Honda-Ya Japanese Restaurant

Most people outside of Japan think of a certain kind of restaurant when they hear the words “Japanese food” – a place where the menu spans sushi, a handful of largely fried appetizers, and a collection of hot entrees that may be Japanese, American, and/or Chinese. Done right, these restaurants may resemble and even approximate certain places in Japan; done wrong, they can expose people to mediocre and in some cases really bad renditions of things they might like or love at better establishments.

Tustin’s Honda-Ya is not the typical American Japanese restaurant. It is what exists in Japan as an izakaya – often called a Japanese bar or server of Japanese tavern fare, but better understood as the Japanese version of a Spanish tapas small plates restaurant. You don’t go to Honda-Ya to order a teriyaki chicken bento box and pinot grigot; it’s here to serve you red gyoza, miso eggplant, cooked enoki mushrooms, shishito peppers, a few skewers of robata yakitori, and things you don’t find everywhere else, like tempura baby octopus. Pub drinks, including Japanese beers, sakes, and shochus, are also part of the experience.

Finding an authentic and consistently great Japanese izakaya is impossible in many places; in Orange County, there are a handful or two, including Honda-Ya and two Fountain Valley restaurants: Honda-Ya’s cousin Kappo Honda, and long-time competitor Shin-Sen-Gumi. Shin-Sen-Gumi’s menu leans the heaviest on robata yakitori grilled items with the lightest sushi/sashimi choices, while Kappo Honda leans heaviest on sushi but offers many other small plates.