Uncle Tetsu is a bakery specializing in Japanese cheesecakes. Compared to American cheesecakes, Japanese cheesecakes are like a sponge cake, with a lighter texture and less sweet taste. Location/Interior: This new location opened up just a few minutes away from South Coast Plaza. It's located in a plaza next to Blue Bowl and Halal Guys. There is plenty of parking however because there are so many businesses in the same plaza, parking can be tricky at busy hours. The inside of the bakery is small but you can see workers making the cheesecakes. On the day I went, I they were offering samples of their original cheesecake. In addition to the cheesecakes, they were also selling mini cheese tarts and basque cheesecakes. Cheesecakes: All the cheesecakes only come in one size. They would be good for splitting among 4-6 people, depending on slice size. The cheesecakes are all very fluffy and melt in your mouth. None of them are overly sweet, but the flavor is subtle side. * Original Cheesecake ($12): while I know this is the classic flavor, it's not my preference. It's a little bit on the bland side so I would prefer any one of the flavored cheesecakes over the original. * Ube Cheesecake ($12): this is my favorite cheesecake flavor that I've tried so far. The ube flavor was more prominent than I was expecting. * Pandan Cheesecake ($12): you could immediately smell the pandan upon opening the box. It also included a small amount of shredded coconut. The pandan flavor itself tasted subtle. Unfortunately, they didn't have the oreo cheesecake when I arrived at noon on a weekday. They actually only had pandan, strawberry, and original on one of the days I went. Another time I went close to closing and they had all the flavors. My recommendation is to call ahead to ensure they have the flavor you want. read more

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Stopped by Uncle Tetsu first time after hearing all good reviews about it. The original cheesecake is really good: moist, soft and lightly creamy taste. I will get that again next time. The cheese tarts were a little disappointing. Maybe I am just not into them. They are too watery for me. I mean I expected it to have more texture and more solid like a cream cheese at least. The ube flavor is not very ube; just tasted sweet to me. I will not get that again. I am looking forward to try their burnt Basque cheesecake next time. They sold out the original flavor and need to wait for 3 hours for the next batch to come out. read more

Uncle Tetsu - Original Cheesecake - Desserts Near Me - Costa Mesa, California

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We ought a few cakes to celebrate Mother's Day and didn't realize the demand before we ordered. We just got a regular cheesecake and waited about 20 minutes for a freshly baked one, as they were almost sold out of everything else. The cheesecakes were super fluffy and eggy. If we came back, we'd want to try the other flavors available. read more

Uncle Tetsu - Storefront - Desserts Near Me - Costa Mesa, California

Uncle Tetsu, thank you for coming to OC! Your soft, fluffy, cloud-like, and lightly sweetened cheesecakes are such a delight! I mostly love your Coffee flavor which your competitor Cheesetella don't have. My son also loves your Oreo Cheesecake, and although I have not tried your Ube Cheesecake, I already know I will love it as much as I love the Coffee! I am also excited to say that your Cheese Tarts and Ube Cheese Tarts are awesome reasons to keep visiting you every weekend! Those round creamy tasty semi-sweet tarts kept me moaning and groaning, that my husband even got excited listening to the weird sounds I made. :)) The lady that helped me was so sweet and charming. I hope all the others are just as nice and helpful as she was. Lastly, I hope that your buy 3 cakes, get a cheese tart fee stays 'coz I can almost guarantee that this will keep me and others excited, and look forward to seeing you regularly. read more

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The employees were so welcoming and patient. I came with a group of friends and they asked us what we liked and gave us recommendations. We got the original and green tea flavors. The cakes were so soft and delicious. They had a deal if you get 3 cakes. I think it was a $1-2 off. Highly recommend stopping by if you're in the area or craving a dessert you wont regret! read more

Uncle Tetsu - Desserts Near Me - Costa Mesa, California

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So awesome they opened this location! I visited on Sunday around 1130am & it was a straight walk in, no line! Plus, parking is plentiful! I tried the Ube, Matcha, Original & Oreo Original flavors. My favorite was the Oreo & Original because the flavors were so rich! Ube & Matcha tasted ok but it was as if the flavor was way watered down & almost bland. The texture is like a cross between a mousse and an American style cheesecake. There is no crust. It's pillowy soft. A must try! read more

Obsessed is an understatement!!! The original & coffee cheesecakes are my go to! You can't go wrong! It's a simple menu! This is definitely worth the try! It's so addicting!!! read more

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Amazing cheese cake and the ube is awesome. If you go here you won't be disappointed. However, in the same plaza, stay away from the boba shop 7 leaves. It's a shithole. read more

I'm unfamiliar with Japanese Cheesecake, but when I saw the line out the door (I was down the way at the cookie shop), I figured I might as well check it out. We got to the front of the line and they were sold out of all their tarts at the time. My family got the Oreo Cheesecake, and it was not smooth like I anticipated. It had the consistency of angel food cake more than cheesecake to me. I think I may have been expecting something closer to traditional cheesecake, so I was disappointed. Seemed a little overrated to me, but I will try the traditional cheesecake or the tart next to see if that's better. read more

Uncle Tetsu - $12 for a Cheesecake - Desserts Near Me - Costa Mesa, California

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Uncle Tetsu is finally in OC! I unfortunately hadn't tried it before, so I was very excited when I found out they were opening in Costa Mesa. I ordered the original and strawberry flavors and ended up liking both, although I did prefer the strawberry. For anyone who hasn't had Japanese cheesecake before, the cakes are very moist and not too sweet with a texture reminiscent of the fluffy cupcakes at 99 ranch - not really anything like NY cheesecake. The plaza gets pretty busy around dinner and the weekends so I'd recommend coming during off-peak hours if possible. read more

Uncle Tetsu - Outside - Desserts Near Me - Costa Mesa, California

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Finally uncle tetsu has a location near by my place , I can save ton of money from saving gas ( before I drove 2 hrs anytime I want to buy the cheesecake ) . My favorite is their original Cheese cake with soft and fluffy texture. I also try ube cheesecake , which is ok and not as rich as the original one. It's my first time to try their cheese tart , which is really good if you like something sweeter than the chiffon cheesecake . They also have panda coconut cheese cake for seasonal only. And they have opening promotion now, if you buy two cheese cakes you will have one free cheese tart . Hurry up before the deal over . read more

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I've heard from my friend Steve and Cherie about Uncle Tetsu, how unique their cheesecakes are that are also not too sweet. But I never made it out to Arcadia. Then by chance I found that the OC location opened a couple weeks back so I made it a point to drop by. I got there an hour before closing so they had sold out of some items such as the matcha and original flavors. Cakes were just as advertised and the location is a great center. read more

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Japanese cheesecake have been around for awhile now but usually you have to venture outside of the OC to find a good place. Most places locally just do the small single serving style cakes and typically only in the original format which is rather eggy in flavor. What i liked about Uncle Tetsu is that they also have a variety of flavors. Since my wife is allergic to coconut we were only able to try the UBE and not the coconut pandan which is the other favorite flavor. Overall i found the flavors to be quite light and the texture nice and fluffy which is the signature for japanese cheesecake. Although this place is a little out of the way, since my wife goes to south coast quite often, this place will probably become our go to place. Were going to Japan in a few weeks so im sure will get the real deal at least once during our travels. read more

Tldr; Very cute date night dessert idea or just fun place to go to for families :) On the more expensive side of desserts. Time: 4 PM on a Saturday; no wait at all Service: Overall nice. Will give suggestions when asked- most popular ones they noted were Original and Strawberry Price: Cheesecakes each priced $12 Food: Portion size was great. I was able to split each cheesecake with at least 2 other people (total of 3) and still have (too many) leftovers. Original 8/10 the softest and fluffiest cheesecake you will ever try! Not too sweet and so light and airy in your mouth. Once you take a bite, everything just melts so nicely after and you just come back craving for more. Would come back for this again! Ube 6/10 not necessarily bad but the ube flavor was not there at all- extremely subtle. I thought I was eating the original when I was trying this. Tips: No seating inside, but there are a couple benches in the plaza and are right next to Uncle Tetsu. They also don't really have serving plates so just ask for an extra box if you are planning to try it there and split it with some people. read more

Uncle Tetsu - Original cheesecake- uncle tetsu has a mask on - Desserts Near Me - Costa Mesa, California

The Japanese cheese cake is always a must. We're so excited that they opened up a location so close to the airport. The location would have gotten stars but we asked for utensils because we could not wait to try the desert and the worker told us that they did not have any. We had to visit stores next to Uncle Tetsu to ask for utensils. It just does not make sense that a desert spot does not have any to provide to their guests. read more

Uncle Tetsu - Desserts Near Me - Costa Mesa, California

My family in ICU got us this Japanese cheese cake and been craving since suppperrr yummmyyy and its hard to stop eatinggggg

Thank you Uncle Tetsu!!!! My life problems were resolved after one bite of ube cheese tart and ube cheese cake. (Literally). My mood was immediately better after such a bad day. It's amazing. read more

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A friend recommended this place so we gave it a try. We were not disappointed. I'm told, the "original" cheesecake is their top seller followed by Ube. It has a very light texture that reminds me of sponge cake rather than heavy dense cheesecake. I think I can probably eat half a cheesecake by myself! Moderately priced given current inflationary prices. read more

Uncle Tetsu - Ube Japanese cheesecake - Desserts Near Me - Costa Mesa, California

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Ordered a pandan coconut and one seasonal lychee rose cake. Glad there is a location close to my house now. Thrilled they offer BOGO! read more

Uncle Tetsu - Pandan coconut - Desserts Near Me - Costa Mesa, California

Craving for some sweets, my first time trying Japanese cheesecakes & their ube tarts here was excellent. Brought the original, coffee, matcha, and the ube mini cakes for $12+tax. As well as 5 ube tarts for $4+tax each. The ube & the coffee are my favorites. I'll definitely would come back and get some. It's so moist, light, and flavorful. Not overly sweet nor feeling guilty at all eating all this cakes. The ube tarts was just perfect amount of fillings and the crust was just right. It's so good that it was the first to be devoured before the cakes. Definitely a must go get it. Happy tummy. Oh one thing to be aware of the plaza, it can get really busy and hard to find parking on a very limited parking lots. Or maybe it's just because it's Friday evening, who knows. It was crazy to wait and find a parking, but totally worth it. read more

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I love cheesecake, and this was much more like bread than it was like cheesecake for me. I feel like it lacked sweetness. It's really cute and the texture is nice and fluffy though. I wouldn't get it again sadly. read more

Uncle Tetsu - Desserts Near Me - Costa Mesa, California

Pandan coconut is soo good! Pro tip: if you want the cheesecake to come through, refrigerate it and it's 100x better. read more

Uncle Tetsu - Pandan - Desserts Near Me - Costa Mesa, California

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The mango basque cheesecake is so good! Everyone in my family loved it. I hope this stays on the regular menu.

I've always loved this place, but today was not a great experience. The woman at the register expressed 0 customer service. No greeting, no smile, etc. Like walking in was a nuisance to her. We ordered an Oreo cheesecake and when we got home found an original. Perhaps if she spoke to us and repeated our order or showed it to us before closing the box we would've noticed. We both said the same thing that the customer service was lacking, but then to get home and find it's not what we ordered even more disappointing. The previous times the employees were friendlier. The cakes are delicious and deserve more stars, but service was meh. I would suggest having them confirm your order if they do not repeat or show you before closing the box. read more

We ordered the japanese cheesecakes, cheese tarts, and mini basque cheesecakes. Matcha japanese cheesecake (5/5): fluffy and moist, pleasantly dense when refrigerated. matcha is strong enough and earthy, with a slight bitterness Pandan japanese cheesecake (-/-): sadly, they gave us two matcha cheesecakes even though we ordered a pandan one too. wish we got to taste this, since it's seasonal. Mini basque cheesecakes (2/5) : the tops are clearly, severely underbaked and a very light brown. they don't have that crinkly top, unique to basque. it looked like and tasted exactly like a regular cheesecake. lemon was too strong. don't recommend Cheese tarts (4/5): regular and ube cheese tarts tasted similar to each other. ube doesn't come through. crust tastes like a traditional graham cracker crust. nothing memorable, but it's okay Overall pretty good, but I would only buy their Japanese cheesecakes. Please be more careful packing up flavors; the pandan cheesecake has an obviously more vibrant green color, so I don't know why they put matcha in a pandan-labeled box read more

Love Uncle Tetsu but found lots of lint in the tart. Tried getting it off and found 2 under the chocolate read more

Uncle Tetsu - Lots of lint at the surface.. even red lint from someones sweater - Desserts Near Me - Costa Mesa, California

Came here after lunch at Capital Noodle Bar with my two friends. I was curious about it since I've seen reels about it and when my SIL bought one in Rowland Hts, I didn't get to try it. I asked my friends to go in and check it out. One friend already eaten their OG cheesecake so she was tagging along to observe. We were the only customers on a Sunday afternoon. Being the first time there, I didn't know what they had or the flavors, plus their tarts. I didn't get any help or friendly greeting coming in. I didn't expected to be greeted, but the whole time it seems like I got an attitude, like they were annoyed with me. Like my friends suggested the variety of tarts and two of the helpers toward the back right side said they weren't the same thing. They look the workers gave each other was like, "duh." Since no one was there, they should have maybe educate us with what other stuff they had there. What was their popular item, or seasonal flavor. Opportunity to sell more than 1 item missed right there. I took pictures because I wanted show my coworker who tried to make a Spain cheesecake, but ended up looking like the burnt cheesecake. LOL. I'm definitely not an influencer or elite yelper & my social media is all private so documenting my eating experiences is not my thing. Maybe the workers were annoyed that I took pictures that's why they workers were giving each other looks. When I came in, one of the other worker was starting to stamp the logo on the cheesecake, but when I took out my phone, she stopped. Then she went to do something. When she went back to stamping the logo, I pulled out my phone again, and she stopped. It was like she didn't want me to video/photo that process. Not sure. Oh well. I ended settling for their OG cheesecake since that was what they were known for and I wanted to see what people are raving about. As I was paying, I noticed they had samples near the cashier. No one even offered it to us. Tasting the sample maybe would have changed my order to the cheesecake or matcha flavored on.. One friend tried it and gave me a piece. The piece I tried was ok. First bite, it wasn't very sweet, which I liked. Other than that, I didn't see anything special about it. JJ Bakery makes pretty good Asian cheesecake too and I probably like Jj's more. I didn't find the cheesecake that jiggly. As we were walking the plaza, my 2 friends confirmed my feeling about the place's bad customer service. We kept on saying like why they were so rude to me and it wasn't like they were busy. It just left a bad taste in my mouth. Might as well toss the cheesecake I bought cuz I was that upset, but I didn't. My daughter thought it was ok. She had 1 bite and was done. My husband said it was bad, but ate 1/4. I ended up giving my coworker the other 1/2. I forgot to ask my coworker what he thought of it. I just wish the employee were a little more helpful. read more

Uncle Tetsu - Original cheesecake - Desserts Near Me - Costa Mesa, California

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Delicious light fluffy cheesecakes. I'm looking forward to trying their Burnt Basque cheesecake. They accept cc only.

This is my first time here because a friend of mine recommended this place if you like Japanese cheesecake. I got 3 flavors for my family to try. Hopefully they like it because I do! It was so nice to try samples of the flavors they offer to see if you like them! I recommend this business! Thank you! read more

Wow, just wow! I tried a sample of the coffee cheesecake and I was sold! I had to order the original, Ube and lychee rose. Airy, light, not too sweet.. Makes a girl not feel too guilty for eating it and all 3 flavors tasted amazing! Highly recommend! I also tried the cheese tarts. They don't skimp on the filling and the crust is perfectly done. 10/10 will be coming back! read more

Uncle Tetsu - Desserts Near Me - Costa Mesa, California

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Not quite sponge cake, not quite cheesecake - it's such a different texture! Smooth like a pudding, but structure of a sponge. Hard to describe - just try it - it's delicious!!! read more

Uncle Tetsu - Ube cake!!! - Desserts Near Me - Costa Mesa, California

I have a sweet tooth, and this place is amazing I ordered cheesecake and tarts both were amazing and very tasty read more

Uncle Tetsu - Desserts Near Me - Costa Mesa, California

Delightful cheesecakes! Not too sweet and super moist. Ingredients feature egg predominantly. Been to other locations before and this had the same quality of the original cheesecake. Knocked a star off since the price is much higher per cheesecake than other locations I've been to. Maybe since it's new? Came at 5 pm on a Saturday and there was almost no line since they were super quick. Parking lot is busy but not bad at this time. read more

Love the texture of Japanese cheese cakes! They had samples on the counter. However, they only allowed one sample among the different flavors. So, you have to choose the flavor you think you like. To me, this defeats the purpose of sampling. It makes more sense to limit one sample per flavor of the store decides to offer samples. I bought the original to be safe. read more

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I really enjoyed their cheesecake! They were quick, attentive and delicious. Not a place to dine in, but would still recommend if you need to bring a dessert somewhere. read more

Mmm I love Asian desserts. The cheesecakes here are so light and fluffy and not cloyingly sweet. They had some cubed samples out for customers to try - tried the ube and pandan flavors and they were both so good! If you like pandan, definitely give that one a try. We also took home an Oreo cookies n cream one that we thought our kids would enjoy. $12/cheesecake. The cheesecake looks to be about a 5" round and is branded with their cute logo. Service was friendly and fast. read more

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Tried via DoorDash and am blown away by the Original Cheese Tart - it's basically a mini pie crust with delicious cheesecake! We ordered 4 and could have devoured more! Also tried the Original Cheesecake which is warm and jiggly in texture. I am not often a fan of Japanese Cheesecakes so this wasn't my favorite thing but everyone enjoyed trying something new! Looking forward to trying the tart in additional flavors! read more

Delicious! But definitely not your typical cheesecake. There is zero thickness. More fluffy sponge cake ish. Just a more traditional sponge cake. They should not advertise as cheesecake. Because it is not. read more

It....is....light and fluffy and tastes like a cheesecake a bit......it is also less sweet. I do not think I'll crave for it and if I want to eat a "cheesecake" then I'll go for the Real Cheesecake. I bought the original version. I have a french palate and do not like less sweet or less rich desserts. To me, it was an Angel Food Cake with cheese flavor. Still not bad to eat but not my cup of tea. read more

Love this place! I don't like regular cheesecake because it's always too sweet and heavy but this place has the perfect light, fluffy sweetness to it. I highly recommend the original (my favorite), and the coffee as well. Honestly, all the flavors are good but I would definitely go with those two! It might just be me but they taste EVEN BETTER the next day after being refrigerated!! read more

Uncle Tetsu - Matcha Cheesecake - Desserts Near Me - Costa Mesa, California

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