Ojiya Japanese Restaurant Torrance — Restaurant in Torrance

Horrible waitress. We went in on 9/28 Sunday.

My wife showed early sign of diabetes, and as she's been doing for the last 5 years, she takes very small amount of celery (see picture) to keep the glucose level down prior to eating. Don't know the science behind it but this is what she's been doing without any single issues at more than 50 different restaurants. We sat down and younger waitress says, "we don't allow outside food". We tried to explain but she says this is a company policy.... Fine.

An older and nicer lady takes our order and we order two dishes. She later comes back and says they don't allow outside food. We now get a chance to fully explain about the diabetic situation and she apologizes and leaves. Older lady goes back to the younger waitress and they talk in Japanese looking at my direction giving me the angry look. By now I'm frustrated by the absurdity of the situation so I take the celery bag and showed it to them asking what is the problem? We ordered one food for each of us and my wife has health issues. Older waitress again apologises and tells me they did not know it. All misunderstanding cleared so I'm thinking all is good. Not with the younger waitress. She, in a condescending voice tell me "this is company policy. Could you please eat it outside and comeback?" Wait, so you're saying that I should tell my wife to take her tiny bag of celery and eat it in the parking lot and comeback to eat at the restaurant?

I kept my composure, cancelled our order, and walked out. Long time patron but never going back. Horrible horrible waitress (younger waitress, older waitress was very nice).

These kinds of inflexibility is what shuts restaurants down. There it is...my first ever negative restaurant review and I'm still confused by...

My wife and I have wanted to try this restaurant. We've been driving by for years and were in the area. I'm happy to say that it was worth the wait. It is definitely a more traditional Japanese menu and flavors. My youngest got the kids meal and loved it. It came in a special bowl/plate that looks like a soccer ball. It was cute. My oldest got a bento combo. He enjoyed it. I wanted to get the Katsu Ju, it looked like a donburi but served in a box not a bowl. But got the Katsu curry because my kids love curry. It was good but I should have gotten what I wanted, but I will next time. My wife ordered a soba dish, one of their signature items, and really enjoyed it. We'll be back but next time I may make a reservation. We almost couldn't eat there because they had reservation tables held. The dining area isn't too big, but they have some tables in the front...

Sort of stumbled upon this place as my GPS led me astray, but glad that happened as this was an enjoyable meal.

With 3 people, we were able to get a variety of dishes. I love hamachi (yellowtail) sashimi and it was lovely. Just how I expected and wanted it. I normally would not order fried chicken cartilage, but it was surprisingly good and I thoroughly enjoyed it. The homemade yuzu sorbet was simple, but to the point. Those were my top dishes based on flavor.

The above average dishes were seared albacore sashimi, steak with stir-fried bean sprouts, agedashi tofu, and strawberry unbaked cheesecake. The cheesecake tasted fine, but interestingly it was unbaked. I didn’t really like the fried breaded salmon, but it wasn’t my choice. Lol.

Would I go back? Yes! Most dishes were pretty good, but I probably would not go out of my way to get...