Ebisu Japanese Tavern

Nice ambience but sushi was not worth the price. Rice was dry and seaweed too chewy. They need to up their game if they want to compete with the other Little Tokyo restaurants.

I came on a Friday night with my husband and three other friends. I was surprised that there was no wait at all. After our dinner, I realized why.
The place is not too big but they have enough tables to accommodate big groups. The service is basic. Food came out longer than expected though and it was just sashimi. The food was nothing special. I’ve had better sushi and noodles. Of the things we ordered, I enjoyed the takoyaki the most.
There are a lot of sushi places in the area that might be better. So unless you want a less crowded place, I suggest going somewhere else.

Overall, it was a strong 3.5.
Came here with a group of foodies. Ya feel me. Tons of picture taking.
Parking: Parking is tough and costly in Little toyko/​jtown. So enjoy 2 free hours of validation. Thanks Metro for the hook up.
Pro tip: Since the metro parking lot is flat rate after 4pm. You can enjoy more than 2 hours of free validation. You are welcome. Just make sure to move your car before they close at the strike of midnight. Otherwise, you will become… well you know the story.
We got to try several dishes and shared them tapas style.
We had a vegetarian in our group and she got some vegan dishes.
Vegan Roll: Comes with asparagus, avocado, gobo (roots), red bell pepper, kanpyo (type of gourd), wrapped with cucumber. Topped with onion chips sesame soy sauce. It was pretty. Rating 3.0.
We tried the Pork Shio Koji Steak: Grilled black pork loin in sho koji, which is created by adding salt and water to rice koji and then fermenting it. Rice koji contains a lot of enzymes that breaks down the starches and proteins in food into sugars and amino acids. It is tenderized and at the same time brings out the sweetness and umami.
Rating 3.8.
We tried the Kakuni: Simmered pork belly in our original soy sauce dashi broth.
Who doesn’t like pork belly. Rating: 4.1.
We tried their house favorite item: Spicy Tuna Crisps: One of the most popular items. Spicy tuna on the fried crispy rice topped with green onion and chopped garlic onion. I was not a big fan. Ratiing 3.0.
We tried the Soft Shell Shrimp: Fried soft shell shrimp dipped with ponzu sauce. Rating: 3.5.
We tried the Albacore Carpaccio: Albacore sashimi, topped with tomato, pink peppercorn, with olive oil & balsamic vinegar This was pretty good. Rating 3.9.
We tried the Tuna Poke: Raw tuna marinated with poke sauce. It was awesome. Rating: 4.1.
We tried their Ring Yaki: Small Okonomiyaki, a Japanese savory pancake that contains egg, pork, red ginger, butter crunch, cabbage topped with okonomi sauce (similar to Worcester sauce, but more thicker and sweet), bonito flake, mayonnaise and aonori seaweed. Everyone seemed to love this dish. It was good but I did not enjoy it for some reason. Rating 3.4.
Overall, how you can enjoy sitting around a fake boat. Service was excellent. I would recommend checking out this place.

Went here today for the first time with my gf and her sister. It was really great, the decoration inside is legit, the staff was friendly and very attentive to our needs. The food is delicious got a Teri combo with California rolls so damn good!

I love finding new hidden restaurants in Jtown, and free 2 hr parking to add to it just made my visit here even better!
I came here on a Tuesday and someone suggested to eat at Ebisu and for some reason I walked pass this place all the time but never noticed it?!
I really love the layout and the fun setup of the restaurant. They incorporate a Ship right smack in the middle restaurant and if you sit down to quickly you might not have realized that your part of the ship! Love the details of everything.
The service was wonderful and people there were super helpful, they found out i was a vegetarian and prepared special dishes just for me and you know what else? IT was soo good!
My favorite of the night were:
1. Vegan Roll: Asparagus, avocado, gobo (roots), red bell pepper, kanpyo (type of gourd), wrapped with cucumber. Topped with onion chips sesame soy sauce.
2. Ring Yaki: Small Okonomiyaki, a Japanese savory pancake that contains egg, red ginger, butter crunch, cabbage topped with okonomi sauce (similar to Worcester sauce, but more thicker and sweet), mayonnaise and aonori seaweed. It was soo freaking good, it was nice and chewy and the great thing was I felt like i came out of dinner feeling satisfy. I hate that incredibly «full» feeling where you feel like you need to run a mile to burn off what you ate, this gave me just enough room for some donuts across the street!

Love the secluded booths with the ropes hanging great little place! Food it delicious i like the katsu bowl and sushi they offer. Happy hour is awesome prices cannot be beat!

Been here a few times… like it here because of the varieties of choices but also hate it because it takes me forever to decide what to order: P
But today is the first time I’ve encountered happy hours… SCORE!!! Happy hours on a Saturday night… sweet :) $ 1.75 for 10oz mug Kirin draft and $ 4.50 for house sake… how can you go wrong (from 10:30pm to midnight) They also have a special right now beer plus sake $ 5 extra sweet hehe
We also ordered the shrimp tempura roll ($ 8.50) 2 Philadelphia roll ($ 7.00) Albacore roll ($ 6.25) and shishito pepper ($ 5.50) from the HH menu all pretty good but the peppers were not spicy at all (not sure if it’s suppose to be lol) we also ordered grilled smelt fish ($ 7.95) my girl’s fav dish here, spicy tuna crisp ($ 7.95) Cuz it said its no1 most popular dish such a disappointment just a bit of spicy tuna on top of crispy rice…$ 4.95−5.95 tops. 2 orders of soft shell shrimp ($ 6.95) so amazing… a must try. Eat the whole shrimp especially the head… YUM!!!
After 3 sakes and 4 beers in less then an hour we are ready to walk the town lol love it :)

I came here for the first time last week. I liked how I saw older Japanese people there. I say this because that’s usually a good sign that the food is authentic. After living in Japan for two years this is something I learned, especially in the countryside.
The booths on the left hand side are the best. More privacy.
They have a good menu with many pictures for those unfamiliar with different types of Japanese food. Happy hour best time to go for beers of course $ 1.75!
Service was ok. The food was decent. I tried the beef udon. Big bowl of noodles, but almost no meat.
Overall, good spot if you are hungry and want a variety selection.

Overall solid Japanese restaurant. Parking is street and garage around the area, so not a huge problem there. The restaurant itself is very traditional in terms of feel. Not overly fancy, but focus is on the food (at least I think it is). Service is good. Very quick and efficient. Food was solid for Japanese food. Definitely enjoyed the beef sukiyaki! Slightly sweet and good portion size for the price. Highly recommend checking this place out!

I like the atmosphere here. It’s busy but not crazy busy. No long line, even on a Friday night. They also open late on the weekdays including Monday to Thursday!

I was at the village and didn’t want to eat there. I saw an article about Ebisu in those Japanese magazines. There were plenty of seats for lunch time. I liked the nautical themed-​décor inside. It wasn’t too dark. The little origami figurines in the window boxes outside of the bathroom are cute.
Anyways, the service is pretty good. My party of two had the Bento Box No. 1. The quality is pretty decent. We didn’t expect them to be as generous with the sashimi slices. I liked how they offer two types of tofu.
We, also, ordered these slightly fried beef slices. It’s the BOMB​.COM I can’t find the name or picture. They garnish it with daikon all over it. You get a generous bed of rice and little side dishes. I think it was a special. I remembered the price point being decent and much more aesthetically pleasing in comparison to the other lunch items.
Next time, I want to try the IZAKAYA during HH if I’m in the area. It’s decently priced with the quality and price point.

We were hanging out last night with friends and found this place by accident. We were walking around in little Tokyo. So we went inside and the waitress had us seated. The environment was cool and the decoration style was very cozy. I ordered the Salmon with three little sides dishes. They also gave me miso soup and small bowl of salad before the main dish. The salmon was good. It was a fully grilled one. It was quite tender. The only problem was that it was very salty. I had to drink a lot of water. The side dishes were fun. Mine was seaweed with tofu and carrots. Small size pasta and cucumbers. They also gave me a bowl of white rice.
The good thing about this restaurant is that you can push the button on the wall and the server will com to you. It’s very easy to have the water refilled, to ask for a pair of chopsticks and anything else you want. The service was ok. Will post some pics of my food later. Overall, it was fun eating experience. Oh, forgot to mention, it was not very crowded even the restaurant is located on a busy street. The total meal costs about $ 40 with tip. Mine was like around $ 16.

Walking around little Tokyo these days trying to find a chill place to have dinner is tricky. Daikokuya, Monzo, Shinsengumi, and Hondaya while great usually have a line out the door on a friday/​saturday night. This is how I came across this place. Not wanting to wait in line for a hour for one of those places I decided to take a chance on something new. I really like Izakaya style restaurants. Basically Japanese Tapas. Small plates with booze. When I walked in the place was fairly quite. Considering it was about 8 on a saturday night I was a little surprised by that. We got seated quickly and took in the surroundings.
The inside is really unique. Lots of interesting things hanging from the ceiling. It also has dividers all over the place so although theres lots of seating relatively close to each other you can still have a sense that your having a private dinner.
For the food we ordered a few different things
Karaage — My personal favorite. Breaded pieces of chicken. Really tasty.
Yaki Onigiri — A rice ball grilled with Soy sauce. This was really good too. Lots of flavor.
Dashi Maki — Rolled egg. A little sweet. Yummy
Shishito — Japanese peppers. One in 7 are spicy a fun little game.
And for drinks Orion beer. Which is a beer imported from Okinawa. They have Sushi and rolls but this isnt that type of place.
My overall impression was really good. They had a button to call service which I always like. Everyone was very friendly inside. The food came out fast and was nice and hot. Plus lots of Japanese people inside. Both working and as customers. Thats always a good sign.
Bottom line — Next time your in little tokyo avoid the lines and try something that is super common in Japan. This place is about as close as you can get to a real Japanese Izakaya.

Late night japanese food? I wish I lived in little tokyo just for the food sometimes.
I usually go to Hondaya but I wanted to be adventurous and check out a new spot. So I looked through Unilocal with any late night spots and this place was one of the few places that got my attention.
We walked in and got seated right away. The place wasn’t too busy with a few tables seated inside. We got situated in our booth and looked through the menus. THE MENU IS HUGE… seriously? I had to sit there for a good 10 minutes just studying the menu.
Finally I ordered the oroshi ikura which is basically salmon roe on top of shaved radish… I know it doesn’t sound so appealing but it’s a great dish. I enjoyed it very much.
The uni shooter. It was good but I felt that the taste of the sake they use for the shooting overwhelms the taste of the UNI which I think SHOULD be the main ingredient. I think maybe putting a bit of ponzu or very light soy sauce in it would help to balance it out. Oh funny story… so my friend didn’t bring his ID so he couldn’t drink… but they served the uni shooters .with sake… I was a little confused. hahahaha
Katsu Don was great! The cutlet was very thick but very juicy! Yes, I don’t enjoy pork but it didn’t have the pork smell that makes me dislike it. The sauce … I thought could’ve been a bit lighter… or not so concentrated in the rice.
Finally the Happy Hour came around and of course I asked for the happy hour menu with so much excitement although the servers were not quite on the same page as me. The happy hour menu was really weak… The food choices on there didn’t blow my mind away but. a PITCHER OF KIRIN for .7.50??? WHAT !?! THAT definitely blew my mind away. haha
We did order few orders of sushi… and it was nothing to write about… It’s a TAVERN… not a sushi joint. so I’m not going to judge them on that haha overall the place was okay. The service was just… A-​OK nothing crazy… Would I come back? Maybe. but knowing that I can get AMAZING food late night at Hondaya which is couple blocks away, I’d definitely have to weigh out my options. But if I want CHEAP BEER. THIS IS WHERE I’LL BE.

The assorted sashimi plate is my favorite; the fish slices are very fresh and thick and their presentation is just mouth-​watering. I always wrap my tuna with the shiso leaf because I love the minty taste of the herb. I think they freshly grate their wasabi, too.
Other faves: the grilled smelt, hamachi collar, kimchi ramen, shishito peppers. There are combination meals where you get miso soup and salad (nice savory miso dressing) along with a bowl of rice, your main dish and some pickled radish/​turnips, too. Since it’s mostly pub food, the prices are very affordable. On a hot day, having a ice cold mug of Kirin (so cold that slivers of ice float around) with a hot bowl of soup or grilled fish hits the spot.
Also, the Japanese fishing village décor is kind of trippy and amazing. Try to get seated behind this wall of thick boating rope. Everything is nets and fake fish, lobster and crabs. Remember to use the call button at each table’s wall to summon your waitress if you need a refill or something; that’s usually how Korean and Japanese pubs respect your party’s privacy. When you push the button, the number of your table will be announced and your waiter/​waitress comes very promptly. Very good service here and good food.

Ding dong… LOL. The waitresses have doorbells at your table which cracked me up. I actually used it and it pages the waitress and says which table is, so everyone in the restaurant could hear.
So, I came with my dad during the Little Tokyo festival and many of the great restaurants in the area were packed. So, because we were hungry, we went to this place. It had a huge menu and nice ambiance. Oh and speaking of the menu, it has a dark burgundy background and small white text in English and Japanese, and the font is too small. It made it hard to read and put pressure on to decide because I swear this menu has 200 items.
I thought the food was «ok,» it had too much spicy mayo on it, though, so every bite of my spicy tuna roll (some specialty roll, not just spicy tuna in it) was very greasy and «ew.»
We also got a tempura green tea ice cream. It was ok… too much tempura and too little ice cream.
Don’t think I’ll go back, just not my favorite sushi (nowhere near, 3 stars is generous), but overall the experience was just OK.

I rate this place 3.5. Foods good but not oh my gosh really good. I wouldn’t come back. It was just good to try since I was in Lil Tokyo and felt spontaneous.
I asked if they had happy hour and it was 8pm. Their happy hour is 5:30−7pm and that’s when people like me barely get off work. And the next happy hour this place had was 11pm. What kind of happy hour is that, having dinner close to midnight.
Aside from that, their yellowtail is great and simple. The yellowtail order (¹²⁄₁₃ $) came with miso soup, salad, rice bowl, and and mini side dishes that were intricate and portioned.
I ordered some red shrimp and it looked so nasty, but it actually tasted good and non oily, just fresh. That was a surprise.
Also ordered spicy scallop and it was very tiny, but I liked it. It was something familiar but I could pin point it. Maybe a vegetable and baby scallops with thinly chopped cucumbers.
They give you the water peanuts that are soft boiled complimentary. This was good to snack on before the food came out.

Review for HH only! I can’t believe I’ve never been here! Came here for happy hour Friday evening around 6:45pm, their HH ends at 7pm so we were just in time.
FOOD:
— pitcher of beer (Kirin, I think) for $ 7.50 — what a deal! We split this between the two of us and it’s served with icy cold pitchers, yum!
— agedashi tofu — so cool and refreshing on a hot day and flavorful
— spicy scallop — this was pretty interesting! Scallop and crab (I think) mixed together in some spicy sauce to create a kinda creamy concoction that was pretty delicious
— karaage — this was okay. The batter was thicker than I expected but the chicken itself was juicy and the pieces were pretty large
SERVICE:
Pretty standard. The place was about half full when we got there and people were in various stages of finishing their meals. Food came out pretty quickly though.
VENUE/​PARKING:
Really cute inside! There are booths along the window that get great light and a large communal table that’s shaped like a boat! There are various parking lots in the area, street parking as well.
Would come back for more happy hour dishes!

Pretty interior décor and their sushi is pretty damn good. They have an extensive menu which makes ordering overwhelming and their reviews aren’t the greatest here on Unilocal.
Came here for a quick bite with my friend before our night started and grabbed some cocktails and appetizers here. Ordered the Lychee Sochu cocktail, Hamachi Nigiri, Mini Okonomiyaki and Karaage to share.
Lychee Sochu– light, not strong but refreshing!
Hamachi Nigiri– so fresh, rice held together well and tasted so good!
Mini Okonomiyaki– doused in that okonomiyaki sauce, small portions that are perfect for sharing and comes with your usual ginger, kewpie and bonito flakes
Karaage– crispy, big pieces and delicious with just lemon juice squeezed on top.
The décor here is pretty, the front section not so much as it is a boat (I found that kind of cheesy). The back part of the restaurant was lovely with the hanging ropes, service can be spotty– but you can press a button and they’ll come to your table quickly.
A bit pricey, but the food is above average so it’s reflected in that. Plus they offer an extensive menu as well.

I love Japanese beer food and at Ebisu Japanese Tavern they offer some great solid drinking food. Ebisu is located in the heart of Jtown on 2^nd st. Parking is a pain here. Either you get lucky or you’ll be driving around the block a few times.
Service :
I thought the service was wonderful. Quick and easy, plus there’s a bottom that you can press the call for you waitress at the table.
Food:
Agedashi Tofu: Not the best that I had, but good enough.
Chicken Karrage: This was solid. Everything from the batter to the chicken was perfectly cook.
Pork Gyoza: I actually enjoy this one ! Just your simple childhood food.
Ika Maruyaki: This was well prepared. The squid was nice and tender and sweet.
Assorted Tempura: This was ok. Nothing special.
Takoyaki: Excellent. Each ball was fill with a lot of squid and it wasn’t overly to sweet.
Large Omakase Sashimi Platter: Everything was fresh here. Great portion. This was enough to feed up to 4 people.
I have no complaint about Ebisu. Just a good place to hand out with friends enjoy good eats and most importantly drink.

Dimanche 11 août
Accueil et placement rapide, malgré la 2013 Nisei Week Grand Parade. Une carte avec un très très large choix de plats. Il faudrait d’ailleurs changer son organisation c’est un peu confus et les photographies manquent de luminosité. On est prêt. On commande nos boissons et nos… Pas le temps de lui indiquer nos plats que la voilà déjà parties. Elle m’apportera d’ailleurs mes accompagnement mais en oubliant les couverts, et puis lors du service, elle se trompera lorsqu’elle apportera nos assiettes. Un peu tête en l’air notre serveuse du jour…
Mon copain tente deux plats de Roll à l’anguille. Si la première assiette — Caterpillar roll — est vite avalée et sans prétention (8.95 $), il est plutôt agréablement surpris par la seconde — Dragon Roll (15.95 $). Considérant que l’ensemble est bon.
J’ai pris un Chirashi Don. Rien de tel pour découvrir la fraicheur du poisson. La soupe et la petite salade qui accompagne n’ont rien d’exceptionnelle, ça ressemble à ces faux restaurants japonais, rue Monsieur le Prince à Paris. Par contre le bol est beau. Un vrai choix de poisson, de belles tranches et une vraie fraîcheur du produit. Je suis agréablement surpris. De même que les petites crêpes ou crudités qui l’accompagne. Le riz lui est sans plus. Je suis ravi de mon choix. Le thé vert que j’ai pris à un léger goût de cacahuète.
Au final, c’est mitigé en raison d’un service peu professionnel, mais pour la qualité et le goût, ça le fait !