I've been going here for over 10 years. I've recommended many people. I noticed a difference in…read morethe flavor since the new ownership. But last night was the worst ever. The Tonkotsu miso ramen. They are clearly being cheap or taking shortcuts because the broth is more watered down than when they first took over the place. They are now adding more MSG because I got a huge migraine by the end of the night. The staff was super friendly as usual tho. I really hope they turn things around or they will continue to lose customers.

Our first experience here was great with our server as he was really attentive to my boyfriend's…read moredietary restrictions. When he mentioned he was vegan, the server actually informed us that the noodles have egg in it and to swap it out for spinach. We returned a few weeks later and when ordering, he mentioned again he was vegan. The server took our order and mentioned the veggie miso uses veggie broth, no mention of the noodles. Since it was our 2nd visit here, we didn't remember the egg noodles until my bowl came out. We flagged the server down and once again mentioned his dietary restriction and asked if it's too late to sub out the noodles. He mentioned the ramen was already done but could ask the kitchen. We offered to pay for that bowl and taking it to go while they just made a new one for us that was 100% vegan. He said it was fine and they would just remake it. When his food came out, the server lectured us about next time to let him know of any "special requests" that we had ahead of time even though he did mention he was VEGAN when ordering. I nicely informed him we had only been there 1 other time so didn't remember that the noodles were egg noodles. My boyfriend also chimed in saying that we knew it was our mistake and was why we offered to pay for that bowl to go and have them make another one. The server said it wasn't a big deal but continued lecturing us and stating they had to waste an entire bowl of ramen. When my boyfriend received his bowl it was clear to see that they didn't throw it away as the server claimed since his bowl was extremely messy. It looked like the kitchen was upset with us and made the bowl with anger as the toppings were all over the place. While we really enjoyed our first visit, we'll never come back.

My fiancé and I came here after church and the atmosphere was calm, which we liked…read more Highlight for me, and her was the spicy edamame. We killed it. Service was solid too, our server kept checking in on us but it wasn't too much. I got the chicken katsu combo plate, the chicken was crispy which I liked. My fiancé got the summer rolls, no complaints, and the salmon was fresh. Overall just a good experience, I'd come back.

Visited on a Sunday shortly after it opened and ordered to-go. The restaurant is located at a…read moreplaza, so there is plenty of parking. The restaurant has a very casual atmosphere. There was only one server and what it appeared to be one person in the kitchen. I ordered: - Combo A (Chicken Teriyaki with a choice of Gyoza or Cali Roll): I replaced the rice with extra salad. The salad came with a neon pink dressing that was a bit sweet. The salad wasn't properly dried, unfortunately, as there was a pool of water at the bottom. Though some pieces of the chicken was a bit dry, the bed of cabbage underneath soaked up some of the juices and glaze, compensating for the lack of moisture. The Cali Roll was packed and a solid side to the meal. - Rainbow Roll: Though it had large cuts of fish, it unfortunately was not the freshest I've tasted, and also not very tightly rolled. - Crunch Philadelphia Roll: Though not as tightly rolled (it fell apart slightly when I tried picking up a piece), I appreciate that they didn't skimp on the cream cheese. My favorite sushi so far from the 3. The food was prepared quickly, and everything totaled about $42-45, which I thought was reasonable. They have a few minor things to improve upon, but I can see this being a place college students can get food to-go between classes or even shopping patrons dining at for a decent meal.

Came across this cute little place inside Rodeo 39. As someone who's always on the hunt for yummy…read moreJapanese curry, I just had to give it a try. With several protein options available, I asked the young lady working there for her favorites, and she recommended the pork belly. The good: the curry itself is amazing! Love everything about it, even the slight kick of spiciness! The bad: the pork belly was so dry, hard and lacked any flavor! Also, the menu pics sort of made it look like they'd come breaded. So disappointed. I still believe this would've been amazing with any other protein, e.g. chicken katsu, spam katsu (hopefully), because the curry base is pretty incredible. However, that's difficult to say and rate presently because of the super dry pork belly and the young lady working there said it was her favorite. Will update if and when I find myself in the area and jonesing for their Japanese curry!

Stopped into rodeo39 for the first time and decided to try Kare. Really great portion for the price…read moreand the curry flavor was sooo rich and the right balance of spice, texture and thickness. Can't go wrong!

This is an awesome sushi spot. They have buy one get one 50% for their special rolls. They have a…read moreton of other items on their menus from appetizers, noodles, and bento. The bento you can pick either two or three items. The servers are quick and attentive. The restaurant is nicely decorated and has a handful of tables. There's a few mini claw machines at the entrance. Their food is delicious. The portions are pretty good and their sushi is fresh. I enjoyed their edamame and udon as well.

My wife saw the ad about Gomen Ramen restaurant on Instagram and we decided to go try some Ramen,…read moreshrimp fried rice, and something more but guess what? They are closed due to the sewer problem. Dissapointed! Then we found next door, called Crazy Rock'N sushi. My wife knew this place before but we never tried it yet. Tonight finally we got there. Vibes are young, dark lighting, trendy w open dining area in the middle, booth tables are on the wall. Most of customers are young. I got the menus and hard time to go over all together at a time. So many menus....appetizers, entrée, sushi, specialty rolls, sake list, and a lot more.... We had our fave menu all the time, got the same ones, 2 dragon rolls and 1 super Philly roll w hot Sake. We both said so good. The rice was perfect. Eel sauce was flavorful, thick, chunky, well balanced w fresh salmon and cream cheese. They gave us complementary corn soup in the beginning. Delicious! I got used to start miso soup first but typically corn soup is popular in Korea to give good appetite. The service was super fast, friendly. Price and quality both are great. I didn't know they had happy hour all day. We got 50% off for the 2nd roll. I didn't see any Japanese, korean staff including manager here. Seemed like korean ownership but no one was korean. Haha... We found a great sushi place again near our home. Definitely come again... My wife said, I wanted to try ice cream macarons but I was full. We will try other foods like Udon combo w tempura, Donburi, some macarons, and etc next time. Great vibes, great taste for sushi lovers. Loved happy hour.

Mother's Day celebration is a perfect occasion to come back to Cafe Hiro. The Omakase is the best…read moreoption when we are all together. For the omakase we get a choice of three appetizers, two pasta dishes, chefs choice entree, chefs choice risotto, and a choice of dessert for each person. Doesn't sound like a lot, but it's truly enough and you get a variety of choices. This visit we went with beef tataki, salmon burrata, deep fried oysters, shrimp tempura salad, eggplant and mushrooms pasta, Uni pasta, scallops risotto, and the prime steak. Each dish is an 8/10 or better. I would gate keep this place if I could, but many who don't know that good Japanese Cuisine is not just limited to sushi. Cafe Hiro- Gochisōsamadeshita Arigatō Gosaimasu

Well, well, well... look who finally crawled back after a few years. And guess what? Nothing's…read morechanged--not the decor, not the crowd (still empty at 6:30 on a Saturday--yikes), and definitely not the 'meh' factor. The scallop risotto? Still a banger. Must-order for sure. Dessert? Yep, still solid. But everything else? Let's just say the shrimp tempura salad, beef tataki, tuna tartare, beef tongue stew, and mentai spaghetti formed a perfect little symphony of average. No 'wow,' no fireworks, just... food that exists. Servers were friendly, though! Probably because they had plenty of time to chat with the only two tables in the whole dang dining room. So yeah. Same same but different? Nah. Just same same.

I was hungry--but more snacky than full-on hungry. After wandering the hall a bit, I grabbed three…read moreonigiri (aka omusubi... but let's be honest, "rice triangles" sticks better in my brain). Whatever you call them, they were legit. Freshly made with perfectly steamed rice, stuffed with sweet or spicy tuna and other tasty meats, then wrapped in just the right amount of salty seaweed. Simple, clean, and dialed in. Chef's kiss. This place quietly serves seriously good food. Pro tip: get the fork-fallen scraps. Trust me...worth it.

The place itself is extremely simple. No wow factor. However, the food it's good. Has a decent…read moreamount of flavors. Their strawberry lemonade is good!! Try it.

This location has a smaller food court compared to the one on Paularino, but it does give you the…read moreoption of having access boiled hot water and a microwave. They have a variety of Japanese foods, treats, beverages, and alcoholic beverages. I just love Mitsuwa stores in general. We unfortunately didn't get in until just about closing time for the Food Court. It would've been sooner had I not needed to clean up my youngest daughter who got carsick the moment we parked the car... we drove out from Vegas. But this location was just five minutes away from the hotel we were going to spend the night in. Hopefully if we come back to this area, we will be able to get here sooner and have a better experience and opportunity to order from a larger selection of restaurants in the Food Court that will be open.

It was my first time visiting this location, and I usually go to the one in Costa Mesa. This one…read morefelt less crowded, which I appreciated, but it also had fewer food options. I ordered the karaage with curry. The food came out hot and fresh, which was a plus. The curry itself was pleasant, leaning a bit on the sweeter side. The karaage had a light batter and was fried nicely the chicken was juicy and paired well with the curry. Overall, while the food was enjoyable, I'd still prefer going to the Costa Mesa location because it offers more variety when it comes to food.

This Omusubi Gonbei is located inside Mitsuwa's food court. After shopping at Mitsuwa, my husband…read moreand I decided to walk over to the food court, just to see what other food vendors are here (it makes me sad that this Mitsuwa was not here when I used to live in Cypress many years ago). After we walked right in front of Omusubi Gonbei, we both decided to get some onigiri. We were greeted by a smiling and friendly employee behind the counter when we approached this little eatery. We ended up purchasing: Spicy Tuna, $2.70 prior to tax- My husband decided to order this and really enjoyed it. I didn't have any because I am not much of a spicy eater. But my husband enjoyed it. Grilled Eel, $3.60 prior to tax- My husband and I split this one. I really liked the eel and also the sauce that was used on top of the eel. My husband also really liked this one. Fried Oyster, $3.60 prior to tax- I decided to order this one but it was topped with a spicy mayonnaise that I thought was a little too spicy for me (again, I am not a spicy eater). But the fried oyster itself was good. ---------------------------------- (Total= $10.67 after tax) Wait time for our items was pretty much non existent, since the girl helping us boxed up our items before I even had the chance to finish paying (I always struggle to pay via tap on the first try... I always seem to have the credit card somewhere else, instead of wherever the sensor is to pay for it...D'oh). This was a great snack for us since we had lunch 3 hours before (I had a light lunch of a tofu salad so the 1.5 onigiri that I had was perfect for me). I like that the onigiri was fresh and the filling. But there is a significant amount of rice and very little of the filling. But I still liked it regardless and would definitely come back to try the other flavors in the future.

I definitely enjoyed the omusubi I have had from here if I compare it to the refrigerated ones…read moreavailable inside the Mitsuwa itself. But I must agree with other reviewers on certain aspects. The nori is very soft and chewy. It's not separated from the warm gohan itself. So if you're accustomed to onigiri with crisp nori, you will be disappointed. Depending on which kind of omusubi you're getting, I also agree that it may definitely feel like there's a lot more rice than the filling. I usually get the mentaiko, ebiten, and oyster musubis. I feel as though those are actually consistently good. The saltiness of the fillings really offsets the amount of rice included and makes it work. My other favorite flavors are takana and shiso. The two goes perfectly well with the karaage they sell separately. Another thing is that the rice itself is actually seasoned and not plain, which helps. Chashu and other fillings like eel has been a miss at this location. Same with their tuna and salmon offerings. I must admit I'm especially not a huge fan of their tuna offerings. It uses too much katsuobushi flavor in my opinion. I like mine more mayo forward. The service here can be a hit or a miss. It really depends on who is working there and what time/day of the week it is. Same goes with the availability of seatings. Parking is free but can be a hassle to find a close spot because of the proximity to the gym, superchargers, and other businesses.

This sushi place seems to just keep getting better…read more Not sure if they had oysters before but I recently saw it on the menu. It is so good we get at least two orders everytime we come I also love all the nigiri they have. We usually pick the ones from Japan and it is delicious. The service is really good. I usually get my food without sesame and I noticed the other day they accidentally out a little sesame on it and instead of just picking it off and giving it to me the remade the whole order. I was very very impressed by it. The ambiance is nice. It can feel casual but the food you taste is very Delicious and feel high end.

Quick dinner on a Friday after work. The staff is always welcoming and made sure to check in on us…read moreregularly. Our first time here was last. It was happy hour before 5pm. Prices are affordable and sushi was flavorful. Today, we ordered almost the same items but unfortunately there was barely any taste. It did not taste bad more like freshly unfrozen with only some flavor and little sweetness. Spicy edamame - tasted like it was just sate'd in chili oil and salt Yellow tail belly Albacore belly Jumbo Scallop Ankimo Spanish Makeral Red Snapper We really enjoyed this place and wanted to give it another try but if you do try; definitely come before 5pm for their Makeral hour prices. Again, the staff was very nice nice welcoming. It is a place for family and quick get together but the food has been hit n miss.