described as Ikea Afterthought. Cheap furniture, greasy table, random decoration that are all more akin to a local mom-and-pop Asian restaurant that you order take-out from than a dine-out destination.Overall 3/5.I somehow led myself to believe, from the online reviews and the price point, that this is a slightly up market restaurant worth the drive. It is not. It is acceptable for a local week night upgrade, but not much more.
Inaba Japanese Restaurant
20920 Hawthorne Blvd, Torrance, CA 90503, United States
Kind of a hole in the wall location, but very good Japanese restaurant. It is informal but clean inside, and the food is really excellent. I recommend this place highly (if you can find it) its in a strip mall just south of the Jeep dealer on Hawthorne Boulevard in Torrance. Theres also a bar there called the zebra room which is several doors down from Inaba.
Ichimiann
1618 Cravens Ave, Torrance, CA 90501, United States
Very simple, but great! Needed to reset my diet for the week because I was eating too much red meat and unhealthy foods. Soba seemed like a perfect meal, not too heavy but still a decent portion amount of food. The workers all speak Japanese as well, which is always reassuring to me when I eat at Japanese restaurants.
Ojiya Japanese Restaurant Torrance
21008 Hawthorne Blvd, Torrance, CA 90503, United States
Love the food and ambiance of the place. Something I would expect of a typical Japanese restaurant. The Toro was fresh and the selection was varied and ample. I will definitely come back to try their different omurice with toppings. Ive only heard good things. They also serve ramen so that will have to be on my list as well. I got the ikayaki(whole grilled squid) and it was flavorful. All the staff are helpful and polite. Food did take some extra time but it was worth it. Highly recommend if your in the Torrance area and I will be back! Solid 8.5/10
Tendon Tempura Carlos Jr
1510 Cabrillo Ave, Torrance, CA 90501, United States
I dont usually write bad reviews, and especially in this hard time... but the customer service was beyond horrible. Usually, they have nice servers, but without them, theres only owner and he is extremely rude and not willing to serve you any food. I dont even know why this place is open if they dont want to-go customers. Even on the phone he was rude, and I thought he was just having a bad day or something... but like in person, hes even more rude. Tempura was soggy af, I would rather go to other Japanese restaurants (Wadatsumi, or Matsui... you name it, theres tons.) near for my lunch.