Gaja Japanese Restaurant

Friend and I decided to come here for lunch today and so glad we did. Incredible, delicious Okonomiyaki and Monjayaki
Okonomiyaki is the Japanese equivalent of a ‘pancake’ can be made either savory or sweet. Mix, cabbage and whatever toppings your heart desires. This restaurant had a great variety of okonomiyaki available to try. They had pork kimchi, cheese corn and cod row mochi cheese which is what we got. We asked if they could make it inside since we’ve never made okonomiyaki before. We also ordered the seafood Monjayaki. All you can eat option was perfect for my friend and I. We had more than enough food and so inexpensive.
The Monjayaki was a little hard to eat. It was delicious, but would probably order it after Okonomiyaki. Okonomiyaki came out after we finished our Monja. There’s no sauce or mayo on it, up to you to put as much or as little as you want. We covered it in Okonomiyaki sauce and mayo. So delicious. The mochi was cooked perfectly, chewy but easy to eat. And who would’ve thunk savory mochi would be so good? Mochi is glutinous rice cake, usually served as a dessert.
All in all, had a great experience, ate till we were full and the service was excellent, definitely coming back when i’m in the area.

I love that you have the option to make your own okinomiyaki here. For late evening, I was surprised they didn’t have more customers. The waiter asked if we needed help making ours or if we wanted it made for us instead, but my friend insisted she makes it. I was actually worried she would screw it all up when she seemed hesitant about what to cook first, but I guess she didn’t too bad a job haha
What actually first enticed me to come here was their grapefruit beer after my friend mentioned it to me. In Korea they have this grapefruit beer with pieces of grapefruit pulp in it that was super good and I’ve been missing it since. I don’t really know what it exactly is — whether it’s just beer with canned fruit mixed in or with fruit syrup or juice or what but it’s the closest I can find to what I had in Korea. The grapefruit one here has a slight taste of grapefruit with a lot of grapefruit chunks in it and I tried a little bit of my friends strawberry one which was also good, but a little sweeter which seemed more like a syrup mixture with blended strawberries in it cause the color of the drink was a deeper red color.

I love coming here when I go to Torrance, especially since I live in the valley and they don’t have restaurants like this there. This is the place where I had my first okonomiyaki making and tasting experience, and ever since I have been hooked. You do have the option or having it already pre-​cooked for you, but what is the fun in that. I don’t know if it is a Japanese thing, but my friends from Japan like to order it so that we make it at the table, and it is more fun when someone who never made it before gets to work on it. If you are worried, there are instructions on how to prepare the okonomiyaki.
The okonomiyaki is so big, it has to be shared. Well technically one person can eat it, but its better when you get multiple and cut it like cake and share different kinds. They bring all the the food you are going to need for the okonomiyaki, with the spatulas, and all the other ingredients you may want to add afterwards. They also serve alcohol, so you can cook while you drink. Just don’t burn yourself, but they are vigilant in making sure you are okay.
I love how there are so many options of the kinds of okonomiyaki, I like getting the mix or modern mix, if not then the pork is another option. If you don’t like okonomiyaki, there are other dishes too, but some you can find in other restaurants anyways. How often do you find okonomiyaki? (Well except probably in the Torrance area)
The service is great, they really try to make you feel welcome and have fun. They also give great advice when it comes to the food. The restaurant is clean, but it does look a little old. Parking is not so bad either. I’ve had good timing when it wasn’t so full of people.
I have been lucky to always have a great experience when I come here, maybe because I also come with friends who know the area. But I always have fun and I’m always happy with making and eating okonomiyaki.

I feel bad for the 2 stars but that’s how I really feel. I should have opted out for KBBQ :(
C: Okanomiyaki — This thing is filled with cabbage and very minimal protein, I don’t understand why we need to do all you can eat, the pancake is ginormous.
C+: Monjayayaki — the texture was interesting, it’s like gooey starch, again lots of carbs, no protein to be found
C: Spaghetti Cabanara– bland and watery
Honestly, I just ate just to eat so I wouldn’t be hungry but the food was very subpar for my taste. I enjoyed the new experience but once is enough. However, their other fried side dishes looks legit as well as their dessert but not enticing enough to come back.
I wouldn’t say stay clear but understand, you’re here to eat carbs. On another note, their service was good.

Before anything, the All You Can Eat is EVERYDAY, contrary to some pictures (old pictures) it’s everyday now. Lunch is $ 13.99 while dinner is $ 18.99.
Okonomiyaki… mmmm… I’m a fan of okonomiyaki myself, if I’m not feeling too lazy would make it at home but the effort and cooking and mixing and all just don’t seem worth the trouble for just myself. Went and found friends to go try this place. As to why a ³⁄₅ rating, well, we’ll get on to that.
Firstly, the main thing, the Okonomiyaki. I tried the seafood okonomiyaki and the pork okonomiyaki. I would have to say I prefer the seafood okonomiyaki better over the pork, my friends and I had the staff cook it in the kitchen and the pork was a little overdone and burnt which could be why I didn’t particularly like it. The okonomiyaki is good, nothing super, but it’s good nonetheless. If okonomiyaki was the only thing I would be rating, it would be ⁴⁄₅. However we tried other things. The tempura is another that’s nothing spectacular, it was pretty small and decent, it was nicely fried which is good but nothing amazing. We also got the takoyaki, and this one wasn’t good. Only saving portion of it is having actual pieces of tako inside, other than that, it was mushy and didn’t look all that appetizing at all. Finally we also got a spicy seafood risotto. The risotto is honestly more like a spicy seafood soup base and threw in some rice in there, wasn’t exactly a risotto. I would avoid getting these next time and just stick with okonomiyaki. I didn’t get to try the monjayaki and maybe next time would try it for taste and review.
I have to mention also the service. The service was mediocre, they were accommodating to an extent, in the sense they cooked our food in the kitchen at our request. Other than that, that was it. My friend had to ask for us to be served water, and had to constantly ask as well for refill. We got the all you can eat for lunch since it was the better deal, but at all times, we had to ask if we can order something, instead of them inquiring if we needed anything else. Despite my friends telling them this was our first time eating okonomiyaki (It isn’t my first, but I kept that) there was no explanation as for the seasonings, as to what it is, or how to dress/​top the okonomiyaki when it was served.
Overall, if you come here for the okonomiyaki and know what you are doing, the place isn’t bad. I would say ⁴⁄₅ for that. But the lack of service, the atmosphere, and the other food, it brings it down to ³⁄₅. I would honestly go back to try the other stuff, probably update this review, but right now the total experience and food tried, a ³⁄₅ is my rating for them.

Food: The okonomiyaki is average. Tried the modern mix and the pork kimchi. Nothing particularly wrong with either, but not memorable to say the least. It felt like a chore to eat them. Very skimpy on the ingredients as well. The takoyaki are barebones. The carbonara was… not carbonara. Rather, it was spaghetti dumped into some sort of watery, cream-​based sauce. It also featured a few strips of limp bacon, an overdone fried egg, and absolutely no flavor. Apparently the risotto is also some sort of wildly distorted interpretation. You’ve been warned.
NB: The all you can eat option is a good deal, although it’s a little silly since there is a very real cap as to how much one can eat here. The okonomiyaki are gigantic — one per person and most folks would be beyond full.
Décor: Nothing really stands out for better or worse. One thing that does is the fact that the condiment containers on each table are filthy. As in sticky, covered in grime, haven’t-been-cleaned-in-ages filthy. This is something that inevitably happens at restaurants that involve tabletop cooking, or in smaller mom-​and-​pop type establishments. You’re frying stuff with oil, the ventilation sucks, it’s unavoidable, I get it. It’s something that I have no problem overlooking provided that the food is stellar, and, well, the food was not stellar. Clean the damn containers.
Service: Here’s where the real issue lies. The girl who took our order was perfectly friendly and pleasant. However, she mysteriously vanished soon thereafter. Our okonomiyaki was brought out by an older woman who could only be described as surly. She put the bowl of ingredients down on the table and asked if we wanted help with the cooking. We said yes, to which her response was to flip the menu to a page with a rudimentary flowchart depicting the cooking process. She pointed to the various steps shown on the page and basically said «now you know». We explained that we would rather have her handle the cooking, at which point she sighed loudly and muttered to herself while pouring the batter onto the grill, etc. It reminded me of the Paul Rudd cafeteria scene in Wet Hot American Summer. If you’re going to bicker and drag your feet while doing it, why even offer to do it in the first place? It was pretty awkward, and not the kind of service that I expect from a Japanese restaurant to say the least. Once everything was mixed and poured (a process that took all of 90 seconds), she said that she’d come back to flip it in a few minutes. Naturally, she never came back. I just eyeballed it and did the flip myself. Later we tried to flag her down for refills of water and she looked at us, said «Yes, I see you», and then turned around to disappear into the back of the restaurant. Never got our refills. Completely unacceptable.
I wonder if her attitude would have been different had I spoken to her in Japanese instead of English? Frankly, I don’t really care either way at this point. I left a full tip because I felt bad for the girl who took our orders, but if I had only dealt with the older woman throughout the course of the meal, I would have literally left $ 0. The food here is 3 stars; mediocre but fine if you happen to have a craving for okonomiyaki. The service, or lack thereof, will ensure that I never come back.
ご年配の女性店員さんの接客態度が非常に残念でした。不愛想を軽く通り越して、ただ失礼だったとしか言いようがありません。正直、不快感しか残りませんでした。

Heard about this places fruit beers so came here to finally check it out. It was obviously delicious. They’ve got a lot of options: strawberry, blueberry, grapefruit, mojito, piña colada.
We also got the modern mix okonomiyaki. The servers were really good to us. Explained how to make it and ended up actually cooking it for us at our table. It’s like a veggie/​seafood/​meat/​vegetable pancake. Really thick and enough for two people to have over a couple of beers. It was really good.
I would definitely come back here to try other things on their menu.

Fun fun place. Why the low rating do you ask? Because the food was very so-​so.
Do you remember going to Chucky Cheese’s as a kid? It was the greatest place on earth and if you’d asked me then, I would have told you the best pizza in the world. The reality is that it was a great place and that made everything, even the pizza, better.
Similar analogy for Gaja. It’s definitely worth one visit just given the novelty and uniqueness factor. That alone makes up for the terribly un-​user friendly menu (Robert Irvine would crap his pants), pricing régime that basically makes the all-​you-​can-​eat the only way to go, and again, what ultimately is pretty average food.
Thought the Okonomiyaki was ok. Monjiyaki checked the box for «now I can stay I’ve tried it». My favorite out of these three was the carbonara which was soupy and decently flavored. Bring friends, cook the food, and drink the all-​you-​an-​drink. And its warm in there because of the grills so tank-​tops and sandals would be perfect.

This place was different and the food was tasty. Reason why I’m dinging them 1 star is because we ordered way too much for the number of people we had and since it was our first time there, they should have offered that advice to us. Instead, they let us order all two orders of the pancake-​like item and we couldn’t even finish the first one.
Price was reason but other than the ordering issue, was good.

Pretty good DIY/​interactive cooking restaurant. We have tons of the DIY AYCE Korean BBQ restaurants in LA. This is the only DIY onkonomiyaki & monjayaki restaurant that I know of and now they even offer AYCE! But wait, for $ 10 more you can get ALL YOU CAN DRINK Sapporo and shochu for 90 minutes! So this restaurant is fairly straightforward, you have a grill, oil and condiments. The waiters or waitresses brings out your order, you mix the mixture up thoroughly, you oil your heated cooking surface, you pour the mixture onto the heated, flat, warm cooking surface and make a circle. Following that you let the mixture sit for a little to get cooked and slightly crisp on the bottom, then you use the top of their spatula to break up the shredded cabbage pieces and then flatten it with the wide part of the spatula to get it crispy. Prior to see being you add Japanese mayo, onkonomiyaki sauce, seaweed laver, and okaka (bonito flakes). You can also order a okonomiyaki to be cooked in the back kitchen, but monjayaki must be cooked on your table. It’s a super fun experience to go with some friends, cooking, eating, drinking and have a merry time. Speaking of drinks, you can get the all you can eat special ($ 14.99 lunch/​$ 18.99 dinner) but you can get all you can eat and all you can drink for $ 28.99 (all you can drink is good for 90 minutes). The all you can drink includes Sapporo and shochu (lemon, green tea, oolong tea, lime). We came at 7:30 PM last night on Sunday, and didn’t have a wait at all. The service was great as well, bringing out the foods and refilling our drinks to maximize the all you can drink and everyone in our group was very satisfied.

One word for Gaja: Okonomiyaki
I saw some of the great pictures on Unilocal of this dish along with my brother’s review. The place is decent. Probably the best place to get your Okonomiyaki on (kind of a Japanese pancake) with seafood or meat. You can either have it cooked for you or you can cook it yourself on your table (your clothes, your hair will smell like fried stuff).
It was our first time and we wanted to learn how to cook it. The waiters were awesome enough to show us how it was done. Friendly staff goes a long way!
The other food was aiight. I really liked the Edamame salad but the udon was just okay. They have happy hour and 50% off as well and also an all you can eat deal. Check the signs for more info…

Gaga over Gaja Japanese Restaurant! Wow with over 600 year reviews I will admit I was excited to try this place! I’ve passed by it so many times, seen the various reviews and photographs on instragram and i just wanted to know why so many people were going gaga over this place! I had been hesitant for so long to try it because I wasn’t sure about okonomiyaki and thought this place might be expensive but the time came where I finally gave in to check it out!
The moment i sat down the first thing I realized was this place is not expensive at all! Their prices are very reasonable! Most of the dishes range in the $ 8.90 range. Like others have said the menu is super extensive. They’ve got okomiyaki, monjyayaki, pasta, udon, risotto, rice dishes, tempura, karaage, takoyaki, parfaits and even fruity beers! The menu was quite overwhelming for a first timer like me but i decided to get a variety of their specialities with my friend so that we could get a flavor of everything.
We both decided to get the Gaja set for $ 8.90. The Gaja set comes with a medium soup of udon or pasta, a medium size pork okonomiyaki and a salad. There are 10 different types of udon or pasta to choose from. We chose to get the chinese style pork and egg udon and the Japanese style shimeji carbonara. The waiter actually told us that the carbonara is one of the most popular dishes here.
The salad that they give is a spinach salad. It’s nothing out of the ordinary. The dressing is sweet. The udon and pasta dishes though are something out of the ordinary. These dishes are humongous! My friend and i could’ve easily done with splitting one. The chinese style pork and egg udon was ok in flavor. It has a warm broth thats great for those chilly days. The carbonara dish was surprisingly very soupy but rich. It had several strips on bacon in it.
The real winner however was when the okomiyaki came out. This was one impressive Japanese pancake. They cooked it for us and out came a fresh huge pancake with crispy edges. The waiter put the amazing brown sauce on top, some mayo and seaweed flakes and off we were trying this pancake! It is awesome when eaten right away. You get the crispy outer edges and the hot yet soft main base. It is very fulfilling.
I now understand why so many people are gaga over Gaja ;). You truly get your bang your buck here. $ 8.90 for all that food is a great deal! The dishes are huge and they are delicious! We even got a buy one, get one coupon for next time!
I can’t wait to try their other dishes for my next visit! i hope to try their risotto and karaage in the future.

Sigh, what a disappoint this place was, especially since there are very few places in Los Angeles for a make it yourself okonomiyaki place. It was especially more disappointing because we drove about an hour to get here from LA!
It was mostly the service that was bad– the food was decent, not amazing of course like Japan or even the way my mom makes it (she makes it fresh and it’s pretty damn good).
A group of us went– about 8 people and were seated as we arrived since we had made reservations beforehand. Because it was a warm night we wanted to order pitchers of beers first– they had all kinds of interesting flavors shown in photos around the restaurant. We ordered a pitcher of the strawberry and blueberry beer. The strawberry beer was slightly better than the blueberry only because they had put in strawberry syrup or something so it tasted like strawberries, the blueberry one was sad because it was just beer with blueberries floating in it…
We placed an order for 2 different types of okonomiyaki because we had some non meat eaters in our group– mind you we placed this order at the same time. We ordered the mixed and a seafood one. We got the mixed one pretty quickly– and we tried to start grilling it but apparently the grill was never on at our table… mind you we had already been sitting there for over 15 minutes so you think the servers could have figured out that we were going to be ordering okonomiyaki?
So basically the first okonomiyaki took forever to cook because it takes a while for the grill to heat up… basically they ended up coming over to us and removing it to cook it in the back which also took way too long as well– over 20 minutes! Please also note at this point we still hadn’t received the 2^nd okonomiyaki we had ordered with the one we were having issues with. That finally arrived of course about 30 minutes after our disaster with the first. Sigh.
We also decided to order the monjayaki too because we figured it would take forever for that to arrive, which it did. Luckily by that point the grill was actually hot enough to cook it. It was cute because it came with mini metal spatulas you were supposed to use to make sure the monjayaki batter didn’t spill out.
Our first okonomiyaki that they took to the back to cook finally came back– at that point we were all starving because everything took so long. I also want people to realize that the restaurant was NOT FULL. I want to say it was about half full, so I don’t understand why the service was so slow!
We also ordered the takoyaki (and of course they don’t have the standard kind, just all these different flavors) and we ended up ordering the mochi cheese one which was mediocre– kinda soggy which is not what a takoyaki is supposed to be!
All in all, a pure disappointment, I am definitely going to have to look for another place for fresh okonomiyaki.

Not gonna lie, I was pretty stoked to check out Gaja. You can make your own okonomiyaki AND there’s an AYCE option ($ 12.99 for lunch/​$ 18.99 for dinner)! I stopped by with my friend on Saturday morning right when it opened so there wasn’t a wait. It seems like the servers for opening aren’t as well versed in English and tried to explain the menu to us as best they could. My friend ended up not wanting to do the AYCE, so I couldn’t do it either (which ended up being a good thing later on). Your entire party must do AYCE which makes sense.
Instead, we just each ordered a combo off their extensive menu ($ 12). I got an okonomiyaki combo — 1 medium pork okonomiyaki, 1 medium choice of pasta + salad. My friend got a pasta combo — okonomiyaki rice bowl, 1 medium choice of pasta (her option had more variety than me) + salad + 1 free drink. I decided to just let the chef cook it since my friend wasn’t cooking it and I didn’t want to make a mess!
My okonomiyaki was just… not good. It was bland and very thin. It tasted like mush and I couldn’t really distinguish the flavors. I added a bunch of sauce, mayo, bonito flakes and seaweed to help but I barely touched it my entire meal. I tried their Japanese carbonara pasta and that tasted better. It was more soupy than I anticipated but the portion size was ginormous. That is definitely the biggest praise I have for Gaja — their portion sizes are insanely generous for what they charge.
Perhaps the okonomiyaki style here is from a different region of Japan, but I’m used to the Osaka style one. Doya Doya in Torrance has an amazing version of the Osaka style okonomiyaki.
Parking: tiny shared lot with a bunch of other eateries

This place is definitely one of the coolest places to come if you love Okonomiyaki. I do crave for Okonomiyaki from time to time, and when I do, I always think of Gaja. This place is very unique for many reasons.
1. Cook at your own grill. Yes, I know we arent pros and we dont know how to cook or flip the pancake but its not a problem. The servers are more than willing to actually help you or even do every step of it for you if needed. They do offer you an option to make your okonomiyaki from the kitchen in the back if you wish not to cook.
2. It’s just not Okonomiyaki they have. I have to say their Menu is like a book. It contains so many menu besides Okonomiyaki. They have Monjayaki, Small Fried Plates to nice selection of desserts like parfaits for instance.
3. If you eat a lot, go for the AYCE option for $ 18.99 for dinner and $ 12.99 for lunch. That’s a pretty good deal considering their one order of Okonomiyaki is about $ 20. They also have happy hours at late Tuesday and Sunday as well for 50% off.
Parking lot isnt too spacious but it shouldnt be too hard to park. I never had to wait to eat here so that shouldnt be a problem either. The servers are very helpful and kind and they can answer any questions you might have!

3.9 stars!
This place is almost like kbbq where you cook it yourself at your table, except it’s Japanese pancakes instead of meat. The $ 12.99 all you can eat lunch deal is the best! You can eat as many of those pancakes as you want, so come with an empty stomach. We liked the beef one best, but they also have seafood, modern mix, mushroom etc.
You might not even want to order the udon/​pasta/​risotto thing because it’s pretty big and would take up space in your stomach that you’d probably wanna save for the pancakes! (They will charge you for excessive waste of food and no takeouts allowed for the all you can eat.)
This was a very unique restaurant with authentic food and excellent friendly service, trademark of Japanese culture. I would definitely recommend it! Fun and satisfying experience.
Tip: Stop by Chantilly next door for amazing dessert afterwards!

Yum! I love okonomiyaki! The first time I ever had it was in Japan and I LOVED it! I usually make it at home, but it’s not the same as cooking it on the teppan. The only other okonomiyaki place I know of is Gottsui, but they cook it for you. At Gaja, you get the choice of cooking it yourself (the best choice, obviously) or they can cook it for you in the kitchen and bring it out, or on the teppan in front of you.
FOOD:
— pork okonomiyaki set with curry rice bowl — with my bowl of okonomiyaki ingredients, I made 3 small ones! Had so much fun cooking it on the teppan and adding the sauce, kewpie, seaweed and katsuobushi.
SERVICE:
Friendly and helpful. The place wasn’t crowded at noon on a Sunday. They kept checking on us to make sure we were okay cooking our pancakes haha
VENUE/​PARKING:
Rather spacious for a Japanese restaurant. Bathrooms are clean and single stall per gender. Attached parking lot that’s actually really difficult to make a left into lol.

This is definitely a place you don’t want to come to in the summer. You cook the food in front of you and so the hot top in front of you keeps you very warm. That being said, I really enjoyed this place! There’s not a lot of okonomiyaki places in my home area, so coming here was a treat. My friends and I ordered the okonomiyaki, monjayaki, takoyaki, and a few fruit beers.
The takoyaki came out hot and they made it for us in the back, but we had to put the toppings on ourselves, which I’m not used to. They have the mayo, sauce, and bonito flakes at the table for you to add.
We also ordered one order of okonomiyaki which is enough to make two pancakes. The waitress explained how to do it and got them started and then let us try and flip them, which was fun. We then decorated the top with the sauces and it was good that we could customize how much we wanted.
Next we had the monjayaki, which I definitely suggest ordering after eating something else because it takes a while to cook. You have to wait until it becomes very crispy or else it won’t taste good.
We also ordered a few fruit beers, the grapefruit, strawberry, and blueberry. I really liked the grapefruit one I ordered, but get ready for the size. It came in a huge glass with lots of grapefruit slices inside the glass as well. I also recommend you drink it before it get warm because the heat from the hot top will make the beer warm quicker then you think, and warm beer is no fun.

First things first. Do your research! Look at pictures on Unilocal.familiarize yourself with what they provide because if you don’t you’d sit there for quite a while flipping through books and books of menu deciding what to get.
Friday night dinner with my SO around 10pm. And surprisingly there weren’t many people here. But anyways the staff is super friendly and if you’re a noob (like me) to okonomiyaki they’ll gladly teach you, cook it for you in front of you, or cook it in the kitchen for you. We decided to cook it ourselves to get a taste of the teppan grill experience. (So glad we did! So fun) here is what we ordered:
Spicy cod roe with squid spaghetti soup: a little bit on the salty side but man oh man was this good. Not really too spicy (I can’t handle spicy) so hearing from me it’s more like a light or mild spicy. Theres mushrooms, cod roe (tends to fall to the bottom of the dish), spaghetti, and squid.
Spicy mayo takoyaki: they made this rather quick so I’m skeptical whether or not it was fresh off the pan… But anyway it was edible. (Go squared ftw!)
Seafood okonomiyaki: flour, cabbage, other veggies, squid, shrimp, octopus? Egg. Mix it up and place it on the hot teppan grill with the provided tongs. Since this was my first time cooking okonomiyaki the staff gave me a thumbs up for the good job I’ve done. I love seafood!
Grapefruit draft (glass): this drink is B.O.M.B. I stress.bomb. Can’t tell what the draft is but SO and I guessed either Asahi or Sapporo. But anyways they provide a spoon for this drink. Gosh the grapefruit was so yummy really ripe and sweet with the tinge of beer taste to it… Mm I want another one…
We were the last guests to leave and the staff gave the SO handshakes as he left. Apparently last time he went there they even gave him free food. (Maybe he looks familiar?) But oh well I know I’m definitely coming back again!

I ended up at Gaja Japanese Restaurant by pure chance. Honestly I did not even know that it existed. I actually wanted to go to Oumi Sasaya next door but last Sunday it was completely packed with a wait list of almost an hour. There was no way that I was going to wait so long so I decided to step into the restaurant next to it that looked half empty.
Upon entering a spunky young chap asked me sit on one of their waiting chairs till he cleaned out the table that was just vacated. This did not make sense to me as there were another five empty tables readily available. Anyway as expected he conveniently forgot about me after he finished cleaning the table so I had to ask a female server to be seated.
As soon as the pleasantries were completed my server asked if I intended to use the grill today and not knowing what is to be cooked on the grill I replied in the negative. She gave a sigh of relief and covered the grill. Now I know that I can’t cook but I was not aware that I projected this so clearly so next time I’m going to ask some intelligent questions before saying no!!!
Next the most challenging part of the meal figuring out what to get. Some places have complicated menu’s but Gaja Japanese Restaurant has elevated complexity to the next level. I challenge any non-​local to figure out what they would like to get for lunch just by looking at their menu’s and their meal would be on me. Anyway I told the female server that this was my first time and she would have to recommend something as everything looked Greek to me. She suggested that I go with the okonomiyaki with udon or pasta combo ($ 13) so I went with that. I learned that the okonomiyaki is basically a pancake made of cabbage and meat but I decided to go with the one made with mushrooms in place of meat. For the accompanying dish I went with the udon and was asked to choose between chicken, tomato or cream based soup so I went with the cream based soup.
First up was a salad with some average dressing. Your normal run of the mill stuff. Next came the udon. When I saw the size of that sucker I was stumped and had to check with the server if it was actually a lunch portion. It was huge. I’m not exaggerating, I am a hearty eater and even I would find it difficult to finish all that in one sitting. To make matters worse the cream based soup is rich, heavy and very tasty. The noodles are thick and cooked just right. Just that the quantity is way too much. Next up was the okonomiyaki. This also was huge there is no way these can be lunch portions specially considering that this is a Japanese restaurant. I don’t want to tell you the number of Japanese restaurants where I’ve left hungry even after a complete meal so this was a huge jolt.
The okonomiyaki was cooked perfectly. I was almost thankful that I decided not to cook my own as there is no way that it would have turned out even close to what the chef had prepared. I mean this is as close to perfect as you can get. If the meal was not filling enough there are two sauces one cream based and the other soy based that you can smear on the okonomiyaki as a dressing before it is eaten. I liked it a lot so I polished it off but could not make any headway beyond a small bowl of udon noodles with soup and got a huge container to go. Throughout the meal I couldn’t shake of the feeling that I had eaten this before but I just could not put my finger on where. Finally at the fag end I realized that I had this in one of the restaurants in Mitsuwa’s food court where it was terribly made.
Overall the food is good, service can improve and price is reasonable considering the quality and portion sizes. I will be back to try my hand at cooking my own okonomiyaki.