TANAKAYA

Tanakaya is a family owned business that serves authentic Japanese udon and soba noodles. The inside is small and it does get crowded, especially during the opening dinner hours, so be prepared to wait a little bit or stand in line before they open. I ordered the chicken karaage and the special combination with tanuki soba noodles and the katsu don. The chicken karaage was fried perfectly and was huge. I loved the mayo and lemon that you pair it with to create a nice flavor combo. The cold soba noodles were super refreshing and one of my favorites I've ever tried. The broth was flavorful and with the added wasabi it made the bite very unique and something. I've never tried before. The katsu don was also a 10 out of 10 and so yummy. The rice is covered in a sweet sauce that they cook the egg and Katsu in which makes every bit delicious. This is one of my favorite restaurants in Tustin and I come here weekly. Definitely give it a shot if you wanna try authentic Japanese food.

The hot soba was overcooked and soft, and too hot when it was served to us. as I used my chopsticks to handle the noodles, they broke. Soba is generally fairly brittle, but this was definitely over what it should have been. We waited 1.5 hours to get seated, so considering this I don't think I'd come back.Their style of hot soup broth is very strong, almost slightly bitter(?). It's like they took the concentrated sauce you use for cold soba and warmed it up. It's not my personal taste but other people probably like it.It could have been an off day, but I'm not going to wait another 1.5 hours to find out.

I had a great time here. Tempura was delicious. I also ordered agedashi tofu, and hiyayako. Of course, I had to order the tanuki soba cold. This is an authentic Japanese soba ya with handmade soba. The staff are very friendly. I would recommend going early as it does get crowded.

Yum. There seems to more and more soba places popping up. I've been here before but it's far from home so only go if I'm in the area. I ordered the combo of zaru soba and katsu don. We also ordered karaage chicken. The chicken pieces were huge so only ate a couple since I wanted to save room for my main meal. They make the soba in house. You can see the guy in the room making it so it's fresh. That was the best part of the meal. The katsu don was good too but the tsuyu (sauce) they cooked with was a little sweet.

Updating my review because this place has become quite frustrating. My partner and his mom have a tradition of dining at TANAKAYA on New Year's Eve every year, so we always arrive early enough to get in line. If you're not seated in the first round, expect a long wait due to the restaurant's refusal to adjust its operations despite being consistently understaffed. It's unbelievable how many customers this place attracts, yet they choose to continue this way. From what I can tell, there's only one chef and maybe two other staff members working at a time, trying to manage at least eight tables--it's just not practical.This year was particularly disappointing. We were first in line but were only ordering takeout since we weren't feeling well. However, you can only order in person and wait outside, which isn't efficient at all. We watched a staff member get overwhelmed almost instantly, unable to handle seating people while another staff member was helping us with our takeout order. It was highly unprofessional. Also, it seems another patron entered the restaurant under the impression they had a reservation? This restaurant does not take reservations at all, so the fact that staff looked confused and didn't indicate to her that this wasn't valid until she tried to enter before us was also not a good look.The only reason I'm giving this place two stars is because the food is decent. The noodles are great, but honestly, they aren't worth the wait or the hassle. By "hassle," I mean the long wait to be seated and the race to get your order in, which then takes forever to arrive. The ambiance is unextraordinary and quiet.I wish this restaurant would staff properly because it has so much potential to be amazing. I'll probably update this again next year and hope to see some changes.

We went right at opening and there was a small line. I ordered the Oh Zaru Soba, which is the same thing as Zaru Soba just double the portion. It definitely wasn't necessary though because we didn't even get to the second tray before getting full.The noodles were cold and refreshing and had good bounce. I liked the seaweed on top. I wished there was some meat because I personally can't eat too much of just noodles. Maybe we should've gotten the karaage too :(. The dipping sauce for the noodles was basically just soy sauce. Overall if you are craving soba, this is a solid place to go to.

Of course the soba noodles were the star. Perfectly al dente and so scrumptious dipped in the broth. I had the ten zaru that came with tempura veggies and a shrimp. The tempura was expertly lightly battered and seasoned perfectly. The chicken karaage was also tasty and it was a generous portion to share. Service was friendly. Overall had a good leisurely dinner here catching up with a friend.

Damn, I did not get a picture of the vegetable tempura-- as stupid vegetarians, we couldn't get anything with broth as it contains fish. So the soup-craving on a cold night was instead fulfilled with cold udon- which don't get me wrong were VERY well made udon and you can taste the handmade love in the bouncy-ness of the noodles. But their vegetable tempura plate was so yummy! Lightly battered and it all stayed airy and crispy through the meal. Perhaps the most memorable thing was how this one adorable waiter fills the hot tea, he's the Japanese version of Salt-bae and I would watch him refill teas all day long. Can't wait to try their matcha soba after a warm day- maybe they'll change my mind about how I feel with these buckwheat nonsense.

I came here on a Saturday morning and there was a decent wait time. I think we waited about an hour so I would recommend coming early or once they open to avoid a long wait time. The restaurant has a nice casual ambience that can be great for a hangout with friends or a date. Service was relatively efficient and we got our food pretty fast. My sister and I shared the karaage and soba sampler just to have a light brunch. We really liked our dishes and had fun tasting the different soba options. Overall, we would come back again to try their other dishes as well :)

Got here a bit before 530 meal service started, and got cut off when every seat was filled. So we had to wait to be seated by 620. Within 10 minutes, we were able to place our order and have water at the table. The assorted tempura veggies came with shrimp and squid. This was the star of the evening, and was well worth the $19.95 price tag for its simplicity and crispness. We also tried their kake udon, anikake udon with veggies (this one had a thickness to the soup, maybe corn starch for thickening?), and cold soba sampler. The winning items were the assorted tempura and the cold soba sampler. I'm not sure what the one with the pink-red radish on top was for one of the six sobas in the sampler, but I'd come back to order that in a bigger portion. I'd totally skip on the udon because it was waaaaayyy tooooo salty. The noodles tasted like they have been soaking in the broth for way too long. I've had better at other places. Don't get udon, just get soba and tempura! We finished and left by 650-7pm. Not too shabby for first impression, but definitely not worth the wait unless you line up before they open for each meal service!