Komatsu

I’m afraid I have to amend this review, My initial experience was great the 3 employees who went with me to lunch agreed. However as the day went on it became clear that something was wrong… we all got sick, really sick, two days later and I still cant eat… Really unfortunate, I will not be eating here again.

Hidden jewel of Torrance. Located in a strip mall of Carson and Crenshaw, this restaurant does not appeal itself too dashing. However, it is one of the best Japanese restaurants I have dined in many years and have not failed once when recommended to a friend. The few of acceptable flaws of this outstanding establishment is that it opens for only brief period of time during lunch then stays closed until dinner time (like many other Japanese places). Also the place can get quite loud around dinner time; many Japanese white collars seem to enjoy the place for their night out.

We were very surprised about this restaurant. It’s in a strip mall at a very busy cross street (Crenshaw and Carson). I would have never found it. We love their tonkatsu. It is simple and very, very good. We enjoyed our meal and now it’s going to be the place we go to when we go down to Torrance.

Got some appetizers and a beer. Really enjoyed the place and the service was nice. I then ordered the Tendon which was pretty good. I loved the sauce that was covered on the tempura. Sweet but not too sweet so it was well balanced and overall a great dish. The price is a bit high but not too high if you only order a dinner plate. The atmosphere was pretty good as well since it wasn’t too loud and it was very clean.
I highly recommend this place for people who like izakaya style restaurant and just want to eat some decent Japanese food.

I’ve only eaten lunches at this place, so I’m not sure how dinner is. This is a small place, so if you do not want to wait, you may want to call ahead of time to make reservations. Definitely, if you have four or more people in your group. I always get their Shrimp Tempura bowl or the pork cutlet/​pork cutlet domburi. I would like to go back and try their fish dishes.

Delicious food! I don’t usually leave reviews but the mackerel and the tempura was soooo good! Will be back for sure.

Very nice and friendly staff. Their Ankake Katsudon is my favorite. Generous portion for decent price. I usually go there for lunch but I took my husband for dinner and he loved it there, too.

Tempura
Restaurant in
Torrance
I stopped by Komatsu since the late afternoon traffic on Crenshaw and Carson was horrendous. I never made it to Komatsu when it was on Carson by Western but I figured here was my chance.
Komatsu sits in a strip mall on Carson just off of Crenshaw across the street from a fire station. There is a pretty big sign out front and plenty of parking. Komatsu takes reservations and although when I went it was not busy, I have seen the parking lot full on the weekends.
So the interior is pretty plain but don’t let that fool you thinking the food is plain. Just like in Japan, when you are hungry for a specific thing you go to that restaurant that has that item, like the Ramen-​ya or Sushi-​ya etc. I was hungry for Tempura so I went to the tempura-​ya. They have have more than tempura like appetizers and broiled fish so if everyone in your group does not to have tempura there are some options.
I ordered the number 1 Tempura combo. It comes with miso soup, prepared combo side, and a bowl with a little salt to pinch over the tempura. Also their tempura sauce is house made and is served with a large dollop of grated daikon and an small bit of ginger.
The batter is very light and crispy, which is how it should be and the combo came with renkon (lotus root), Kabocha (pumpkin squash), shiso leaf, nasubi (Japanese eggplant), three shrimp which weren’t squished into a string and elongated like many places have it, and a small white fish.
They have Asahi on draft which is great with tempura.
There were only a few other tables but they were all Japanese speaking as well as the chef and the wait staff.
Although it was great, it wasn’t quite 5 stars.

I think I go to Komatsu almost every week for dinner and lunch.
Sizes are same for lunch menu and Dinner menu.
Servers are very friendly, easy to talk, and smiling!
I like Ten-​don the most, and I also like Humberg teishoku, and Motsuni!
I keep coming back here and I will go there again next Monday with my friends!
Price is about $ 15-​$ 20 for combinations, and they also have many side dishes too.
Thank you always Komatsu-​san! -;)

FOOD:
Really good Japanese food and a lot of it is donburi style. I really like the tempura and the katsudon here! The tempura is really crispy and warm and the katsudon is really eggy and soft. You also get a small miso soup and some kombu on the side. It’s a small restaurant but gets pretty busy as it gets later. Usually there is no wait.
WOULD I RECOMMEND IT? Yes!

Note to self to not come back for katsudon.
Unfortunately, the sauces in all dishes were too salty for our group. Would be perfect if they dial down the salt/​soy sauce usage. Pork cutlets were fried well though, super crispy!
#4 black pork cutlet with egg. Sweet flavor. Preferred this over #5.
#5 pork cutlet with STARCHY egg. Salty flavor. Way too salty.
#?? Boiled pork belly with garlic sauce. Cucumber was refreshing (and necessary) and paired well with pork belly and soy sauce. Also too salty.
#4 and #5 were served with miso soup and a seaweed (kombu). Kombu was also salty.
It’s true what the other reviewer said, oil smell is strong and it will follow you home.

The best tenpura restaurant in town!
The lunch is quick and affordable!
Love their tendon!

Thsi place is delicious! They open at 5:30 on Saturdays. They give you a lot of food. I had the tempura combo and I was full afterwards. The cutlet with egg sauce is delicious. The sauce and the rice together just makes it taste like heaven! Definitely amazingly delicious in your mouth! YUM! There is a lot of rice in the cutlet/​egg sauce dish though but you could always just eat half and eat the rest later.

1. You will smell like oil when you exit
2. The smell of frying oil can overwhelm you
3. They’re really good at making tempura
4. Service is very friendly
5. Layout of the restaurant is VERY awkward. They need serious interior design help.
6. Prices & menu are good

My office lunch buddies and I decided to try Komatsu since it is close to the office and seems to have a packed parking lot. We were the only non-​Japanese speaking patrons. This was a good sign.
One of my pals and I had the tempura combo. The food was very good. My other pal had the oysters. He said they were delicious. Everything came with Miso soup. It was good, but either very salty or had msg. I had an msg headache the rest of the day. I would go back, but avoid the soup. My friends claimed no msg like effects from the soup.
They also did not have diet Coke. I only drank tea and water, but one of my friends is a diet soda drinker. We thought that a bit odd. One of my buddies thought the tea was high in caffeine.
The service was great. The place was clean. Meals are in the $ 9 to $ 14 dollar range. For that price, we think Kotosh in Gardena is a better choice.

3.5 stars close to 4.
+Located in center of Torrance.
+komatsu serves variety of food from tempura, tonkatsu, Japanese hamburger and more.
+all of their lunch set comes with miso soup, rice and tsukemono (pickles).
+I liked the runny egg/​sauce over the katsudon.
–komatsu is known for their tempura so I tried the kakiage bowl when I first came here. It was good but not great. Second time around I tried their katsudon, which is a pork cutlet bowl. Again it was good but not great. I prefer otafuku’s katsudon than komatsu.
–personally I’m not a fan of theit entrée to rice ratio. I know Japanese people love rice and all but even I had a hard time finishing my bowl and left good amount of rice left.
Komatsu is good but not my favorite; wouldn’t be my first choice if I were to dine out.

Came here for dinner with fellow Unilocaler friends Jamie A. and Jennifer N. this place was a thai place before, as of right now they are doing construction in the strip mall parking lot so parking is limited more than usual the place itself is not big kinda «L «shaped inside for seating seems like it could get pretty packed. Dinner prices were ok average cost for a dinner meal 11 plus to 15 bucks food was not bad i had the pork cutlet w/​starchy egg sauce not bad at all the miso soup was good not too salty.
I would come back here again. Oh side note if you get the flavored ice tea no refills.

My newly found love is katsudon. I looked up places in the nearby area and came across this small restaurant located inside a plaza on the corner of Carson and Crenshaw. This place is perfect to grab a bite for lunch, but they are also open for dinner. The inside is small and usually pretty busy. Most customers speak Japanese, so you know it is good, authentic food.
I’ve tried both #4 black pork cutlet with egg and #5 pork cutlet with starchy egg sauce, and I must say while most enjoy the pork with starchy egg sauce, I prefer the black pork with egg. Make sure you specify which one you want because they could easily be mistaken for the other in ordering but are very different visually and taste wise.
The black miso cod special was just okay and the hamburg with demiglaze was fairly tasty.
The sides are all pretty good. I like the grated yam and cold tofu.
Definitely a place to try if you’re in the area.

Komatsu is Torrance’s newest Japanese restaurant! I came here today for lunch and it super crowded.
Their lunch menu consists of fifteen items ranging in price $ 7.95 to $ 13.95. There are various pork, beef and seafood entrees on the lunch menu. All lunch meals include rice, miso soup and pickles.
My friend got the #1.) assorted tempura combo for $ 13.95 and I got the #5) pork cutlet with starchy sauce.
Because the place was packed, it took about 20 minutes before our meals came out. In the meantime, while waiting, my friend and I enjoyed some complimentary barley tea. The servers here were friendly and very gracious with giving more tea.
When our orders came out, they were nice and fresh. My friends tempura included various veggies, a small fish and three small pieces of shrimp. My order came with several pieces of crispy pork topped with starchy egg sauce over rice. I tried my friend’s tempura and found it to be very good. My pork cutlet was good as well but the pork itself should have been cooked more. It was rather hard. I did like the starchy egg sauce over the rice. If only the pork was more tender, this bowl would have been perfect.
The lunch sets here were very fulfilling and we left happy and full. This place was full of Japanese diners when we got here and still crowded when left. I think this is an indication that many others like this place.
I am curious about coming back here in the future for dinner because they have a more extensive dinner menu that includes various appetizers like fried chicken and Japanese pancakes.
It’s nice to see a new Japanese eatery in Torrance offering yummy Japanese cusine.

This is the new Komatsu Restaurant location in another strip mall just west of Crenshaw Blvd. It’s about a mile west of its old location which was just east of Western Ave.
I had a hankering for some Tempura on the way back home, but forgot it was a Monday, and Komatsu was closed up tighter than a drum. I’m reporting the new location to let others know about the relocation.
I went to the old Komatsu on 1644 W. Carson St. a while back when it was still in the old strip mall. I went up to the Tempura bar since I wanted to see how the Chef managed his resources & his cooking technique. I choose the prix fixe «Omakase» for a price close to over $ 40.
There were no unusual ingredients at the time I was there such as Wakasagi or fresh water smelt from the northern island of Hokkaido-​, or Kanpachi (amberjack) belly, Shiba Ebi which is a type of shrimp where the entire shrimp can be eaten shell & all since the frying makes them crunchy as a potato chip.
The standard Tempura ingredients were presented: Satsuma Imo (sweet potato), Ninjin (carrots), Tama Negi (onion), asparagus, Hasu/​Renkon (lotus root), Kabocha (Japanese pumpkin), Kaki Age (fritter with bay scallop, shrimp, & onions), Shi-​take mushroom, white fish of some kind, shrimp.
The portions were small, but nicely presented on pristine white paper. There are three kinds of salt to sprinkle over the Tempura: Salt with green powdered Matcha or bright green just sprouted tea leaf, and 2 kinds of Kaien or sea salt.
The chef/​owner told us that he was a Tempura master from many years back, and that his was the best Tempura restaurant for miles around. For the amount of what I had paid, and the quality & amount received, I felt this was not the best deal in town.
Komatsu’s Tempura is rather good, but you can get a darned good Tempura Don from Hannosuke for $ 14. (Make sure to ask for the Tentsuyu on the side.) Also the Tempura at the humble but delicious & reasonable eatery called Otomi~san has an excellent Tempura & Sashimi combo for about $ 15. I realize Hannosuke is in a food mall, and Otomi~san is in rent cheap East L.A. unlike Komatsu which is in a higher rent district as well as being a more «formal» restaurant.
I may be comparing Owari Satsuma Tangerines to Tangelos which may be an unfair comparison. I will come back on a day that is not a Monday, and ask the chef to present me with more interesting combinations of flavours, ingredients, techniques that will truly test the mettle of his frying abilities as well as his ability to create a cuisine that has interesting & harmonious taste, texture, olfactory components.
I get the feeling that I will be paying way more than $ 40 for this endeavor, but you can’t take it with you. Also Sake (sah keh) pairing to the Tempura would add another dimension that would produce new flavour sensations.