Izakaya Hachi — Restaurant in Torrance

Tldr: Doesn't take covid seriously. Don't bother making reservations.

We reserved an outdoor table --a must with my elderly, at-risk mother during covid. We have to take extra precautions, which is why we reserved a table outside.

The host (manager?) had very clearly just given away our table by mistake, to a party of 3 that had just arrived. They hadn't ordered, gotten drinks, nothing.

My shy, elderly mother very patiently explained that she had a need to sit outside and that we had reservations and we grabbed our confirmation.

He became very angry and started becoming AGGRESSIVE with her. The situation was very obvious to everyone. He didn't want to admit his error and took his aggression out on my mom.

Look, I get that mistakes happen. A polite, half-sincere apology, and we would have smiled and come back another time. But the way he talked to my mother and tried to blame HER for having health concerns made us feel very unsafe. "LOOK, reservations aren't GUARANTEES, you don't HAVE TO sit outside that's your PREFERENCE".... Kinda needlessly mean? And kinda discriminatory. We confirmed multiple times for an outdoor table and even moved our reservation time once to accommodate the restaurant.

Furthermore, the party that he'd given our table to had literally just gotten there (no drinks no nothing), it was very obviously his mistake, and we explained a legitimate medical need to be outside.

Which leads me to believe that this establishment doesn't actually take covid, or covid precautions seriously.

Kinda confused what the point of reservations are, if we're going to show up to just get accosted?

Ive been here many times, but I am baffled at the raw hostility. Like, bro, you don't need to scream at my elderly mom for her health concerns?

For the amount of money you'd spend here, you're better off going to somewhere nicer in the...

I don't even know where to start with this, except to say that everything that could have gone wrong tonight, did. The online reservation system didn't work for starters. Thankfully we could call the night before to secure a reservation. When we arrived, they seated us at a sticky table. I asked them for a wet towel to wipe it with. Fine. The menu they gave us was different than the menu on their website. We had decided beforehand that we were going to order motsunabe and the difference in price was $6 more expensive than the website menu as was everything else across the board. Ok, a bit of a let down, but it's my wife's birthday so we're feeling spendy. The first waiter comes out to take our drink orders and we get about halfway through before he just walks away. I tried to stop him to finish the order and he motions to us as if to say "yeah yeah I'll be right back." Comes back a while later with a couple drinks and finally we order. The way he spoke to my wife (Japanese) was very rude and he wouldn't even look at me (not Japanese). They bring out the first item...didn't order it. Second one was one of ours and my wife found a fly in it. Finally the motsunabe arrives. I don't know if you've had offal before but it can be on the chewy side. I knew that going into it and all I can say is that I don't think leather would have been as difficult to try and swallow. At that point we asked for the check and left. One of the staff chased us down in the parking lot and asked what was wrong and I gave her the laundry list of items, only for her to give a trite "oh...sorry".

But the gobo chips...

High Highs and Low Lows

Meaning the good stuff was really good and some of the dishes that I didn't like, I really didn't like, but the highs were so high that it out weighed the lows.

The Ultimate Highs

This is really starting to sound like a pothead review. I can assure you that you don't need any substance to make this meal amazing though. Service! We made reservations and when we got there, there was a personalized hand written note greeting us at the table! Even my mom doesn't do that for me! Almost every employee greeted us as we were being seated. Hospitality at its finest.

Beef Tongue Steak

Like you've never had before, it may sound weird but I assure you the texture and taste will blow your mind. Who knew I was a fan of tongue?! I guess I should have known since I'm a fan of French Kissing ;)

Beef Sashimi

You heard that right...raw, unseasoned, untouched, premium beef. The trifecta of beef tongue, rib eye, and beef shoulder. Don't get fancy with it, eat it with the herbs it comes with on the dish with a little lemon and let it take you on a ride you won't forget.

Tonkatsu Shabu Hot Pot

Freshly sliced pork and a medley of veggies cooked in amazing mouth watering tonkatsu broth with chunks of pork fat all up in it. Mother of god...it's the...