Misasa

Come here often for lunch. Great spot, great food! The pork curry is my usual, and as a to go order it’s done well. The sauce is separate and it’s never spilled.

After the total waste of money spent for ramen, I ordered the pork curry plate with a salad. The curry was good. No spice, just a curry flavor. The sauce wasn’t too thin and it came with a generous portion of white rice.

You can find me at this place every Friday around lunchtime, as my roomie tradition dictates. I honestly only ever get the pork katsu and curry, which is usually pretty good, and is rather reasonable for the $ 7 they charge. The quality is typically decent, but I’ve definitely had my fair share of fatty pork cutlets here, so that’s always a risk.
Aside from that, I would recommend the chicken katsu, and my roomies have tried and liked the soba and beef bowls if that sounds like something you’d rather have. Don’t try the Hamburg katsu unless you know what you’re getting yourself into.

I ordered the katsu curry and was disappointed. Half the cutlet was paper thin and heavily breaded. I gave that half to the dog. The other half was kinda dry. The curry wasn’t very good either and when I asked for some extra pickled ginger they said they would have to charge!!! Miyabi in Costa Mesa is a hundred times better and they arent cheap with the ginger.

My friend had actually invited me to have ramen with him and his son at Santouka… next door to Misasa. Gosh, I never even knew this place existed even though I’ve been coming to this strip mall every so often. As everyone has already mentioned, it’s located inside and to the back of the Mitsuwa Japanese supermarket where there’s a mini food court with three different Japanese style eateries… teppanyaki, ramen, and then the rest of the popular Japanese foods here at Misasa. Since I wasn’t quite in the mood for ramen I decided to go it alone and ordered something from Misasa.
It was pretty helpful with all the plastic food replicas in a small display case. Hmmm, they all looked pretty good, and I love Japanese food. But, I thought since this was my first time here I’d try one of my regular favorites… the cold soba with tempura. I went up to the counter and placed my order, paid for it there, and was given my receipt with a number which they would call out when the food was ready. Nice and simple… and thank goodness it wasn’t as crowded here as I was told it normally is. There are quite a few tables which are shared by all three outlets, and it’s all free seating.
Ok, as for the food… the portion size is quite small compared to regular Japanese restaurants, but still a decent size… especially for the price of around $ 8, I guess it was priced right. The tempura came with one tempura fried shrimp and 3 or 4 pieces of vegetables… I must say that it was quite good for a food court. The soba noodles were nice and firm and actually tasted quite yummy in the soy sauce mixed with the wasabi and chopped spring onion. It’s the soba noodles which are usually sitting on a bed of ice to keep it fresh and firm, but here it was the soy dipping sauce which was really cold!
Overall, ok, I wasn’t stuffed, but I was pleasantly filled… especially since it was dinner time anyway and I don’t usually like to eat heavy meals at this time. I think this is a great place to come for a quick quality meal that won’t empty out your wallet… and that’s a good thing.
Parking was pretty easy as cars were coming in and out all the time, so it’s unlikely you’ll have to wait long.

One of the food shops located within the Mitsuwa Japanese grocery store. There is a mini food court where you can eat. I enjoyed my dish and quick delivery of my order.
We tried the pork cutlet curry with salad for $ 7.75 and the Beef Bowl for $ 7.25. The curry dish came out within a minute or two and then the Beef Bowl another 5 minutes maybe. I think the price is fair and the portions are big. There is a lot of rice and curry and salad with that order and for the Beef Bowl, it also comes with a small miso soup, pickled radishes, and a couple of pieces of sweet pork/​pork belly.
I was very full after eating, I couldn’t finish the rice and the taste of the meats and soup was good. For the pork cutlet, it could have been crispier, but the taste was there. Overall a pretty good spot to get your lunch/​dinner with a variety of Japanese options.
I would eat here again and would like to try some of the other spots within this mini food court.

This place is pretty unique for the Irvine area. Located in the Mitsuwa market it delivers exactly what it promises in it’s window display of plastic entrees. DONS! Tempura Don, Sukiyaki Don, Katsu Don, they have it all. Everything comes with some pickled veggies and a cup of miso soup. If you’re looking for a traditional japanese bowl of happiness and comfort food, this is the place.
Service is quick, and the quality is pretty consistent. I prefer coming here over the Mitsuwa on Harbor because it’s closer and parking is a lot better. I don’t always crave this type of food, but when I do, it always hits the spot. Service is good, and there’s always plenty of seating.

I like this place because they serve shrimp tendon bowl. The way I like it. It cost $ 8.00 you get miso soup, pickles, and edamame with any bowl. It’s a food court in the mitsuwa market so space is tight. I love tempura. They also serve curry and other entrees.

Ordered the sansai udon, which is a vegetable udon. I thought it was average, nothing special for the $ 7. My girlfriend ordered the egg and chicken bowl combo with a small udon. The egg and chicken bowl was really tasty, and a good size. You are better off getting a combination plate like that for $ 10 in my opinion, then you get both udon and a big portion entrée

Misasa is located in the Mitsuwa food court, tucked away in the corner (next to the HUGE line at the neighboring ramen shop). We needed a quick bite to eat between soccer games, so we decided to come to the food court. There were many choices, but we liked the take-​out options of Misasa.
We got the Grilled Saba set. This came with a bowl of rice, grilled saba (half a fish), macaroni salad, miso soup. The saba was nice an uneventful. Served with a wedge of lemon and grated daikon radish. Grade: B
The second dish was the pork tonkatsu with curry. The tonkatsu was very well prepared, yet the curry was a bit on the thin side. The portion of this dish was very generous — lots of curry with a large slice of pork tonkatsu. Grade: B+
The third dish was the beef teriyaki bowl. Not a fan of this dish, as the meat was a bit too much on the fatty side. The bowl had a generous portion of rice with little beef. My kids ended up throwing it away. Grade: C
The fourth dish was teriyaki chicken. Two large chicken thigh pieces (boneless) grilled and teriyaki sauce. Served with rice and salad. Typical and uneventful. The teriyaki sauce was a bit on the bland/​mild side, but it was nice that it wasn’t sweet. Grade: B–
Food Grade: B–
Service Grade: B
Worth the Money Grade: B+
Overall Impression Grade: B

When I eat at the Mitsuwa food court, 99% of the time it’s to get ramen at Santouka, for this last dinner I switched it up. I felt like salmon so I got the grilled salmon plate. It comes with miso soup, a little pickled veggies, and some boiled sprouts. This is all for about $ 8.50 after tax. The salmon piece wasn’t that big, but that’s not a big deal if it was cooked well but my salmon had a off putting grayish color and it was def over cooked. For how fast the dish came out I have a feeling it was pre cooked and reheated. Dry and bland. Definitely not coming back, at least never for the salmon.

Located inside the Mitsuwa market on Culver right off the 5, this food court definitely satisfies the main eats an American person would want to eat from Japan. Next store is the Santouka Ramen, but unfortunately it was cash only so I ate here instead. The curry did not disappoint! The price was a little bit steep for a food court, but alas, the times have changed and all food court food is getting expensive!

Their meals range from $ 6 – 9 for a good amount of food. The taste of the food is average. Meat to rice ratio is small. Still a good place to go for a quick Japanese meal!
They accept card now!

This establishment is located inside the food court in the Irvine Mitsuwa.
I was originally going to describe this place as having what Santouka does not, but now I must rephrase it to that it possesses what the other two places in the food court lacks: a credit card terminal. Yes, this particular location takes credit cards, as opposed to the «cash only» of Santouka, so now we can take advantage of credit card rebates. (It must have been a recent addition.)
Aside from that, what they offer are things like rice bowls, udon, and soba. They taste good. When one orders a bowl that includes egg, they offer to cook it full or half cooked. It tasted fine as far as food court food goes and is slightly better quality than Sushi Boy.

Some dishes come with a disclaimer that the dish may look different than the (plastic) one displayed. This doesn’t make sense as the plastic food is meant for you to choose the food you want!!! The result, I ordered #10 KaKiage shrimp with vegetables $ 7.50 and I get a big bowl of rice and 5 less shrimp than the plastic dish had. And I’m not sure a bunch of tempura onion and a few «bits» of green beans counts as vegetables. So, with a dissatisfied belly I went back up to order more food. Since the other restaurants were closed I went back to Misasa and got the beef udon $ 6.95. This plastic matched the dish. Thank you!
Suggestion — just change the price on #10 so you can deliver the dish as immortalized in plastic. Better than keeping prices low and be stingy on the shrimp.
Recommendation — get the (boring) Katsu curry dish for $ 7.50 if you’re hungry. Or go to the Ramen counter for the large ramen with rice and pork.

Located inside the Mitsuwa Marketplace. Smaller food court area compared to the one in Costa Mesa, but parking is much better here. Was craving a pork cutlet bowl so decided to give this spot a try since I liked it at the Costa Mesa location.
What I got:
Pork Cutlet Bowl ($ 7.50): comes with a side of edamame and miso soup. So the person taking my order asked if I wanted my egg cooked since I was taking ordering take out… I didn’t understand what he meant by that so I just nodded my head… Glad it came out the way I was use to! The cutlet was thick, breading stayed on, but pork was kind of dry. Egg was sweet and plenty of rice was given. You will definitely be full! I ate half and packed the other half for my lunch the next day.
Service:
Couldn’t really understand the guy taking my order that well, but other than that everything went normal? Food took longer than I expected considering no one was really there…

This place is tucked away in the back of the Mitsuwa market food court. CASH ONLY! There’s another side entrance that takes you straight into the food court if you park in the back of the store.
I got the vegetable tempura udon as the display picture looked quite enticing. However, after receiving it, it wasn’t as I had thought. My tempura was fried into a pancake and was oily. The udon was just your average udon that I could of made at home and better.
My friend got the chicken cutlet and really enjoyed it. I must of gotten the wrong thing. At least the cashier was nice.

Came here for a quick dinner the other night. Misasa is located in the Mitsuwa marketplace food court. Definitely a much smaller food court than the Costa Mesa location. Best place to park is in the rear entrance which leads right into the food court. I was feeling some katsu curry, so I ended up going for the katsu don with soba combo. The katsu don bowl was pretty tasty and the soba was pretty good too. Nothing extraordinary, but still solid. Other than there being very little amount of seating in the food court and having to hawk around for a table, pretty good experience overall and a nice spot to hit if you’re limited for time.
‘Til next time, cheers!

I got the #53 Chicken Katsu Curry (no salad) for lunch. For $ 6.75 you get a pretty satisfying portion of food. The amount of rice is you get is ridiculous though. No one needs to eat that much rice. As for the chicken, it was alright. You could taste the oil on it though, and it tasted like it needed to be changed. But on the whole, Misasa is decent and filling but nothing special.
Cash only.

Located in the small MItsuwa food court.
I decided to get something for dinner here while my wife was getting some ramen at the adjacent Santouka. I ordered the pork cutlet curry and consider it average — a fast food version.
The pork was good quality and the panko coating was tasty but done unevenly. The curry was also good with a little spice kick to it. The rice, unfortunately, was dry and between lukewarm and cold. Spooning curry sauce on it made it edible.
Far from the best pork curry I’ve had but it was okay considering the cheap price.