Izakaya Honda-Ya

This place has those Japanese tatami seatings where you sit on the floorings that are made with rice straws. I have been going to Honda ya since it opened and I don’t know why they changed their name, but I will still go for the great ambiance. The food and beer are great and the people who work there are super friendly! They also do take outs which is great since I got sick one time and didn’t feel like going out or cooking!

Very good place for group to have their Yakitori, pork belly was very tasty. All the decorations in store made me feel I was in Japan, nice experience, and I will come back again.

A friend of mine wanted to check this place out. Better than I expected. Great food and atmosphere! Will be back again. Only tried 2 dishes but be sure to try the lightly battered fried squid. It’s really good.

Don’t go. Very expensive. Unfriendly service. Not worth the money. I would not recommend.

Tried this place for the first time and Devin was very, very helpful.
There were so many things on the menu, but he was very helpful in recommending items that were very delicious!

Used to be called Hondaya.
But now the new name… décor inside the restaurant is still the same.
food portion seem to have shrink?
but price didn’t go down though…
perhaps maybe a new chef too that taste isn’t quiet the same?
I wonder if all hondaya are all under the new name now or just this one?

I don’t know what took me so long to finally eat here but I really like it!
I love the variety of food. I got poki, Mexican corn, yakitori (heart, pork cheek, chicken breast, scallops), and tonkatsu. All of it was really good but the corn, heart, and tonkatsu were my favs. The miso that came with my poki was really good too.
Devin was our server and I loved his vibe. He was very laid back and had perfect timing for checking on us. We will be back again.

I went with my family. Food and service here are horrible. I ordered a dish of fried chicken. Our server handed us the fried chicken. And I was very shocked. All chicken were nearly black. I felt bad asking for a change, so I tried a piece. It was hard like a stone. I couldn’t finish that. I asked if it is normally burned like this. And he just laugh and left. Bring a new chicken. Not even a word for apology.
Fish here are all from FROZEN not fresh.
Plate are stink.
Not clean.
I also ordered chicken skewer.
It says BBQ. But it seems like they fried the chicken. Very very DRY.
Expensive price for this food and service.
Definitely not worth it.

Japanese food is my top favorite cuisine of all time! I chose Izakaya Takasei because I was craving for Japanese tapas and the food looked decent on Unilocal.I came here with a friend around 7pm on a weekday. Upon entering, it was not busy (yay!), there were 3 servers on the floor and one host. We got seated in 3 mins with the tatami seating option (traditional floor level seating).
Service (³⁄₅): Service was decent. Our server came around with waters and offered to take our orders. Throughout our meal, we had two servers who were both nice. One downside was that it was quite difficult to flag down a server because of our seating location. Servers do not normally come around to the tatami seating area unless they are dropping off food, taking orders, etc. So after all of our orders came out, our servers did not come back to check up on us. To enhance this aspect, I believe that servers should come around often to see if the customers (in this seating area especially) need refills, etc.
Food (⁴⁄₅): The food was solid and satisfying, but nothing amazing that would blow your mind or terrible enough that would put you in a mad or cranky mood. We ordered Eel Tsukemono, Agedashi Tofu, Cold Dipped Soba, Salmon Onigiri, Fried Salmon Onigiri, Spicy Tuna roll (8 piece), 4 yakitori stick (chicken breast w/​cheese +jalapenos, Chicken thigh w/​green onions, Garlic pork belly, & Scallops). I’m a soba lover at heart and their Cold Dipped Soba was decent. You can’t go wrong with soba regardless. I would recommend Eel tsukemono (eel is soft and it complements the picked cucumber very well!), Adagaeshi Tofu (if you’re a tofu lover! The tofu is soft and firm, it doesn’t break apart like most places), spicy tuna roll (Has great flavors, not bland like some other sushi joints), and finally I say try their scallops ! The scallops are so soft and chewy! The chicken breast and thigh yakitori… not so great. It was dry and bland. My friend had the GPBelly and he said it was OKAY.
Ambience (⁴⁄₅): Great for a date, a night out with friends w/​great selections of sakes, or even a family dinner. I really like how the portions are small so you and your party can order a bunch of different items to try. I personally like to order a number of things on the menu to try and share ! If you are someone like me, this izakaya will meet your needs (: I shall be back.
Happy eating and drinking!

Was really disappointed with overall experience.
first the one and onky positive aspect of my experience:
décor is traditional Japanese through and through so that totally adds to the restaurant in a positive way. Piping in Japanese music would have added even more to the ambiance rather than top 40 hits that was playing.
Found it shoddy that to select sashimi as your one item dinner option from the dinner combination part of the menu was $ 2 extra, bringing the one item dinner combo to $ 17.50. Moreover, the menu did not list the additional $ 2charge. The waiter informed me. I made the mistake of assuming it must be a generous portion of sashimi. Wrong. When the bento box style tray was brought out, I sound the quantity of the sashimi to be sorely disappointing.
The the tempura sucks too because whoever fried it used oil that was too hot. This results in a tough/​hard covering of batter instead of the tempura coming out light and crispy. It was more the texture and thickness out a dorito. Fail.
Lastly, I was grossed out by the service station that was basically just out there in plain view on the dining floor. Please refer to the photo I have included. It will be «’nuff said «.

I recently came back from a trip to Japan, so eating at an izakaya took me back.
My boyfriend and I shared the takoyaki (octopus balls) and a few yakitori (grilled skewers).
— Unlike traditional takoyaki, I think these were deep fried which made the crust super crunchy. The filling was okay, but the crunch was pretty good.
— Beef tongue was a bit disappointing… some of the meat was tender but a lot of it was tough.
— Chicken thigh with green onions was fine.
— Pork belly with garlic was okay. Wasn’t really a fan of the fried garlic personally.
— Squid was good. I generally just like the texture of squid and I didn’t find it to be overly chewy or dry.
— Pork belly (no garlic) was the best thing there! It was salty and quite tasty.
Overall, the yakitori seemed to be hit and miss. It wasn’t particularly bad, but I remember the yakitori I had in Japan was so much better. Sorry, I’m biased! Each skewer was kind of pricey too.

I’m mainly rating this three stars because of the service. When we first walked in, there was no one to greet us. Even when the waiters walked over to see the check in list, they didn’t even say anything. Also, there were so many tables available and I don’t know why they made us wait 10 minutes before they seated us. I came here once before and this exact same thing happened. No greeting. Plus making us wait when there’s obviously tables available.
I will say this place is GREAT FOR GROUPS. There is so much seating and you could definitely fit a large group (~10+) here.
Food:
Everything that you order is pretty good! I usually get the Nabeyaki Udon, Shibaebi, Spinach Garlic, Soft Shell Crab, Gindara Miso-​Yaki, etc. They’re all super good and I’m always very satisfied!

We usually have dinner at the Honda-​Ya in Tustin. Last night we had to meet some friends in the area so we were excited to see another Honda-​Ya in Fullerton with a seemingly identical menu.
Unfortunately the food could not compare. I’m not sure if it was because we were seated under a chunk of the ceiling that was missing, but our table was super breezy, so breezy that our napkins would shift. Worst of all, when our yakitori came, the skewers turned cold within about a minute. We ordered a couple rolls of sushi, and the fish did not taste fresh at all. The best part of our meal was the giant pitchers of beer and bottle of sake we ordered.
This venue was larger and was more of an open space than the cramped, stuffy, bustling one in Tustin. It’s a little more private, even when it’s super busy, because all the tables are spaced far enough apart. They also have more tables with tatami mat seating and, naturally, has less of a wait.

My first impression was, «Traditional Japanese décor and tatami seating options make it a fun experience for Japanese cuisine and sake.»
The restaurant provides a massive menu full of everything from yakitori, rolls, sushi, ramen, soba, sashimi, bar food, you name it. It’s all here. You’ll get seated right away because this restaurant is huge and then check off items on the list for everything that you and your party want to try. I consider it Japanese tapas-​style and you can get a lot of small bites and share at your table over a bottle of sake or Japanese wine. The tatami seating makes it fun (you sit on the floor on top of mats) or if that’s not something you’re interested in there are regular tables. The service is fabulous and they’re very attentive to adding on orders as you go.
The lasting impression? «Food is fresh, delicious, flavorful, and presentation is a great touch to all their dishes. It’s the perfect spot for all your sushi craving needs!»

Honda-​Ya, or whatever it’s new name will be in the near future, has been my late night go to spot for the past several months now.
It’s not open terribly late, but it’s definitely one of the better late night options when I’m hungry and craving beer/​sake after work. Unfortunately they don’t have a full bar, but you can actually buy the really big sake bottles (1.75 L?) and save them for up to TWO months. *IMPORTANT* When they ask you what name you want to put on the bottle, you have to tell them your real name. If you give them a fake name and cannot remember what you put, you basically lose out on a bottle. Kikusui is my favorite sake if you like dry sake with a subtle sweetness to it.
Anyway, I like the Tustin location better, but this location is bigger and it’s closer anyway. There’s a lot to choose from, but I like to stick to my ramen and yakitori. The ramen portion is huge! You can definitely share it, but you can probably finish it on your own. It just depends on how you want to feel afterwards. As for the yakitori, it definitely isn’t bad, but I’ve had much better elsewhere. You should do the pork belly if you’re going to order yakitori though!
The service has always been really good here and I don’t think we’ve ever had to wait an unreasonable amount of time because the restaurant is so big.

I went to Honda-​Ya for my friend’s birthday. We had a large party, which usually means a complete disaster at most restaurants when it comes to ordering, getting things we need, getting our orders right, and paying the bill. I was prepared for that but our amazing waiter Sean made everything a breeze.
We had the tatami room reserved, which gave us a nice private area. It’s not completely enclosed but it definitely added more seclusion.
The food was quite good and there is a big variety of dishes. I tried a lot of things but I really enjoyed the mentai chazuke and the meatball with cheese skewers. I also had the sashimi and the fish was pretty good except the albacore wasn’t too fresh.
Our waiter Sean was extremely organized. He took our orders efficiently, separated our bills without us having to ask, and processed separate payments for all of us. All of our orders were 100% correct and everything we asked for along the way came super quickly. He was also extremely friendly. He really made our night.

SO MUCH BIGGER THAN TUSTIN
**2016 Unilocal 100 CA Challenge #12**
This location is like 5x bigger than the Tustin Location. Much more spacious & there is barely a wait… they also have the tatami room which was literally empty! I would definitely choose this location for any BIG parties since it seems they can easily accommodate. Also everything is a little less clutter since they don’t have all the special item papers hanging on the wall everywhere.
Service was good although I was kind of a BIT OFFENDED when our server straight up told me to order everything all at once… most people would find it humor… but I’m a server so I know the real thought process… ahahha but I also just eat a LOT so it’s not my fault if I sometimes forget EVERYTHING that I want… plus if you keep walking away before I finish eating everything then OBVIOUSLY I’m gonna ask for something else when you bring back what I first asked for… =]
GARLIC SHRIMP SKEWER
MEATBALL W/​CHEESE SKEWER
GINKO NUT SKEWER
ENOKI BACON SKEWER
ZUCCHINI BACON SKEWER
WINGS SKEWER
^^ your skewers are going to range anywhere from $ 1.00 or $ 5.00 but everything is whatever you think it is… grilled… w/​some salt & pepper seasoning. SIMPLE
SHIBAEBI $ 4.95 — small rock shrimp w/​the skin & head on while they deep fry them whole so EVERYTHING is edible! Just a little bit of salt & pepper seasoning w/​some lemon juice.
TAKO WASABI $ 3.95 — raw octopus marinated w/​wasabi… this is typically w/​pickled wasabi & fresh wasabi, but something was really lacking in this dish here. There is usually a spicy kick but this dish had NO flavor… DEPRESSED! then we found out that they were out of the pickled wasabi.
ONION SLICE $ 2.95 — fresh onion slices w/​ponzu sauce drizzled all over & some mayo on the side.
NANKOTSU KARAAGE $ 5.95 — this is a deep fried chicken CARTILAGE dish which i thought was somewhat close to chicken gizzard but maybe a little more TOUGH to chew.
STIR-​FRIED SPINACH GARLIC $ 3.95 — this dish was way too BUTTERY! & i LOVE butter, but i freaken felt like i was gonna throw-​up. There wasn’t much garlic flavor
PORK GINGER $ 5.50 — ginger seasoned thin slices of pork served on top of stir fried bean sprouts. I ordered 2 of these because i LOVED the bean sprouts… i ordered the second w/​extra bean sprouts, it wasn’t cooked all the way though… so the sprouts did not take in the flavor.
UNI SUSHI $ 4.00 — Be WARNED their «sushi» is ONE piece per ORDER! luckily our server told us… because we were questioning the PRICE being SOOO CHEAP but it definitely made a lot more sense that it was one piece.

YAKITORI HEAVEN
Parking: FREE in the complex
Atmosphere: dark oak, big space with Japanese touch (Japanese lanterns, Japanese cat statues, vintage Japanese ads, Japanese umbrella etc).
DRINKS: pretty good deal, around $ 4.5 — $ 6.5 (large size)
Shochu cocktails: lychee– doesn’t have strong alcohol at all, more like juice. Blah!
Beers: around $ 4.5 — $ 6.5/bottle
Soft drink: $ 2/​glass
FOODS:
### Agedashi tofu: very soft and delish
### Beef, fish etc are good quality but no memorable impression than the Yakitori itself
### YAKITORI: great quality, a lot of selection: yellowtail, squid, shrimp, jumbo shrimp, white tuna, scallop, shrimp bacon, baby scallop bacon, zucchini bacon, asparagus bacon, quail egg, okra bacon, enoki bacon, tomato bacon, garlic bacon, corn, shitake, asparagus, okra, eggplant, shishito, ginkgo nuts, garlic, zucchini.
Really good deal, around $ 2 — $ 2.5/skewer.
YAKITORI translates as «grilled bird» for meats skewers grilled fresh over charcoal. Yakitori actually is a street food by carts near Tokyo stations.
One thing that makes this yakitori place as my new favourite is how they prepare it. They use BINCHOTAN: chemical free carbon charcoal made from oak. It is odorless procedure which is sealing the natural flavours of the food. This procedure is also releasing negative ions which is the same thing to filter tap water and air purifiers.
They purposedly import this BINCHOTANS from Japan for your pure Izakaya experience!!!
COME HERE FOR YOUR IZAKAYA!
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P. S. This is a franchise!!! Due to the expiration of their franchise agreement, the name is going to change to TAKASEI in the next few weeks. All staffs will remain the same.

Service is always pretty decent but the main reason I come here is for the food!
I love yakitori, my favorites being the pork belly and beef tongue
It’s also a great place to hangout with friends and have a couple of drinks.
their menu is very extensive so theres a huge variety which is great for accommodating a wide range of different taste buds.
it’s also great because whether you’re starving or just want a grab a small bite, there’s so many meal combos and appetizers to choose from
i also recommend the shishito peppers, tempura, agedashi tofu, salmon, and beef ponzu :)

Our party of 3 came on a Sunday night at around 6:45pm for dinner. There was a slight wait but luckily we had called in an hour prior and they were nice enough to reserve us a table. We decided to go with the Tatami seating option, which means you sit on the floor. It was a fun experience at first, but after about 45 minutes, my legs started to go numb. I need to keep this in mind next time!
Now onto the food! We started off ordering the fried squid, shrimp tempura, chicken meatballs, spicy grilled sausages and agedashi tofu. The fried squid was really underwhelming and the chicken meatballs were lukewarm, but everything else was delicious! I highly recommend their shrimp tempura. Also, when they say «spicy sausages», they really do mean spicy.
Of course, we didn’t end there! Next, we ordered the Alaskan roll (inside: crab; outside: salmon topped with salmon roe), nigiri (uni and salmon roe), mayo scallops, ramen, and yakisoba. You can skip the mayo scallops. They used those small scallops that you usually find in the frozen aisle. The yakisoba was slightly sweet so I thought that was strange. Everything else, however, was truly spectacular! The ramen was on point and the Alaskan roll has become my new favorite sushi roll of all time. They need to make that a universal roll like the caterpillar and Philly rolls. OH and how could I almost forget the large bottle of sake we got?! Fun times… I would definitely come back!