Yoshinoya — Restaurant in Alhambra

This my first foray into this Japanese Fast Food Restaurant. It is located in Alhambra, California which has a large and lovely Asian community I seriously thought this would be much better. I grew up eating all types of cuisine and there is not much I can say about this place that is going to be encouraging. If Subway could make a worse bland sandwich, if McDonalds sold a complex meal that became homogenized in the process of development this is Yoshinoya. I had the Gyudon Beef and Teriyaki Chicken. I am on the 16/8 intermittent fasting diet and can only eat up to 3 pm and so I really eat at lunch time. The rice was a fat zero and the vegetables were not far behind. Unfortunately I had never had "Gyudon Beef" and even though at the Mongolian BBQ your meat is also thinly sliced it was from a solid part of the cow before it became sliced. My lunch meat was as if it was turned into a larger nugget of meat from every trimmed piece they could find, then sliced. Seriously if I wanted some thinly sliced beef from ARBY's I would've gone to Arby's and ordered the Half Pound Roast Beef with extra veggies [I do enjoy Arbys and when ya want Arby's ya get Arby's]. I have been to a few Donburi styled eateries before and thought this would be that level of experience. It was not. It was so not.I thought it would be better. The soy sauce was not very tasty either - low sodium - you put twice as much on your food which doesnt really help but oh well. When you're hungry you're hungry. This place was friendly, clean & tidy and it was busy and the "food" was hot: I won't do it again though. For balance of the previous statement - I have eaten twinkies and doughnuts more than once. [and will eat at least one...

I always enjoy their food, their service, and the quality of their food. Unfortunately, as I was eating a female transient who was panhandling inside approached me asking for money. Her hygiene was dirt and unsanitary. As two of the store managers watched, a female Hispanic, approximately in her 40's, and a male Hispanic in his 30's, observed this individual panhandling inside and did not do anything to stop, nor approached the customers. I understand that maybe it is policy not to approach this type of individual but at.least try to remedy this unsanitary process inside. I will never go back to this location and I have been going there for many years. I am disappointed at Yoshinoya management for ignoring this situation because this will then get back to others in the area and worsen. I tried to speak to them and Managers were so on their phones they ignored me as they did not see me. So very unfortunate. Maybe someone in Corporate can assist this issues with their local management and educate their management how to deal with this issue...

Ever since the Yoshinoya app was introduced, it's been a much more pleasant experience! I order online, and just go and pick it up! Don't have to waste time waiting around at the rather utilitarian restaurant, especially during the pandemic!

However, for whatever reason, Yoshinoya took away the option of adding in paper coupon codes from advertising mailers or in physical mailboxes starting sometime in 2022, so now I have to go into the restaurant, wait in line, order, give the paper coupon, then wait for the good to be ready like before the app was introduced. So Yoshinoya is essentially going backwards in time. There are the occasional app coupons, but they are either NOT good deals (ie 2 boba drinks for$8, but they are ALREADY only$4 each in the restaurant) or EXTREMELY time limited (ie only 2 days to redeem)

The app should also offer more customization options, such as extra onions or...