Izakaya Akatsuki - Hand-crafted Udon Soba

Authentic Japanese cuisine! Really enjoyed the hotpot and handmade udon! Definitely going back again!

Great place and service. Thank you! Especially the yellowtail bowl was excellent. All very high quality!

Check came before one of the dishes we ordered came. When we asked about it they gave us the missing dish which we could tell was sitting out because it was agemochi. Also, they gave me one dish we ordered then took it back five minutes later right when I was going in for my first bite.

Such a great experience with some very delicious food! We tried a bit of everything and it was all rated 10/10. The udon noodles are SOO delicious

I went there because I wanted to eat soba. I ordered tempura soba, but the soba was solid and fell apart, making it very short when I ate it...It was a bit of a disappointment. Was the udon better? The tempura was delicious, but I thought both the tempura and soba were better at other restaurants in Old Torrance.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 2

Service: 4

Beef tongue was hard to chew

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 3

Service: 4

We ordered Japanese chili fried chicken wings which were crispy, not much seasoning on it but the sauce was good. We also got Nabeyaki Udon and original umami Maze Udon (broth-less). They both were amazing. Their udon is fresh homemade. I like the texture of the udon. The soup is very subtle, it hit the spot. The broth-less one had very nice flavor, not over powering, not too salty. Recommend to eat udon at this place. We saw other customers ordered hot pot, but we didn’t try.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Tempura Udon

One of best izakaya restaurants in Gardena and Torrance area. Each of their dishes is basically excellent with reasonable price. Their service is number one. What you pay is what you get here. Highly recommended.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

I love this restaurant! The food is very delicious and perfect.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

I am a bit baffled by the excellent reviews. It was because of the excellent reviews that we made a reservation at Akatsuki.
Lots of problems here. Service and staff were great, but the food and atmosphere were truly awful.
We had a reservation, the (large) restaurant was EMPTY except for one table, and they seated us right next to the occupied table. There were 4 off-duty police officers at the other table, and their conversation was odd and disturbing.
The floor of the restaurant was very dirty. The table was dirty and sticky - My shirt cuffs were literally sticking to the table. I used the bathroom and it was dirty and the door latch did not work. There was a broken doorstop on the door that made it difficult to control. I was at the urinal and one of the police officers came in and had difficulty closing the door, so anyone walking by outside could see me using the urinal.
The food was very mixed. Because it was an Izakaya, we ordered a number of small plates to share. The large tempura platter had quite a few shrimp, but they were mushy and were probably made from frozen. The tempura vegetables were fine. However, the tempura yam with curry was slices of yam served with a dish of DRY CURRY POWDER. The beef tongue was rubbery and stringy. The mixed Japanese pickles were a mixture of a couple of ready-made pickles (takuan and gobo) and some tasteless homemade (cucumber, cabbage, eggplant) that seemed to be nothing but steamed vegetables. The roast beef was excellent. The spicy crispy tofu was excellent. The chiken karaage was chewy and dry.
There was no rice or miso soup on the menu at all, and none was served.
I think that they would do better to advertise as a shabu-shabu restaurant. As an Izakaya it's a total loss.

UPDATE: Note that the other reviewers are reporting ridiculously low prices per meal. Something is not quite right.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 2

Service: 5

Fantastic experience. Very good food ??

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Great food and service. The sashimi was especially good!

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 5

Service: 5

was soo goood ✨️ ordered the unagi hitsumabushi, was very soft and savory

takoyaki was ok, came warm/hot and wasn't very crispy but flavor was good

tempura had a good variety of different vegetables (other than the standard, pumpkin, shrimp, eggplant, sweet potato, etc.)- included different mushrooms, shishito pepper?, chikuwa

would come back again ? service was super nice and friendly. we arrived a bit late around 8:30PM. food came quickly and the atmosphere was pleasant (they had curtained booths which were pretty nice)

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Have not been there for a while. Was nearby and decided to have a quick bite. The waitress was very friendly and Taylor the food I asked.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 4

This place is great! Service was awesome. And the food doesn't disappoint. Closest thing to being in Japan! And trust me I go all the time to visit. I had the curry udon katsu . Fresh,seasoned correctly, katsu cooked perfect. My girlfriend had the spicy kimchi udon. Also seasoned well and definitely spicy! Highly recommend restaurant. Will be heading back to take my friends .

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Japanese Restaurant, Seaweed Udon Noodle Soup, Soba, Fried, Hot Pot