Haha Don Katsu

I had the fish katsu with udon. The bowl of udon was very generous, but didn’t have much in it besides three pieces of tofu and some greens. The fish was flaky and not greasy. I had a few pieces of the chicken katsu too. That was also very good. The fun part was trying to figure out what to do with the bowl of sesame seeds they gave us. We eventually figured out that we were supposed to grind the seeds and add it to the sauce provided. It was delicious.
The restaurant is a hidden gem that we didn’t notice was in the neighborhood. We’ve walked by it many times.

I ordered the katsu soba and enjoyed it. It didn’t especially stand out compared to other restaurants but I liked the atmosphere of the place. It seemed homey and comfortable, and the service was super nice. I’d like to visit again and update this review.

me and my buddies ordered don katsu and summer roll. don katsu wasnt greasy and sooooooo delicious. their dipping sause is good.

im korean and have had lots of korean food in my life. I also enjoy cooking for fun.
with that said, this place deserves a ⁵⁄₅ star rating.
the katsu is light and crispy even though we ordered pork cutlet. it’s hard to make evenly fried, light, ungreasy-​tasting katsu but here? it’s light work. it is also served on a wire rack-​type thing that keeps the katsu crispy instead of soggy (as it cools)
on the platter is also a slaw with a peanut sauce (excellent, i think there might be some miso and some misugaru in it too?)
pasta salad (friend said it was good)
edamame
and some cherry tomatoes.
all fresh, all good.
i had the soba. comes with 4 fist-​sized mounds of noodles, julienned sushi gim and sesame leaf on top. (also served on a bamboo sushi roller/​mat to keep noodles from sticking to platter) comes with dunking sauce. not too salty, not too fishy, not too dark. perfectly seasoned so that you can plunk a mound of noodles into it, stir a little to separate the noodles, then slurp the whole thing without inhaling salty broth.
comes with shaved mu (radish), scallions, and i think some cucumber? also given as banchan is the yellow radish you get at korean/​chinese places with jjajangmyun.
some additional notes about this place that give it a ⁵⁄₅ rating:
1. the salad dressing here is really good. some kind of miso/​ginger/​nut dressing. it’s homemade and the salad is excellent.
2. they provide sesame seeds in a baby mortar with a baby pestle. for you to grind as you see fit.
3.^they pair well with the homemade donkatsu sauce and spicy sauce used for the katsu. it’s a nutty, smooth combo accented by the crunchy crispness of the sesame seeds (which i think have been toasted)
4. water is not ice water but is ice cold. i hate ice in my water so this place gets mad props from me. also the water isnt the crap stuff from a tap– it tastes filtered: clean and refreshing.
full recommendation to anyone. service is prompt, the landlady/​chef/​waitress was very accommodating when we asked for a to-​go order and extras of stuff, and the seating is roomy but cozy.
awesome place.

Yea this place is small, yea it’s definitely not the best tonkatsu I’ve ever had but it’s pretty good. The typical portions for tonkatsu are pretty huge normally but at this place they hover somewhere between just enough and a little too much.
I was thrown off a bit after we first ordered they dropped a mortar and pestle in front of each person that ordered a tonkatsu. The mortars were filled with sesame seeds to which we added the brown sauce after grinding. There were a total of three sauces. The one mentioned above, a mustard one which was pretty good as well, and a spicy one but I didn’t care for this one much.
Recommendations. The cheese tonkatsu looked pretty amazing, and if you have someone to share with the combo looked pretty awesome just ask them to split the udon for you.

Who gave 5 stars to this place? I relied on the stars and went to this place. This place really sucks. Filthy. The food was really bad, and even not cheap. Never again at this place.

Great place, reasonably priced, fresh ingredients.

I ordered a late night donkatsu to go after a good work out. When I went home and had it it was not bad but this wasn’t good enough to be the specialty dish of the store. It was ok at most and wasn’t as good as another place I go to around the area.
I also have something else I have noticed which forced me to give 3 at max, which I am not planning to reveal on this post. Hostess and servers seemed nice.

This is a pretty interesting dining joint. In a world where everything feels so commercialized and BIG (think of other places you would go to for a donkatsu), this place feels very homey and cared for. Obviously I can’t prove this, but for some reason, the food here just seems like it is prepared with more care than at some of the other places that just push out dishes. Maybe I am projecting based on décor and ambience.
It’s a very nice, quiet place. A place I would want to go with somebody who I am comfortable with and don’t need to try that hard with.
The portion sizes, as mentioned previously, are not as large as some of its donkatsu competitors, but it is still pretty good. They offer a few home-​made sauces to accompany your fried goodness, and you can even mash your own sesame seeds while you wait.
They offer combo deals, which I would definitely take advantage of. Especially the ones involving udon/​soba.

I would say this is your standard Korean-​style donkatsu place, with a pretty substantial menu. I ordered the regular donkatsu, a cheese donkatsu, and a hamburg steak.
The food overall was good, as the donkatsus were very crispy and not greasy at all. However, the hamburg steak was a bit too sweet for our liking, but the waitress had warned us about that prior to ordering so that was nice of her. It was interesting how you can make your own donkatsu sauce and grind up sesame seeds to add to the sauce, and everyone thought it was pretty neat! Although everything was satisfying, the overall sweetness of the food makes it hard for me to give them 5 stars.
Also, I’ve had their summer rolls in the past, with slices of donkatsu in them, and I can say that though they may not be completely authentic, they are one of the best summer rolls in town! I would definitely recommend this place to anyone looking for some warm, belly-​filling food, made to order.

Great food! Always make it fresh. Loved their donkatsu/​pork cutlet sauces. freshly made by the owner with fruits and diff sauces I wish they could sell it at a store. I love how they make cheese donkatsu !!! (2 layers of pork cutlet and cheese inside yummm)
I also like jolmyun so good with mixed veggies! Always fresh too!
Quick note: ‘Haha’means ‘mother’ in Japanese

Place maybe a little shabby, but the food is GREAT! The donkatsu is not salty, but crispy and delicious. Service is fast and friendly!

I went there for lunch once. I was the only customer so I felt bad and tip big but I have to say Deco is old. Food is more of old style than Japanese style crunch don ka tu that I was expecting… I wish they renovate and make it cooler cleaner looking with better crunchy food.

I dont know what the review below me is saying but i had lunch here today.
Ordered 3 things„ , and. the only thing i remember that was pleasing to my taste buds was the salad and miso soup.
was horrible the sauce and the rice cake wasnt even together.
was sweet and had no meat in int. basically rice with ‚
so disappointed
dont go having high expectation. wasted $ 40.

My boyfriend and I LOVE this place. The restaurant itself isn’t that great. It’s very old and sometimes when it rains too much the lights go out. Whenever we go, we are the only customers there (around 6 pm weekdays) so it’s really quiet. The owners are very friendly and if you go a couple of times they start remembering you and treat you like a friend of theirs. They also have the most adorable yorkie ever! The puppy is just there when customers are eating so if you’re not into that beware.
The food is delish. I’ve only tried the donkatsu, cheese ddukboki and udon and it’s really good. We crave the food almost every other day but our diets can’t handle 3 nights a week of that… It’s like my mom’s food and makes me feel like I’m in middle school again eating with friends and brings back old memories.
Surprisingly they accept credit cards. Usually a place like this would only accept cash so I guess that’s another plus!

Taste wasnt so bad but the atmophere.
Was kind of old fashioned and too quiet.
Don Katsu sauce was mixed up with banana and it felt like I need regular sauce.
I would not go back.

This place has been around since as long as I can remember.
When I was younger, I never ventured into this establishment. Mainly because the main entrance and the signs weren’t that inviting.
It didn’t have the big open windows that other restaurants usually have that lets you look inside to see if it was student friendly.
Anyways, now, I finally got the courage to walk into this small establishment nestled in the heart of Fort Lee. This place has expanded their menu, I think the last time I went they only had a few items. Now they offer other Korean snack foods such as spicy rice cakes and the kimbap rolls. But I come here for one thing and one thing only so … onward with the review of their katsu.
It isn’t the largest katsu I’ve had, or the one with the most unique sauce.
But there is something very home-​made about their food. It doesn’t seem overwhelming. It’s just good simple food. Katsu is a pain when you want to make it at home… so I usually like to go out whenever I am craving it. This is one of the top 2 choices. The establishment isn’t grand or show-​y and I am comfortable when I’m eating. They give you some sesame seed which you grind and add to your sauces. They offer 3 sauces for your katsu — original (white bottle), spicy (red) and honey mustard (yellow). The side dishes are limited but you don’t need much with katsu.
Their soba is one of the better ones out there are well.
Just some shaved daikon, wasabi, and green scallions. The broth and noodles.
The only negatives would be:
1) parking is not fun and it’s a high traffic area
2) there are very limited seating — but so far, I didn’t have much difficulty.

Super nice family run joint. Even if you don’t speak Korean, they will take care of you. It’s not a place to have a gourmet experience, but more of a place to go for home cooking when you don’t feel like rustling something up at home. Their specialty, as the name indicates, is korean style tonkatsu. But they also have a couple things up their sleeve, like a pretty decent ddeokbokki which you can choose to get with cheese, ramyun, or japchae noodles!
Maybe not worth the trip out from Morningside Heights — but a real genuine, nice place to be to get some down home Korean food.

I did not know there was such thing as thin crust tonkatsu.
Tonkatsu should be thick juicy, tender inside, crispy out.
There is a reason why place is always empty.

As was stated before, how does this place not have more reviews?! With much competition within Fort Lee and nearby Palisades Park, I can say with no hesitation that this is my favorite place for katsu.
For all you non Koreans (like myself) do not fret, the menu is in English and if that is not enough the two lovely ladies running this joint put up labeled pictures of favorite dishes. From the katsu side of the menu, you have a choice of pork katsu, chicken katsu or fish katsu. And you can have it with rice, rice and curry sauce or soba noodles.
They start you off with miso soup, salad and a variety of ban chan. My favorite being the pickled jalapenos. As first timers, I chose the fish katsu with rice and my man got the pork katsu with rice and curry. The breading is so light and crisp. So good that you do not get that heavy, greasy feeling in the pit of your stomach. They also provide sesame seeds with a man made mortar and pestle and homemade katsu sauce and spicy sauce. You then make your own sauce table side depending on how spicy you want it. Don’t forget to sprinkle the smashed sesame seeds on top. Then dip away!
For easy navigation, this place is directly in front of Phở 32 & Shabu Shabu. Also it shares an entrance with a hair salon but the salon is on the second floor while Haha Don Katsu is on the first floor.