Inaba Japanese Restaurant — Restaurant in Torrance

Inaba Japanese Restaurant in Torrance was a delightful find for our daughter's birthday celebration. Despite not having a reservation, we were seated in the sushi bar area, and the friendly service made up for the minimal English spoken. The menu was easy to navigate, divided into sections like noodles, sushi, and lunch boxes.

My wife enjoyed the cold udon noodles with tempura, a dish that transported us back to Tokyo with its chewy, delicious texture. I had the unagi eel rice, and the eel was perfectly grilled with a delectable sauce. Our daughter opted for the chef's luxury sushi lunch set, featuring premium-quality, ultra-fresh sushi. We also shared some sides, including fried chicken wings and fried tofu, both of which were excellent.

Tucked away in an unassuming location, Inaba exceeded our expectations with its authentic flavors and fresh...

Chef Yasu made me miss Japan.

This is by far the best sushi restaurant I have been to. The fish was excellent. Everything melted in your mouth. The service was fantastic. This is by far the best sushi in all of Los Angeles.

What really made the night special were the "extras": Chef Yasu gave me and my partner red sake, in honor of our anniversary. His sense of humor made the entire room laugh. One particular dish used both a bowl and a cover, both of which had a striped pattern; Yasu would meticulously line them so that they would match. Our waitress would use some free time between our courses to talk to us about Japan and our experiences there. At the end of the night, both of them walked us out. It was like watching an artist work their craft; yet the atmosphere was casual, and we felt very at home.

Thank you for...

Showed up Saturday afternoon at 1 pm with a reservation, got seated immediately by lovely waitresses. They brought us hot green tea as default, which was very nice of them. I ordered the Kaiseki Lunch special that had everything that I wanted, starting with a salad, appetizer, sashimi, tempura, soba (or udon), some nigiris, and top it off with ice cream.

Salad was a very standard sesame dressing, sashimi was not the best but the snapper was very good. The appetizer had mozuku, duck, and Miso infused cream cheese. Tempura veggies & squid & fish were cooked to perfection: crispy but very light on oil. Housemade soba had a very nice texture, broth was a flavorful bonito broth. Nigiris was the best, with tuna, snapper, yellowtail, scallop, uni. Very fresh and flavorful.

Will be...