Yoshinoya

Honestly, this place brings old memories rushing back of those days as a kid and being brought here. As a teenager, I use to be able to eat two of the large beef bowls that I realized today are about 1000 calories each which really wasn’t a problem since I was also playing sports and growing vertically.
If you’re not familiar with Yoshinoya, well then it’s the Japanese equivalent of Japanese fast food. Before it used to be only beef bowl but there are many other items on the menu now. Terriyaki chicken, orange chicken… and many other American oriented dishes. Only the gyu don is the item to eat here. You can get anything else elsewhere.
Yoshinoya is a chain that can be found in many other places as well including Japan, Hong Kong. Their bowls of meat and caramelized onions are fantastic overlying a bed of rice drenched in their beef sauce. If you haven’t had one, then you’re missing out. It’s as authentic as you can get with the gyu don!
This particular place is not one to write home about. Their parking lot is small on the corner of two busy streets and the restaurant itself is old and dilapidated. The people behind the counter couldn’t care less about their job and they were all sneezing and sniffling all over the containers and the food.
Don’t judge your experience by the people who work here because the food itself is actually really good. I would advise trying a different location…

Yoshinoya is Japanese fast food so my expectations for it is also for fast food level. I’ve been to this branch several times and the different cashiers are always nice and friendly. The food comes out fast and quality is consistent. The place is always clean. My only concern is that the large order of beef seems to have less and less meat.

My bestie and I have a weakness for Yoshinoya and I’m not going to lie, I’m a little ashamed of this. Although my brain tells me that this is terrible food, my heart loves it.
The food at this location is pretty standard and comparable to other locations. I ordered my usual, combo bowl with teriyaki chicken and beef. The employee at the register and the manager who gave me my food, were both super polite and very efficient. There are only two knocks I have. The first, is that the inside of the location was due for a remodel back in 1999. At least it looks that way. Second knock is the awful parking! I got lucky but can see that lot being a big cluster mess. Exiting was difficult because of the oncoming traffic.

This is the only location I go to because unlike other locations I have been to like the one across from Pasadena city college, they are not greedy with their beef and the juice is not overpowering. However, I am not a fan with asking over the counter for extra red ginger. The cashier hands me over 4 cups of ginger, and they are not completely filled.

Don’t hate! Love is in the air… 5 stars most of the time. Well 64.5796% of the time. I’ve been coming here since dirt was created. Over the years, prices have gone up but still my go to place for a quick rice bowl. Love the combo bowl with chicken, beef and veggies. Ask for ginger behind the counter. You don’t know who touches what in the self serve area.
Décor hasn’t been updated since the early 80’s. It’s no frills but grew up coming to this location watching ample fights and weirdos outside the parking lot. The most entertaining was new years eve many years ago with two women fist fighting and pulling hair right in front of our window. Entertaining.
Enjoy.

What happened to you guys… you used to be cool. The Turdyaki chicken taste nasty now. Not the usual white meat with skin smh. Much disgusting such letdown

I started being a fan of Yoshinoya since I was in high school. Back then I knew as «Beef Bowl». 20 years later it’s still running strong and for good reason. The beef bowl is absolutely the best tasting Japanese fast food you can get. The hours are great so even if it’s late at night you can just come to your local beef bowl and munch down on a delicious bowl of beef and vegetables. I used to get the beef and chicken combo but the beef tastes so much more superior. The original beef bowl is still the best, way better than the angus beef bowl which costs more. They still got their red ginger condiments are still available. Just ask the cashier for it. It’s kept pre-​packed and in the refrigerator behind the counter.

It’s open late, it’s kinda better than a burger… kind of. And there’s very few options when you work graveyard.

First of all, it’s hard to believe this place is right by the Americana and Glendale Mall. Right when you pull up it feels like you are somewhere in the hood. There are weird transients hanging in and around the restaurant. It seems dirty inside and just icky. I should have gone with my initial instinct and ran for the hills, but my son was hungry and it was the only place open so late at night. I went ahead and decided to order anyway. When we got home, he went in to eat his food and there was a HAIR in his food! Really?! I immediately threw the food away and didn’t allow him to eat it. I will never be returning to this restaurant and will be letting all of my friends and family know of the disgusting conditions of this place.
I didn’t bother to call them to complain because I am not interested in getting a free meal or anything like that. This place is disgusting to say the least. Blah!!!

The cook here really seems like he cares about the food he puts out even at 1oclock at night. They lose one star for not having towels in the bathroom to dry my hands.

My little one and I needed a quick lunch. They serve appetizers, bowls (beef, steak, teriyaki, vegetables), soups, salad, plates (Asian BBQ wing and grilled tilapia), desserts, and they have a kids menu.
:Drinks:
I ordered a bottle of orange juice.
:Food:
I wanted to try the Grilled Tilapia with butter sauce (or teriyaki) and vegetables (or coleslaw) which was a mistake. I also didn’t care for the butter sauce. The Tilapia was topped with green onions, a wedge of lemon, and red pepper. It also came with vegetables that was soggy. I wouldn’t get this item again. My daughter got a Regular Beef Bowl. The portion of beef was less than usual and it was dry. I wouldn’t come back to this location.
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:Customer Service:
Quick
:M’s Notes:
~Indoor seating
~Small parking lot
~They have a Bowler Club. Receive discounts and a free gift on your birthday.

DO NOT GO TO THIS LOCATION!
This particular restaurant has a list of the worst factors:
1. Unsanitary floors and tables
2. Eerie customers and ambience
3. HORRIBLE EMPLOYEES!
I have been to many Yoshinoya branches but this one stood out the most for its ¹⁰⁄₁₀
lack of good service each and every time.
I’ve always encountered ignorant and neglectful reactions from simple situations such as asking for a little cup for soy sauce, napkins, or even forks.
There hasn’t been a time where I’ve had an
employee present decent service. If you don’t care for lousy employees and service then go right ahead.

My favorite Asian fast food place!

The Asian lady staff is so rude. We’re asking for water and she’s in front of us and she’s pretending that she didn’t hear us. There’s a guy inside the cooking area is so disgusting. He’s cleaning his teeth with toothpick in front of the customers. That is soooo totally disgusting!!! I was able to take a pic of that Asian old lady. The very rude one!

(Dined 05÷16÷15 SA @ 10:45pm): Still the best to eat when you’re hungover and come at night at your own risk!
I last ate at this Yoshinoya back in the early 90’s when I was a poor starving community college student. Back story, this location was my first-​ever experience with the chain. Back then, this place was one hot stinking mess littered with homeless people, lifeless employees, and shabby décor. Yet through it all, it was conveniently open 24 hours for those late drunken nights when you needed something to soak-​up the alcohol. All the unpleasantries evaporated as I’d woof down this Japanese fast food. Armed with an «$ 8.00 for two regular bowls» coupon offer, how was this trip down memory lane in my old ‘hood?:
Regular-​sized Beef Bowl ($ 5.19) — In a warped way, these strings of stewed beef strips had and always looked like thick catgut to me. With that visual in mind, there was minimal layers of thin hot meat placed on top of a heaping serving of steamed white rice. The required dumping of zinging red ginger, peppered with red chili powder, and doused with soy sauce made this meal more than tolerable and somewhat tasty. The strangled pieces of onion was pathetic especially since I loved onions. FYI… I wouldn’t recommend this meal while fully sober; disappointment would crash upon you.
Regular-​sized Teriyaki Chicken Bowl ($ 4.79) — With the lack of birds at this location, I always kidded myself that these were actually pieces of crispy-​skinned soft meat pigeon! This was the «healthier» alternative mixed in with steamed veggies and sweet teriyaki sauce. This time, a good serving on top of steamed rice it wasn’t necessary to dress this up as much as the beef variety, but heck why not, all the colors were so beautiful?!
Service — I was the only customer in line at the time so the friendly older Filipino gentleman behind the counter quickly and easily took my order. Before I knew it, my order was ready — one for here and one to go — along with a tiny clear plastic cup for water. The chain had recently gone to pre-​packed red ginger that you now requested for instead of the open container. I gathered the chili peppers and soy sauce containers, and I was ready to eat! No waitstaff so please throw away your trash into the receptacles.
Parking (Free) — They shared a narrow barely 16-​spot private lot with about five other businesses. Otherwise, there was metered parking on all surrounding streets or for free at the nearby Glendale Galleria and just walk it.
Atmosphere, décor, ambience — Pretty basic like any fast food place with a tinge of donut shop, the layout was surprisingly spacious and filled with standard tables and chairs. A few framed pictures hung on the pale-​colored walls along with promotional posters stuck on a few of the windows, and a visual menu on the wall behind the counter. Plenty of indoor electric fluorescent lighting and a ton of natural lighting (actually street lights at this time) came in through the many windows. There were no TVs but music played in the background. Improvements had been made since my last visit over 20 years ago… except for the homeless people; yes, they were homeless people friendly.
Attire — Totally casual, so I would normally be in a t-​shirt, boardshorts, and flip-​flops.
Overall, the Yoshinoya at the intersection of Colorado and Brand Blvd. in Glendale had come a long way and was still a viable place for affordable healthier fast food at any time of day. The food quality was decent and filled your belly, but just don’t expect much more (please add more beef and less rice). They have since expanded their menu to include some seafood. Although I sort of went out of my way this evening to eat here, I wouldn’t make a habit of it. I found fairly good value based on the prices, service, and experience noted above (total bill was around $ 10.00 before discount; no tip required). Although they accepted credit cards, not mine of choice… AMEX! 3.5 STARS

*** Pit stop review (Glendale) ***
I haven’t been to this Yoshinoya since high school. I was in the area and my coworker suggested stopping at this location for some lunch. In my mind Yoshinoya is very standard establishment that serves rice with chicken or beef. If a teriyaki bowl is what I want, the expectation is that the chicken will be moist and soft. It will be served with steamed vegetables on top of some rice.
This particular visit was a little disappointing. Both my coworker and I had the same order of chicken teriyaki. There were a few pieces of chicken that were hard and tough. There were a few pieces that were just cartilage in the chicken. Since there were only a handful of pieces of chicken to start off with, it left us with few edible pieces remaining.
This location was clean, but dingy. I’m not sure if that makes any sense. It appeared clean, but it needs a little face-​lift. I wasn’t too fond of the loose toilet seat nor the pan-​handler in front of the door. In my teens I certainly remember Glendale as a charming little middle class town, but I think times have changed. The homeless people hanging around and the token required to enter the restroom says something. Also the bottle of soy sauce was dirty with crusted dried soy sauce around the bottle. Handling the bottle was messy.
In addition the parking for this little strip mall is tough. Parking a full sized vehicle is challenging in the small compact spaces. The spaces are also labeled and assigned to individual stores.
This wouldn’t be a location I’d want to return to in the future.
Food = poor
Seating area = average
Service = average
Restroom = poor (loose toilet seat)

TLDR: If you want a change of pace that does not involve burgers or tacos for a good price and decent portions, then you should try this place out.
They have like 5 main things on the menu. Teriyaki chicken, beef, Angus beef, vegetables and tilapia. All the bowls are variations on these five things on a bed of tasty rice. Also spring rolls and cookies. There is some sriracha, pickled ginger, low sodium soy sauce and some kind of seasoning mix available at the condiments station which paired really well with the dishes we ordered. Next to that is the self serve soda spouts which held around ten different choices (Pepsi not Coke). There is a bunch of seating that accommodates several groups of four if needed.
My experience.
The food was hot. The food was tasty. The food was cheap at around 5 to 6 bucks a person. The drinks are massive. The service was super quick at around 3 minutes. The place was decently clean. There was a little mess at the condiments station but I’ll attribute that to the fact that they were busy. The cashier was a ham.

RICHARD has to be the WORST cashier I’ve ever had the displeasure of ordering from. Seriously has the worst attitude problem I’ve ever seen in the 90 seconds or so I had the disappointing experience of talking to him. Scolding a customer for not ordering a drink prior to you ringing us up before you assumed we were done ordering? I’M SO SORRY you literally had to press an EXTRA THREE KEYS to add our drink order. NEXT TIME check your attitude so that it doesn’t match your name, Dick.

This is one place to go when you are hungry and you do not know what to eat and you don’t care what you will eat. This place hit the spot!

When I can’t afford Waba Grill, I love Yoshinoya Bowl. Cheap, tasty eats! I’m not sure how chicken with teriyaki sauce over rice can be so high in calories, but it is! Still one of my guilty pleasures. I get the kid’s meal, it is the perfect size bowl for someone who doesn’t want to max out their calories for the day, comes with a drink and cookie!