Ducks Restaurant

This place has been the most authentic Japanese style restaurant I’ve been in San Gabriel. The Katsu Don was not only beautifully presented but the taste was out of this country. The egg on stop was melted onto the lovely fired dark chicken meat, placed neatly in top of the sushi rice that is infused with, what seems like a sweet soy sauce.

How about some love for Ducks?
Even though Duck’s portions might be little for some of you and some of their menu items could be a bit pricey in terms of proportions, I will still support Ducks because of the top-​notch Katsu-​Don and Spaghetti dishes. Unlike any other Katsu-​dons that are served in the L.A. area, Ducks’ Katsu-​don is consistent, delectable, and authentic. Their spaghetti dishes are also one-​of-​a-​kind too. As a result, Ducks definitely need some praise for their top-​quality dishes and lovely service.

when i was a kid, this is the place to go when you have the curry rice craving but don’t feel like driving all the way to little tokyo in DTLA. This place isn’t fancy, but you can taste the quality! it haven’t changed much through the years, except adding on ramens and udons. I mainly visit for katsu currys, and katsudons. More Japanese food joint in the SGV area has opened since my days as a youth, but this is still one of my favorite place to enjoy an authentic katsudon or curry!

Cute family place and lunch special even on Saturday that’s pretty amazing ! Got cold ramen and beef mini curry. The place was busy so service is a tad bit slow since they only have one waitress getting everything done. But it’s worth the wait. I have always passed by this place but never eaten here before.
I also never had cold ramen before and that was really good. It tasted really refreshing and semi healthy actually which I liked. It’s in a small older plaza and the sign is a little worn down but the food here is for sure authentic to the Japanese taste.
Can’t wait to come back and try other things on the menu. The inside is also old but you can tell they have been here for a pretty long time which is why they have quite a big following. Food is reasonably priced and pretty tasty I would say if you haven’t eaten here yet and you go to SGV, stop by and check this place out. It’s worth a try!

When I first heard the name of the restaurant, I didn’t expect it to be a decent Japanese restaurant! I have been here a couple of times and I like its place. It is located in a small mall, so the parking is not too hard. The place itself is not too big but not too small either. It is not a fancy place, but it feels very cozy.
They are known for katsu don and I have been getting it every time I visited. I wanted to try other stuff, but I couldn’t resist not ordering the katsu don. The flavors are great, the combination of katsu and eggs over the rice is amazing! Price is a bit higher than what I would like but portion is not too bad. I would like to come back to try other foods on their menu.
Foods: 4 stars
Service: 3.5 stars
Atmosphere: 3 stars
Overall Experience: 3.5 stars

Food is meh and over priced. While the dishes may be big, it is more rice with minimal ingredient. It also lacked flavor. I would have given 3 stars but the service was horrible. Rude servers that ignores you especially the older woman. Not sure if she is the owner. Never coming back to this dump again!

Wow, I think their katsudon is one of the best I’ve had! The eggs are perfect jiggly consistency and the pork chop still maintains some crisp. The shoyu base sauce is on the sweet side, but that’s the best type…
Anyways, so why 2 stars docked? First of all, when I came in half the tables were empty but they were covered in dirty dishes. I understand that it is a homey style restaurant but dishes should always be cleared. Also, the tendon was a bit odd. It had one piece of shrimp tempura and a few slices of pepper which is a bit unorthodox… for almost $ 18, a combo with a small katsu don and ten-​Don should have more than 1 shrimp.
The place is clean ‘enough’ and the Manga shelf on the back wall is a cute touch. I wouldn’t come here for the best service or décor, but their katsu don is top notch.

NOTE: DUCKS RESTAURANT IS CLOSED ON TUESDAY.
This place ain’t too shabby. I always get their spicy chicken cutlet curry or their katsu don.
The chicken curry isn’t unique, but I think it fulfills the curry craves. Their pickled relish is good, but they will charge more if you ask for more.
Their Katsu Don is also okay. It’s extremely filling, but it’s also missing the wow factor.

This place seems to be where the my generation of SMH alumni used to go for lunch. I went there because my friend was being nostalgic.
We both ordered the cold ramen set lunch that comes with a small curry. For $ 10.50/ set, the ramen has a a few corn pieces garnished with ponzu sauce and seaweed; the curry rice has 2 pc of bite size beef cube and half bowl of rice. The curry doesn’t taste as good as curry house, and throughout the meal I felt like I was being vegetarian for the day… For some reasons the waitress wasn’t nice to us as well and it’s rare for Japanese who are known for their great services. For $ 7, you can go to B man’s for a gigantic cold ramen with quadruple veggies, meat and noodle (only available in summer) and better service

Ducks is a super small, hole-​in-​the-​wall Japanese restaurant. When you enter, it feels like you’ve entered an Asian household. Parking is never an issue and I never have to worry about a wait.
Their lunch and dinner menus are different though. I’ve always been here for lunch so I haven’t been able to try their tempura or any other dinner dishes.
My favorite dish here is their Katsudon! It’s the best in the area and a must try. My other go to dish is the Curry Udon. I don’t know a lot of Japanese restaurants that serve this so it’s always nice to get something different. Overall, you can’t really go wrong with anything on the menu.

Super cute and home-​y environment! Family owned restaurant, they’re making some really delicious authentic style Japanese food.
Got the spicy ramen, great flavor. Also had the fried chicken and fried wontons! My friends had the Oyakodon, steak and chicken curry which were all very tasty too. It’s hard to choose what to get, so we got a bunch of stuff! Ohh and don’t forget to start with some iced coffee!

My favorite authentic Japanese curry restaurant in SGV!
I’ve tried numerous chains such as Hurry Curry and Curry House but I always end up comparing them to my mom’s curry, which blows them out of the water. Finally there’s a restaurant that serves curry that is the perfect consistency and comparable to what my mom cooks!
I’ve been here twice and we usually end up ordering the combo A Set which consists of a mini Katsudon and udon noodle soup, along with a regular entrée of the chicken curry to share. The Katsudon is on the sweeter side but Unilocalers rave about this dish, and the udon noodle soup is pretty plain (consists of broth, udon noodles, and two pieces of aburaage), but the noodles are chewy and the broth is very flavorful. My only complaint is that the food can be slightly salty but overall you know the food is authentic Japanese when there’s actually Japanese patrons eating besides you and the best part is that I don’t have to drive to Little Tokyo for this stuff!

The Katsu chicken curry is good, but the curry is plain. Breading is good. Over all, I like it! But will I be back? Don’t know about a repeat.
They have news paper articles posted up on the wall praising the restaurant from 20 yrs ago. I get that was a big deal but we are in the 21^st century.
Hum. Just ok.

My bf had been raving about the katsudon here every time we passed by and we finally stopped here this weekend
We ordered the katsudon (of course! I don’t think I really had a choice here) and a chicken curry — mild
I would def go back for the katsudon. It’s like and fluffy and has more of a fluffy egg taste than other ones I’ve had before
Chicken curry was pretty ordinary. Lots of rice, just chicken and a bit of pickled vegetables

My family has been eating here since 1998. We first came here as an alternative to Curry House (CH only exists in Little Tokyo back then). The curry is ok. What makes this place lasts so long with their high price and close 1.5 days a week in my opinion is their katsu don. What makes their katsu don special starts with the choice of high quality meat, fried to perfection, no filler onion and perfectly cooked egg. The semi cooked egg mixed into the rice and coads the katsu is a beatiful experience. Close my eyes, it feels exactly like how I tasted katsu don in Tokyo.
Their tempura don is also our favorite, I can finish a bowl in less then 2 minutes, Tempura is crispy, the rice is sweet, soft and moise and the source is the secret that tie the tempura and rice together. The source is sweeter and thicker than typical tempura source and it works.
Their ramen is interesting. The broth, the noodle and meat are all common. What gets me order again and again is how they cook the noodle; when you take a bite into the noodle it gives a litte bit resistence to your tooth and encourages you to chew on it. The pure sensation from mouth sends pleasure to the brain, and the brain is confused how an ordinary looking ramen can be so attractive.
One negative comment is this place is very expensive which also matches Tokyo. My usual order dinner combo C (mini katsu donw + mini tempura don), and not kidding mini is very mini, is $ 17, ouch!

Food was delicious, atmosphere was average, but service was very good.
we ordered the oyakodon and cold soba. I would definitely come back even though i live 30 minutes from here.

What the hell is ducks and why would a place ever chose that name? Those were the first thoughts I had when my friend told me lets go to Ducks. The restaurant itself looks like it came straight from the 90’s. But like any restaurant its the food that matters. There was only one waitress who provided good service and it looked like she was the only one that worked the front of house.
We had ordered two dishes, a chicken katsu and a udon. Between the two I liked the chicken katsu more. The katsu had a nice crisp batter which wasn’t too oily and the curry sauce wasn’t bad but could be spicier. The udon was your typical udon, good but nothing amazing. For the food I would say this place is 4 stars but spending almost $ 28 for these two dishes, I have to give it a 3.

The way they set up their tables is just very thought-​provoking; for one thing, it is utterly not sufficient for the traffic its getting on the weekend. I think they should use more smaller tables of 2 to lean against the wall and demolish the bar which no one can be served there (just so ridiculous.~_~)
We came here at 2pm Saturday and still had to wait about 20 minutes! So we looked over the menu that is only 2 pages.
Service was attentive and she really worked hard and fast!
Ordered: cutlet curry & cold ramen-​mini chicken curry lunch set. Both came with a small side of refreshing salad.
The meal was good, but I don’t know if I wanted to wait 20 minutes for Japanese food, when I could get Chinese food so cheap and quick~~ and so many parties left due to the long wait!

The chicken katsu here is pretty small given the price. However, the Japanese curry itself here is pretty good. The katsudon is also a bit too sweet for my liking.
Kinda good but kinda pricy. 3 Stars

Ducks Restaurant has been around for as long as I remember. This little gem is tucked in a small strip mall along the busy Las Tunas Drive in San Gabriel. The decoration is a time capsule of the 80’s but don’t be fooled by the decoration. The food is one of the best for its price bar none!
We ordered the usual,
Katsu Don — The pork itself was cooked perfectly – tender and moist on the inside, with a crisp, crunchy, yet lightweight coating. The pork is paired with the light and not too oily soy sauce mixed with eggs that brings out the flavor or the pork cutlet.
Cold soba with mini chicken curry — Unlike many other cold soba places, Ducks Restaurant pre-​mixes soba sauce and the al dente soba is then bathed in the sauce.
Pork cutlet curry — The pork itself was cooked perfectly – tender and moist on the inside, with a crisp, crunchy, yet lightweight coating. The curry sauce added considerable depth and complexity to the cutlet that kicked the flavors at the play up another notch, while the rice did an excellent job in moderating the dish. The curry is definitely done
Chashu soy sauce ramen — I would say the chashu tenderness could improve a little. Overall the broth is very decent and the noodles were on point as well, coming in with just the right amount of bite and spring
Fried chickens — THIS IS A MUST ORDER! Ducks Restaurant’s fried chicken is definitely one of their selling points. The batter is mixed with a layer of egg white which makes the friend chicken tender and yet not too oily. LOVE IT!
Definitely give it a four start rating!!!