OG Tempura Truck

This place is an EPIC food truck!
I feel food trucks need to set themselves apart for me to seriously consider them.
THIS truck definitely does that. Perfect booze food for sure.
Deep fried, oil derrick street foods.
I ordered the Spider’s Web which is a super fried soft shell crab. Came with a basil aioli sauce and the crab was really good, can tell it was fresh.
Also ordered something I have yet to see done anywhere,
Deep fried,
drum roll please…
STEAK!!!
Amazingly good, juicy, and absolutely fattening but too incredible to worry about any of that. Give this truck a shot if you love deep fried foods and are willing to consume some of the most overly fried foods on EARTH.

We get 3 food trucks that come to our offices EVERYDAY, so there is a lot of crap and OG Tempura is definitely one of the better trucks out there.
I always get the tempura chicken plate. For 8 bucks you get a generous portion of tempura chicken, side salad, and scoop of rice. By food truck standards, this is great value. The tempura chicken has a great cruch to it and is not heavy at all. Add a bit of hot sauce to kick up the taste a bit and it is perfect. Service is always friendly as well.
For the people who complain about the food being too greasy, it is tempura FRIED food… um what do you expect. For the people who say it isnt healthy… um it is Food Truck food. You want healthy? Go bring a salad from home.

The shrimp tempura lettuce wrap was surprisingly good. The combination of the sweet teriyaki with siracha and the crunchiness of the tempura was the bomb. We also tried the Soft shell crab and they used the full part of the crab, liver and all! Very flavorful, the angel hair though is the filler and heavy.

I had to try a deep fried soft shell crab wrapped in pasta. SO GOOD. SO FRIED. The aioli it came with was excellent; I want to put it on every food ever.
The dish was gigantic though. I could only really eat ¾ of one of the tempuras, and feel like it filled my oily food quotient for the month. Share with a friend!

** AS AN EDIT! After receiving a rude reply from the owner, questioning whether or not I had «buyer’s remorse» after eating fried foods or whether or not I understand the difference between frying in canola oil and lard/​animal fat… I’ve decided to deduct a star… or even 2! I wish I could give this 0 stars. Never in my life have I had a restaurant owner attack me for giving my honest opinion on the food… I am offended and the response came off as super rude.
Original post:
i randomly get these tempura cravings and the one day that i decide to walk over to the other side of campus, i see the tempura truck sitting there, waiting for me to order from it. super excited, i got the shrimp tempura… hoping to get some nice, lightly battered, crispy, juicy pieces of shrimp…
but no… instead, this truck basically fried the living souls out of those poor shrimps. the batter was so heavy, the fry so greasy, and the sauce was so… typical? overall. i felt like an obese kid paving my way to cardiovascular disease while eating the tempura. yah the shrimp was juicey (as an edit ** Apparently the owner attacks this claim saying that if the shrimps were juicy, how were they overcooked? Well now… let me explain, the shrimps were juicy, but the batter and fry around it was uneven and overcooked… the edges were dark brown and tasted burnt), yah the portions were big, but noo i dont want to feel like my heart is about to stop every time i take a bite.
way too oily, way too heavy, way too fried…
ugh time to go work out now… i feel gross
So there you go Tempura truck… maybe its time for you to crack open some business books next time you decide to respond to an angry customer.

Looking to try a new truck in the Century Lot, I let CP choose between two trucks and he settled on OG Tempura. This was moderately disappointing to me since I’m not much of a tempura gal myself but I figured I would probably live. Luckily they sell chicken teriyaki. That’s exactly what I got. CP got the classic fish and chips that comes with a specialty tartar sauce on the side. I think it’s yuzu. They sell Mexican Cokes and Peace Tea. I LOVE Peace Tea! We got one of each.
They gave us a number, which I don’t think I’ve ever had happen to me at a truck but that’s fine. We waited about 7 minutes. In that time I became so overwhelmingly hungry I was pretty sure I was about to pass out. I sat down. CP brought the food over and I jumped right in with gumption.
If we are just looking at the chicken that was pretty good. It was well cooked and juicy. I’m thinking it was thighs, smart. I liked that. I wasn’t super crazy for the teriyaki sauce they use. It’s not as sweet as other sauces I’ve had. It wasn’t bad, it just didn’t taste much like teriyaki to me. Still, I was very hungry… I ate it all. I also ate the side of greens that came with it. I left the rice. Initially, I tried to eat a little of it with some teriyaki sauce on it but the rice was pretty overcooked. It was reaching a mushy point. yetch.
CP’s fish and chips were pretty scrumptious. I liked the sweet potato fries that they came with. Lots of salt. The fish was very fishy and flaky. It wasn’t bad at all. I was pretty surprised. And it was a huge portion. Three giant pieces of fish. Hearty serving for (I think…) $ 8.
Since I’m not big on tempura I probably wouldn’t come back to this truck but I could see how someone might be into it. Just not me.

Innovative. Basically awesome Asia stuff tempura fried. The spiders web is can wrapped in angel hair pasta and bacon in tempura was garlic aioli. But the crab with in the shell deep fried. Don’t like that too much. But the tempura is very good. I’d just try something more simple their next time. The aioli was perfect.

I wanted to love it. I really did. Who doesn’t like a bunch of fried stuff.
Anyways, I ordered fish and chips — which was fried swai filets with sweet potato fries. Now for traditional fish and chips is typically cod. Swai is a pretty cheap fish. Not complaining about that though. It’s a white fish it tastes fine so no biggie. What I did have problems with was the batter it was in. I just felt it was too much batter, and the way it was fried left it pretty greasy, while the thickness left some soggy batter as well. Also the size of the filets were a bit unmanageable, it was just sloppy to eat due to the size (too big in my opinion each individual piece). The chips were sweet potato fries — which were a bit soggy and felt greasy.
For the good:
Provides large quantities
Yuzu tarter sauce was nice
I just thought for a place that showcases tempura, it was a really poor showing. I’d say it was below your run of the mill tempura that you would get at any random Japanese restaurant. For a divine tempura experience, try I-​Naba in Torrance. Then you’ll know what real tempura is.

Decent shrimp tempura. Only one window for order/​pickup. The thing that dinged this encounter the most is it took 20 minutes with no line. I’d expect such from a sit down full meal, but not for a single order of shrimp tempura.

Ran into this truck at the No Ho Taco Cook Off. I will start by saying that a tempura truck idea is awesome, especially with the amount of bacon I saw on the menu. Unfortunately the execution didnt meet my expectations. Sad panda. A WORD OF CAUTION: Everything is mouth blisering hot when it is ready and handed to you.
GF and i ordered the Spiders Web and the California.
The spiders web is Soft shell crabs wrapped in angel hair pasta and bacon, deep fried in tempura batter served with pesto aioli. Now all that may sound great but it was just missing something. Maybe toss some mint or cilantro in it before it hits the deep fryer, anything to give it a little burst of flavor. The dipping sauce was also just meh… kinda like a mayonnaise. Not what we wanted to go along with our super hot tempura. Maybe some sort of sweet and spicy type sauce.
Next up was the California which is Turkey breast, avocado enrobed in turkey bacon served with yuzu-​tarragon sauce. Again, this one was kind of bland, but we preferred it to the spiders web. The turkey and avocado were also very very hot (temperature wise) so that also detracted from it.
Next time we should also know not to hit up this truck if you are starving. It will look great but will be super hot and your hunger will get the better of you, resulting in some seriously scorched mouth syndrome.

I don’t care what the haters say, I really like this truck!
I’ve made it a goal of mine to try a new truck every, and this week OG Tempura was in the area!
The California was yummy! Picture this: strips of turkey breast meat and avocado wrapped in bacon and then tempura fried with a tangy yuzu sauce. Mmm give me anything with avocado and bacon and I’m there.
My favorite item from the truck was definitely the Spider Web. Seriously bacon wrapped angel hair pasta and soft shell crab that is then tempura fried. Best fried combination? I think so. The crab itself was perfectly fried and absorbed the flavor of the bacon really well. Each bite was flawlessly crunchy and everything just mixed together well. I especially loved the creamy pesto aioli that came with it. The perfect sauce with the dish. This is a definite must order!
When I’m craving fried food, I will be looking for you, OG Tempura! 4 stars!

My friend and I decided to try the Apple Fritters. It’s not worth the calories. It looks good but once you get down it to, you’ll feel a bit disappointed.
The apple slices are razor thin. Basically you are just eating batter with cinnamon, caramel and whip cream. The first piece is not bad. However, as you move on to the second piece, you will start to feel kind of queasy. You can taste the oil.
I rather have funnel cake!

Expensive. $ 11 for a combo tempura… tempura only.
Tempura appeared to have been all fried together, which meant the thicker things like the shrimp and the broccoli were almost perfectly fried, while the thin stuff like the sweet potato and the yam (?) and the bell peppers were over-​fried, everything was a little too oily. No good. :-/​
Plus side, tho? For $ 11 you got enough tempura to give an elephant a heart attack! The plate was HUGE.
And I think ordering ordinary tempura here is probably kinda silly when the random Japanese restaurants down the street can do a better job, they have some crazy looking tasty combinations with bacon and stuff that look delicious.
Maybe next time– but next time may be a while, I want to avoid a heart attack…
edit: pics.
(and I ate something green and sliced thin and couldn’t recognize it, no idea what it was if it wasn’t a bell pepper!)

I came across OG again tonight in Woodland Hills and gave them another shot.
The shrimp tempura was a big step up from the spiders web. 6 large pieces for $ 7.00.
And they are finally in compliance with a posted no smoking within 40 feet sign,.
Bravo
Gourmet Food Truck #137 on my never-​ending quest to try every truck in «So Cal»

Bull$h!7, haters! I’m with Amy S!!!
If you have not tried the apple cobbler-​ish Tempura dessert with the whipped cream, you have no business saying this food truck sucks. Not only is it delicious, but a very generous portion for 2 people.
Hm!

If you ever go to a county fair you walk away with one lesson learned — You can pretty much deep fry anything and it will taste good.
I’m willing to bet that stock footage of the great depression where people are boiling shoes would be less depressing if you saw them dunk those same boots in some tempura batter and fry it up.
So when I see the tempura truck I had to try it. Mainly because I love me deep fried anything.
Their prices are a bit on the steep side for their tempura stuff. You can try the sampler platter for $ 13 and it comes with a good two of each of a variety of tempura. But again, $ 13 for a food truck is a bit steep.
Just how pricey is this place? If you’re into veggies, a tempura plate of just that will cost you $ 7, which seems high even for a sit down restaurant.
In fact, it’s hard to not find an item on the menu that wont cost you a good $ 7 – 10. Which again, for a food truck is just a bit high. At least have a few options for small, not to pricey snacks.
They do have a pretty cheap version of fish and chips. And while a side of ponzu tartar sauce is not anywhere near malt vinegar.
So over all, it’s just an A-​ok review. It’s leaning more towards a 2.5 rating, but I’m just rounding up because. well, it’s tempura. And anything deep fried in such good batter is well worth at least trying once. Just don’t expect me to come around to this truck.

Woah woah… why is there so much hate going on? What’s with all the OG Tempura Truck hate? Geez.
Anyways, I came to the OG Tempura Truck when it was here at USC. My friends and I were all really excited because it was a new-​ish truck and was a branch-​off of another food truck. I ended up getting the vegetable tempura. My friends got the mochi, bacon-​wrapped steak tempura, apple tempura, and fish&chips.
The fish and chips came with sweet potato fries. They were really melt-​in-​your-​mouth kind, instead of the crunchy kind and the sugary sweetness really came out. It was utterly delicious. The fish was also good, although not as crunchy as I’ve had liked. The dipping sauce was superb, but I think it was just regular tartar sauce (although I may be wrong).
The bacon-​wrapped steak was really good, especially with the dipping sauce. It was super oily (which I expected), but the steak was cooked great. The bacon was also good, but my mouth was a bit confused as to the tastes in my mouth. There were a lot of different tastes.
The veggie tempura was also good, and it just came with regular tempura sauce (which is yummy!) I really liked the fact that they were resting on a bed of fried vermicelli, so that you could dump the rest of the tempura sauce on the vermicelli and eat it.
The mochi was just regular mochi ice cream, but my favorite was the apple tempura. It’s sliced apples and fried, but it literally tasted like fried apple pie! Sliced! It was delicious.
All in all, I really enjoyed the food here, despite what the other reviews say. The service was nice, and the owner was friendly. My friends and I shared a few laughs with him.
The only thing that I had to deduct 1 star for was the price. Vegetable tempura was $ 7, and there were about 7 pieces, if not less. I really enjoyed the food, but it was very expensive. Other than that, I wish OG Tempura the best of luck and hopefully they’ll come back to USC. I’d totally get those apple tempura things again!

In response to the owner’s rebuttal to my review, I have edited my previous review. I am not by any means accusing the OG Tempura Truck of giving my friend and I food poisoning. All I know is that that tempura was the only food that we had both had and that we both felt sick later that night. Who knows, it could have been just been a coincidence and completely unrelated to the tempura.
Also, I do not know where Jae C. got the idea that I tried to eat the other crab later. I suppose he misunderstood one of my sentences. What happened is I got my food (yes probably around 9:30 PM), ate one crab, and threw the rest of the second crab away that I could not finish.
I did not intend my review to be «hateful» at all and I certainly do not harbor any angry or resentful feelings towards the OG Tempura Truck or the owner. I was in no way trying to ruin someone’s reputation out of anger. I have always seen Unilocal as a great way for people to share honest reviews of businesses. I was simply trying to inform others of my personal experience with the OG Tempura Truck.

The food at the OG truck is delicious. My GF and I tried both the turkey and the steak dishes and the flavors were excellent. Honestly, quite good.
The problem is that portions are very small. Even adding the optional sides of rice and salad (bringing the cost to $ 11/​meal) it wasn’t nearly enough food for either of us.
If the amount of tempura was increased (5 small pieces instead of 3 small pieces) and the sides were included for free I’d give it four stars. Unless that happens, I can’t recommend it and won’t be going back.
Food trucks pay fewer taxes, and far less overhead than a restaurant. I don’t know where OG is putting those savings other than into their own pockets. Value simply isn’t there.

Saw this truck for the first time tonight at the CINEFAMILY event at the NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM… surprisingly the only food trucks was them, lardon, and lake street creamery… luckily we got there in time to only wait about 40mins! LOL because the rest of the people had to wait much longer.
My boyfriend got the asparagus filled with cheese and tuna (?) I think… for like 8bucks… sadly it was only 3 of them… luckily it tasted delicious and we decided we could not have gotten that anywhere else so it was worth the price and weight.
I got tempura shrimp which had 5 pieces, it was fine but for 7 dollars I wish I had gotten one of the appetizers as they were better quality for the amount of money,
They have a really cool way to pay with card in which you sign on the stores phone, it was cool so hightech!
Otherwise I say dont order the tempura… unless you get the sides which makes youre price 10 – 12 its really not worth it… order the appetizers!!!