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The Infatuation
The Best Japanese Restaurants In LA
By Garrett Snyder,
1 day ago
If you’re looking for great Japanese food in LA, you really can have it all. Sushi, of course, both luxurious and budget-friendly. Slurpable ramen. Grilled skewers, plus super-bubbly highballs and sake flights. You’ll find a concentration of spots in older enclaves like Little Tokyo and the South Bay, but smoky izakayas, katsu specialists, and noodle destinations exist all across the city. Here are just a few of our favorites.
FYI: We've included our favorite à la carte sushi spots below, but if you're interested in the city's top high-end omakase options, head over to our guide to LA's Best Sushi.
This Japanese spot near the entrance to Dodger Stadium has everything you'd want for a crowd-pleasing night out: indoor and outdoor seating, a sake list longer than some dictionaries, and delicious Japanese small plates that push classic izakaya staples into fun, cheeky directions. Prioritize the yakitori (we like chicken oysters), but don't ignore the "danger dog" croquettes and pastrami yakisoba. Tsubaki's garlic fried rice with crab is also a must-order unless you have a shellfish or fun allergy. If you're looking for more of a straight-on bar experience, their sister concept next door, Ototo, is just as great.
Shirube can be the first stop of the night for a pre-dinner drink and snacks, or a place to have a full dinner for a price that we'll call "Westside reasonable." Both are excellent paths. This izakaya from Tokyo serves grilled, fried, and noodle-y dishes—sit at the bar for the full Shirube experience, which includes a courtside view of the small but mighty kitchen equipped with a charcoal grill and a slushie machine full of frozen yuzu mojitos. Be sure to get the chewy mentaiko udon, crispy corn ribs, and mackerel sashimi that’s blowtorched right in front of you.
Come to Sakae Sushi in Gardena any day of the week (except Mondays when they’re closed) and you’ll find a sizable line of parents, hip Gen-Zers, and grandmas running errands waiting outside this local gem. It’s a cash-only, family-run sushi shop hidden behind an office building that’s been open since the ’60s and serves an old-school style of simple pressed sushi made by hand and filled with cooked or cured items like mackerel, egg, and shrimp (no raw fish here). Get a box of seven pieces for about $10, wrapped up in beautiful parchment paper and a green bow, so you can try each type of nigiri on the menu.
Compared to some of the more famous spots on this guide, Matsumoto is probably the one you’ve heard the least about. And that’s exactly why a meal at this tiny strip mall spot in Beverly Grove is so special. Matsumoto is one of LA’s premiere sushi experiences and yet it still feels like a complete secret. You don’t need a long-standing reservation or a lengthy IMDb page to get a seat here. Just head to the bar, let chef Matsumoto know your likes and dislikes, and be whisked off on a tailor-made, 18-ish course omakase (or you can just order a la carté).
Otafuku is a quaint, family-run Japanese restaurant that treats soba noodles like science. The three kinds of soba here vary in texture, size, and taste, but all are made in-house daily with special flour imported from Japan. We prefer the all-white seiro, best ordered chilled on a bamboo mat with dipping sauce and a choice of crispy tempura. It’s simple, fresh, and exactly what we want during a heat wave. The lunch menu includes Otafuku's greatest hits (order the spanish mackerel bowl), but during dinner, the kitchen serves excellent yakitori and sashimi, too.
N/Soto might be more casual than its tasting menu sibling restaurant, N/Naka, but this upscale izakaya in Mid-City isn’t a place you slide into on a weekday night. And, frankly, we’re fine with that—because sitting at N/Soto’s moody, low-lit bar with a shochu cocktail, grilled wagyu skewers, and a bowl of sake-steamed clams provides the same sophisticated cooking for a substantially reduced cost (and without months of waiting for a reservation). Every dish at this zen-like hideaway feels considered, from the tiny dab of caviar on top of the chopped toro nigiri to the tempura squid legs with chile-dusted mayo.
This classic Little Tokyo sushi bar is rightly famous for its lunchtime sashimi special: a platter of premium fish, plus rice, soup, and pickles. It’s so popular, crowds line up before the restaurant opens at 11am just to order it. It’s only available in certain areas of the dining room, though, so if they’re full when you get there, sit at the bar instead. You can’t order the sashimi platter, but you’ll have access to all the daily nigiri and hand rolls, which are every bit as good as the sashimi.
Ryla is the most exciting thing to happen to Hermosa Beach since Jack Black moved there. Unlike most restaurants 100 yards from the coastline, Ryla falls into the category of "Sexy Sit-Down Restaurant To Be Cool At." The candlelit dining room is loud enough for you to identify which R&B song is playing, but not so loud that people wouldn’t notice you singing. The Japanese-leaning menu here mixes ramen, sushi, and show-stealing small plates, like Hokkaido milk bread with nori butter and karaage hot chicken. Come to Ryla to impress someone who appreciates top-notch cocktails or a great beach-adjacent brunch.
One of our favorite spots for straightforward, high-quality sushi, Sasabune is pretty old-school. But in the LA sushi way—which means warm rice, stern instructions not to dip in soy sauce, and everything else you’ve experienced at Sugarfish. Whether you go with the omakase for around $110 or order a la carte, you can get a bunch of tuna, salmon, hot butterfish wrapped in nori, and a crab handroll to finish things for a reasonable price. Sasabune is our sushi old reliable—we keep coming back.
Given the breadth of great Japanese restaurants in LA, the arrival of this upscale spot from Austin, Texas something of a head-scratcher. But all it took was one meal to put any preconceived notions to rest. Not only is Uchi’s sleek, stunning space a perfect addition to Weho’s client dinner spot roster, the food is fantastic. The menu is large—probably a little too large—so we recommend concentrating mostly on the nigiri, then adding in small plates like tempura, daikon salad with crispy rice, and smoked yellowtail on a crispy yuca tostada.
Tsujita is the undisputed ramen star of Sawtelle Boulevard, and its perpetual lines are for one thing: tsukemen. This “dip” style ramen consists of cold noodles with a side of rich, pork-based broth and it’s your job to put these delicious things together. There’s also another location, Tsujita Annex, right across the street, which serves traditional ramen with a richer pork broth, complete with spots of fat floating at the surface—both are great, so opt for whichever has the shorter wait.
Hero had the unfortunate luck of opening a few months before March 2020, which meant this homey izakaya in Westwood flew under the radar for its first years in business. That's no longer the case though, so make sure to call ahead and reserve a table like the rest of the regulars packing the bar. From pork tonkotsu shabu shabu and daily sashimi platters to tender teba gyo (chicken wing gyozas), Hero excels at shareable plates designed to be eaten with a big glass of beer or sake. This is the kind of place you might roll into at 6pm with a few friends and accidentally stay for three hours, with plans to return next month.
Kinjiro is a quiet, easy-to-miss restaurant in Honda Plaza that feels like a private supper club as much as it does a classy izakaya. They offer two seatings nightly, which can only be booked by emailing the restaurant directly. The high-quality sushi, noodle dishes, and grilled meats are designed to pair with their extensive drinks list. So order some hot tea or sake for the table and start with the best things here: miso black cod, red snapper sashimi, thick-cut beef tongue, and silky agedashi tofu in mushroom broth. Although drinking is part of the fun, eating at Kinjiro still feels laid-back enough for a nice date night or a calm meal with friends.
The next time you’re meeting a friend for an affordable dinner, keep Kagura in mind. This Japanese spot (with other locations in Torrance and Gardena) specializes in crispy, tender tonkatsu. You can order the deep-fried cutlets by themselves, or as a dinner set with rice, sashimi, miso soup, and pickled veggies for around $25. The star of the show here is their signature millefeuille katsu, made with fatty slices of pork folded and layered on top of one another, then deep-fried to the color of Meryl Streep’s trophy case: brilliantly golden. The El Segundo branch has a fun sake bar up front, but grab a booth table in the back for a quieter, semi-private experience.
Daichan is a tiny strip mall gem in Studio City that specializes in the kind of Japanese soul food you need after a terrible week at work: spicy curry udon, Japanese-style fried chicken, cold soba, and gigantic tempura rice bowls. That said, the main draw at this family-run cafe is the “original poki bowl.” Decades before chopped raw fish in plastic bowls became part of the LA food pyramid, Daichan was cranking out giant portions of fresh fish on top of rice and lettuce, so that’s probably what you should order here.
On any given night, Izakaya Hachi is filled with everyone from families celebrating birthdays to groups of Japanese men who will ultimately outdrink everyone around them. It's hard to nail down what makes this Torrance izakaya so special, but the food is a huge part of it—all of their grilled meats are worth your attention, like tender, medium-rare beef tongue and pork cheek with a biting yuzu sauce. But it’s also the celebratory atmosphere, and the fact that you can easily enjoy any size meal here, from drinks and a few bites to a family-style omakase that requires four people seated at the table (house rules) and involves a dozen-plus dishes.
This blink-and-miss-it spot in Torrance (with a second location in Pasadena) is dedicated to bowls of tempura in the same way The Rock is dedicated to bicep curls. Run by a Peruvian chef who trained in Japan, Carlos Junior specializes in tendon, or sauce-seasoned tempura over rice. Bowls come mounded with hot and crunchy things like fried shrimp, vegetables, seaweed eel, and a mind-melting tempura egg with a runny yolk. Order the fully loaded Special Tempura Bowl for a perfectly portioned lunch.
There's often a line outside udon specialist Marugame Monzo, but once you try their thick, bouncy housemade noodles, you'll understand why. The famous dish here is the uni cream udon, made with just enough sea urchin to give it an oceanic punch. But you can't go wrong with any of the cream-based udon (the miso carbonara version tastes like a warm hug) or the cold udon with shiso and ume. Fill out your meal with a side of tempura as you watch the kitchen cut and roll every massive noodle by hand behind the counter.
Hayato is a tiny Japanese restaurant in Row DTLA that serves elaborate traditional kaiseki dinners a few nights a week. Due to its small size and cadre of well-heeled regulars, it's also one of the toughest reservations in the city (it's been five years since we've been able to book a seat, which is why we aren't including a rating). A meal here involves silently sitting at a bar with a few other people in hushed reverence as the chef prepares a dozen or so mostly seafood courses, like tempura sea eel or dashi-poached fish. The food is delicious and pristine, but given the $400 price—and sheer exclusivity of the place—Hayato is best suited for Japanese food die-hards only.
Thanks to Netflix and a slew of other filmmakers, N/Naka is consistently one of the most difficult reservations to secure in town. You might fail a few times (OK, you’ll fail a lot of times), but take a cue from Aaliyah and dust yourself off and try again—maybe you'll have more luck than us. Much like Hayato, it's been a few years since we've be able to book a table at this tiny, nondescript building in Palms, but in general expect stellar high-end service and a modern kaiseki menu involving 13 courses that change with the seasons. That might include things like foam-topped conch, steamed and fried dishes, wagyu, and a whole bunch of sushi. Just be ready to dish out $365 per person for it.
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