Yoshinoya Santa Monica & Vine — Restaurant in Los Angeles

It has probably been 20+ years since I visited a Yoshinoya for a beef bowl. While their old recipe was okay, I found it to be a bit too greasy for my taste. The beef and onions were dripping in grease whenever I used to stop in for a beef bowl. It was edible but all that grease seemed unhealthy to me. It was why I stopped going to Yoshinoya all those 20+ years ago and didn't have a desire to go back (until recently). It took something as simple as moving the restaurant to a new location which is basically directly across the street from the old location that got me to give them another try. The restaurant used to be at the South West corner of Santa Monica and Vine. It is now located in the strip mall at the South East corner of Santa Monica and Vine. The old location was in an older building but the building was Yoshinoya and only Yoshinoya. This allowed for a drive thru lane and they did a brisk dive thru business based on how there was always a line of cars for the drive thru. Since the new business is part of a strip mall now, there is not any way to accommodate a drive thru lane. The new restaurant is modern, bright and inviting but I cannot see how they are making up for the loss of the drive thru business. There are always customers inside the new restaurant but not even close to equalling the amount of cars going thru the drive thru every hour. I am not sure the move makes good business sense but the modern and bright look of the new restaurant did convince me to give them another try. I am glad it did because I was very pleasantly surprised to discover that their modern incarnation of their classic beef bowl with vegetables was not dripping with grease. There actually wasn't any grease. I am assuming that how they cook the beef and onions has changed since it was those two that were the greasy offenders some 20+ years ago. The streamed vegetables suffered just by being in contact with the beef and onions in the older beef bowls and there was more than enough grease to go around. Now they are all living in harmony sans the grease. I have had a chance to try any other items on their menu yet but their menu has always been small and specialized and while there were some new items such as bubble tea's, the menu is still smallish and specialized. Things are definitely looking up now that they have evicted grease from the neighborhood though and I look forward to adding Yoshinoya back into the rotation of restaurants I visit regularly. Based upon the popularity of their old drive thru, a large party of the population did not have a problem with the amount of grease their food was served with. If you found yourself bothered by it like I did, you might want to give them another try now. You may find yourself...

Where to start. I ordered from this Yoshinoya online through an app. Was excited to get my food and when I got it delivered immediately told the driver this was not my order and he’s said this is what they gave me when I said your name. I ordered a beef bowl, clam chowder, a drink and a side of teriyaki sauce and I received a combo plate, gyoza, no drink and soy sauce . And let me tell you I just about barfed when I open the gyoza to ask for my refund online, like it smelled absolutely disgusting. So I called the store asking for the manager and they said they were the manager so I let them know they got my order wrong and they need to be mindful of what they are doing and dude just says file a complaint on the app ask for your refund and order again from us. I would be insane to order again from them, they got nothing right and it was a long wait time. I’m not doing that wait time again. Least I got my full refund from the app but I won’t be ordering...

Yoshinoya Hollywood, which I have not patronized for years, has moved a half block east from its long-time location on the corner of Vine and SMB. They still have the original chicken and beef bowls along with the now steak and shrimp. They have introduced their latest orange chicken which I have not tried lest I'll be comparing theirs with Panda Express. Their self-serve red pickled ginger (great with rice) is gone but now comes in individual packets which you have to ask for. Food is still fresh and tasty as I tried the teriyaki chicken and steak. Prices have gone up a bit but they have deals with coupons in the mail. 12/2022 update: Tried their Orginal Gyudon Beef/Teriyaki Orange Chicken combo bowl and it was fresh,...