Kotohira Restaurant

I took the family here because a long time ago, they used to one of the few places that made their own udon and were pretty good at it. I’ve been there over the years. Since we were in the area, we decided to try it once again.
Kotohira is located in a busy strip shopping center. Parking in the lot is almost impossible with too many cars and parking spaces designed for a Smart Cars and Mini Coopers. If you drive anything larger, good luck trying to find a parking space.
Dinners come with potato salad and sometimes ice cream as dessert. Since they are/​were famous for their «noodles», their udon noodles are the thing to get here. They have several combos and variations of it. My wife liked the potato salad. I thought the noodles were okay. The noodles are daughter approved but, she like all noodles. They don’t make noodles here anymore. The waitress did not want to give us our ice cream after we finished dinner. We had to ask several times.
It’s not a place that I would make a special trip for. I’m glad that it is far away from me. There are better places out there for udon. Too much trouble looking for a parking space. Where’s my ice cream?

Well, another place that has a wide variety of foods in combo sets and I’m definitely a sucker for those! I love eating meals that have a little bit of different types of dishes, and if it included dessert then even more so. Kotohira is a nice chill place for dinner where I can get a variety of Japanese dishes all in combos! Price-​wise almost every combo is $ 10 and there’s a few that are a bit more. Not only are there combos there is an appetizer menu too. Love it for the good food and low price!
Kotohira is tucked away into the corner of the crazy food plaza on Western. There are so many restaurants there that I could easily eat every meal of the week there. It’s pretty cute with mainly booths and some tables and I love the amount of privacy and respect the patrons have for each other. Booths always give customers a bit more privacy, but the patrons there are super respectful and aren’t loud. It makes for a very nice chill meal where you aren’t stuck listening to the conversation 3 tables away. Either Kotohira has very good soundproofing, the patrons who come here are a nice bunch, or both!
Service wise the servers are always running around and it can be hard to grab their attention unless you can wave them down. Other than that are are pretty quick and efficient and very polite. They definitely need more servers as these poor people are constantly running everywhere!
Foodwise every combo comes with tasty mashed potatoes as an appetizer and the ice cream flavor of the day for dessert! Yay! They have all sorts of Japanese food items that you can choose from. The portion size to price is amazing too and you’ll get plenty of food!!!
OKINAWA SOBA SET — $ 10.95
This isn’t on their normal menu but it was posted on the wall. It was called soba but it was really more of an in between of udon and soba thickness wise. It reminded me of Chinese hand made noodles. This set came with a big bowl of Okinawa soba in a broth with red ginger, pork belly, cabbage, soybean sprouts and green onions. There were also two small plain onigiri and some pickles to go along with it. The noodles are very well done and taste hand made and have that unconformed look. Broth was nice and light, the pork belly was delicious, and overall the bowl of noodles was a good dish. The onigiri was passable.
KAKIAGE SET — $ 9.95
Fried? Oh of course yes! This set was delectable with two big pieces of kakiage, rice, simple udon soup, and some pickles. The kakiage were quite yummy and pretty big too. Lotsa veggies and the right amount of batter with it. The simple udon is decent but if you like udon get a set that is more about the noodles.
Going to come back and try out more sets!

One step inside and you know you’ve made the right decision. The interior design is spectacular, you feel so homey and at ease. To make a good thing even better, the server enthusiastically greets you and serves you in the most hospitable way possible. You feel more like a guest than a customer. Everything about this place just screams authenticity and Japanese.
Adulation part I end.
Adulation part II begin.
Did I mention how the waiter, essentially a host, is extremely attentive and offers free dessert at the end of your hearty meal? Maybe I should have said that at the end of this review but I figured I should save the surprises for when you go here to eat.
The food comes in huge portions and is also quite delicious to boot. Whether you get udon or saba or a combination of both, you will be very satisfied.
Adulation part II end.
Oh and you pay no more than $ 12 for a meal that can easily be two meals. Or 1.5 meals. Great deal regardless.
I will definitely be back for sure.

So good!
I had a salmon bowl with fish roe and it was awesome. Big portions, lots of little sides, friendly staff, cute environment. It’s a little small inside so maybe not good for giant parties, but there’s a long bar too so that could work.

I tend to be at my most gluttonous at restaurants that serve me a bunch of different dishes on one plate. That most notably includes Korean places, with all of those wonderful refillable banchan, Ethiopian places, with those huge shareable platters dotted on all sides with different stews, and places like Kotohira, with a variety of set places.
This was no exception, as I managed to scarf down practically all of my gigantic mackerel filet, which could have used with a tiny bit less cooking but was perfect right around the backbone where all the fat is, and retained its crunchy, oily skin as a potato-​chip like accompaniment. The small side udon was very simple — definitely a side dish as opposed to a main dish — but was nice and warm and comforting, with chewy noodles and a bonito-​heavy broth.
Other piles of food included the free potato salad, pickled vegetables, and green salad.
Plus — how could I almost forget — one of the best black sesame mochi ice creams I’ve ever had the surprise-​pleasure of eating! I put it in my mouth, expecting it to be sweet, but found it was basically crushed sesame, sesame oil, milk, and rice. Yum!

I come here mainly for the spicy beef udon and it’s absolutely delicious! For anyone who likes noodles with a bit of tang and spice in it, I definitely recommend theirs.
They serve complimentary potato salad when you first walk in and ice cream before you leave. Both are great. The restaurant is small but clean for the most part and great for a rainy day meal.

I came here because my friends wanted to meet up for boba at It’s Boba Time before dinner. This plaza has a private lot in the back with plenty of parking (street parking is 20 minutes only).
We came here around 7pm and there wasn’t too many people so we were seated immediately. They have quite some options to choose from, I like how affordable the dishes are and the combinations they have. They also have a special menu (these are posted by the tables and not handed to you) with Okinawan style dishes. If I didn’t come with my sister who has been here before, I wouldn’t have even noticed these special dishes. They serve mash potatoes as a free appetizer (free refills) and also ice cream for dessert at the end. Can’t say no to ice cream!
For dinner, I ordered the kotohira combinations (tempura and shoyu udon) and my sister ordered the nikuyasai soba. The tempura was good but the udon was over cooked for my liking (I like chewy udon noodles). There’s also nothing but broth, these little friend bits, and udon in udon bowl. But since it’s only 10 dollars, I thought it was still A-​OK. I enjoyed my sister’s noodles a lot more. The vegetables were sauteed (slightly caramelized) and the pork belly was very tender. The soup also had a lot more flavor than the shoyu udon base. I’m not sure if they hand make the soba noodles (these almost look like egg noodles and but with the thickness of udon noodles). These noodles were $ 11 but comes with two plain onigiri (rice balls).
If you come here, I recommend trying out the okinawan style dishes!

Looking on Unilocal to find something to eat. Found this little gem.
Very inviting once you walk in. No wait for late lunch dining. Once you are seated, barley tea and potato salad is served. Both very good.
I ordered the Saba (grilled mackerel). It came out with salad, rice and udon. The Saba was cooked perfectly. The udon was light in taste, but very good.
I would definitely visit this place again for comfort food Japanese style.

I only had one udon experience in Japan, and this place was better.
The service is outstanding. They still say Arigatou Gozaimasu like they do in Japan. There were also a few Japanese Speaking Customers! And the rest were Koreans.
First Notice — Mash Potatoes on Point!
Second — Free Ice Cream? AWE YEAH
The cook on Udon was nice! as well as the Karage Chicken. They also had Oyako katsu don! Pretty tasty stuff (Breaded Chicken with an Egg)
All combos were around 10 bucks, came with Udon and appetizer.
Meal for 2, 25 post tax and tip.

Authentic japanese place. I’ve been here twice so far.
At my first experience around 5PM, there was only one waitress working there. She does everything; picking up phone call, packing togo order, serving foods etc. so unless you call her first, she doesn’t really come to you. The service was very slow since she was so busy herself. I liked their foods though. grilled fish was good
At the second time, I’ve tried bento. mmmm nahhh, tempura was too hard and dry and it wasn’t not satisfying for other stuff in the bento as well. I was kinda disappointed. the serivice was okay and the price was affordable I think.

I’m not a huge udon fan, but this place was alright by me. Most items are about $ 10, and include udon in some form or another. Usually it’s a meat/​rice dish paired with a bowl of udon.
Fast and very friendly service.

My husband has been mentioning Kotohira for quite a while now.
He’s come here several times with a friend and wanted me to try it because he knows how much I enjoy a good ol’ school Japanese meal.
This guy, he loves his pork katsu. Even more when it’s made katsu-​don style.
(I’m too lazy to make this at home for him.)
He ordered a combo that comes with a nice-​sized bowl of udon.
He was really hungry and wolfed it down in no time.
Their bento combo appealed to me. I’m a nibbler and like having a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Plus, ahi sashimi was part of the meal and I’ll never pass that up. It also came with a small serving of udon which I love. Most places serve miso soup instead.
Also on the tray were veggie tempura, nimono (simmered root veggies), saba mackerel & potato salad. There was also rice and some breaded meat (which my husband helped himself to).
It was a lot of food so I strategized by concentrating on the sashimi and udon. Nibbled on the other items and then brought the rest home to eat for dinner later.
Iced barley tea was served instead of water which we both appreciated.
Service was really good. The restaurant was packed and the ladies were attentive to everyone.
I can see why the hubby loves this place. Good food like his mom used to cook for him all the time.
I like it too!

I came here on a Thursday afternoon for lunch. It was so quiet in the restaurant, I thought it was closed, but it looks like all the patrons that day were very quiet. LOL. I have never been to Japan, but I imagine the inside is how a Japanese restaurant looks like. We got seated quickly and our waitress brought our tea and complimentary potato salad very quickly. The potato salad was pretty good and tasty. We were trying to order, but we had to wait a very long time for someone to take our order. I think that it’s because there was one waitress for the entire restaurant. But, she finally came to take our order.
I decided on the salmon combo, which came with salmon, salad, rice, and small udon. I was kind of disappointed in my choice. The salmon was very dry and I think it should have had a sauce. I ended up mixing salad dressing with some of the grounded up radish they provided as a sauce. It was still pretty dry. The udon was pretty good, but the noodles were slightly over cooked. But, I like it that way, so no big deal for me. (Be careful if you get our udon with spicy broth, it is VERY spicy!!)
All in all, I would come back again but I will definitely order something else the next time. Hopefully, the service will also be better.

I’ve always loved this place for their potato salad and their grilled saba combo.
Located in a small strip mall with furaibo, boiling point, marie calendars, edible arrangments and the soon-​to-​be-​open honeymee, it can be easily overlooked. There are only about 10 tables for small-​medium parties inside so expect a short wait on certain nights.
While you wait for your meal to arrive, they serve complimentary potato salad which is deliciously addicting. I’m not sure what they put in it but its soooo good!!!
I always order the saba combo which comes with leafy greens + their mystery salad sauce which comes in a squeeze bottle, a bowl of rice, tiny side of seasoned seaweed and pickled cucumber, a bowl of tanuki udon, and of course half a slice of deliciously juicy grilled saba. It is a large quantity of food for one BUT I usually finish everything except the rice. The fish is always so juicy and fresh tasting with a light crisp to the skin. Yummm!
Lastly, there is ice cream on the house when you are done. Usually a small scoop of red bean or that three colored one.(forgot the name -.-)…but thats also what I get annoyed about… for some reason the girls ALWAYS bring one less ice cream than the amount of people. like ¹⁰⁄₁₀ times this happens. My daughter usually eats with us and they somehow never think to ask if she would like one too. c’mon shes a kid! You know kids love ice cream. I just feel its super lame to be cheap on a tiny scoop of ice cream especially since we eat there all the time.

What a «hidden» gem in the plaza they are located in. Decided to come here after not wanting to wait for the ridiculous line at Boiling Point and boy was I glad I came here. On a cold night, the udon did the trick!
The menus have pictures so you know exactly what you are getting when you order. Not to mention, the pictures aren’t taken by professionals so your meal looks EXACTLY like they do in the picture. No joke!
Anyways, as soon as we sat down, we were served iced barley tea which was great. We even got this potato salad as an appetizer too. Not too much of a fan but I appreciated the free dish. Awesome customer service too. Really nice and friendly.
For appetizers we got an order of the chicken kara-​age (fried chicken) and geso kara-​age (fried squid legs). I’d definitely recommend the fried chicken! Not a lot of flour used to fry the chicken and there was a good amount of chicken too. However, the same cannot be said of the geso. It was burnt, hard and tough to eat. Maybe we got a bad batch but I wouldn’t order it again.
For the main dish, I got the mini katsudon combo ($ 10). What a steal!!! The udon was delicious. The broth in particular was exceptional… sprinkle on a little chili powder and it was nicely balanced. I could drink the soup for days!!! The katsu rice dish was also great. Nicely seasoned with soy sauce and the egg/​onion paired well with the katsu.
If you’re looking for udon, come here… it won’t let you down. Trust.

I have never been to Japan, but I have been in many Japanese Restaurants in the LA area! This is a small-​ish restaurant with cute little traditional knick knacks and other decorations.
The parking here is generally a nightmare! The parking spaces are a tad too narrow for even the compact cars. I think it would fit a SmartCar perfectly. I have parked here to visit other restaurants in this strip of businesses and have seem too many car parked askew. It’s best to park way away where nobody wants to walk from, if you value a dent-​free car when you return!
The service was quite efficient at this restaurant! It seems like just one lady was serving all the tables when we were there for lunch. I even got a refill of the complimentary barley tea without asking! :)
There were 3 of us dining for lunch on April 3, 2015. Within moments of being seated, we were brought barley tea, one little bowl of potato salad, and some pickled stuff (which we didn’t eat). Barley Tea has grown on me, it has an interesting flavor. The potato salad was really quite good! Not overly dressed and had a very nice texture to it! (
) I could have eaten it all by myself, but I had to save room for the food I ordered.
I decided to get the Kotohira Combo with their Udon & Tempura. The Udon really was one of the better tasting udons I have had! I must say that the Tempura was good, I liked the different veggies they included! My only drawback (in my opinion) is that I think the tempura might have been a little heavy or thick. I would have preferred the batter to be a slightly less so the veggies & shrimp could have been eaten easier. (
)
My daughter had the Udon & Katsu. She enjoyed her udon as well. I don’t think we’ve had Katsu with an egg on top before. She said the katsu itself was ok. She didn’t eat much of it and we took 99% of the bowl home. (
)
I can’t remember what Udon my son’s girlfriend had, but I think she liked it. She ate a little bit with us and then took the rest to-​go because she had to leave.
At the end of our meal, we were asked if we wanted ice cream, and yes, we did want some! :) It was a scoop of Neapolitan.
If you find yourself drinking too much of that barley tea, feel free to visit the restroom. The toilet seat is one of those Japanese ones that keeps the seat heated for your tush.
It was a quick lunch and I will be a repeat diner, especially for the Udon!

Got the Kotohira combo comes w/​udon noodles and tempura. Complimentary iced tea (Barley tea), potato salad & ice cream. It can’t get any better than that.
Udon: it was delicious, the broth was well seasoned and the noodles were beautifully cooler because they were silky and bouncy, best udon I’ve had so far.
Potato salad: that was delicious! I could eat a whole bowl of that.
Tempura: best tempura I’ve had because it’s cooked perfectly super crunchy, so yummy.
Tea: it was also delicious.
The service was great, it wasn’t busy when I went. The waitress always had my tea filled, the parking wasn’t too bad either. I will definitely be back and I highly recommend this place.

This place is legit! Made me feel like I was back in Tokyo, since the food, vibe and décor was very authentic.
Food
Let’s start with the food. They had a menu with pictures which were helpful, and specials posted at random places. Right when you sit down, they serve you complimentary iced barley tea, which was delicious. After you order, they bring you some yummy potato salad and yellow radishes. I ordered the kotohira combo, which came with tempura and udon, and it was absolutely delicious and a generous serving. This was some of the best tempura I’ve ever had! It was so crunchy that even when I let it sit in the tempura sauce, it was still crunchy. The udon was really good too! I loved my order and will most likely order this during my future visits. My BF got the beef sukiyaki, it was good but kinda a smaller portion and didn’t have much meat, but he felt full anyway.
Service
The service here was great. Right when you sit down, they serve you some complimentary barley tea followed by a yummy complimentary potato salad and radishes after you order. They are quick to refill your tea and walk around to ask you if you need anything. After your meal, they give you a complimentary scoop of ice cream. I don’t know any other place that gives you so much free food. I felt like I had a three course meal for just $ 10!
I will definitely be back soon. I love these mom and pop places! :)

4.5, but feeling generous and rounding up.
I’ve been coming here since the mid 2000s! The menu is pretty much the same with couple of new items featured on the wall or on display thingys on the table. However, I’m a creature of habit and usually stick with the same couple of items, which is either the saba or the salmon combo. The combo comes with a bowl of rice, udon or soba (I always get hot soba), and of course the fish. The hot soba soup broth is usually light in flavor with fresh green onions and tempura pieces. Noodles are always just right texture. Every time I’ve been here, the fish is also cooked just right served with a small side salad averaging $ 10 to $ 11.
Free potato salad to share per table as well as pickled radish. Back in the days, there was an unlimited about of potato salad, but now it’s just 1 per table. The potato salad is Japanese style, light and fluffy. Pickled radish is well, pickled radish.
Complimentary ice cream at the end of the meal. Different flavors each time ranging from chocolate to green tea to neapolitan.
Service is usually decent, all the «older» ladies are usually really polite. Ample parking in this plaza. Of course I’ll be back!

I wanted to take my daughter for a good lunch since she has has been studying really hard for her finals. I narrowed our choices and let her choose between severals restaurants. The photos of the complimentary ice cream won her over for Kotohira so off we went to travel to Gardena.
The restaurant is located on the corner of Western and Redondo in a busy restaurant center. Parking was a tad challenging since it was packed but we got lucky to get the parking spot closest to the restaurant. As we entered, we hear soothing Japanese music playing and the noise level is really low, almost too quiet. I was unsure if they were even open but I did saw diners inside. It seems that everyone is mindful not to disturb anyone’s dining experience.
A little matured lady attended to us during our meal. She was a very kind, sweet and has a quiet demeanor but was diligent in attending to the customers. She talked to my daughter briefly and even made her laugh. My daughter described our dining experience as if eating at grandma’s house instead of a restaurant, very comforting. The service is laid back so don’t expect a fast pace environment.
We ordered the combination, which came with a katsudon and udon, and the grill squid appetizer. I really liked the ika sugatayaki (grilled squid). The freshly grated ginger with the lemon really brought out the flavor of the squid and gives it a good kick with every bite. My daughter really enjoyed the udon and katsudon. The udon had a good broth, chewy noodles. It was not too salty nor heavy. The katsudon was well made with good flavor. It came with complimentary barley tea, pickle radish, and the creamiest potato salad I ever tasted. It is a very good value meal.
I normally don’t mention a bathroom review in a meal review but I think it is worth mentioning since I had to use it before the long commute. They have those electric seat warmer on the commode which I didn’t realize until my fanny hit seat. It was warm, comforting and relaxing which really surprised me. Two thumbs up!
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