Musashiya Japanese Restaurant

Food is ok. Liked it better when it was still kayaba (or something like that). The Gyudon was our favorite but now they use less meat and more oil and the noodle looking things.

I always come here for lunch ! My favorite is the beef bowl! Ever since they changed their company name, I don’t get free pickles anymore. Beef bowl comes with pickles and soup, but now I just trade my soup for pickles since it doesn’t come with it. Hopefully the new owner would bring it back. The pickles give it a better flavor along with the beef. It’s just a perfect combination for me. Over all, food is always good!

I ordered a mini oyako don. And I regretted when I got it. There was nearly no chicken. And I felt like that I was eating a rice soup– so strange. The seasoning fails. I should have got a bento box from Mitsuwa. I would be more satisfied.

I’ve always enjoyed eating at this little restaurant inside Mitsuwa. The portions are good sized, and the food has always been tasty. I love how they serve the dishes with tsukemono and miso soup. They once only accepted cash, but now they are taking popular credit cards. I personally enjoy the katsudon and ten-​don bowls. This place gets crowded at times and is self seating, so keep an eye open for a table!

I’ve been coming here for 3 – 4 years now (before the name change). They take card now and do «To Go» for orders that don’t include Udon/​Soba. My favorite dish is the Zaru Soba and Katsu Don. Every time I bring my friends here for the first time I recommend the Katsu Curry or Katsu Don.
The style is very «home-​made Japanese». As in, something your Japanese grandma (friend) would make for you when you are at her home. That’s what I like about it! It’s not Americanized at all and they haven’t changed much since they opened.
They have a full display of plastic displays that give you an idea what your dish will look like. Then they have two menus. One on the wall and one of the counter. I prefer the counter one because it’s easier to see. To order you just select your order number and say if it’s for dine in or take out. If it’s a noodle dish you need to say Udon OR Soba.
I typically bring friends with kids and I recently learned they have a «secret menu», which is really just what they already serve but as sides so it’s cheaper than getting a full set. For example the Chicken Katsu Set, can just be ordered as «Chicken Katsu Side Order». It’s cheaper and if you don’t want all the sides and such, can be easier for kids.
One thing I wish they had is call in orders! The line can get long and the food court is pretty small considering the volume of people they can get.

Hum, I seem to have escaped unscathed from the horrid experiences everyone else has had, because I still enjoyed my gyu-​don as always. The sauce permeated the rice, but by no means was it soupy, nor did the rice suffer from lack of texture; it still tasted pretty good to me. The meat itself is a little on the dry side, so I suspect it’s a little overcooked, but it’s fatty enough and there are enough simmered onions that I neither noticed nor cared too much. I still really liked that they put little konyaku noodle bits, as it serves as a really interesting, chewy textural contrast. I’m knocking a star though for the miso soup because the miso soup really was unmemorable; it tasted more of salt and less of miso, and the dried tofu piece inside the soup had this really off taste to it.

So far one of the better Japanese places I’ve been to, considering that I really like their curry dishes. I like that they have the menu in the wall as a display instead of having a laminated piece of paper. My problems are
1. The drinking water faucet is a bit sketch.
2. The cashier (s) are slow and a bit too otaku for me.
3. They made their food portions smaller than when I used to go a couple years back.
4. The curry is always too salty.
5. The seating arrangement is a bit crazy. Especially that long illuminati table in front of the stand.
Other than those, the price isn’t bad and the portions are good enough for me. The food isn’t that bad either. I would definitely recommend this place for other people craving Japanese food, especially if they’re in the area.

Believe it, it’s that bad! I spent $ 14 on a tendon with mini bowl of katsu. First, the sauce in the tendon was soaked in the bowl for who knows how long because the rice was all soggy. The entire bowl already lacks of taste and now lacks of texture. I was hungry but I only ate ¹⁄₃ of the bowl. The tempura in the bowl looked like crap and tasted like crap. So I went on and tried the katsu bowl, and oh my god it got worse. The battered pork chop was all soggy and skin fell right off as I was picking it up with my chop sticks. Argh… The worst meal I have had for a while and I could have gone across the street and get in and out burger and still have a pocket full of change for desserts.
I got what I deserve for being lazy and not using my Unilocal app before…

This is a Japanese food court spot, located in an Asian market. They have pretty good food and atew always busy. I had the shrimp tampura udon. It was good but better with the crushed peppers powder.

Standard food-​court Japanese fare. Nothing particularly bad or good, but if you want some quick, relatively cheap, Japanese food it works well.
When I’m in the mood for a gyudon or oyakodon I come here; they’re always ok but nothing amazing. Would recommend if you’re at Mitsuwa shopping and want a convenient bite, but I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way just to try it.

I decided to try a different ramen/​soup place and ended up at this establishment in Kearny Mesa. The positive aspect of my experience was that they accept credit cards (their neighbor to the left, my initial food choice, is CASH ONLY), so that was my deciding factor to eat there. «Going with the flow,» I ordered the shrimp tempura udon… Needless to say, the broth was bland & I was overall unimpressed. While eating, I thought about what «score» I would give this particular udon. My number: a 6.9 out of 10…

Had the pork katsu bite size.
I have been to Japan on business many of times and this by no means compares to Japanese restaurants there or here in SoCal.
1. Girls behind the counter trying look and act Japanese is retarded.
2. Katsu was burnt and tasted terrible.
3. Miso soup was bland and not fresh.
Only thing good was the salad if you can figure out where the communal dressing bottle is.
Don’t waste your time here. Just go into the store and buy pre packaged sushi

I ordered the tonkatsu #25. Overfried with a burned taste. Meat to breading ratio was 1 to 5. Shredded cabbage was dry and the inedible. Potato salad was a tiny scoop but tasted okay. Miso soup was tepid and bland. Pretty awful overall. Very disappointed.

The tempura udon was delish. I wasn’t too impressed with the donkatsu. But they serve a great presentation. Again this place is in the eatery area but again their were long lines and happy faces!!!

The food is revolting. REVOLTING.
The katsu is 1/​8″ thick and has the consistency of laminated cardboard. The tempura is soggy because they have the temerity to use extremely old tempura precooked hours in advance, so the oil in the batter congeals and it is cold since they haven’t discovered heat lamps. The curry is mild, the soba broth is bland, and the only borderline OK dish is the miso (screwing up miso is like screwing up breathing, it is literally three ingredients brought to a boil). If you’ve never had half-​cooked chicken, this is the place to get it.
Everything on the menu is overpriced: The same dish of tempura soba would be 450 yen on any train platform in Tokyo. The price is double at Musashiya for half the quality once it crosses the ocean to San Diego.
I don’t blame the staff, many of whom I think just work minimum wage and chose this place to practice Japanese (never happens). I do however blame Musashiya for being an insult to decent, cheap Japanese food and feel it deserves to be struck by a flaming meteorite (which hopefully won’t take out the rest of the supermarket, which is decent).
I want to like this place. I like cheap places to eat, and it’s impossible to find a place that does soba or udon otherwise in this city. The sort of place where you can put a few coins on the counter and have some granny with a white bonnet pour a hot bowl of kakesoba out on the counter with some mild green tea. This is definitely not that sort of place, except maybe for the granny (I think there’s one in the kitchen, can’t be sure).
It speaks volumes that Santouka next door which takes cash only does brisk business even though it probably serves the worst bowl of ramen in California, while Musashiya hardly has a line. I tried several dishes because … I wanted to like this place. But no, after being served the most terrible tempura again ever, I am done.

I miss Kayaba.
The new establishment that I assume bought out Kayaba hasnt changed the basic menu, but everything has gotten worse.
Oyakodon has little flavor, with a ton of liquid soaking the rice. And I mean a LOT.
Chicken cutlet doesnt stick to the breading, and it’s shrunken away from the coating after frying.
Hamburger steak still tastes mostly the same.
The potato salad tastes kinda old, but at least it has plenty of onion flavor still.
Also you dont get the sides of pickled napa anymore with most dishes nor the tamagoyaki. I love my pickled veggies so it was a triple blow to see it go.
I dont think I’ll be returning, which is a pity because I used to love Kayaba …

I got the basic Udon bowl and the noodles were great! loved the broth and the whole fish only cost $ 5.50.

The chicken cutlet was under-​seasoned at the breading kept falling off the chicken. Not very impressed with the quality of food but they make up for it with the amount of food.

We used to be able to get some sides along with the soba for the same price. Now you’re telling me because of the name change sides are no longer included? Small details like this do matter and I hope management sees this. Until then you’ve lost my business.

The chicken cutlet was under seasoned and their cole slaw was just shredded cabbage. Kind of a let down expecting something in an Asian market to have a little more authenticity, but hey, maybe I just got a bad piece of chicken.