Wonderful spot with generous portions, prepared with care, served with grace and efficiency. Returned there for Sunday night dinner after a long hiatus, now can't wait for my next visit! Big menu, something for everyone.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: House Ramen, Sushi
Ryan Chung
Food is competitive to other spots in the area, but what I do like about katana-ya is that it has wonderful variety of Japanese food. It may not have superior sushi or ramen but i go here for dishes that I can’t get anywhere else in this area.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 5
Monkeys are cool
JUST FABULOUSParking: I came with a bunch of friends and there was plenty of parkingKid-friendliness: My kids loved the place.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: California Roll, Appetizer Sashimi
sys
This place was fantastic! food was amazing. Noodles were cooked to perfection. The desert was also fabulous. Customer service out of this world.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Cesar Cortes
The food is always amazing and the price has only ever been reasonable. Their vegitarian options have been awesome and I expect to continue using them as my main japanese spot in this side of the bay.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
J L
This Japanese restaurant has been running in El cerrito for years and is one of those establishments that all locals know about and go to. The restaurant is located within a small shopping center and is next to a popular Japanese grocery store. The food at Katana-ya is good and flavorful. They have a variety of Japanese dishes from noodles, rice, sushi, and sashimi. The menu is extensive and has actually been reduced down to a more manageable selection. This time we came here with the family for a Friday night dinner to celebrate the start of the weekend and to take the kids out since we didn't go out anywhere for summer break. We started with a chicken Karaage which had a nice crunchy outside and a soft tender inside with lots of flavor coating. There was a plum sauce to accompany the dish as well and it gave the chicken a nice tangy taste to cut the fried taste a bit. All of our entrees came with a salad and Miso soup. The salad was delicious and fresh with a really nice mayonnaise based dressing. The Miso soup was flavorful but a bit salty for my taste. For my main dish I ordered a Katsu-Jyu which is a deep fried pork cutlet over rice with a dashi sauce and egg over rice. It came with a potato croquette and a little dish of pickled vegetables. The Katsu-jyu was good and savory. The pork cutlery was tender and went well with the egg and rice. The marinated carrots that had the dashi sauce was a bit salty. We also had beef sukiyaki which looked like it had vegetables, glass noodles, beef and some other ingredients all cooked in a flavorful soupy sauce. My son had the beef udon which came in a nice cast iron pot. I didn't try it but he said it was really good. My daughter who has an expensive taste ordered the sushi and sashimi dinner set. I'm guessing it was pretty good because she ate the whole thing.Overall the food was good. The service was excellent and the wait staff were very attentive. The atmosphere was really nice, calm with a touch of cozy warmth and relaxing instrumental music piping from the speakers. I would recommend this place for a nice quiet japanese meal.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Heliana Mano
Place is cute and small and quite clean. Menu has a lot to choose from either ramen or sushi items reasonably priced.We shared the house pho and bento box from lunch menu with beef teriyaki choice as well as sake maki.Portions are good but food is just decent. Not so flavorful pho. Sushi was ok and beef was bit chewy.
Heliana_Mano
Place is cute and small and quite clean. Menu has a lot to choose from either ramen or sushi items reasonably priced. We shared the house pho and bento box from lunch menu with beef teriyaki choice as well as sake maki. Portions are good but food is just decent. Not so flavorful pho. Sushi was ok and beef was bit chewy.
Shijie Gu
The ramen feels like it’s from instant noodle package. The worst ramen I have ever ever had. I ordered the House Chashu Ramen, and my partner ordered another kind. Both are bad. For the Chashu ramen. Extremely thin Chashu, like those from the grocery store next door. The egg is solid yoke and flavorless. Don’t know why they call this place a Ramen place.Service isn’t that great either.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
Jeshua A
My wife and I come here pretty often. We are both visually impaired, and the staff is always friendly and accommodating. We come here when we are craving Ramen. I always order the house Ramen and enjoy the pieces of pork, soft boiled egg, and dumplings inside. The sushi isn’t the most mind-blowing that I’ve had, but it is always consistently really good. I always order the Katana-Ya roll and bounce around between some of the others for my second role. I’ve heard great things about the nigiri, so I’ll have to try that sometime soon. Glad this place is a three minute walk from our apartment.
Great food for a good price, nice atmosphere and amazing service!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: House Ramen
Dan C.
Ordered Mabo ramen with chicken wings. The chicken wings were ok. The mabo ramen absolutely did not taste like it. The broth tasted like plain chicken broth. Don't order this here
Nely E.
Comfortable ambiance and friendly service. Food was great. And will definitely visit again.
Eriik A.
Often busy ., but consistently excellent sushi rolls and Don options as well. Worth the wait.
Esther Johnson
Hot green tea (Love!) ?❤️Miso Soup, orange salad, vegetarian dish set was the perfect order and amount. The food is 5 Stars. ✨⭐️✨And with white Chardonnay ?
Wonderful spot with generous portions, prepared with care, served with grace and efficiency. Returned there for Sunday night dinner after a long hiatus, now can't wait for my next visit! Big menu, something for everyone.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: House Ramen, Sushi
Food is competitive to other spots in the area, but what I do like about katana-ya is that it has wonderful variety of Japanese food. It may not have superior sushi or ramen but i go here for dishes that I can’t get anywhere else in this area.
Atmosphere: 4
Food: 3
Service: 5
JUST FABULOUSParking: I came with a bunch of friends and there was plenty of parkingKid-friendliness: My kids loved the place.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: California Roll, Appetizer Sashimi
This place was fantastic! food was amazing. Noodles were cooked to perfection. The desert was also fabulous. Customer service out of this world.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
The food is always amazing and the price has only ever been reasonable. Their vegitarian options have been awesome and I expect to continue using them as my main japanese spot in this side of the bay.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
This Japanese restaurant has been running in El cerrito for years and is one of those establishments that all locals know about and go to. The restaurant is located within a small shopping center and is next to a popular Japanese grocery store. The food at Katana-ya is good and flavorful. They have a variety of Japanese dishes from noodles, rice, sushi, and sashimi. The menu is extensive and has actually been reduced down to a more manageable selection. This time we came here with the family for a Friday night dinner to celebrate the start of the weekend and to take the kids out since we didn't go out anywhere for summer break. We started with a chicken Karaage which had a nice crunchy outside and a soft tender inside with lots of flavor coating. There was a plum sauce to accompany the dish as well and it gave the chicken a nice tangy taste to cut the fried taste a bit. All of our entrees came with a salad and Miso soup. The salad was delicious and fresh with a really nice mayonnaise based dressing. The Miso soup was flavorful but a bit salty for my taste. For my main dish I ordered a Katsu-Jyu which is a deep fried pork cutlet over rice with a dashi sauce and egg over rice. It came with a potato croquette and a little dish of pickled vegetables. The Katsu-jyu was good and savory. The pork cutlery was tender and went well with the egg and rice. The marinated carrots that had the dashi sauce was a bit salty. We also had beef sukiyaki which looked like it had vegetables, glass noodles, beef and some other ingredients all cooked in a flavorful soupy sauce. My son had the beef udon which came in a nice cast iron pot. I didn't try it but he said it was really good. My daughter who has an expensive taste ordered the sushi and sashimi dinner set. I'm guessing it was pretty good because she ate the whole thing.Overall the food was good. The service was excellent and the wait staff were very attentive. The atmosphere was really nice, calm with a touch of cozy warmth and relaxing instrumental music piping from the speakers. I would recommend this place for a nice quiet japanese meal.
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 4
Service: 5
Place is cute and small and quite clean. Menu has a lot to choose from either ramen or sushi items reasonably priced.We shared the house pho and bento box from lunch menu with beef teriyaki choice as well as sake maki.Portions are good but food is just decent. Not so flavorful pho. Sushi was ok and beef was bit chewy.
Place is cute and small and quite clean. Menu has a lot to choose from either ramen or sushi items reasonably priced. We shared the house pho and bento box from lunch menu with beef teriyaki choice as well as sake maki. Portions are good but food is just decent. Not so flavorful pho. Sushi was ok and beef was bit chewy.
The ramen feels like it’s from instant noodle package. The worst ramen I have ever ever had. I ordered the House Chashu Ramen, and my partner ordered another kind. Both are bad. For the Chashu ramen. Extremely thin Chashu, like those from the grocery store next door. The egg is solid yoke and flavorless. Don’t know why they call this place a Ramen place.Service isn’t that great either.
Atmosphere: 1
Food: 1
Service: 1
My wife and I come here pretty often. We are both visually impaired, and the staff is always friendly and accommodating. We come here when we are craving Ramen. I always order the house Ramen and enjoy the pieces of pork, soft boiled egg, and dumplings inside. The sushi isn’t the most mind-blowing that I’ve had, but it is always consistently really good. I always order the Katana-Ya roll and bounce around between some of the others for my second role. I’ve heard great things about the nigiri, so I’ll have to try that sometime soon. Glad this place is a three minute walk from our apartment.
Recommended dishes: House Ramen
Restaurantji Recommends
Great food for a good price, nice atmosphere and amazing service!!
Atmosphere: 5
Food: 5
Service: 5
Recommended dishes: House Ramen
Ordered Mabo ramen with chicken wings. The chicken wings were ok. The mabo ramen absolutely did not taste like it. The broth tasted like plain chicken broth. Don't order this here
Comfortable ambiance and friendly service. Food was great. And will definitely visit again.
Often busy ., but consistently excellent sushi rolls and Don options as well. Worth the wait.
Hot green tea (Love!) ?❤️Miso Soup, orange salad, vegetarian dish set was the perfect order and amount. The food is 5 Stars. ✨⭐️✨And with white Chardonnay ?