It was as my first time here and The good and service was amazing highly recommend!! Try the all…read moreyou can eat dinner.

Their salmon sushi was bomb! My favorite rolls are the crunch roll and the seared salmon rolls.read more

Walked into this sushi restaurant randomly, and it was so good. Fish are so fresh, we enjoyed every…read moresingle bite. Serving size is great and sushi was made perfectly. Lunch special included ramen, sushi and rice bowls. Food came out quality and delicious, server was so friendly, Street parking depends on lucky, there also parking lot around the area. We will definitely come back again.

Akinori came highly recommended from a friend who lives in South Pasadena and takes his…read moresophisticated eight-year-old for father-and-son sushi lunches. I'm always interested in quality sushi joints that aren't so expensive you can't take a child and stayed alert for a chance to visit. I went with my mom for a quick Monday lunch before she dropped me off for vision correction surgery (which makes Akinori one of the last places I wore glasses). We only had about forty-five minutes, and this was just enough time for a light meal at the sushi bar. The restaurant was small and casual, and we opted to sit at the counter. There were a few other customers, and service was friendly and timely, but not fast. The chefs were skillful and deliberate, and they made delicious sushi. We started with snow crab sunomono, a nice light appetizer of vinegary cucumber and seaweed with a few meaty hunks of sweet crab. Then we got some nigiri: red snapper, black snapper, and tuna sets, which came with akami, toro takuan, ootoro, maguro zuke, and seared ootoro. Every piece was fantastic, the fish fresh, the nigiri delicatelly formed. Finally, I couldn't resist the maximalist Akinori roll, with spicy shrimp and langostino rolled with rice in soy paper, possibly tempura fried, then topped with spicy tuna, eel sauce, spicy mayo, chives, and tobiko. I love an over-the-top spicy-tuna-centric roll, and this one was deeply satisfying. Akinori also does ramen and teriyaki and offers a bunch of reasonable lunch specials. You can eat here pretty cheap, or spend as much as you desire on good quality nigiri. I live almost 20 miles from Pasadena, but I hope to visit this place again.

Been eating here for years but finally leaving a short review…read more There is really no other Katsu place nearby that does it like Kazu Mori. Like others have said, portion sizes are MASSIVE and can easily feed 2 people. The sauces for the cabbage and katsu are delicious. I've had their curry sauce and cheese katsu as well and those were also all delicious. Their udons were okay, but the main attraction is their chicken or pork katsu. 5/5 definitely would come back every now and then when I'm craving katsu!

The volume.... Whoa! They give you a lot of food! The curry…read moretastes like it was homemade (not out of the box). It is inside the H Mart food court, so seating is basically bench style or bar height counter. Easy to order and they make the food fresh~

Amazing Japan 7-11 quality experience; rice is hot and fish is cold, very authentic. Love it :)read more

We absolutely love KazuNori!…read more Since moving to the area, we've been stopping by on a weekly basis! Sometimes 2-3 times a week! Consistent quality, fast streamlined service and delicious hand rolls! Whenever we're thinking of going out for dinner, KazuNori is at the top of the list. We go so often! If they had a membership, we would easily be top tier members! We also love bringing people for the first time and sharing one of our favorite spots. Don't ever change, KazuNori!

So so good! I got the 15 course special with my partner and the flavors in every single course were…read moreamazing. There is a great mixture of sushi and yakiniku courses as well as some super refreshing palate cleansers between servings. The yakiniku literally melted in the mouth - yep that meat is special :) While it's not cheap here, the quality and taste really are worth it. The service was super fast and attentive, and the ambulance was classy yet comfortable. Easy parking too! Overall really recommended and I can't wait to come again!

Came here for their 10-course yakiniku experience and thought it was a great way to try a variety…read moreof dishes and wagyu cuts. The course featured both A5 Japanese and American wagyu and there was a lot of attention to detail throughout the meal. We started with the wagyu tartare and hamachi and both tasted super fresh. The steamed egg with abalone was silky smooth and comforting, while the cod was rich, buttery, and fatty in the best way. I also enjoyed the fresh crudité with the red miso dip as a lighter bite in between courses. The meats were definitely the highlight. The beef tongue was thick and flavorful, and I especially liked the scallion kosho because it balanced out some of the richness. The ribeye, short rib, and chuck were beautifully marbled, and the fresh wasabi was a nice touch that complemented the meat well instead of overpowering it. We also ordered the bone marrow rice on the side and I'm glad we did. It was rich, packed with flavor, and had chunks of meat mixed throughout. Our server also brought out birthday shots poured through the bone marrow which made the experience extra fun and memorable. Finished everything off with mandarin sorbet and vanilla ice cream which was refreshing after such a rich meal. Overall a fun dining experience with quality ingredients and good service.

Ducks is a really cool izakaya-like hole in the wall with an impossible-to-decide-from menu because…read moreit's full of japanese bangers. Once you walk in you get their double AC atmosphere with friend servers that make you feel like a regular at a local spot. Their beer selection is tastefully selected with beers you may not usually see at typically restaurants. Perfect for a chill, fun hangout spot for the night.

If you're in a mood for a simple meal delicious meal at a decent price, Ducks is the way to go…read more When I was growing up, I would eat udon or soba noodles as a simple meal. As an adult, I would crave it, but sometimes I just didn't have the energy or the ingredients to make the dish or it would be super expensive to eat this at a Japanese restaurant. I was craving something simple on a random weekday night and I saw Ducks come up. I went over and even though it was past dinner time, it still was pretty busy. I decided on cold soba, udon, karage and pork cutlet. Food came out pretty quickly. My favorite was the cold soba (simple and delicious) and the karage (perfect batter and chicken). The cold udon was ok, but I think it would have been better hot. The pork cutlet was also decent. I'm definitely going to come back here. They have a lunch special that I really want to try and other items that looked tasty. I do want to warn though that I don't think that their AC works well (or maybe it doesn't work?), so it was super hot it there. If you get overly hot, definitely recommend picking up on hot days.

I finally got to try this place after failed attempts to get in line in the past and the food did…read morenot disappoint! My friend and I shared the following dishes: -Carlos Jewel Box: My favorite dish here. I just loved the variety. Sashimi and fried seafood on a bed of fluffy and seasoned rice. Also a nice umami kick from the ikura. The sashimi was tasty and standard, but I really enjoyed the fried seafood bites. The tempura batter was great and the seafood was nice and plump. -Tendon Combo with Cold Udon: Same notes for the tempura here, the batter was great and the tempura here is on another level. I also liked the half boiled egg and breaking the yolk into the rice, so delicious! The cold udon dipping noodles were also tasty and refreshing. Great for hot weather. I enjoyed the texture of the noodles. The value of each set was pretty good for what it was and the food was good quality. This restaurant is located in a cute alleyway with good outdoor ambiance. I enjoyed dining outdoors. The service here was great and the servers were kind. There's usually a wait to eat here. You put your name in on the tablet located at the restaurant and sometimes they have a waitlist available on the Yelp app to enter in. Overall, a great spot and I would definitely come back for good Japanese Food/Tempura.

LOL - I don't know what's wrong with this place. I've been to their other location. I was there 7…read moreminutes before opening. I wanted to look at the menu to order to go. I was handed one by a staff member, but another came over and ripped it out of my hands and told me that wasn't allowed. As a fellow Asian I get that people from the motherland of the rising sun likes rules. But me looking at the menu to order in 7 minutes before isn't going to kill anyone. I left and came back and got my food. The food is delicious, but that was unnecessary.

I had probably the best restaurant experience I've ever had this past Monday evening at Tokyo Soul,…read moreand it wasn't just cuz of the delicious fare, but also because of [& overwhelmingly so] the abundant hospitality that was shown to me and my friend. (: How it started: I showed up a couple min prior to their 5:30pm opening time and got welcomed in. Before I even sat down, a stranger at the corner table asked if I liked beer, to which I said yes, so he recommended the Suntory premium malt draft beer. I decided to go ahead & order it and liked it quite a bit & let the table of friends know. Before I knew it, I'd be introduced to Stan, one of the sunniest people you'll ever meet. He & his friends pretty much make the big decisions for the mall and are somewhat more involved w/ a handful of places like Tokyo Soul. It was such a privilege to be on the receiving end of their warmth, generosity, and openness. My friend & I ended up getting to try some of the items they're planning to introduce the following week (which I won't post pics of, just to keep it a surprise :P) as we continued getting to learn s'more about our new friends, interspersed by the continuation of my & my friend's own convos. We felt lucky that we got to be served by Edward too (a mentee of Stan's), who usually doesn't work that shift, but his friendliness was definitely one of the first things I noted as I got seated. The hospitality that night outshined the food only because it was like nothing I've experienced in LA. However, the food can hold its own, and though my conversations w/ my friend + Stan & co. meant I was eating my pork katsu curry rice way past its prime state, the dish was still so flavorful that it was a delight to eat even cold. What a Monday night to remember. Thank you Stan & co. for taking care of us so well!

I always pass by the spot but with a toddler, the hours of operation never really worked for us…read morewhere I can sit down to eat a meal inside or it's closed when we are here in the mall. Only option was finally to get takeout today. A little pricey for what it is. Not much rice or curry. Didn't really fill me up after paying almost $50 for sharing beef curry rice medium spice and hayashi rice. It came with miso soup on the side and bc of the cyclospora outbreak, they weren't serving salad so refunded me $4. The beef in the curry rice was too beefy and chewy. The medium spice didn't really have a kick to it. The meat in the hayashi rice tastes like hot pot meats and the flavoring in that didn't have enough OOOMPHH if you know what I mean. Since it's located in the mall, there's plenty of parking available. This restaurant is on the 2nd floor right next to Nordstrom.