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Mon-Sun. 5:30 p.m. - 1:00 a.m.
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I can't believe I never came here earlier. I been missing out. Finally though, a true Izakayamai in OC for me to get drunk and chow down at. Yesss!
Waited about 10 minutes to get seated, which wasn't bad given how long I read the wait could be. The first thing I took note of after being seated though was the gloriously large menu. 5 pages of reasonably price small plates and noodles? Talk about my version of Japanese heaven. Man, for $5 a pop for most items, I went through the menu wanting one of everything....times 2 heh.
To start, we got the Salmon Onigiri and Asparagus w/ Bacon. The onigiri was a little disappointing. A butt load of rice and a teeny tiny little smattering of salmon inside. I'm used to more liberally filled onigiri, so it was kind of disappointing to see it was 99% rice. Oh wells...the bacon wrapped asparagus made up for it. The asparagus and bacon were grilled to perfection. The bacon with a nice crunch and the asparagus with a nice charred flavor. Served up piping hot on a skewer, I demolished it fast. The best part, it's a healthy dish - it's got asparagus in it! I got their weekly special of Yakisoba w/ Onion & Bacon. More bacon mmmmm. Served on a sizzling stone plate, it was greasy, delicious, and far from nutritious. But I did not care, it tasted great.
Our waitress was very friendly although she seemed a little busy. The people in general there seemed very nice though. The environment is very typical Izakayamai. It's a nice warm, feeling to say the least. Homey and traditional. Now that I've found this place, I have to come back and try everything!
I like coming here, just don't like having to wait for a very, very, very long time!
The food is great and reasonably priced, just don't go too far with alcoholic beverages. I love trying their house specials and small plates! Definitely a good drinking place. They serve yakitori here too!
I love this place. We can easily spend more then $100 for just 2 people.
The yakitories are the bomb, I like the tongue, heart, gizzard, etc.. We live just a block a way so we have no problems in coming in early to avoid the long wait. The service was always excellent for us, we come here so much that they know us already (of course they know we are good tipper).
I love their tako wasa (raw octopus marinated with wasabi). Do try the salmon with butter, it'll be in the special menu. I also love the sweet fruit sake. I try to buy a bottle at a Japanese restaurant and I can't find any.
I love honda ya!!
Don't come here AFTER you're intoxicated, because that's how you would rack up an $80+ tab between 2 people.
We ordered the agedashi tofu (had better), hamachi sashimi (good), bacon wrapped asparagus yakitori (simple but yum), salmon ikara bowl (the salmon is cooked, would have preferred sashimi), kyushu ramen (OK), ankimo (OK, had better), albacore salad (yummy), ....and I can't remember what else. Oh yah, can't forget the Lychee Hana Sake! $22 for a huge bottle, and it tastes like juice.
Thumbs up for the ambiance and how late this place is open. I found a little bit of joy in being able to take off my shoes and sit cross legged on pillows...I'm easily amused. Shrug.
I had have been to Honda Ya many times and I still do not understand all the hype about this place.
Pro: late hours, good deco
Con: lazy service, pricey, bad quality of food
My husband and I have not visit Honda Ya for awhile and we were craving sushi late at night so we decide to drop by here . All i have to say is this will be our last time ever.
2 sashi bowl, 2 tuna hand roll, 2 ice tea = $45.00 (tips and tax included)
We understand that sushi is quite expensive but this is just too much for the portion we paid for.
BEFORE: sashi bowl was price at 9.95. 15 sushi pieces.
NOW: sashi bowl price at 10.95. 9 sushi pieces.
so price go UP portion went DOWN.
If you decide to raise your prices it would be reasonable to keep the quantity the same.
I have include pictures of the sashi bowl and the tuna hand roll that we ordered.
(link to the pic. i was unable to post the pic on here) http://i839.photobucke...
http://i839.photobucke...
In the hand roll there is only two pieces of tuna. I paid 3.95 for tuna hand roll for just two pieces of tuna. That just too much.
At other sushi places I paid the same prices for a hand roll but I received a lot more of the tuna. For instance the picture 2: I paid 3.95 at Shogun sushi in HB and the roll is full of tuna. See the difference?
http://i839.photobucke... (this ---- is tuna hand roll from Shogun
http://i839.photobucke... ---- Honda Ya tuna hand roll.
Pro: Late hours, good atmosphere, good portions, wonderful decor.
Con: Lazy service, poisonous food, smoky environment.
I would have to say the food was pretty good, all up until the point where our whole party had stomach issues about 1 hour later on. Seriously, quality control must be an issues here, how is the world could a restaurant that is this packed at midnite be messing up just our table? Our waiter came by twice, once to order and to bring us our food, that's it. For the rest of the time, we were on our own.
I may give this place one more change during more normal hours, but hey, Honda Ya does open till 1 am.
2 star says "Meh. I've experienced better." and guess what?
Food was pretty good, but the service was horrible. We all got one round of food, some of us wanted to order more but never had the opportunity. Our waiter disappeared before we even got our food and never resurfaced. The next guy we saw (after we had all finished eating and been sitting around for like 15 minutes) was going table to table to tell everyone is was last call for the kitchen, we were all pretty much ready to leave at this point. We got him to refill our drinks and asked him for our bill.
Food: We got the "stinky roll", didn't see it on the menu but saw someone online talking about how good it was so we tried it, was pretty good, not great. The fish was a lil slimy inside, none of the pieces of it I got had any of the fried garlic in them though. We also got whatever their eel roll is. We ordered it as "some kinda roll with eel in it". This was also good. For myself, I got the eel bowl, I liked it and it filled me up. The eel was done well, and it was nice and covered with unagi sauce the way I like it. I felt bad for some of my companions though. while I ordered a bowl, 2 of them ordered small tapas style things and were hoping for the chance to order more (and even told the waiter "yeah that's good for now..." as in we'll want more later). One only ate salmon sashimi and 2 pieces of sushi.
It was really frustrating that our waiter poofed on us. When we left there was still 40 minutes till the place closed and they were *not* busy, so I don't really feel they had an excuse for the crappy service. I might be back to give them another shot, but I really doubt I'll ever be able to convince my friends to return with me. At least we didn't have to wait in line to get treated like crap though? Also, all night (since this place had been my choice) my friends' half joking chorus was "this is all your fault!". Thanks Honda Ya.
PS. within an hour of getting home everyone in our party is getting sick. The only thing we all ate was the sushi, I'm gonna blame the stinky roll and its slimy fish.
If you want real authentic Japanese food - and not just rolls - this is the place to go!
They have a huge menu - which only made me want to get even more food! They have everything from combination plates to rolls to Japanese food I never even heard of ! Which is great because normally when I think Japanese food I just think of the rolls or tempura or yakisoba. it was a really good dinning experience because my friend ordered a lot of different things I never heard of and ever since then I'm constantly going back there to try different things! THe portions are big enough to share - and now as I'm writing this review I'm definitely craving to go back!
So if you want to try some new and different Japanese food - this is the place to go!
And if you're planning to go - make sure you get there early because it's always packed! And if you get there early you might even be able to sit in the room where you can sit on the floor and eat Japanese style!
I definitely recommend this restaurant!
I mean, honestly, who normally eats chicken heart and beef tongue? Skewer them on a tiny stick, add salt and seasonings, grill, serve with beer, and everyone is happy. Why stop there? The offal can be endless. How about skewered brain, kidney, liver, or testicles? Okay, maybe not testicles. But as long as there's Asahi or Sapporo or sake, it's all good.
Over 1/4 of my Yelp friends have previously reviewed Honda Ya, so that gave me a little idea of what to expect. It felt like I was one of the last few to even try yakitori, for just a short while ago, I had no idea what yakitori even meant. Is it raw? Is it like poisonous blowfish? If it's Japanese and it costs a lot, it had to be cold and slimy, I thought.
Luckily for me, that wasn't the case. I'm not big on sushi, but a whiff of BBQ or charcoal and smokey smell sends shivers down my spine. I wanted to try it all. Stick it on a stick, and I'll eat it. Beef tongue, chicken heart, meatball, chicken thigh, quail egg, etc. Everything had the same irresistible, charred and salty flavor. Although I admit, some of it was a bit overly salty. No matter, just wash it down with some more beer.
There's little doubt on what Honda Ya excels at, and that's providing the intimate, pub-style atmosphere for a spankin' good time. It's dark, lively, loud, and the waiters are more than happy to bring more food and alcohol at any moment's notice. The drawback, well, you start to forget just how fast everything adds up on your bill. Hey, just go with the flow and drink more beer.
I was really looking forward to coming here and expected great food. This place is all hype. The food was only ok at the most.
Finally got my table after the long wait and ordered a list of the must have items from previous yelpers. I'm a fan of yakitori, and was ready to feast. Most of the skewers came either bland without flavor or burnt and overcooked. Worst yakitori place I've ever been to!
I did like the hama hama oysters with ponzu sauce, but that really didn't involve any cooking in their part. The beef tataki was just ok.
Will not be returning for sure. I'd rather drive a little further to Shin Sen Gumi.
2nd attempt to get into this place and we finally made it. (It's usually really busy).
There were 6 of us that went for dinner and we ordered almost half of their yakitori menu and their regular dinner menu.
Their service was ok, you really have to grab their attention! But if you have no problem being a little aggressive, you wont have any problems getting what you want.
I enjoyed all of the yakitori items except for the mushrooms, they were a bit dry. The eggplant, Toku Sa, and bacon wrapped scallops were exceptionally great.
For the amount of food we ordered, we paid $40/person, which I thought was decent. I tapped out at the first round of food and there were 3 so you could definitely get a lot of food for a reasonable price.
Oh man, we should've just stuck with the yakitori. Everything else was either meh or blah. We had a variety of yakitori and they were superb!! We also ordered the agedashi tofu (unfortunately, they did not use quality tofu), enoki mushrooms (this one was very good), char siu ramen (blah), and salmon skin roll (not at all what we expected; my friend pointed out that they used smoked salmon -- total meh). On the upside, I liked the ambiance. It's bigger than I expected and since we went on a Monday night, it was pretty dead up until about 8pm.
I would definitely go again, but this time only for the yakitori. I thought the prices were pretty reasonable. We split a medium sized bottle of sake among the three of us and the total came out to $40/person.
So 5 stars means 'Woohoo! As good as it gets!". This place is as good as it gets for Izakaya food in the OC. (Technically, their other restaurant Kappo Honda is the same thing) Eating here reminds me of the izakaya's under the train tunnels in Ginza. The beer is cold the food is good, life is great! I really love the yakitori items: meatballs, sausage, wings, quail eggs, and hearts! The tako yaki is pretty tasty, but I have no idea why people love the cheese age. If you want a Japaleno popper, get one elsewhere! The stewed pork is awesome and so is the 'fry' menu. Their roasted collars are excellent.
Getting a seat can be a challenge. Their prime service hours mean long waits for you. If you're starving, get a little something to eat at the beach pit. (because there's NEVER anyone there!) But definitely leave space for Honda Ya.
I've been to the other two locations that these people operate and given that this place has almost 500 reviews, I'll keep mine short and sweet. 11:30 pm on a Monday night and the place was nearly empty. This was a bonus for me and my boyfriend, though, as we scored a seat right away in the tatami room.
Two Sapporo ($5.50 each) started us out, then we dived right in and ordered. The Stinky Roll ($12) was albacore tataki with grilled/fried garlic and butter. Sounded odd but was sooooo delicious! Definitely worth it and we savored every bite! The Plum and Shark Fin ($4.50) was a special and I didn't care for it, but my boyfriend loved it. The shark fin was chilled and stringy and came served on a bed of pickled plums and sunomono. The flavor was salty and a little bit sweet. The takoyaki ($5.95?) is a perennial favorite of ours and once again it didn't disappoint! Lots of octopus pieces in each bit of fluffy dough and the Japanese mayonnaise really seals the deal. We finished off with the nabeyaki udon ($8.95) which we always love and that left us stuffed! No yakitori this trip, but we were so satisfied and our bill was only $45.
I love that this location offers some spicy pickled cucumbers at the beginning of the meal. I don't remember getting those in Little Tokyo and I might vaguely remember getting something at Kappo Honda but it's sort of a blur.
All in all our experience was very pleasant and I know we'll be back again!
I cannot express enough the first time I was taken to this place I will forever hold her memory dearly...
Everytime I eat at Honda Ya, I usually feel satisfied by the food and ok service. The food is good, Japanese grill food with other items on the menu...It's good to have a cold house sake and some beer with soft shell crab, salmon sashimi, and the comfort of your companion. During peak hours there's about 20-40 minute waiting outside with people talking, smoking, or just staring at each other...
Good place, usually spend between 50 -70 dollars for two people, maybe more if your thirsty for Japanese alcohol...This place is so good that people from Japan know to eat there when there in the OC.
A. Open late.
B. Has Kimchi
C. Large ala carte menu of grilled items including a bacon section.
D. Alcohol and ramen.
E. One of the few late night places near Irvine.
Came for my friend's birthday. There were about 8 of us so we waited quite a while (about 30 minutes) since we were a big group. The food was good. I ordered the spicy jumbo shrimp, beef yakitori and yaki-udon (reaaally good, all my friends loved it). The food was good in general but it just took a while for them to take our order and food because it was so busy. I believe we went on a friday night, so maybe that's why. But I think it would be good if you came in a smaller group because like any other japanese resturants, they're kind of meant for smaller groups but overall, it was pretty good, I just don't like waiting too long for the service, which they were kind of slow at because they were busy.
We waited for ONE WHOLE HOUR to get into this place on Labor Day. Aiya. Me no comprende! Anyways, the california roll tastes like it has a bunch of imitation crab in it. So much so that I wanted to choke it senseless. The skewers were pretty good, but maybe I ordered the wrong one. Bacon wrapped anything skewers pretty much do me in, but I unfortunately ordered the quail egg skewers... unmoist and smelly... not my type of eggs.
I tasted a noodle w/ spices concoction from someone, and that one was bursting w/ the flames of hell... and not in a good way... considering I'm a Sriracha obsessed mofo. I myself ordered the eel bowl and although it was pretty good, it wasn't anything mind-blowing. I was waiting for that huzzah moment to raise my hands to the skies and go, "Take me away, Lord, I've eaten all there is to eat!" That moment didn't happen here.
All things aside, the dessert was obsess-inducing. It was green tea ice cream w/ Japanese jello in a scintillating sugar sauce... That I would go back to this restaurant for... That or maybe to go their dessert whenever I pass by. Honda Ya... I wish I knew ya!... better...
I use to come here all the time! The wait for a table is kinda horrendous. You should really think about coming early like 5:30ish to get immediate seating or else you would have to wait about an hour. It's been awhile since I've been back but I do have fond memories here to want to Yelp it.
Atmosphere:
Feels like an authentic Japanese house where they all greet you when you come in. It has the tables where you take off your shoes and sit on the floor.
Food:
I LOVE the yakitori menu here! I use to be a picky eater and scared to try different parts of the body and organs but this totally opened up my view. From the heart, sliced tongue, quail eggs, and gizzards it all tastes very good! Like for each they put multiple pieces that's been marinated on a stick and BBQ it. All the pieces are pretty small because well.... chickens aren't very big!
My most favorite thing to order: New York steak with shiitake mushrooms. 2 orders of that and a bowl of rice. It's like tapas where the steak is pre-sliced with sauteed shiitake mushrooms on the side. Talk about SO MMMMM! The steak is really tender and flavory and the shiitake mushrooms is super buttery with it's mushroom goodness! Very flavory dish. I just eat it with rice and I am an extremely happy camper.
Poke salad: excellent! Probably the best poke salad I've had.
My friends and I use to just reserve one of the floor seating rooms for our large party, bring our own sake (I forget if they charged corkage fee), and just order everything and anything. I had some good times here.
Overall thoughts:
Very good food in a traditional Japanese environment. There's a reason why the wait takes forever to get a table.
Cost:
I would say expect to pay about $30-$40 per person... maybe $50 if you're an alcoholic.
This is izakaya / tapas style japanese dining. Izakaya is one of my favorite japanese tapas if there were more than one type of tapas. I am from Vancouver BC and izakaya is well renown here as the joint for dining japanese food sans sushi. Albeit HondaYa does have some sushi. The best dishes or the popular dishes here are: beef sashimi, okonomiyaki, takoyaki and stir-fried udons. They also have good skewers on the coal pit for you to choose from. I don't recollecting having "chicken-skin" skewers but if you see it, try it.
I would give this place 5 stars, BUT the wait to this restaurant is always awhile so one star was deducted.
Although i always wait the 30-45 min to get into the restaurant because the food is yummy!
When i come here i usually get a whole bunch of little dishes, here is everything i've tried and my opinions:
- Yama sen (like a slimy radish its good! try it with ponzu!)
- Shishamo (little fish, you eat the whole thing! its kinda crunchy)
- fried garlic!! makes ur breath stinky but oh so good
- Spinach garlic (its not at the top of my list but i order it sometimes)
- enoki butter (mushrooms with a lot of seasoning)
- okra (my favorite!!! its kinda slimy inside, has little seeds but you can eat the whole thing)
- pork belly (like bacon)
- scallops (i dont like their scallops here too chewy/hard)
- HOT SAKE & BEER! lol GET IT!
hope this helps : D
I had my birthday dinner here last Tuesday.
I didn't think they took reservations - but when I called the day of - they happily accepted a 6:30 pm reservation for 8. They even let 2 of us early birds chill at the table until the whole party got there.
I ordered beef ponzu (go figure) but did try a few yakitori such as 'fatty heart' . Verdict? Delicious! Once I got past it being a heart ... I enjoyed the smoky grilled flavor of it.
Consistent 5 stars for me - food and service.
solid 5 stars --- and I say this because even when stuffed well beyond stomach capacity I felt the… Read more »
Good Japanese food. I love how there are little bites of everything, like Tapas, Japanese style. I ALWAYS order the cheek of whatever fish they have that day. Delicious, the way they grill it. mmmmm Its not my go-to place for sushi, but if your in the mood for hot Japanese food, and some unique things to try...this is your joint. Come before you're starved, because there WILL be a wait out the door.
i ordered the salmon japanese combo w/ stewed taro & pumpkin.
everything was really good! the salmon was microscopic though-finished that sucker in 2 bites. :|
Ok so a few extra trips to Honda Ya gave me a little bit more to write about. First off, I think I grew to really really love the atmosphere here. It's very mellow, and as far as I can tell it's relatively authentic. You get a lot of options for seating, such as the tatami mat rooms, and the bar.
This place gets busy at night, but lucky for you they're open relatively late. The waitress we had was really helpful (and hella honest about what she liked on the menu or didn't like haha).
I still find yakitori to be the most addicting thing at this location, and unfortunately it's soooooo hard to keep count of how many I had, so it really hurts the wallet. Also, when it's somebody's birthday, they lower the lights in the whole restaurant and play the song over the speakers; thus, saving you from a few seconds of obnoxious singing from the waiters.
PS: hot sake here is pretty good too, and (cough cough) don't feel too bad if you didn't bring an ID ;)
Mmmm if I remember closely, this place is open usually until 2am, making it a nice late night meal… Read more »
Over 400 reviews? I usually have nothing to add that would make a difference...but today I do! Honda Ya saved my life! After giving McCormick and SCHMUCK's another chance
( http://www.yelp.com/bi... ) I was left at the end of the day with a huge stomach ache and super dizzy. However, it was my turn to choose the dinner spot and something inside me was saying some Japanese food would ease my pangs.
I've had Honda Ya bookmarked for months now and kept avoiding the trip here because I didn't believe the hype. Today was the day to try it though. Something fresh and Japanese would surely soothe my dizzy and stomach-ached soul.
After a number of bites of the agedashi tofu, the mixed sashimi platter, yaki udon, beef tataki, bacon wrapped scallops, beef tongue, pork belly yakitori, salmon belly, Sprite and green tea I looked up and said "OMG...I feel sooooooooo much better!!". All that yumminess soothed away any previous physical unpleasantantries.
Now if only it could shut the chick up next to me....
I wish we didn't have to wait for almost an hour.....but it was definitely worth it!!! It reminded me of my drinking days in Japan.... I liked their Ramen alot. And drinks......made us really drunk...in good way. I love the place.
Although there usually is a wait to get into the restaurant, that's only because the food is amazing! The atmosphere is fun and relaxed and I love the yakitori and the kimchi ramen with (of course) a pitcher of cold beer.
If you want to hang out with a couple of friends or go on a fun date, try this place out!
Branie: Team Vegetarian/Pescatarian
RECOMMENDED:
Tuna Tataki Salad (He says)
Peach Chuhai (He says)
Crunchy Roll
Grilled Okra
Grilled Asparagus
Grilled Quail Eggs
Agadashi Tofu
She says: Too crowded inside! I don't like the seating. Why does it take so long for a table? Why does Brent always make me come here?
He says: This place is the best ever. I love everything about it. The seating and the crowds included. Great for big groups or first dates. I've been here sober, intoxicated, and everywhere in between. This place is open super late (2am?) and does not take reservations.
FOOD FROM THE GRILL:
She says: Okay, this part of the meal I do enjoy. The okra and quail eggs are delicious. Great seaasoning.
He says: I wish there was some way to secretly eat some bacon wrapped aspargus without Anie noticing.
THE GOODS:
He says: The Albacore tataki salad is the ambrosia of salads. Thinly sliced onions, fired garlic chips, ponzu sauce, mixed greens, and of course perfectly seared Albacore tuna. I could eat this salad ever day of my life. The peach chuhai is very sweet and should get you a little buzz before your meal is over. Crunchy roll, Agedashi tofu, fabulous. House of Honda I love you.
She says: Eh.
PRICE: 25-30ish
VISITS: 10+ (he says)
RATING: 4 (she says 3, he says 5)
Honda Ya offers excellent yakitori and their sashimi bowl is nice. Sometimes there is a long wait, but definitely worth it.
I belong to a late night grubbers club and this is one of the spots the club members like to come to as it is open till 1 AM. I have not joined the grubbers for quite some time now as they like to go late at night and I'm usually too tired. Now that I've been going to the gym more consistently, I have all this extra energy. So tonight I get an email stating some peeps were meeting up here at 9PM. I just finished my workout and was thinking about what to eat, so this email was perfect timing.
Everyone met here around 9ish and we put our name in for a table for 8. The place was packed as usual and our wait was about 30 minutes on this Thursday night. As you walk in, you will see some tables to the left, small sushi bar to the left front, more tables towards the back and a room to the front right where shoes are taken off. I haven't dined in this room yet but if and when I do, it sure won't be with stinky gym shoes.
You will also notice that over 90% of the people here are Asian. That to me is usually a good sign when I'm looking to dine at an authentic Asian place. This place is authentic alright. They even have menus all in Japanese, therefore I think all the workers must be Japanese or at least speak and read it.
Basically I get yakitori and beer here. A large bottle of Japan's favorite, Sapporo, distributed in Ontario Canada, will cost you $5.50 and your typical yakitori dish will cost 2-3 bucks. Yakitori for those that don't know is grilled edible parts of the chicken on bamboo skewers. I think here in the US, yakitori is pretty much anything grilled on a bamboo skewers. They hand you a sheet for you to check off what yakitori items you would like. It is like the same type of sheet you get at a sushi restaurant to order sushi.
I don't order any of the funky yakitori stuff like liver, hearts, cartilage, gizzard, tongue, etc. I stick to stuff like chicken wings, lamb chops, bacon wrapped sausage, bacon wrapped tomato, pork belly, etc. They also have many of your typical rice dishes with teri chicken/beef, katsu chicken, tempura, sushi, etc. but I pretty much stick to my grilled meat on a stick. You have to be careful when ordering yakitori because the items are inexpensive but small. Thus your bill can add up quickly as you are ordering so many of them in order to fill up. Also if you aren't familiar with what the items look like, you can be guessing what the heck is this on the stick. The waiters come by fairly quickly and drop them off on your table, mumbling what they are. Many of the grilled items are not obvious to me what they are, so this can be interesting.
I like that they actually give you a real bill now. Before it was some Japanese characters that might as well have been chicken scratch, so you really never knew what cost what. It is now a printed receipt in English with the items and prices.
Service is typically good here but tonight was a little bit bad for a couple of the people in the group. One guy never got his ramen due to a misunderstanding. Worked out well for him as he wasn't really hungry and just came to have a drink. Another girl was a little pissed because she felt the waiter dissed her. As the waiter was turning around, she said, "I can't believe he asked everyone at the table if they wanted dessert expect me." That waiter must have superman hearing as he just turned around and asked her if she wanted dessert. She replied, "No" and we all started laughing.
If Tustin is a bit far for you, they also have their sister restaurant, Kappo Honda in Fountain Valley. Not as large of a menu as here but they have the same basic stuff and they are open till 12:30 AM
The food here is okay but the atmosphere is great. Open until 1 AM and a good place to hang out with… Read more »
Casual Atmosphere thats good for people that are eating late (close @ 1am). Very cozy. They have the traditional tatami for people who want a different dining experience.
Staff is fluent in English and complete menu, including specials, are all offer in English that can help non-Japanese to understand what they are ordering.
However, THE FOOD IS NOT THAT GOOD. Everytime I went there, it just keep going down. I used to go there every other week when I used to live in Irvine and this used to be my favorite Japanese joint. Last night i was out of options so I decided to give this place a try. So bad!!
My Seafood Zosui was completely - flavorless. So plain that I had to add soysauce to it. Fishes were in little pieces, not chunks as they used to be (Thank god the Kappo Honda in Fountain Valley is still the same quality)
Albacore Tataki - they gave so little ponzu sauce I couldn't even taste it. The fish was cooked well but it was warm when it was served so it was nasty.
Grills - We ordered assorted chicken, pork and beef. Its either overcooked (Beef tongue, because the meat is very thin) or its undercooked (chicken leg, chicken cartilage due to density of the meats)
I think this place is good for groups and the prices are reasonable but for the quality..I rather drive to Kappo Honda in Fountain Valley. Similiar menu , same atmosphere but much better food quality.
This place was pretty good. It was my first visit last night and I tried very interesting things. It's a good start to the adventurous world of foreign food. Everything seemed prepared very well. Very authentic seating on the ground if you want. The food portions are good for the price.
Will go back.
Good food, reasonable prices, nice imported specials, good atmosphere.
Slightly underportioned, usually a wait.
If you like GOOD, traditional Japanese food with a PUB-LIKE atmosphere... This is the place for YOU!
The FOOD:
They have a variety of items on their menu including (but not limited to) sushi, sashimi, ramen, udon, fried fish, buttered shitake and yakitori. In case you are wondering, yakitori is skewered chicken; they also have a few seafood, veggie and beef skewered items. I usually order salmon sushi, spicy tuna handrolls, buttered shitake, fried octopus and albacore tataki. I have been here many, many times, and the sushi is always fresh for me. Traditional sushi/sashimi choices, nothing super fancy. Their "buttered shitake" is HEAVENLY. Something so simple but so good. "Fried octopus" is ALWAYS good, comes out hot and fresh, never soggy. I LOVE their "albacore tataki" sashimi! Fresh, great taste and satisfying. A lot of people order their yakitori. I do like their "bacon wrapped scallops", "japanese steak" and "beef tongue". DELISH! And check out their "Special Menu", which changes every so often. They have some great items on there sometimes like "baked salmon cheek" or "fresh toro".
The PLACE:
It's definitely different, and in a GOOD way! It has a pub-like feel and atmosphere, Japanese style. Haha. They have a section where you can sit on the tatami floor, FUN for drinking with a group of friends. However, your butt and legs may fall asleep, hence more enjoyable when you are drinking. Haha. Sometimes it gets pretty rowdy and there's always relatively loud Japanese music playing. All in all, a GREAT time. The place is pretty SMALL, and very popular so it's best if you come when it first opens or on a slower day during the week. If you come during prime times, expect an hour or two hour wait. I don't usually have a problem finding parking.
The SERVICE:
It's a HIT or MISS. But in all honestly, it really depends on how busy the place is. The servers are usually friendly, some more so than others. They try their BEST to be as attentive as possible but it can really get crowded at this place. Food comes out pretty quickly.
My TWO CENTS:
I really do LOVE this place. The food is simple and tasty with a variety of items to choose from. I LOVE LOVE the vibe and atmosphere, super fun! The PRICES are fair and decent, although it can get expensive if you are DRINKING or just ordering a bunch of things that can really add up. Definitely worth trying though!
Cute little izakaya tucked into an old strip mall.
Loved all the types of seating available:
-Tatami room
-Sushi Bar
-Yakitori Bar
-Booth
-Table w/itty bitty uncomfortable stools
Favorites of the evening: miso cod, sashimi salad, grilled beef & the albacore roll.
The karage and tonkatsu need some work, the batter is too thick and the meat overcooked. Bacon wrapped baby scallops tasted like chicken.
Forewarning for those of the older mature generation: lots of youngsters being obnoxiously loud. At many points of the evening I couldn't hear my dining companions.
4 stars - food, minus 1 star for the amount/price.
The food we had was very good, but the price? It gets expensive fast!
Honeybear and I came here last weekend, and since we kept hearing how good the izakaya part was, we wanted to try the grilled sticks. We ordered a whole bunch of sticks, 18 skewers in fact, and 4 rolls and 1 sake, 1 beer.
I was in shock when the bill came to $104 !!! Plus tax, plus tip, it was about $120 when we were done.
Good - the grilled shiitake mushrooms, beef tongue, bacon wrapped asparagus, chicken skin (Honeybear didn't want to touch that at first, but then he took 1 tiny bite, and was a convert), chicken cartilage, chicken thighs w/onions/leeks, ..., the food was delicious, and the grilling was done perfectly to bring out the flavor of the food. And they did not salt heavily that night, which was great.
Bad - for the price, the amount of food was tiny per skewer. I get better sized skewers at Maki-zushi, and some of the items were cheaper there as well.
Therefore after 18 sticks, Honeybear looked at me and said, "I'm still hungry, how about you?" I felt like I was only 60% full. 2 more rolls per person did the trick.
Note to self: next time, go elsewhere where the food per skewer is bigger. If you don't have large appetite as a rule, this might be a good place to try izakaya food. I advise large appetite eaters go elsewhere.
Doode the tatami room is the BEST! Makes the experience all the better. They have chair frames for the people who can't handle the lack of back support. My white friends greatly appreciated it =D
The first time I went there I was amazed and the food was enjoyed by all. A super california and salmon onigiri for me. Delicious! My first experience with an onigiri was a bad one, but this one has turned that all around. Nomnomnom.
I had an eel bowl and the nasu miso (eggplant in miso sauce), both of which were delicious. The eel has yet to fail me and I can't wait to go back again and try something new.
The place is rather small and located on the corner of a strip mall. Regardless how small the place is, it's almost always crowded during dinner time. If you come during peak hours you are looking at a wait time of about an hour or more at times.
The food is good but service makes it better. The waiter/waitresses here are super friendly. I normally order off the "grill/appetizer" menu and maybe a hot sake or asahi beer to share with friends. Honda Ya is a kick back and relaxed place where you can unwind with friends.
This place is dope, and the wait isn't bad. I went with a Chinese girl and a Malaysian dude and we pigged out on lots of meat with very little rice. Order everything with meat except the liver. I didn't like that dish and I'm not a picky eater. Go with someone who has eaten here before and knows how to order a slew of yakitori. We ordered some sushi that wasn't worth it in my opinion because it's so filling and at this place, it's all about the yakitori.
Fountain Valley, CA
Category: Japanese
Tustin, CA
Category: Japanese
Neighborhood: Downtown
Category: Japanese
Tustin, CA
Category: Japanese
Irvine, CA
Category: Japanese
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