Izakaya Hachi - Costa Mesa

Solid Izakaya with relatively affordable dishes!Hachi is located in a small parking lot with other shops.Glad we came early since it was poppin 30 min after.For drinks we got some cold shochu and hot sake.For food we got duck ($12), octopus salad ($14), presses Saba Mackeral ($15), spicy miso beef intestine ($13) gobo chips ($10)and bara chirashi ($20).Duck-fresh and did not taste too gamey could have had more flavor (8/10)Gobo chips- large portion, crunchy and taste healthier and regular chips, not salty either (8/10)Octopus salad- refreshing with citrus dressing good amount of octopus (8/10)Spicy miso beef intestine- little too oily for me but generous portion and good meat to veggie ratio comes in hot stone (7/10)Saba Mackeral- favorite dish! Mackeral is super fresh and not too much rice, and get 6 pieces for $15! (10/10)Bara chirashi- nothing special but solid, wish there was a little less rice (6/10).Overall service is fast and food is delicious.Would definitely love to come back and try other dishes!

We'v visited the original Hachi in Torrance when I lived in South Bay. It's been a while and we haven't checked out this location in Costa Mesa. We booked a last minute reservation for counter seating. Place is very cozy and relaxing. They had a fairly big menu and a nice sake menu. We shared quite a few dishes and everything was very delicious in healthy portions. I especially liked the potato salad. Hubby loved mackerel box sushi that he had to have two orders. We sampled two bottles of cold sake and they were tasty. The service was excellent. This type of locally owned izakaya restaurants are always the best. We will definitely come back again!

My bf reserved us a table for dinner here last Friday night and I was very impressed with the food and service! I'm a bit of a Japanese food snob, and I thought I've been to most if not every izakaya in OC, but I guess last Friday was my first time at Hachi! Have I been living under a rock?? How come I've never been here or even heard of this place before....!? Hachi is another higher end if even "fancier" than your typical izakaya. If you have to go somewhere nice afterward (like we did) and crave izakaya food and are afraid you will smell like grilled meat later, don't you worry because this izakaya (and also Onsen) you won't! All their yakitori menu are on the menu, there is no slip to write in. We got beef tongue and Yuzu pork cheek from the grill meat section. Beef tongue was one of the best I've had, so juice, thick, full of umami and delicious. So was their yuzu pork cheek! Their octopus and radish salad was so very refreshing and delicious. We also got the Hokkaido sashimi set and the quality was great. One of my favorites of the night was the uni and beef sashimi, I can eat 10 of those!!! Agedashi was solid and we got 3 orders of their hot sake! I would definitely come back to try their spicy motsunabe. Not many Japanese restaurant offers this so I get so thrilled when I see they offer it on their menu! I would highly recommend you check them out!

Food and service were excellent. Pricing was a bit on the expensive side, but I think the quality was great overall.

There is another Japanese restaurant in the same strip mall, but we chose this one instead and made a reservation on OpenTable. We are still waiting for our table or the sushi bar. I really enjoyed the cucumber and cabbage salad and I ordered three of them! I also love the unique octopus appetizer with the plum sauce. The king salmon is delicious and yellowtail sashimi is awesome. The fish quality is great but the portions are small and it's expensive but I would definitely come back. I did take one star off for the waitstaff. They were very slow and not that engaging or friendly. I'm sure they can improve in that area!

Izakaya is aesthetically designed more on the romantic side. But the restaurant is noise is loud. You won't be able to hear each other as much. Tables are arranged usually for 2-4 people. I think with a bigger crowd they would join the tables.HIGHLY recommend booking a reservation beforehand. Depending on table availability you might need to wait or get seated right away. Crab Croquette (2 pc): Texture is creamy than crispy. I would eat fast when you pick up with chopsticks, the structure might fall apart. I couldn't taste a lot of the crab flavoring and its on the softer side. I would pass on ordering this again. Specials Blue Fin Sashimi Combo (2pc of Akami, Chu Toro, O Toro): The best dish overall. Every single sliced fish was so buttery and smooth. Fresh and delicious. Would highly recommend getting this dish to share between two people. Salmon Ikura Bowl: Another great dish to get. Bowl is sized for one person. But the dish is filling compared to other dishes. Salmon was buttery, rice was flavored with seasoned seaweed flakes, topped with fish eggs.

Chris is such an amazing server! Very attentive, we never needed anything because he was always on top of it all! 10/10 customer service alone! Now the food was so fresh definitely great quality!!! Was my first time and I'll definitely be back for more! Everything tasted sooooooo delicious and fresh! Nothing smelled or tasted fishy. Overall 10/10 would recommend. The pressed salmon was the tables favorite but not mine. Not to say it wasn't good, everyone loved it. I'm just not a fan of seared/warm sushi. I like it cold and raw!!! I wouldn't order that again but I'm pretty sure the others would! See photos for reference :)

I'm an izakaya fanatic and have tried just about every izakaya place in the OC and this is the only one that gets 5 stars from me lol value, service, and food quality are all what goes into this 5 star review. Hachi is in a plaza with other amazing food and dessert options. the parking lot gets so full, and rightfully so. They offer valet if you're having trouble finding parking. We reserved a spot at the counter 7:30 pm on at saturday. You can reserve through OpenTable. We loved being seated at the counter and seeing everything we ordered get made, and the gentleman we sat on front of provided great service along the servers that assisted us. They were attentive and removed dirty dishes quickly. Like a traditional japanese establishment, they let us take our time once all the food was out and we were settled. Our favorite thing was by far the pressed mackerel that came with plum sauce. the only other time i've had mackerel that great was in Japan! They ran out of uni when we were ordering but fresh uni was delivered mid meal and the gentleman we sat across showed us and let us know! we got to order it and man, it was delicious!! ambiance is a little loud and you can't really hear any music. but it doesn't matter if you're sitting close to each other on the counter. we are so happy to have found an izakaya we love and will be returning. there were other people at the counter that seemed like regulars!

Hey Beautiful People!So you know how you should always eat sushi at an izakaya? No! Don't do it! I was just kidding!!!But what I can say is that this cozy space does have some amazing items you can eat all by yourself!Here goes...1.) Crab Croquettes - Do NOT look at the price! Just order it and wash dishes at the end. No big deal!2.) Karaage - Because an izakaya is only as good as its most deep-fried dish! If you like chicken and you like crispness, this is perfect for you!3.) Chicken Thigh Skewer - I didn't ChatGPT this for correctness, but chicken thighs are probably the juiciest part of a chicken, so you know this skewer will be amazing!I did try the sushi and sashimi, and it was a solid 3, so that's why my rating is only a four, but you can visit and decide for yourself.Have a great time!

Stopped by on a Saturday night with my boyfriend and had a nice time! We stopped by around 7 pm and didn't have a reservation so we had to wait a bit. Would definitely recommend making one beforehand. Highly recommend the beef tongue and crab salad. The karaage and oysters were decent. We ordered other skewers that were decent too!Service was good and the noise level wasn't too loud. It would be nice for a good catch up or a date.