I came here for lunch (no res) right when they opened on a Saturday! I had a great experience and…read moreservice was good. I ordered the pork and fried oyster combo and everything was delicious! I love the additional sides of the soup and veggies to pair with the katsu and oyster. The fried oysters were super juicy and were cooked perfectly! I would come back and try their other katsu dishes!

One of the reasons I love LA is the variety of food available. You can find something great from…read moreanywhere in the world. And it's more than just the usual suspects. You can find sushi in most places. But Japan has more to offer. Kagura offers some of that variety, and they do it well. I've had katsu before but not Millefeuille Cheese Katsu. I'd never had Sea Urchin Pasta before either. I recommend both. I also recommend asking for the tables in the rear. Service was nice, but a bit slow. They have a small parking area in the alley behind the restaurant. Street parking an also available.

Came here for a birthday lunch and it was obviously a favorite of locals. The ladies who work here…read moreare fast, efficient and friendly. For my main meal I ordered the chirashi meal. Nice set of sashimi. Friends ordered the tonkatsu and tempura teishoku. Food is well prepared here. Everything was tasty!

The restaurant is located adjacent to Abalone Ave, different from the location that was shown on…read moreApple/Google Maps. While you were at the corner, you would see its noticeable sign. It felt causal and cozy inside, simple and clean. We arrived late at around 1:30 pm on a Saturday afternoon but the waitress was patient and friendly, guiding us to seats and let us know to order before their kitchen was closed. It had a lunch special menu which showed several special items at a very affordable price. We picked the Negitoro Bowl from this special menu (at half of the regular price). The tuna had a balanced fat and was minced in a manner that I felt it melt in my mouth. It's a good match with rice. The Kaisen Bowl had a variety of seafoods and all of them tasted very fresh! The salty fish roe made the rice more flavorful. The Kaisen Bowl came with a miso soup and a salad. We also ordered a soba which was well cooked. We definitely will go back to try more dishes!

One of the best things about Sundays is being able to enjoy yakitori for lunch here. It's a bit of…read morea drive from my home, but it's absolutely worth it. With the recent rise in the cost of living, we don't eat out nearly as often as we used to. And after seeing how reasonably priced restaurants are in Japan, I usually prefer to cook at home since I can recreate many dishes myself. But this place is in a league of its own. The chicken liver is simply outstanding--without a doubt the best I've had in the U.S. The service is also exceptional, warm, and attentive. Yes, it's more expensive than eating yakitori in Japan, but it's worth every penny. Since I only get to visit Japan once a year, Torihei is my one and only choice whenever I'm craving authentic yakitori that I simply can't make at home.

We went here at a Thursday evening for dinner and we were sitting at the bar…read moreMy friend said he has been this restaurant before so he highly recommended it It reminded me so much of the vibe of Japan We ordered so many dishes last night and all the grilled chicken are all good I personally love the grilled ginkgo nuts because it is so delicious and very rarely to see restaurants serving it with shells The service was really good and it is a great place to hang out with friends and families Have a drink paring with the food definitely it the best way to enjoy the food there Somehow, I noticed the little hallway entering the back kitchen and also inside of the lady's room smells bad I am not sure it is the plumbing issue or something but the smell is irritating and unpleasant Other than that, everything is very good Note: the restaurant is located at the plaza with 85 degrees bakery so the parking is plenty and easy to find a space

Writing another updated review since my very first experience nearly 5 months back. I came last…read moreweek and had a much smoother, more pleasant experience that time around. Got a beer, the cabbage and onion side w/ponzu sauce, 1 order of the Unagi skewers, 2 orders of the Tsukune skewers, and closed out with the Torikawa Chips (crispy chicken skin). I've noticed the Tsukune shape has changed since the grand opening. I applaud the adjustment as the meatball still holds up well, remains moist & succulent, and these came out quicker compared to my previous visits. Service was reasonably paced. None of my items were missing so I didn't have to awkwardly ask for anything to be removed from my bill. The only time I had to call the staff over was to place my orders and ask for the check. I believe the last time I came 1.5 months ago, the kitchen apologized profusely for missing one of my skewer orders and I was comped with a complimentary beverage. By no means necessary - orders flow in during rush hour, mistakes/things happen in food service. But I did deeply appreciate the gesture. Will try to come around for lunch or happy hour soon. I look forward to watching this place to blossom in the Torrance Japanese Cuisine community overtime!

Chef that prepares food made our visit a horrible experience…read more I was dining with a guest. Ordered two chicken skewers, two veggie skewers, rice and miso soup. The Miso soup came out first. Five minutes later a bowl of rice came out. 3rd comes out one of the chicken skewers. I patiently waited for the remained of the food to come out so we can eat together. I look up and notice that the chef cooking the food was doing nothing and kept looking at me...as if I did something bad to him. I continued to wait. I kept noticing that the chef was doing nothing and kept giving me an evil look. I did not feed into the chef's evil antics. I notified the server (a young gentleman) that seated us, and mentioned that we were waiting on remaining food so we can eat together. Still no remaining food was delivered. I asked the (young lady server) and mentioned to her that we are still waiting. I did mention that I observed the restaurant was pretty empty and asked why my small table order would not come out together and mentioned that I felt the chef took it upon himself to have myself and my guest wait. By this time the double order of veggie skewers comes out (still waiting on my guest chicken skewer). Again the chef is giving me a mean mugging look again, like he decides when he is ready to give us our food. Finally, the 2nd chicken skewer (which is the last item) finally arrives. By this time, my first item (the 1st chicken skewer) is now cold. I ended up letting my server know that my 1st skewer was cold and to just send it back, by this time my appetite was ruined and the chicken was cold. After the server got a manager override, to take the first (cold) skewer off, it was taken off the bill. I ended up not eating and watched my guest eat their meal and we left. The servers were very apologetic. I let the servers know that it was not their fault, I advised that in the future it would be a good idea, to bring the proteins and veggies out together. Also I let the servers know that there was no excuse for the chef's behavior, since the restaurant was very slow. Nevertheless, I did leave a proper tip, because the servers should not have to suffer due to the chef behind kitchen was not properly doing his job and attending to the guest orders. I would recommend this place if the chef can pay attention and deliver orders in a complete manner and not piece out one item at a time...especially in this realistic situation aforementioned.

Glad we got there early, when we finished dinner the whole restaurant was a packed house, all the…read moretables were taken. Good food, good service, good price tonight was a win win all the way around and the kicker was parking was a breeze considering that parking lot is always full.

to keep it short, they forgot they sat us down. they didn't take our order for over 30 minutes and…read moreafter they did there was a lot forgotten like my takeout order i think had gotten lost after being placed. i should've said something a lot sooner regarding having our order taken especially because i was in a time crunch but i don't like the thought of rushing workers especially when it's a smaller business with less people. my coworker i went with has been many times but said this never happens so this was a first for us. i think the language barrier also played a factor as well, however, the table sitting next to us who spoke fluent japanese also never received their check and was forgotten too. it was not busy. but the owners seemed to prioritize the other side of the restaurant instead. nonetheless, they were apologetic and we still ate and the food was very good, id recommend coming here on a day you are not busy!

Atmosphere - Clean, lots of indoor seating. No wait on Thursday evening…read more Taste - We ordered the Manager's Special, Matsui Bowl and Hand Roll Combination. Udon and Soba sauce was flavorful and authentic tasting. Shrimp tempura was crispy. Customer Service - Excellent. Staff were attentive and friendly. Price - Average

I was just starting to eat my meal when the sat a large group breaking them in to tables on both…read moresides of me. So people needed to squeeze by and then one guy asked if he could sit for a moment at my table. I said okay. But then I think he planned to stay at my table until finally my waiter moved him! There was a seat at one their tables the whole time. Then their waitress wedge herself with her back toward me in between the tables and I had to stop eating. Very disruptive and rude. Taking a while for the six people to order so I nudged her and I asked her to move and she seemed upset that I did that but didn't say anything no apology so it was very uncomfortable and I was rushing through my food so I burnt my tongue on the hot soup again even though I knew it was hot because I just wanted to get out of there. And then when I was done, I had to wait a while for the check and then they couldn't process the Apple Pay at the table so then I had to go to the front and wait for somebody to attend to me there overall this experience was not fun and stressful and I had got there right when they opened. I sure wish I had selected a different seat!! I wouldn't get the Nabeyaki soup again. It was really big and had a lot of end pieces of tough napa cabbage. There were two pieced of shitake mushroom and the standard thin fish cake slice. There was and egg in the soup and a three small chicken pieces. On the side were three small pieces of green bean and two tempura shrimp.

The food truly was very good! We tried both the uni ebi pasta and the uni truffle pasta with added…read moreshrimp. Both uni pastas were amazing! If you like uni, then the uni pastas are definitely worth a try! The shrimp was fresh. There are other pasta dishes that were fine too for the ones that don't fancy uni. Will definitely go back!

WOW. All I can say is WOW. Ordered the uni truffle pasta and Burrata Caprese…read more this is quite possible the best pasta I've had in my entire life. Mind you, I love Italian, real deal handmade pasta and rich luxurious sauces. This is different. spaghetti is good, al dente. It's the flavor profile that is mind blowing! Not too salty, not too rich. a perfectly indulgent, balanced flavor that isn't Italian or Japanese but rather it's own amazing creation of deliciousness. it had a lingering flavor that i want to stay for a little while longer. will be back for this alone! And the buratta caprese was a notch above too.

Izakaya Hachi has cold beer and perfect food to compliment the beer. Came here on a Friday night…read more Got some hot dishes and cold dishes and they all hit pretty hard. Went with a chef's sampler of skewers and got four delicious yakitori skewers. Got delicious chicken wings and chicken karaage that were addictive and the perfect bar food. After eating these dishes, we got a piece of wagyu sashimi (raw) with uni, which was a great bite and we closed our meal with some yuzu snapper carpaccio. Overall, I'm so glad we came here for an after-work meal. It's not cheap, but I was pleased with the portions and the quality of everything we had. We will definitely come back to get some more meat and beer!

You have to make a reservation to eat here and you have 2 hours to eat. It's located in a strip…read moremall, which has enough parking! The interior feels authentically Japanese and all the servers speak Japanese as well! We chose the party course which requires a minimum of 4 people to eat! Overall, the pacing of the meal was good. The service was good, but we did feel a bit rushed at the end even though we only spent around 1 hour there. The highlights of the course were the Uni + Wagyu spoon bite, the pressed mackerel sushi, and the beef tongue. Some of the lowlights were the octopus salad and the sashimi was good but nothing super special compared to what you can get at other Japanese supermarkets in the area. Overall, it was good if you're looking for an authentic Japanese meal!