Meijiya

I was here on Thursday, the place is tiny!
The food was not so bad. I think they had some interesting choices. Sadly they did not have the oxtail tongue I ordered. I just thought it was okay. Nothing special but not that bad.

Small place with great food.

Lured me in with a Unilocal deal… which is a great way to try new restaurants. It was a bit small but in a decent location with nice lighting & a cozy feel.
Server was friendly… but forgot my miso soup (I had to point it out on the menu that I get free miso soup with one of my dishes). Prices were on the higher side so I only tried 3 items:
Beef tataki — it was too raw for me but my man LOVED it.
Katsu pork — pretty good, flavorful sauce, not too salty which got bonus points and pork wasn’t hard like at some other places
Salmon sashimi — disappointed due to a slight fishy smell.
I’d only return if I had another deal/​coupon/​etc, etc…

I enjoyed most of the dishes although I would have liked to have the sushi come out first. Service was good.

Didn’t have sushi because I was sick but the food here reminded me of my Japan trip in July. Authentic and would come back to try the other small dishes.
Also, they have Asahi on tap imported straight from Japan, score! Check in here to get a free drink :)

The brilliant chef, Ken-​San returned to Kappo Sui where he belonged. The owner took over the place and seems to be doing a thoroughly incompetent job. Their menus is divided by price. Normally I don’t think to myself, «Hmm, what would I like for $ 2.50 tonight. Alright which ONE $ 5.00 item would I like.» It makes no sense.
We ordered two or three things (it’s likely been 8 months since the sea-​change), and they weren’t bad, they were very bad. I must admit it’s kind of hard to do simple Japanese dishes really poorly. They accomplished the task.
It was bad enough that I’m not inclined to give them another chance.

Had a $ 20 for $ 40 coupon and decided to check this place out. Came on a Wednesday night and the place was empty which wasn’t a good sign but I blame it on location. Came in and was greeted by hostess as well as the sushi chef. Waitress was very attentive (but we were the only ones there) and food came out in a timely manner.
Ordered yellow tail, tuna, and salmon sushi (wanted to see if they were good at the basics) and result was that it was all GOOD! Quality of fish was great and the chef put on a perfect amount of wasabi.
After the sushi we ordered the yakiudon stir fried dish which came out to be actually surprisingly good! First time I’ve had udon that was stir fried…
We ordered the spider roll and the crunch roll. Spider roll came with a sauce but it was whatever to me. Now the crunch roll was what won me over!
Not sure why this place has so many negative reviews but I’m gonna give it a solid 4. Quality is good and the price is standard for being legit Japanese. yay for Unilocal deals.

Japanese bar food? Is this what they call this?
Decided to try this place out when we found out about their Unilocal deal. They have a check-​in deal for free soju, but I ended up not claiming it.
My boyfriend chose all the dishes so some of the dishes I liked, some were okay, and some of the dishes, I would have preferred to not have tried. (FYI: Natto is kinda disgusting) I found the prices kinda high, but with the Unilocal deal, I didn’t really complain.
The waitresses that were there were really nice and courteous, kinda surprising since I expected worse from the Unilocal reviews I read.
Seating is very limited, I recall seeing only six tables in the restaurant itself.

This place is big enough to seat me and my left leg. They’re taking Japanese authenticity way too seriously. There’s like 8 seats available, but you probably won’t have an issue finding a seat because this place is never that crowded.
I got lured into here by the 20 for 40 Unilocal deal. When I checked in, it said free beer. Sweet! But the catch is this — they won’t tell you that it’s either/​or. Beer is about 5 bucks each, so the 20 for 40 is just about the price of 4 check ins. Don’t bother.
The food is typical size and price for an izakaya. The sushi is OK but nothing worth ordering. There’s about a gazillion snack items but I ended up ordering this because the other 45 items just didn’t tickle my fancy too much.
Anyway, a round of beers and about 5 items is going to be 90 bucks.

Free drink if you check in here. Food was good but nothing too special. Highlights were the fried oysters and tofu salad — tasty dressing.

interesting place,
went in there it was like a cozy shack, i must say it does portray the idea of «original japan» food houses. nothing to special, the sushi rolls were exquisite though
o and if you check in you get a free beer :) not bad deal, we went here to try it out due to the Unilocal deal spend 20 you get 40 in return. Waitress was very nice, service was great, as in food beef tongue was not too bad, I enjoyed the miso and the enviorment

We tried several different things and everything was good, but nothing took my breath away, was also a bit pricey. Maybe I just wasn’t in the mood for very authentic food that night, which it is VERY authentic.
Would I go again? Probably, but only if it’s because someone else wants to go.

1 free draft beer if you check in here!
Small izakaya with nice décor. There’s some counter seats and a few tables. Good selection of food and alcohol. We ordered a lot of different dishes but the deep fried octopus, potato salad, and beef tongue were memorable.
They have happy hour 5 – 7 pm thats 15% off appetizer dishes.

It started well, and I did enjoy some of the dishes, but some were meh, and more importantly, there was an incident during our meal that was an absolute disgusting shock.
It was actually so shocking that I waited a while before reviewing it because I didn’t want to write while still under the shock, fearing that it might not be as objective if I did. Now that some time passed, I’m here to review it.
* Food: ⁵⁄₁₀ As in some of it is pretty good, but that’s if you’re lucky. If you get the wrong dish… it’s a lottery, so perhaps ⁰⁄₁₀. (More on this later.)
* Service: ¹⁄₁₀ (The 1 is for the nice server, it would otherwise have been 0.)
* Ambiance: ⁶⁄₁₀ Peaceful, though not very lively.
* Price: ²⁄₁₀. Small dishes is ok in izakaya, but the price should have been less.
So, overall 2 stars for the good dishes, and now onto the rest of the dining experience:
We had an okay start with dishes a bit pricey but tasty enough. We had liked what we’d gotten so far, and were already talking about which dishes to try the next time we’d drop by.
Until the bug, that is.
And by bug, I don’t mean computer bug. I mean a large thick insect gorged in the juices of the dish I received, dead since who-​knows-​when, and that surfaced from the octopus & sauce in between two bites I was taking.
Let me tell you, there’s few things this horrifying when you’re eating, especially when the dish is one with a sauce that makes it hard to see what’s in it, and whether you may have eaten a few other bugs before seeing this one.
I seriously did a double-​take and stared at it in horror trying to convince myself it was just my mind playing tricks on me, and that it had to be something normal from the dish and not a HUGE ladybug almost the size of my pinky nail, drowned in the sauce and all discolored. (It had obviously been in it for a while, possibly in a bigger batch of the dish, kept in the kitchen. (I don’t remember the name of the dish, but it was the raw octopus in a withish sauce.)
The bug was by now the color of the sauce more or less, and rather gorged with liquids, visibly dead and marinating in it for a while.
With the shock I just kind of panicked and began to cough and chug down the cup of tea and the cup of water I had before I could even say anything. Once I was able to express what was going on, I called the server, showed her the bug (I was still so in shock I could just blurt out «there’s a bug» and point at it instead of properly complaining) and after she briefly said a ‘sorry’, she rushed around the sushi bar and showed the chef.
The sushi chef is the one who prepares those dishes also, and since we were sitting at the bar in front of him, we had a perfect view of the ensuing drama:
The sushi chef grabbed it and denied it was a bug, claiming it was just part of the food. (Me, my husband and the servers had already identified it as a bug immediately, so he’s the only one denying how obvious it was. The fried/​hot food chef came from the kitchen and joined in, also agreeing it was a bug.)
I don’t know if she sushi chef was trying to cover up for himself or if he was shocked and in denial, but I was annoyed by the fact he’d have the nerve to deny it was a bug, when everybody else could see.
He then took the bug and, either in an attempt to show it was not a bug, or maybe to see what was inside and see if it had just fallen in (considering the discolored outside of the bug, no way, it had been in there for a while)…he crushed the bug onto the sushi counter, on the spot where he makes sushi, and smeared it along it.
Bug juices/​insides and tiny paws etc. spread around, while the servers and the other chef watched him with blank faces. We stared in disbelief and utter disgust.
Either because it was now impossible to deny that it was a bug, or because the contents of the bug made it obvious it had been in there soaking the sauce for a while, the chef begun laughing.
Seriously, up to this point, I could have accepted any of this. Maybe the guy is weird, maybe he was so shocked he acted funny. I’m very forgiving when it comes to weird behavior, but… he laughed. He just laughed like it’s so funny.
And he didn’t apologize, not one moment, even though we were still there, staring at him in shock.
He then said he’d get me another dish of it, at which point I frantically told them not too, and ordered something fried instead. (I realize now I should have just asked for the check and left right away, but I was still too shocked.)
The rest was a blur of disgust and meh food.
I was so shocked I didn’t pay attention if he cleaned the sushi counter of the bug insides or not, but I don’t recall him doing it. He continued making sushi on it.
They didn’t make me pay for the dish with the bug, but that’s all.
I didn’t expect to have my bill waived, but I DID expect a decent apology. The one server said sorry in passing, but the chef just totally didn’t care.
I won’t be giving them my business again.

This is a great little joint and one of the most authentic Japanese places I’ve been to in Orange County. This little place close to the corner of Fairview and Baker is easy to miss, since it’s in a non descript mini mall.
It’s Izakaya and it’s all small plates, which makes for a great tasting experience with a group or for a very nice little happy hour experience. I went with 6 people and we were able to try all kinds of great dishes because the plates were small. They have happy hour prices for drinks and the sake is presented beautifully in an overflowing sake box.
We went early and brought the kids. We were able to get wonderfully fresh oysters, some sashimi, lots of rice balls filled with wonderful things, wonderfully prepared fish w/​sauce, fried shrimp and skewers, dumplings and some great meat entrees.
As we were leaving the place was filling up with Japanese people, another one of my favorite signs of authenticity. :-)

Food — ²⁄₁₀
Service — ⁵⁄₁₀
Ambiance — ³⁄₁₀
Price — ¹⁄₁₀
Overall Experience — ²⁄₁₀
We came across this place looking for Hashi Sushi, but found that they were replaced by this new place. It was empty but we figured it was cause its a weekday and the rain.
The décor was pretty modern, but that was the only good thing about this place. The menu is quite short and the prices is steep. I was still optimistic and was hoping the food would be well worth the price.
However, every item we ordered was disappointing. The green tea was watered down and tasted more like tap water than tea. The soft shell crab was small. But the absolute worst was the tempura udon. The tempura was soggy and it was quite obvious that it was a frozen package they quickly microwaved. We immediately paid and left to seek out better nourishment elsewhere.

Went tonight with my husband and was very pleased with this «hidden» gem. We were seated right away and we noticed that the atmosphere was really mellow compared to other izakaya places we have been to in the past (Kappo Honda, Honda Ya, Izakaya Zero).
We ordered two draft Asahis and were plesantly surprised to find that they were 2 for 1 before 7 (it was 6:58 so they honored it). We ordered several small plates and enjoyed every one — vinegared seaweed, fresh octopus with wasabi, shrimp shumai, shrimp stuffed shitaki mushroom, small neck clams steamed in sake and stewed pork belly.
The staff was attentive and made sure that we always had something in front of us. The only downside (if you can call it one) is that the specials were in Japanese only and although the waitress read them to us, it was a bit hard to understand her so we may have missed out on some goodies but we will definitely be back to try whatever we may have missed.

Went there tonight for Happy hour.
Buy one and get one free beer. Draft beer is from Japan. Tast very good with creamy foam.
They have a lot of traditional and new items on their menu.
Squid/​Caramari with Mentaiko was pretty good. Most of their food is above par. One item I was not care was baked chicken cartridge. I prefer deep fry better than baked.

This cozy little spot has some pretty tasty food. It’s a little exotic to the average eater. However, if you are open to eating things like fish cakes and vinegared seaweed this is your place.
Came here Friday with my girlfriend, we ordered 2 of the sakes which came out in a shot a glass in a brown little box which they overflow into the box. So you get a pretty decent amount a sake for one person. Yum yum! I guess overflowing your drink in japan is considered being generous. (yes!) keep it coming! ;)
For the dishes we ordered Mozuku — vinegeared seaweed, this is a little slimy however, I really enjoyed the fresh seaweed.
Steamed Japanese shrimp dumplings — very tasty similar to har gow and shu mai combined.
My favorite dish was the soft shell crab kara-​age — so good with lemon and ponzu sauce to dip it in. I inhaled it.
One of the specials was fresh made fish balls that were deep freshed brought with ginger that you would mix into your soy sauce.
And we finally ended with a savory steamed egg custard.
Most of the customers that were coming into the restaurant were Japanese themselves and spoke Japanese. Me and my girlfriend’s were the only ones who couldn’t read the Japanese menu. LOL. This was a good thing. I feel it shows it authenticity of the restaurant.
I would definitely go back.
Kampai! :)

As is izakaya style, dishes are in small plates.
We had…
Beef Tataki: About eight or nine rare beef slices, with dipping sauce. I liked. ($ 8.50)
Grilled free range chicken w/​sauce: A 5″ piece of chicken. Grilled with a crispy outside, tender inside. Tasty but not exactly worth $ 6, maybe $ 3.50.
Stuffed Shitake Mushroom: One large shitake mushroom stuffed with crab or shrimp meat filling (?) and then breaded and deep fried. Pretty good, but it was $ 6 for the one 2″ mushroom.
Grilled Rice Balls: The simplest was the favorite of all our items. $ 2.50 each, we got one stuff with salmon, the other with cod roe. The cod roe one was slightly more tasty with more filling, but I highly recommend both.
Also had one draft Asahi @ $ 4.50.
Food was good, portions were small. Menu isn’t huge, and their sashimi «specials» menu on the wall was all in Japanese.
We did a hop to Tabento afterwards and ordered a couple of rolls to supplement.
I would go back, but it’s not somewhere I’d crave going back to. The quality is good, but you can get better bang for your buck elsewhere, like Kappo Honda or Honda Ya.