Yoshinoya

Drive-​thru people are not keeping it real, slow as hell and then try to fast when it’s your turn at the window really…

Decent tasting garbage quality food. Ok, to be honest I do enjoy eating their beef bowl occassionally. Employees at this location are very friendly so I feel a bit bad for saying this, but of all fast food chains, yoshinoya probably has the least bright people working. Everytime I order here, I try to be extra clear on my order. Do not make assumption they got what you want unless you spell everything out. Food taste at this location is pretty inconsistent too.

I ordered a regular beef bowl from the drive-​thru window. The window cashier was courteous; and there was no line of cars ahead of me. So, service was fast.
When I arrived home to eat the meal, I was surprised to discover the beef bowl was mostly rice, but not much beef. Plus, the meal was dry and not very flavorful. For this reason, I am assigning a 2-​star rating to Yoshinoya (for the food only).

Dear Yoshinoya Manager, if you’re reading this, could you please tell your cooks not to make my food so soggy? My beef bowl isn’t meant to be eaten like a soup. I know it’s cheap food, but please have some level of quality control here. Thank you.

Nooo… I have been coming to this location since 1975. Always the best. Until my last visit. Corp changed the chicken. Now they are serving tasteless dry kibble chunks. You can no longer get the grilled chicken fillet complete with that tasty skin. Tender, juicy, flavorful chicken. I am a beef man but the chicken use to come in a tie for the beef. Dumb move Corp. You are going to lose a lot of customers over this. What next soy scabs to replace the beef to save a buck?

What is going on with this location? I tried the combo again and it is not the same anymore. No flavor… it used to be flavorful and sweet of teriyaki sauce and onions… I even tasted little butter sometimes, but now it’s just soy sauce. wtf yoshinoya! Fix this asap!!! I’m sure everyone’s disappointed with you lately. Please look into this owner or manager… I used to enjoy coming here.

Love yoshinoya wish they had this near where I lived they use to but not no more so when ever we have an opportunity we buy a bunch of orders even to eat the next day. In this location they are awesome

not gonna lie, i grew up eating yoshinoya. it’s my parents’ «fast food» of choice… i guess it beats mcdonalds and burger king…
over the years i’ve seen yoshinoya change, adding chicken wings, adding noodles, adding whatever they can to survive…
then recently yoshinoya tried to morph into flame broiler, adding green onions on the teriyaki chicken, dicing the chicken to look like flame broiler. last time i checked, yoshinoya is NOT flame broiler, stop trying to be someone else!
the teriyaki chicken and beef no longer taste like what i remembered growing up… such a shame because i used to love yoshinoya :(but love no more.

The plates here are very satisfying. The customer service is great, usually get helped by Sandra, she is very friendly. It’s lit in here.

Yoshinoya (in Japan) is so good. This version in Tustin on the other hand… The beef bowls are close to what you can get in Japan. And by close, I mean pretty different. But still, its tasty. Thinly sliced beef with lots of fat and gristle stewing in some beefy sauce with onions and plopped on top of rice. Delicious. Throw on some pickled ginger and you got yourself a great meal.
Chicken is unheard of in Japan but here seems to be what defines the chain. For a brief moment I was able to order ‘extra skin’ on my bowl, even skin thrown on a beef bowl for added flavor. Those were good times. They’ve caught onto the extra skin movement and no longer offer it but i’m guessing you can bribe someone to get it. Chicken is grilled on the skillet and comes out moist. This bowl also comes with steamed veggies. Now this is where my gripe begins. It is not the fault of the store, but their vegetables all come from some central vegetable processing plant which does a piss poor job of cutting off the ends of their cabbages. Many times I’ve come across black smudges on the cabbage like burnt rubber or it has been dragging across a dirty floor. Note to self: avoid veggies at Yoshinoya.
Also learned that sauce that makes the vegetables glisten in the light is called ‘veggie sauce’. Who would have known?

Their quality has dropped big time. Never coming back.
Too bad… In the last year or so, they stopped serving their vegetables in slimy green sauce and thought overall, their food had improved since I first ate here in 2007. Their chicken WAS freshly grilled, and when you ordered, they would chop up the chicken, and put it on top of rice, topped by boiled cabbage and carrots, and then chicken drizzled with sweet teriyaki sauce. But that was then, and this is now. Tonight, what I got tasted like it was boiled then stir fried chicken, the texture and taste was like those fast food places where the food sits under a lamp. And for $ 5 for a regular chicken bowl, I am probably never coming back. If I want chicken bowl in Tustin, I will go to Yogi’s at Irvine and Newport in the Smart and Final shopping complex. In fact, you can watch them grill your food.

This is an odd place to review because it’s a chain. But seeing that I frequent this place, I feel obligated to review it.
As far as this place getting a 3 star instead of 4? Well, it’s because I LOVE the chicken bowls at flame broilers and I’d only give them 4 stars, so this place will have to settle with 3.
Why do I like the chicken bowls at Flame Broilers more than the ones at Yoshinoya? Because they don’t have gooey skin and fat in it. I’m not a health nut by any means, but soft chicken skin is just gross. Also, I have no idea how they cook the vegetables, but it always has an odd taste to it. Their rice is a little too wet too. Would be nice it it was dryer nice their sauces adds even more moisture.
My go to item here is usually the beef bowl, something about that salty thinly sliced beef with onions really feels comforting. I always bring this back home or to the office and cut up the long slices of beef into smaller piece to make it a little easier to eat.
The staff at this location s nice and usually pretty quick… unless you order something like their chicken wings that require frying, you order should arrive within 5 minutes.
Last note. Yoshinoya is actually huge is Japan where it originated from. I had the pleasure of visiting one in Hong Kong and was blown away at how different their menu is. Google it, or better yet, travel!
Sorry for any typos, typed this on my phone.

Update review: after a long while, I decided to come back and try it out again. I enjoyed my usual combo bowl and my wife liked her grilled tilapia. They have improved on the portions and the taste is as good as it was before.

I am thoroughly disgusted by my food today. I had a rotten cabbage leaf in my bowl. I will add pics in a minute. My first experience at this Yoshinoya was a bunch of cauliflower stalks in my bowl with hardly any other veggies. This time I have a rotten leaf. I picked it out but I have decided this Yoshinoya is the pits.

This place gave my wife and I 24 hours of food poisoning hell. This is the worst experience of my life when it comes to food. I would advise everyone to stay away from this place if you value your health.
I am still in the process of recovering…

Food was good a lot of fat though on the beef. Worker didn’t give me a utensil or a straw. before I could ask for soy sauce the lady shut the window & walked away. It was ok but I’ll probably never go here again, would rather drive to waba grill

I know people can either hate or love Yoshinoya. I am definitely a fan. Although we kid amongst ourselves with the dirty beef bowl, sometimes you have that craving and only Yoshinoya can deliver the goods.
I always get the Large Beef Bowl. Although I have noticed that their packaging has changed over the years. Back in the day, the Large came in a more rectangular box which reminded me of a brick. Now the Large comes in a more traditional square take out box similar the shape you’d find at chinese takeout, hawaiian bbq, hooters, etc. I know it’s just a box but that Brick was something I really enjoyed.
Now onto the food, the beef is moist and you get plenty of rice. Some might even say too much rice for that beef. Well, you can order some a la carte beef on the side and then distribute and share with your friends to make the Large Beef Bowl truly epic. Also, don’t forget to get the chili pepper powder, ginger, and soy sauce.
It’s a decent meal for the price, fast food, and there are times when you get the hunger for this specifically.

Came in late tonite around 10 pm and thank goodness they open till 12 am. Yes!
Bought 2 combos: original beef + teriyaki chicken and original beef + angus beef. Was all good. First time trying angus beef and was pretty good. Overall a satisfied meal. Service was good and they were polite too.

This location is one of those places that serve rice that includes some kind of meat like Flame Broiler.
As far as the food goes, about 50% of the dish consists of rice and whatever other side item comes with the dish such as coleslaw. The fish as advertised on the window is very small in quantity, probably only around 30% of what the dish consists of. It tasted fine, though. They were nice.
They don’t take American Express.

Pricing: Good. Good cheap meal with filling portions.
Quality: Good. Tender beef and lightly flavored, but nothing outstanding.
Turnaround: Good. Yay for fast food joints!
Service: N/​A. Not much for fast food places after all.
Of course we went with the standard beef bowl, but they also had a special for angus steak so we made a combo of that with teriyaki chicken. For starters, the pricing for the beef bowl is super wallet friendly for a good portion of meat and rice too. The combo pushes the budget a bit, but would be better for those with larger appetites. The beef was cooked tenderly where the regular beef was flavored lightly, but the angus beef was very sweet. Personally I liked the «bouncier» texture of the angus beef more, but they put a tad too much sugar in that marinade. The chicken was standard and did leave much of an impression on me. The turnaround was not as fast a other fast food joints like the golden arches or the king, but still quick enough if time is of the essence. The cashier took our money and that was as much as interaction as we will get for these kind of places.