Inaba Japanese Restaurant

Authentic Japanese food with authentic Japanese style of service: being humble and respectful :)

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Way overpriced for average Japanese food. Service is amazing tho.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 3

Service: 5

Best food

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Best omakase in LA!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Not a big sushi menu

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 5

**4.7/5 🌟🌟🌟🌟✨ Inaba Torrance: Quietly One of the South Bay’s Best Japanese Tables**

Inaba in Torrance is the rare spot that earns its Michelin Bib Gourmand the old-fashioned way: flawless execution, zero attitude. Tucked in a sleepy strip mall, the understated room feels like a Tokyo neighborhood joint—soft jazz, warm wood, and a sushi case glowing like jewelry 🍣✨.

The **sushi** is stupidly good: amberjack with yuzu zest, medium-fatty tuna that dissolves, golden-eyed snapper lightly torched—every piece perfectly seasoned and served at ideal temperature. The **katsudon** ($22) is a masterpiece: Berkshire pork loin fried to golden crunch, draped over sweet-savory egg and onions, sitting on fluffy Koshihikari rice. The **daily soup** (tonight kabocha potage) was silky and deeply comforting, while the **simmered vegetables** (lotus root, taro, carrots) arrived glistening in light dashi—simple, soul-soothing perfection 🥕🍲.

Portions are generous yet refined, prices feel almost too fair (omakase starts at $80), and the staff treat you like a regular on day one. Only reason it’s not 5.0? I still haven’t tried the **tempura** (rumored to be feather-light) or the full **kaiseki** tasting—already booked for next month.

Michelin usually chases flash, but here they actually got it right. Inaba isn’t loud, trendy, or Instagram-famous; it’s just quietly brilliant. Torrance’s hidden treasure. I’ll be working my way through the rest of the menu for the foreseeable future.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 5

This restaurant has some of the best sushi I’ve ever had. The quality is superb. The portions are moderate. The taste of the rice for sushi was perfect. I’ve come here many times and always get the sushi and I’m never disappointed.

Tonight, I also tried the tempura. While the taste was good, and the product is fresh, the value for what you got was not so good I thought. So I don’t recommend the temporary, but I strongly recommend the sushi.

I also tried some appetizers tonight like the nasumiso and kama shioyaki. They were both extremely good.

Prices here are not cheap, but we are in a very high rental area and they have many people working to provide a high-quality product. So you get what you pay for.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 5

Service: 5

Great sushi with great service. High end Japanese food with great service. Convenient location and friendly people

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

This place is seriously under rated. I visit Japan every year to vacation and eat. Inaba is the closest thing to eating in Japan. I highly recommend their marinated tuna bowl, Chawanmushi, and tempura. Food is seriously authentic and delicious. If you are into great Japanese food, this is it.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

I’ve been coming here for years. Just a little sad that things have gotten so expensive. The food is good quality though. $48 for a chirashi bowl.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 5

Had high hope for this restaurants as I heard good things about sushi Inaba. Guess its regular seatings are a totally different operation. Mediocre to low level ingredients. Cheap fishes. They put salmon in my nigiri lunch? Excuse me? A very small portion of vinegar rice under each nigiri—and still could not hold itself together. The sushi fell apart before I even touch it. Sad.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 1

Service: 4

Three of us visited this place and ordered a lot of things. The quality of Soba and Kaeshi was better than expected. The service was a bit clunky, but the food was generally good.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 4

Service: 2

Might just be the best sushi I’ve ever had.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

The food was decent, but the operation was slow — we waited over 30 minutes for our meals. After mentioning the delay to the staff, the food came out quickly, making us wonder if it had just been sitting somewhere. The tempura, which was supposed to be freshly fried and served piece by piece, came all at once on a single plate like a set meal. This wasn’t a casual lunch set — they should describe it as a “plate lunch” style.

Not recommended for families with kids or tourists due to the long wait and noisy, cramped space with no partitions. Seems better suited for local regulars.
Staff were kind, though.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

Great discovery! Really good food in an unassuming little strip mall. Staff was so kind and pleasant. I encourage reservations on the weekend. Will be going back!