Guru Katsu

I travel to Japan quite a bit so I’ve had my share of eating at various Katsu restaurants. I would say that Guru Katsu’s food in general is very much what you get at good Katsu restaurants in Japan. Not many places in Japan serves their Katsu with sesame… which is a great attention to detail. Options to add fried eggs etc. are nice touch too… Service is friendly and decent.
The only issue I can find is their miso soup. It can probably use more dashi flavor. If they can improve the miso soup, that would make this place perfect!

Came here for dinner on a Saturday night to try it out for the first time. Service was decent. Décor was fun. But the food wasn’t the best. I got the Katsu burger, which really wasn’t anything to write home about. My biggest complaint was that the buns were really cold and stiff, almost as if they had just been taken straight out of a refrigerator. At least toast them or let them warm up to room temperature. Also, another thing to note — they serve fries with their katsu burger… but when I asked for ketchup, they said they didn’t have any. Disappointing.
The actual katsu patty itself was well-​cooked and fried perfectly, albeit poorly seasoned. The other members in my party also agreed that everything was fried to perfection BUT everything was also very much lacking in flavor/​seasoning. I would not go out of my way to come back to this restaurant.

I drove by this place a couple of times and thought ohhh a place dedicated to katsu. Must be good. It just so happened that every time I planned to go, it was Tuesday and this place doesn’t open that day! Finally had the chance to. It is a very small parking lot so prolly street parking if it’s busy. It’s cold in there too so bring a jacket. I shared gyoza and the chicken katsu curry. Added an egg on top for 1.50 but not necessary since the curry and chicken and rice are fine on its own. They give you tons of curry and somehow we finished it all. Chicken was fried and fatty. Overall I thought it was good but it wasn’t jam packed with flavor. Gyoza was fried and comes with 5 so sorta expensive. It was good nonetheless.

Came here on a Monday night. The place is relatively small and there were a couple of other tables occupied besides us.
We ordered the Katsu Curry with a egg sunny side up (+$ 1.50) and Spicy Miso Don. Each entrée comes with Miso Soup. I thought the Katsu Curry was standard fare. It wasn’t anything special that knocked my socks off and the temperature of my dish was a little warmer than warm. The Spicy Miso Don had a little bit of a kick to it and in my opinion was better than the Katsu Curry. At the end of our meal they give us cotton candy!
The service was fast and the waitress was nice. The ambiance is casual and they do have a larger table to accommodate a larger group.
I would be willing to go back Guru Katsu to try another dish.

Ordered to go through Unilocal.Inside looked clean and pleasantly modern. My food was ready to go, and all the items were accounted for and nicely packaged. The food itself was good, although not amazing or particularly unique. I like that they give you lots of fresh cabbage. A little on the pricy side, but I would go again!

Nothing special about my pork katsu-​don. I’m a huge fan of donburi, but this place just doesn’t cut it.
Ordered my katsu don for pickup, and they were very quick to prepare the meal. When I got home, I realized what the other reviewers meant about the rice: there is a lot of it. I ended up throwing about a half of it away when I was done. But at least the rice helped cut the saltiness of the katsu don. Overall the dish was OK except for being a bit salty. I had various chewy pieces of pork and the sauce wasn’t memorable. At least the egg had the right look and consistency.
Overall, very underwhelming, especially given the price. Will have to find my donburi fix elsewhere.

I came here to grab a bite with my coworkers before we were gonna head out to play some badminton. It was around 4 pm on a Saturday and they were empty (more customers came in afterwards), so seating wasn’t a problem :). Their two employees we saw were nice and attentive! A+ service there. And their mural made the restaurant very hip and cute! Their food was less than spectacular though :(. They do give huge servings so it’s good for what you pay for.
I ordered the chicken katsu curry, a basic but good and safe choice. There was a huge amount of rice given which I felt was kind of wasteful, as I don’t know how someone can eat that much rice, and the rice was a tad dry. The katsu itself was okay, but it was possibly the blandest katsu I’ve ever had. The house curry was tasty but there was nothing special about it. I ended up just dipping my katsu in the curry to eat it. It filled me up regardless :).
My boyfriend likes this place a lot though so it’s worth a try!

I came here with some coworkers to grab some dinner. I definitely give the service 5 stars. The staff here was very nice. I was surprised to see that there was no one eating when we came in. Granted it was a little early but I expected a wait but it was nice to get seated right away. I went ahead and ordered the cheese Katsu curry which was quite good. Although I have had better Katsu and curry it was still quite delicious. Each entrée is served with miso soup. The portions here are huge. None of us could finish all our food. So definitely come here with an empty stomach. Other than that I had a great time here and even after dinner they gave our table cotton candy which we all loved. I highly recommend this place to any of my friends. Katsu has always been a nice comfort food and Guru Katsu definitely does it justice! Keep up the good work!

Came in for a somewhat early dinner while waiting for my number to get a haircut next door. The place was empty (probably to be expected given the time) and so I was helped fairly quickly.
The service was very friendly and the server quickly gave me the menu and explained some of the options as well as provided some pictures for guidance. I ended up getting the chicken for to go which came with cabbage and rice, and miso soup on the side. The miso soup was really tasty, a little hard to eat in my car. The actual katsu dish was good as well. I wish portions were a little bigger since I was still hungry when I finished but alas. Good food to give a try at least once!

Came in for lunch on Wednesday at around 12:15. It was pretty empty, and there were still spaces in the tiny lot in front of the place. The place never filled up. I think there were a total of four parties during our time there.
The waitress was super nice and kept checking in on us, filling our water and asking us if we needed anything. She wasn’t pushy about the check at all.
I had the Rosu Katsu. You grind your own sesame seeds to make the dipping sauce. Meat was nice and tender, breading was good, and the katsu was on a little wire rack to keep the bottom from getting soggy. The miso soup was tasty and the rice portion is pretty large. It comes with a large pile of cabbage (AYCE), two slices of tsukemono (the neon yellow pickle), and a single slice of tomato.
I paid $ 15 after tax and tip. I think it’s a bit pricey for a chicken-​breast-​sized piece of meat.

3.5 stars. This spot has a cute Japa vibe to it, although easy to drive by and miss it. Coworker and I stopped by for lunch the other week. The service was great, hostess sat us and also took care of us the rest of the experience. About half of the tables were taken when we came around 1pm. To aptly rate a Katsu Curry experience I’d have to break it down into three categories: The curry, rice and the tonkatsu.
The curry, has good flavor and actual chunks of potato and carrot, but the sauce was pretty thin could benefit from being thickened up. 3.5 stars
Rice: Used traditional japanese grain, but clumped up an mushy in some parts. They give you a lot of rice. 3 stars
Tonkatsu: 4 stars — The pork was perfectly well and had a good crunch to it.
For the price of admission this place isn’t bad at all, I’d come back if i were in the area. They had a clean bathroom also which is a plus.

The boyfriend and I were looking for some food to eat near Mountain View and we stumbled upon Guru Katsu. It’s a little ways away from DT and we much appreciated the lack of chaos for finding parking. We decided to split two dishes so we could try a little bit more and got the Guru Don & Katsu Curry. I personally love eggs so I was a huge fan of the Guru Don, and I loved the shredded cabbage as it added a little extra something and a crunch to the dish. The curry was good and flavorful and was very much enjoyable. Our only bit with this place was that proportion wise there was a lot more rice than there was meat. We were definitely pleasantly surprised when they offered us free cotton candy at the end! It was grape flavored and was bigger than the size of my head — really no complaints there. We’ll definitely be back!

We came here for Sunday dinner around 6pm. The place was not crowded but around 630 it started getting packed.
The waitress was nice and pleasant but a bit slow since she was the only server that night.
The food was good overall; it tasted fresh and crispy. Korokke was good too… the tonkatsu sauce with sesame was delicious. I wasn’t a big fan of the dressing, though. Miso soup and rice all tasted good. The only complaint is that the meat portion is kind of small. I’ve been to several other tonkatsu places and they usually serve bigger pieces.
The complementary cotton candy is a nice touch to the overall experience but it took 10 minutes after we paid to get it. They play old j-​pop in the background which I don’t really mind too much but when the place was empty, it was very loud and annoying.
While the food is good, they have a lot of room to improve on the whole dining experience.

I’m a big fan of katsu, so I went a little crazy when I first found out about this place and was trying to find all kinds of opportunities to come here and try it. The restaurant is small and has lots of cute decorations!
When we came here with a friend for dinner, the place was near empty (but had some to-​go orders in the works) so that kind of scared me a bit. The food was okay but it was not hot by the time the plates got to our table… I was very sad about that. What really got to me was the price — SO expensive! I can’t imagine myself paying this much for any kind of katsu no matter how much I really love and enjoy eating katsu!

so we went back to get some more of their yummy Katsu dishes. since it’s still Thanksgiving Day weekend, there wasn’t many ppl at the restaurant eating dinner n we were able to find an empty space in the 6 parking spaces that’s there. score! the service was great as usual. (well, it was only us n another party there.)
he got his usual Hire Katsu Curry. still as juicy n flavorful as last time. the carrots n potatoes in the curry r cooked til tender n soft. just the way we like it!
I ordered the Guru Don this time cuz I wanted to try the Rosu Katsu. it’s a thinner cut of pork with sweet teriyaki sauce on top. it was perfectly crispy on the outside. the amount of rice n salad was a lot also. I couldn’t finish the whole bowl so I just took the rest in a to go box. (maybe cuz I finished the Edemame appetizer first.)
of course the complimentary Cotton Candy at the end of the meal is always a welcome to our tummies! so pretty n so good!

I love Japanese food and have been looking for great spots nearby. Guru Katsu is now my go-​to place for when I have cravings for a great Pork Katsu-​Don. Agree with others that their katsu curry is just OK, their cheese katsu is better, and their pork katsu-​don is the winner of them all.
Ambience: 4 stars (very cute)
Food: 4 stars for the pork katsu-​don; their Udon is very good too. Flavor is great and portions are VERY generous!
Service: 4 stars — always prompt and nice, and they give you cotton candy after dinner! (not lunch, though).
Overall, it is a very solid meal each time I go. I tried other katsu dishes there, but Katsu-​don is always my favorite.

It’s the little things that Guru Katsu excels at.
The homemade cabbage dressing, the ground up sesame topping, the dollop of spicy mustards on the side. These come with their katsu dishes, and really help set this place apart.
We also had their cheese katsu pasta, which was okay: the katsu was a little bland, and the marinara sauce was just straight up tomato sauce, but it was overall satisfying.
The place is a little pricey (about $ 13 – 14 per person) considering what you get, but they are clearly making an effort, from their food presentation to the whimsical décor. Worth a try if you enjoy katsu.

I likeeee. But not love.
I was so happy that there is a curry place nearby! Finally got to try it and I was disappointed that we can’t adjust the spicy level of the curry :(
So i got the chicken katsu curry for $ 12. The portion was good and I was very full, however the curry sauce was just okay… Nothing special.
The service was excellent, when we came there was only one waiter that was serving everyone. He was running everywhere and did his best to accommodate every patrons. He was very attentive ⁵⁄₅ for that! :)
I will come back and try other dishes!

I’m sorry to say but my 2^nd time experience was actually worse than the 1^st time.
Came here on a Wednesday night with a friend, arrived at around 8ish and there were only two parties. Not a good sign. As described in my last review, the location and settings of this place is a disadvantage for them but if the food is good enough, they could still make it a popular place.
Our server had a really nice attitude (but more to that later). The reason I came back was simply because I heard there’s a new menu and I wanted to see if it can go over the 3.49-star rating this time. Sigh.
Hire Katsu: B-​.
For some reasons, I really think the Katsu was not as good as before. Well last time i ordered Wafu Katsu and this time Hire Katsu, but I was expecting it would still be quite tender and juicy — pretty much none of that. And most importantly when it was served the temperature of the katsu was below the warm range… almost close to room temperature. Cabbage actually became better than last time, it’s more fresh and thinly sliced.
Here is a little side story: Originally I ordered Hire Katsu Don. Then apparently, either the server heard it wrong or I did not speak it clear enough, I was provided Hire Katsu. Hire Katsu Don is supposed to be Katsu served over rice and topped with season egg, while I was given Hire Katsu plate and a separate bowl of rice. I did not know it was actually a wrong order so I asked «I thought this came with an egg?» So the server and I both said sorry to each other and she said she would bring out an egg for me. Well, at this point I thought it would be free? I mean… it’s just one sunny side up egg. And it was literally a single sunny side up egg on a plate when it was served. But when I got my check I was charged $ 1.50 for that. Really you have to do that? Obviously I was not very thrilled about it.
My friend ordered Katsu Curry. And for the whole time he was complaining the curry was only at room temperature. I tried a little bit and I agree with him. And honestly the curry was almost exactly like that made from curry cube which can be bought from supermarket… if it was really house-​made curry as said on the menu I would have expected something more unique. My friend said the Katsu was good though.
So yea, I don’t know what else I can say more about this place. I had really hoped this place could succeed since they had exceptional Katsu. I hope it was just us being unlucky that day and got below average food, but I am not sure whether I will come back again.

Serving authentic fried chicken and pork cutlets, there’s nothing like Guru Katsu in the area. In a sea of burrito stations, ramen parlors, and breakfast cafes, we find ourselves coming back often to Guru Katsu because there’s no one quite like them here.
We always get the Katsu Curry ($ 11.75). Fragrant Japanese curry on a bed of rice with miso soup and some pickled vegetables, it’s a simple meal that is pure comfort food.
We’ve also tried the Wafu Katsu ($ 13.75) and the Guru Don ($ 11.75). The Wafu Katsu is pork cutlet on cabbage, with fine grated daikon on top. You pour the signature sauce on top to soak all of it together. The dish is cold, and more than a bit unique, but I could see it being very refreshing on a hot day. The Guru Don is katsu over rice and cabbage, with a sweet teriyaki sauce mixed in with egg. It’s not as strong as the curry or the wafu, but a solid addition to the menu. These options are different, but I’m not sure I love their flavor as much as the simplicity of the Curry Katsu.
As others have stated, this place is authentically modern Japanese and the atmosphere tells you that right away. Piping JPop through the speakers, with an all black finish that makes it feel hip and trendy, Guru Katsu is unapologetically proud. Something about the unabashed Japanese-​ness makes everything work more than when preppy fusion places take ethnic food and market it to the tech crowd (see Tacolicious). The atmosphere is a big draw here, and simultaneously makes it feel comfortable and new at the same time.
In the end, Guru Katsu is reasonably priced, with a unique menu of dishes, and is just «fun.» Go for the curry, and be won over by the post-​meal cotton candy. I guarantee you you’ll be hooked.