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    Pepper Lunch

    3.6 (445 reviews)
    ModerateSeafood, Teppanyaki
    Closed 11:00 am - 9:30 pm
    Updated 2 months ago

    Order Pepper Lunch Takeout or Delivery

    Pepper Lunch Photos

    PEPPER LUNCH ATMOSPHERE

    What's the vibe?
    Casual
    Trendy
    Moderate noise
    Good for groups

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    Recommended Reviews - Pepper Lunch

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    Victoria C.

    Stopped by again on a random Thursday around 3:30 p.m., so the restaurant wasn't very busy. You order through a kiosk and pay first, and then the food is brought to your table once it's ready. The meal still comes out on a hot stone with a paper splash guard. You mix everything together and season the rice and meat yourself using the sauces provided. This time I ordered the half-and-half with beef and salmon. Overall, my opinion hasn't changed too much since my last visit. The food is decent, but it doesn't really stand out to me. The biggest thing that still throws me off is the meat-to-rice ratio. There's a lot of rice compared to the amount of meat, and it feels like the portions have gotten a bit smaller over time. That said, I was pleasantly surprised by the salmon. It was actually better than I expected--tender, flavorful, and probably my favorite part of the meal. I just wish there had been a little more of it. Overall, it's still a solid option if you're craving Pepper Lunch, but for me, it's just an okay meal rather than somewhere I'd specifically go out of my way to visit.

    Large, so more meat
    Thuy H.

    We need a light lunch and want to visit cafe 86 so we give this place a try as it is in the same plaza. It is semi self service. We order at the kiosk and find a spot to sit. They bring out utensils and food when it is ready. The place is pretty small so it feel tight. For the price, it was little meat. Better off to order the large as they give you more meat instead. The flavor in my opinion is lack of salt. The sauce to pour on is more sweet than salt. We also order the kid chicken tender bowl. The chicken was so cold, we end up trying to cook it on hot place. The fries was good but definitely not the chicken. I wouldn't order that again.

    Two Meat Sizzling Curry
    David N.

    Every-time I go to this shopping center there's always parking. There's so many good spots to pick from but Pepper lunch never misses. Parking 5/5 My go to dish is Two meat sizzling curry with Beef and Hamburg. Brings me back to Japan! Omg it was good. Also really filling 5/5 The customer service was great and there was plenty of seats as well. Very friendly staff and very helpful. Great lighting and there was also extra sauces at the table. The restaurant is really clean as well! 5/5

    Nikki Y.

    Pepper Lunch!!! The beef pepper lunch is my go to! I ordered it on the app and it was ready within 15-20 minutes. Parking was pretty easy but can be challenging during rush hour eating times. The quality of food is always good! It not too greasy but perfectly seasoned. Thank you for a perfect and delicious meal (:

    Nhi T.

    Ordering is easy, as you place your order through the kiosk and sit wherever you like. The server was quick to provide us with our water cups once we sat down. I got the regular beef. The food came out fast. Food was fine. It was simple. It just had rice, corn, beef, and pepper. I added some garlic sauce for additional flavor. We went on a Sunday night and it wasn't busy. The restaurant was clean.

    Sizzle it your way
    Ashley V.

    So simple yet so quick and convenient! I was craving for some beef pepper rice from Pepper Lunch, and my cravings were indeed satisfied. Also got the sweet potato fries and the jumbo beef pepper rice, which were all tasty! Service is friendly and wonderful-- servers offered to answer any questions and provided utensils/brought out our dishes in a timely manner. The only downside, for me, is that it is pretty pricey for the amount of meat you're given. The jumbo beef pepper rice is supposed to have more meat, yet I can barely tell the difference from the regular vs. the jumbo. Price point as of April 2026 for the jumbo beef pepper rice is around $19-$20.

    Dylan A.

    I go here all the time. The rice and meat options are all so delicious and savory. I usually get their rice with beef and I add a side of their curry. Their curry enhances the flavor and makes it so much more worthwhile. Service was great every time I went. The restaurant's atmosphere was also very pleasing and has a simplistic theme.

    "Jumbo" beef
    Cody L.

    I was really disappointed with my visit to Pepper Lunch Artesia. I ordered the Jumbo Beef Pepper Rice and a Salmon Pepper Rice. When the server first brought out the dishes, we received a Beef Rice and a Salmon & Beef Rice. No big deal. We informed them, and they returned with a Beef Rice and a Salmon-only Rice. However, this is where things went downhill. It felt like they just removed the beef from the salmon & beef plate and added it to the other beef plate. The result was a half empty salmon plate and a "jumbo" beef plate that had only a few extra pieces of beef. I've seen the Jumbo Beef at their Irvine location, and what I got here did not resemble that at all. Super underwhelming and far below expectations. When I asked the server about it, their response was nonchalant, confirming it was indeed the "jumbo" without as much as a glance at what was at our table. On top of that, the food itself at the Artesia location seemed lacking in flavour. The dishes were greasy and bland; I had to drench everything in garlic sauce just to get any taste. Overall, this visit left me disappointed, and I hope the Artesia branch works on consistency and flavour to match other locations.

    LA version of Pepper Lunch: beef and salmon with rice, corn, and scallions on a cast-iron plate.
    Edrick G.

    I lived in Japan for four years, so I'm very familiar with Pepper Lunch. This LA version delivers great flavor and stays mostly true to the concept. The taste is solid, though I felt they went a bit heavy on the butter compared to Japan. Portions are generous and filling when dining in. I also ordered the same beef and salmon dish to go. While the flavor was consistent, the portion was noticeably smaller than the dine-in order. One downside was cleanliness--the place felt a bit dirty during my visit, which seemed likely due to being understaffed rather than neglect. Overall, good food and satisfying, but consistency and cleanliness could use improvement.

    Vincent S.

    Really good experience here. I enjoyed how easy it was to order on their large iPads, and the food came out relatively quick. The food comes out hot and is seasoned decently well. I'd say the only thing I wish is that the portions were bigger. Also, the layout of the inside is kind of weird, and I also wish they changed it to be a bit more organized, particularly with the tables and their placement. But overall decent place with good food.

    Classic Sizzling Rice w/ Garlic Chips and Green Onions
    Dinah G.

    tldr; a pretty bad review Ok, I love Pepper Lunch, and I frequent this place at LEAST quarterly. BUT, service on Sunday 4/26/26 around 1:45PM was not it. There was a female employee, a little on the shorter side with dyed blonde hair, bold winged eyeliner, and tats who just really came off as rude. My friends and I came in for a post-church lunch and were a party of 10. However, we all came straggling in, so in bits and pieces. This employee gave us attitude and rolled her eyes when she noticed us saving seats for our friends yet to come. There isn't a policy posted against it, so I don't understand why she reacted that way. After, another employee offered us the large table near the entrance, but they just needed to clean it (a party was there when we had first entered). I and my friends present at the time decided to put our orders in at the kiosk while we waited. So we wait patiently and then headed over. As we were trying to figure out our seating arrangement, the original female employee (who had rolled her eyes) brought out two plates and was holding them. We were trying to figure out who ordered what when she just blurted out "I'm just gonna put these down" in a really sarcastic and annoyed tone and then just walked away. Literally she might as well have told us "your problem, not mine." I understand the hot plates were heavy, and I'm not disagreeing that she should've put them down. BUT, she could have kindly asked to set them down or been more helpful but letting us know which number the plates corresponded to, but she didn't even do that. Literally just set them down and dipped. I definitely felt really angry because she cannot talk to my friends like that. Terrible customer service skills. Will I come back here? Probably because I love the food (portions are getting smaller though). But if I get this girl again, I WILL bring saying something next time to her and management because this is unacceptable. I hope management can address this issue so there isn't a next time for this type of service, whether it's me or someone else.

    Chicken kaarage
    Jojo M.

    I'm going straight to the food. DELICIOUS! It must be the pepper mixed in the rice or steaks. I ordered the ribeye and salmon hot skillet sizzling plate. I wish the steak and salmon portion was much bigger but it was enough. The peppery and flavored butter on my steak and salmon was pure perfection with my bowl of rice. Still thinking about it and wish they would put one here in santa monica,ca. It would be a great location on sawtelle blvd.. japantown.. hint hint. The service was friendly and patient. Although it was busy we were never rushed. The grade A restaurant was clean. Wish they had more bathrooms though. A little line for the girls 1 restroom. But all in all .. wish I can go back.. like.. now.

    Ciel E.

    Food was so freaking good and Shankar was such an incredibly helpful worker. I'm definetely gonna come back here often.

    Jumbo Beef Pepper Rice (mixed)

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    1 year ago

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    1 month ago

    i love pepper lunch. tried the new garlic brisket pepper rice and it was sooo fire. shankar provided some great customer service too :)

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    1 year ago

    Order at the counter, and have a seat. Had the pepper steak combo with sweet potato and another order of onion rings.

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    Page 2 of 12

    Pepper Lunch Reviews in Other Languages

    Ask the Community - Pepper Lunch

    Are you save Beer and wine?

    Togo orders should come with sauces and utensils right? Love this place and the food but this is the second time I didn't get sauces and utensils. I should've checked myself but I have a short lunch

    If we have a party of 20, could we be seated together?

    Yes

    Can I get it with no corn? I can't really eat corn ://

    Absolutely, it is customizable!

    When is the grand opening?

    I was told by Pepper Lunch it is on Sat Nov 23 at 11:00pm! There will be a raffle and free giveaways!

    Are they open yet for business?

    No they are not.

    When is the opening?

    Their social media said the soft opening is this Thursday 11/14 at 1pm. That's all the info they have provided so far.

    View All 10 Questions

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    I ordered the fillet and jumbo shrimp plate and upgraded with chicken fried rice and garlic…read morenoodles. I wanted to try a lot of things she did not want to waste of space for the veggies although they did look good. I ordered the chili oil and the garlic butter. The garlic butter easily was shared between the fillet and the shrimp adding a nice umami flavor. The garlic oil was smoky and not too hot. The chicken fried rice in my opinion was better than Benihana's or just as good. Although the garlic noodles were a little sweet from my liking, I was evil easily able to alter them to something. I enjoyed with some chili oil and soy sauce. It tone down the sweet. Simple, clean decor. Several ways to see the menu on the wall LCD or by the counter. The service was very good, quick and kind. The quality of the product was very good. The fillet almost melted in your mouth, and the shrimp was cooked well without being rubbery. I spent $52 here to upgrade two chicken fried rice and garlic noodles. They have plenty of parking a huge parking lot, limited seating, maybe eight tables or so, mostly four tops.

    This place is quite small but it can hold a group of 6,7 people if it is not busy…read more The service was ok. Just know it takes about 30-45 minutes to get your food. The food is actually really really flavorful the lobster I had was very tender and juicy and the jumbo shrimp were a good l size. I would have ordered the chowmein though instead of the rice because the chowmein was way better! After discussing with the family we enjoyed it but it is 4 stars since it does take quite a while to have your meal and the customer service could be better. The food itself carries this place but 5 stars if they can improve service!

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    Gyu-Kaku Japanese BBQ

    3.5(929 reviews)
    0.4 mi
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    It's been a while since we ate here, we used to come in regularly when we drove back from South…read moreBay. I'v always liked their menu varieties in addition to meats. Glad we decided to come in for lunch on a Saturday. Place is still the same with cozy and spacious seating. We started off with bottle of code sake and draft beers at only $2.5 each. They have AYCE menu now but we can't eat that much especially I don't eat meats. All day happy hour menu is great deal on a lot of items. We have tried a few appetizers and BBQ meats, veggies and seafood, also beyond meat bibimbap. The dishes were very fresh in healthy portions. I loved the garlic shrimps and spinach. The chili crisp and scallion sauces were very good with BBQ. The service was fast and attentive. A fantastic Japanese BBQ restaurant to visit from time to time!

    So last night my whole party received their food. I ordered a damn salad with shrimp.Everyone got…read moretheir appetizers which all of it was fried, got their meats to cook and even on their second round and I still did NOT get my salad with shrimp. I waited for almost 40 minutes for my salad and hahaha they still made me pay for it. Let me tell you that this has been the worst service I've ever had. There was no apology from any staff at all. One staff just yelled in the kitchen where's the salad and I still has to wait after that. The salad was actually delicious. And the ambience was clean. I'll give them that. But this establishment is not like how it was back when I was a frequent customer. The staff uhhh well we got a thank you from one. He's probably the owner or the manager. Anyways, I know they get a lot of customers and this review is not going to change anything but next time when someone orders a salad, please bring it out. How hard is it to put lettuce, tomato, dressing, avo and shrimp in a bowl???

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    0.2 mi
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    Food was good, service slow tonight. Not sure why it's not busy…read more Waitress Ericka was good. Food hot and quick. Management needs to be more attentive. Dirty tables since we sat down and still left that way when we got up to leave. Place is dusty right where we sat.

    Service is horrible. Tony, at least that's what I thought I saw on his name tag, our server, came…read moreby once and asked, "What do you want to drink?" We waited for about 15 minutes before he came back. At this time there were about 8 tables occupied, well below half of the restaurant. He came by, out of peripheral vision and loudly said, "Ready?" Not aware he was talking to us, I turned almost behind me, and he was standing by the next booth. I told him I was ready, but my family had just went to the bathroom. Before finishing my sentence, he had already started walking away. Probably another 10 minutes, same thing, except he stood by our table. "Ready?!" He again said loudly and rudely. A family member ordered, he stayed quiet and just stared at us. Someone had a question about an item and he just said, "whatever it says on the menu." Like dude, if you don't want to be here and be helpful to people, go home. We finally get our order in, our water cups are empty. He eventually comes over when one of the orders is ready, says the name of the item, leaves it at the end of the table and leaves. He does this with every order. My family and I need water but this guy clearly doesn't care to be aware of people. Even a son who took his mom out for lunch was fed up at the next table. He started saying, "Excuse me" louder and raised his hand to get the servers attention. Our server didn't return to our table until he dropped off the check. I'll take my family an hour away to Sawtelle instead of dealing with the lack of service here. Food was ok, nothing to write home about. Music was a little loud, wall decor was nice, a lot of the booth seats had rips.

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    Benihana

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    3.3(4.3k reviews)
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    For starters, I went in expecting the worst from the service at the Downey location based on…read moreprevious reviews, but fortunately for us, we did not have horrible service. So yay to that! We had our reservation for 3:15pm and were seated by 3:30pm. Our waitress immediately took our drink order. We ordered our food, everything was pretty prompt considering we were a group of 10 (8 adults/2 children). When we received the bill, it seemed kind of high, but everyone had to leave to other plans so we paid and went about our day. When I got home and reviewed it, I realized that clearly 8 adults either don't know how to properly read a menu or it's not super duper clear where the extras come into play... when the waitress initially took our food order, one of the questions was whether we wanted white rice or their chicken fried rice and when you ordered your meat you were asked which sauce you wanted. WELL.. let me tell you, it was $8.30 for ONE serving of chicken fried rice per person and it was $6 per sauce (truffle butter)... basically an extra $14.30 per plate if you're not paying attention, which I guess we weren't!? Also, I'm assuming kid's drinks are more expensive than a regular soft drink or iced tea because they come in a reusable plastic cup with a lid. Iced Tea/Soda $4.50 vs. kids juice/lemonade $6 Anyways, besides the lack of clearer explanation of the additional costs, it was an overall fun experience for our group. We were celebrating my aunt's birthday and our chef, Maria, was amazing with her jokes and food drawings of hearts, my aunts name and the little volcano fire show towards the end. Although we had fun, I feel like coming to this Benihana or any wouldn't be too often because of the cost.

    One of horrendous experience I've had in my life. I give one star for the chef who entertained us…read moreand the food was at least good. Otherwise this place deserves ZERO star. We made a reservation a month ago for 6:30pm and wasn't seated until 7:10pm. We were finally able to eat around 7:45pm. Where we were seated, in the back room with no window, with boxes stashed with a trash of energy drink can I found food bits from the last round and the table oily. I understand the placement but the cleanliness and tidiness has to be corrected. As I started eating the rice, I found something in my rice which was a black, gooey wax thing. The server didn't even apologize, he just brought the new one. I also found our server not too kind when the ventilation is extremely loud in the room how he talks is smaller volume than a mosquito can. There was an elderly in our group but no one also could hear him. You must hate your job but it's none of our business. The restroom was dirty with all toilet paper on the floor. Can't any of the host/hostess clean while they are chitchatting and waiting for the table? Extremely bad management.

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    Me and my friend were craving All You can Eat sushi and this place popped up on Yelp so decided to…read moretry it out. We arrived 30 minutes before the lunch buffet was over & what a race to feed our face! Lol I went to the line first and came back w/ plate full of assrtd sushi, fresh baked fish, noodles, broccoli beef and crispy orange chicken. When my friend got her plate and returned to our table, I was in shoCk to see all the crab legs, crawfish, mussels and miso spup! I was like... where did you find that? Lol I felt like I chose poorly. Haha Overall a good lunch feast for about $22 bucks each and plenty of seats.

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