Takaraya

This is small, what seems like a family owned restaurant. The service is friendly, The food is made to order, and always good, and some items delicious.

Ate a bowl of premium ramen and a bowl of miso ramen. With the premium ramen we also ordered a side of spicy tuna rice. The ramen brith for the miso ramen was thick, probably had the right consistancy of oil, and flavorful with miso. The garnish that were in there included seaweed, bamboo shoot, pork slice, bean sprouts, and green onions. Unlike some other ramen
Places, they were missing the red Ginger. They do not have sesame seed there or sesame oil either.
The premium ramen seemed to be a pork base ramen with a dark color that makes it almost seem like beef broth too. That ramen came with corn, seaweed, green onions, pork, no bean sprouts but instead had eggs. The premium bowl was actually smaller than the other bowl for sone reason. Next the spicy tuna is put on top of a rice bowl and sprinkled with seaweed as well as some green onions. All the dishes are standard and the ramen itself is standard. I believe they probably use dry ramen to cook rather than fresh or wet ones. In my opinion this place is pricey for the quality of the food. I would compare it to a 5 dollar phở bowl rather than an 8 or 9 dollar ramen bowl. But I guess everyone needs to survive.

No beer or alcohol… boo!
It’s a help yourself kinda place, you go in, place your order and get a table. the soy sauce, utensils and napkins are up at the counter.
the food was kinda icky. i had the eel bowl and it was really salty and didnt taste very fresh. my friend had the chicken teriyaki bowl, i tried a piece and had to spit it out. it was dark meat and had cartilidge and bone in it. ick. their miso soup was yummy though! and i didnt try one but the spicy tuna roll was up to snuff.
I wanted to try their ramen, but it was such a hot day outside i didnt want to order hot soup. hah. I would definitely be willing to give them another try for the ramen, but theyre not exactly at the top of my list. A lot closer to the bottom…

Takaraya! I think I spelled the name right. Let’s take a trip to Japan. Simple food without the fancy decoration and price. I like this place because it’s never really that busy. The food quality is okay. I think the sushi is better than the entrée items. I tried the Chicken katsu curry The chicken was tender but a bit small for 7 dollars, about the size of my palm. It came with a huge plate of rice and curry on the side, which I liked. The curry was a little different that the Japanese curry I’m use too. It tasted more like Chinese curry that you get from 99 Ranch. The spice tuna was not too bad. The eel could have been better. Overall, it isn’t Mitusuwa market quality, but will satisfy your craving for sushi the same way McDonalds will satisfy a burger craving. It’s not bad, but it may leave you wanting more. I haven’t tried the ramen and hope to try it next time.
Recommended to try. I’m always a fan of sushi without the crowds and the super expensive price tags.

Looking for cheap Japanese food in Irvine? This is the place to go. Don’t expect anything fancy here, just eat don’t expect super clean tables or full service. But what u get is a full stomach and that is what counts. BTW this is a real Japanese restaurant not one of those places owned by Koreans or Chinese. I often spot Japanese folks dining here so it must be good enough for the locals. Overall prices aren’t bad. The food is good but is not something I crave for.
So what have I ordered here?
1. Beef bowl — This is like Yoshinoya Beef bowls but it tastes better. Also it looks like the beef hasn’t been sitting under a steamer for hours.
2. Chicken Katsu bowl with egg over rice. You really can’t screw up this dish since its just battered fried chicken cooked in egg and toss it on top of rice.
3. Philly roll. Nothing really to write about other than its edible.
4. Spicy tuna roll. Again. you can’t fail on this one that bad. Just edible as well.

I was having an intense ramen craving and I remembered Takaraya and decided to hit it up after reading a few reviews about what their ramen was like. I’ve eaten here before, but it was just their gyudon. Everyone said average, so I decided to give it a try.
I ordered a chashu bowl and shoyu ramen, and wow… (bad wow) It was pretty bad, not gonna lie. The soup was EXTREMELY salty. At first I didn’t mind it, but towards the middle-​end of the meal, it was too much. The chashu bowl was EXTREMELY salty too, and tasted a little off. So why three stars and not two? Their gyudon is pretty good. Now I know to only stick with that and not get ballsy and try something else. Plus, the lady that works there is nice and the food is pretty cheap.
But just letting you guys know… stay away from the ramen.

Ehhh. This is the place you go to when you’re hungering for Japanese food while on a budget. I use to come here after a gruesome day of classes. I’ve never sat down and ate in this hole in the wall, I’ve always taken it to-​go.
I usually go with their combo items, served with rice and salad. Any one item is $ 5.95 a pop and any two items is $ 6.95. I’ve tried their chicken and beef teriyaki. Nothing special. Their eel bowl is good too. Takayara has always been consistent, decent, a-​ok. Again, probably the best Japanese place to go to when your money is tight.
This place is also in the same place as Kaju, 99 Ranch, etc. Nice asian plaza but the parking can be a pain sometimes.

I’ve walked by this place so many times I’ve lost count. I’ve never been inside because it just looked like a fast food place from the outside which serves up sushi. There was no sign of noodles anywhere until I read Arnold E’s review and realized that they did have noodles. So today I went in there to grab a bowl of ramen. I saw the miso and shoyu but no shio. I was bummed out. I decided to go with the «premium» ramen. I“m not sure why it was «premium» but it was the most expensive ramen on the menu and I was hoping it had the most ingredients.
The piping hot bowl of ramen arrived about 10 minutes after I’d ordered it. There was nori, wakame, a soy braised egg, corn and 2 hefty slices of meat. The meat was really good compared to other ramen places around because it had a good flavor (not gamey like other places). There was also these dried daikon looking things which could’ve been bamboo shoots, but I wasn’t sure.
The broth was too dark and didn’t taste that great, but the texture of the ramen was pretty good. If the broth was lighter with a better flavor, I could easily have given it a 4 star rating, however, although I didn’t like the broth as much, I’m going to return and try the shio ramen (Arnold E says they have it so I’ll ask) next time and update.