Osawa Japanese Bistro — Restaurant in Ayer

Parking here is easy. Around noon, there’s usually ample street parking available, rarely requiring parallel parking. It’s conveniently located on Main Street, where you’ll typically find numerous open spaces before reaching the end of the block.

The restaurant is quite spacious, which makes sense since it’s popular for larger groups. Even my workplace often visits in groups of 10+. The interior is nicely decorated, making it suitable for a casual date as well.

I decided to revisit the Pork Katsu lunch special and I can say that it is a solid choice for lunch. Unexpectedly, it actually comes with 2 layers (slices?) and I found myself quite full from such an affordable pick.

One of my regular orders is the “Unagi Poke Bowl” ($16). It includes a generous portion of rice topped with avocado, pickled radish, masago, bisected shrimp, and the star of the show: delicious eel. Upon ordering, you choose from several sauces—I always pick spicy mayo and eel sauce. The portion size and flavor balance make it a great value, and I always finish feeling stuffed.

Their “Lo Mein” exemplifies exactly what I think Lo Mein should taste like. The savory brown sauce is perfect, and having tried it dozens of times, I’ve never felt the need to order Lo Mein anywhere else.

My favorite pick is the "Korean Kalbi" for $20. It's fairly expensive for most people, but the amount of kalbi you get for $20 is FANTASTIC. The meat is very tender and it is delicious. The mountain of meat rests on a ton of onions if that's your thing, and the dish comes with a bowl of rice and very helpfully a steak knife. This is my top recommendation if you have a craving for delicious beef.

My absolute favorite dish is the “Korean Kalbi” ($20). Although it’s pricier, the generous serving of tender, perfectly marinated beef is outstanding. Served on a bed of onions that still have a "raw" kick to them, it also comes with a bowl of rice and a helpful steak knife. This is my top recommendation for anyone craving delicious beef.

Finally, I’ll add that I always order their dumpling soup—it’s consistently satisfying—and their extensive sushi menu is always tempting. Highly...

I'm torn on this rating. Every time we've gotten takeout from here, it's been great, but last night we had a very poor dine-in experience. I asked for water with no ice; server brought it with ice. Not a huge issue, so I let it go. I ordered Singapore rice noodles, a spicy dish, and the server brought out a super bland, unspiced noodle dish and then tried to tell me that's how the dish is. My bf said he'd eat it and to just order something else, so I ordered tofu curry, which came out with chicken instead of tofu. The server offered to take it back, but at that point I was so hungry I just wanted to eat, so I kept it. When the check came, the noodle dish said "chicken rice noodle," not Singapore rice noodles. On the menu, there is a dish called Angel Hair Rice Noodles that is not listed as spicy, so I think the server sent the order to the kitchen wrong. The price listed on the bill was for Angel Hair Rice Noodles, too. The server told us she had checked about it with her manager and maybe it was a "language barrier" issue, which struck me as odd because the menu is in English and Singapore rice noodles are a staple dish. After all these issues, the server brought us a free dessert but the whole experience soured me on this restaurant. Like I said, my takeout experiences here have been good, so I guess it's harder to mess up dishes when they go in from an...

Went out with friends to this lovely sushi bar to celibate their baby shower. We started the table with a few bottles of sake from their drink menu and prices were reasonable. This should satisfy people wanting to try sake for the first time, but there are options for those who crave imports or a new flavor.

The food menu offers a wide variety of sushi, sashimi, hibachi, teriyaki, raman bowls, rice bowls and others. Normally I stay away from extensive menus because of food quality issues, but everything served was well presented and tasty. While there was quality differences between dishes, everything was good to excellent.

Our table had gyoza, a rice bowl, specialized sushi, an udon bowl, edamame, amazing crab rangoon and the standard miso served with some entrees. The miso was quite good.

They were very popular when we visited and I'd recommend Osawa to anyone. Do mind the parking as several areas nearby are reserved for town hall or buildings and are not always...