Izakaya Gazen

Never had a bad meal here. Fast for lunch, they are willing to divide the check, and the Homemade Tofu Bowl is amazing!

This is a solid Izakaya. Fantastic surprise. Good food, good service and nice ambiance to catch up with friends. We brought our one year old (went there right as they opened for dinner) but I wouldn’t call this place family friendly. It is a Japanese bar. =) They have no high chairs. She sat on our lap and ate and it was fine but just fyi. It is more upscale than Honda-​ya but still reasonably priced.

This is the first izakaya that i have been in LA that feels legit. The tofus are amazing. Must try all of them. The salmon toast is awesome. Never in my life have i tried the combination of diced salmon, shiso leaf over sweet cream cheese. Love that the specials actually do change. Most places just stick to the same all the time. The kakuni with soft boiled egg was divine as well as the burdock root & seafood kakiage.

Fantastic little restaurant.
I like that they serve real Japanese food beyond the typical sushi and ramen joint. They bring the other spectrum of Japanese cuisine that most people may not have tasted or are familiar with.
But no doubt they do serve sushi and it is glorious and better than Sushi Gen. The quality is just unmatched. They also had beef wagyu sushi which I haven’t seen since being in Tokyo.
The one thing that I wasn’t so crazy about was their shabu shabu. It taste great and it’s beautifully presented with very high quality meat I’m just a big fan of the actual shabu experience with the pot of kombu water and you cook everything yourself. They steam the meat in the kitchen for you so there’s no actual soup. It’s also very expensive and the price didn’t seem to justify what you get. I still prefer going to Kushi Shabu a few blocks down for my shabu fix.

I was very pleasantly surprised by Izakaya Gazen.
When I think «izakaya», I don’t think of the type of menu that Gazen offers. Actually, Gazen’s menu make me think of those nightmarish restaurants where they have a million options, and none of them are good. They have sushi, shabu shabu, and even some dishes that verge into weirdo youshoku territory like the omelete noodle thing my friend ordered. And the prices are kind of expensive. And no meat skewers on the menu at all??? What kind of izakaya is this?
I guess I need to expand my definition of izakaya, because the dishes here were all pretty good. Only a couple of misses, but mostly hits. We really enjoyed our meal!
Our favs were the beef tendon, pork curry udon, negihama roll and daikon salad. I loved my drink, the yuzu mojito. They didn’t have any cassis drinks on the menu. Find me an izakaya in Japan that doesn’t have cassis, lol. But the mojito was very well done.
I have a feeling that the sushi may be the highlight here. The negihama roll was really really good.
Service is doting. It seemed like my friend with green tea had her cup refilled once every 2 minutes. The only problem was, we ordered the curry udon and daikon salad at the beginning of the meal, but they were missed somehow. The curry udon took so long to come out that we decided to cancel it, but they comped it for us. A+ from me.
Solid food, a little pricy, nice atmosphere, great service.

According to a friend, this used to be a sandwich/​panini place and I can’t really remember what it used to be, but whatever it was, it probably had nothing on Izakaya Gazen. It kind of reminds me of an upscale Honda-​Ya. They have an assortment of drinks but honestly you’re better off hitting Far Bar or Wolf and Crane nearby for drinks. Now for the food. We didn’t get their popular steamed shabu shabu (but I will be coming back to try it another time), but we got a bunch of their different plates. Japanese omelette, gazen style friend noodle, fresh fish carpaccio, seared hamachi and jalapeño roll, and a spider roll from their regular menu. Now, the real secret is in the special menu they have. We ordered the miso ribs, 3 pieces of wagyu nigiri (it came in an order of 2, but we asked them to give us 3 for the individual price), and one more item I can’t recall at the moment. But you get the idea, we ordered a lot of food. Not only did we leave stuffed, but we left with our wallets quite a bit lighter as well. Granted, we did order a lot of food, but I can see how everything adds up. It came to be $ 40/​person for 3 people including tax and tip. Definitely a good date night place.
TLDR: Cute hidden gem in Little Tokyo that reminds me of an upscale Honda-​Ya. It is on the pricier side, but as the saying goes, you pay for the quality, and they do not skimp on quality. I have my eyes set on the steamed shabu shabu sets next time!

I only randomly heard about this place because my family wanted to meet for dinner in Little Tokyo one night and our usual favorite sushi restauant Koomasa was of course fully booked and we would have waited forever for a table (well forever is relative but we were starving!!).
So my parents stumbled upon Izakaya Gazen while wandering around waiting for our table at Koomasa. They had seats available so we decided to try something different.
We were seated immediately and we had great service. We received water and tea right away.
We ordered a wide variety from their menu– mostly evil fried things (well it is a izakaya after all) — this is what we got:
homemade tofu sampler– came with yummy dipping salts and sauces
ponzu sauce marinated beef tendon– reminded me of korean beef soup– totally was not what I was thinking it was going to be!
assorted sashimi– fresh!
gazen nigiri full set– nice assortment of fresh sushi, the ika was unique– it had the tentacles instead of the usual white meat
gazen style deep fried chicken– how can you go wrong with karage?
crispy white fish– hot and delicious
fried ground wagyu patties– off of their daily specials– pretty tasty
The food came out quickly and was hot. We shared all of this amongst 5 people and we were pretty full. I would definitely come back for more and try some other menu items.

We randomly chose this restaurant on Tuesday night. Good food with good service. I like all the dishes we ordered so far, tasted very delicious, even with eggs, they can made a lot of different kinds of dishes. Will definitely come back to try other on the menu. Don’t know if their sushi is good or not. The parking next to them in the parking lot is free with their stamp

For overall, the food and the service was very good. My favorites are takutoro sushi roll, karaage, and sweet potato mochi dessert. Homemade tofu, poke and omusoba were also good. This place has shabu shabu, sushi, japanese izakaya food, so even you are picky eater, you’ll find something.

This place is somewhat better for lunch than for dinner. I find the dinner menu somewhat confusing in terms of determining how much to order and what are the portions. The waitress who attended to our table was no help at all. After I had ordered a couple of items she seemed confused by my order which was very strange. For lunch I like how they have these sets and they start off with tofu, their house made tofu is super yum. My favourite dish last night was their pan fried mochi with vanilla ice cream and their yuzu sherbet is a must try. If the special for mochi tofu agedashi is available, try it too. It’s crisp on the outside like the usual agedashi tofu but chewy-​mochi like on the inside, formed as small balls. Despite the strange character of the waitress, the staff are very attentive in general and would constantly refill your tea at perfect temperature.

New izakaya spot in Little Tokyo?! Heck yes! Located where Fickle used to be, this restaurant is on the corner of the street of 1^st and Central. The interior is modern and classy, and the menu is very extensive with sushi, shabu, and different types of Japanese dishes and tapas on the list.
We got the sashimi platter, the wagyu/​black pork shabu combo, and the salmon and cream cheese toast to start. The sashimi is fresh, but nothing spectacular. Good cuts though. For around $ 28, you get four pieces of salmon, tuna, and yellowtail (I think).
The salmon cream cheese tartare was very refreshing and surprisingly light. Cream cheese and salmon definitely go well together, and the toast was nice and crispy which provided a great complement. I would recommend getting this as a starter.
Last but not least, the shabu for $ 35. Izakaya Gazen offers a more traditional type of shabu shabu, and the server shows you the meat before taking it to the back to steam it. There isn’t any soup involved, it’s meat laid on a bed of veggies and mushrooms. The meat quality was superb, and black pork is typically pretty expensive as it is rare.
Izakaya Gazen presents a more upscale Japanese tapas restaurant that is a nice addition to Little Tokyo. I would recommend coming here if you’re looking for fine dining and quality food. I definitely want to try the tofu sampler next time, so I’ll be back!

I came here for dinner ,
Food was ok
The waiter SUCKS!!!
He did NOT speaks Japanese!!!
The wine we order, I think they forgot it !!
I know this place could be better !!
They need to train the waiter/​waitress to speak Japanese !!!

Finally a decent izakaya in DTLA! The food is fresh and yummy although it is not cheap. Good selection of sushi and cooked food. It is not mostly traditional Japanese, but is a contemporary Japanese. My favorite is their homemade tofu, which is pretty much the best tofu I ever had in U.S. I suffered over 15 years not being able to taste real tofu, so I’m delighted.
Gazen is a chain izakaya restaurant from Tokyo area. So despite being new in town, the food is already up to their standard. The hall staff training needs brush-​up. Waiters do make you wait due to their inefficiency.
I’ll come back though.

I would give 4.5 if I could.
The alcohol options were plenty. The seasoned edamame was flavorful. And the tofu sampler was decent. Obviously not as great as something I can get in Japan but it was nice seeing something authentic. I really liked the toromi dofu. The sushi was great too. Got the tamago, ikura, hamachi, chutoro, and umeshiso. They had umeshiso! The fake places don’t have that. The fish was really good.
Hope to see the menu expand a little bit more.

This place is super cute w/​a nice ambience. They have great customer service and are very friendly. The Butterfish is to die for! If you like butter then this is the fish for you! Lol! I also normally don’t like green tea but I love it here. It isn’t too wheaty. I’d definitely come back for a late night munch! I’m glad they close late, especially in J– Town!

I haven’t truly experienced Gazen, as I’ve only gone for lunch, but the food is solid., though somewhat mundane Service is a bit awkward, with the new staff still yet to learn the menu. (Luckily, I’m Japanese so I don’t need much explaining, but if I weren’t, I might get a bit confused.) They have a variety of lunch boxes, called Ozen, of which I’ve tried most.
Honestly, the pricier options, such as the Kurobuta Pork Tonkatsu, were underwhelming and very disappointing, leading me to believe that not many people order these options and so the freshness of the ingredients suffer.
However, the standard options, such as the Chicken Karaage and the Grilled Miso Salmon) are solid and fairly priced at around $ 12 to $ 14, with free re-​fills on rice and miso soup. The rice and miso soup, by the way, are actually well-​prepared, unlike the garbage served at most other Little Tokyo shops. The creamy homemade tofu, however, is nothing special, as it lacks the natural soybean which is the sign of homemade tofu done well.
Plenty of local Japanese folks frequent this place for both lunch and dinner, which is a good sign. From what I hear about the dinner service, apparently definitely not in the same league as Kinjiro right down the street, but probably the second-​best Izakaya in Little Tokyo right now. I don’t find myself in Little Tokyo around dinner time that often but might have to give it a try!

Lunch Review
I’m really not sure where the 5 star reviews are coming from. The dinner seems to get really good reviews but lunch is something different.
Environment
It’s clean and new but it’s weird. Their design isn’t «put together.» They have a modern taste with their interior but put in mismatched vases everywhere.
Food
I ordered the chirashi bowl. Before it came, I was given a tofu salad. It had medium cut daikon radish with a kinda gravy like tofu with dressing. Although the combination is good, once you finish the tofu, it’s very hard to finish the daikon unless you’re a real fan of the daikon taste.
The chirashi bowl itself was pretty grand. It comes with an array of seafood (tuna, yellowtail, scallop, squid, anago, ikura, shrimp, salmon, egg, and some kind of white fish). The rice was a little too sweet and the fish didn’t taste good. I get really suspicious when restaurant’s raw fish aren’t fresh.
Service
Their waiters are poorly trained. Pretty friendly but kinda awkward to deal with. Very «I’m not sure what to do yet» kind of feel.
Meh.

Just plain okay. 3.5 Stars to be nice. Service was a little awkward. Seemed like they weren’t used to the menu yet. They validate parking!
Tofu Sampler — Homemade tofu was… bland. Creamy one was good but got a bit heavy after a bit. Black sesame didn’t really taste like black sesame. Not really sure if they make the other two homemade but I think I’ve had the black sesame one somewhere else before.
Egg Custard w. Snow Crab — Favorite dish of the night. Chawanmushi is normally served hot but this one is chilled with snow crab and and dashi jello on top. Very refreshing and delicate taste. One of the best.
Pan Seared Squid w. Liver Oil — Pretty damn good but an acquired taste for sure. Would recommend it for people who drink shochu.
Beef Tongue — Very disappointing. Over cooked and a bed of sautéed bean sprouts and veggies which I thought wasn’t needed. Too much sauce.
Black Pork Steamed Shabu Shabu — Not bad. Not good. I mean, its just a bed of vegetables and thinly sliced meat which isn’t even that of high quality. For $ 38? Not worth it at all.
So, overall food was not bad, but nothing stood out except the chawanmushi.

This place is absolutely ridiculous.
My boyfriend and I came here on a Saturday night for dinner and decided to order their $ 28 Sashimi platter which says on the menu «For 2 – 3 people». When the waiter comes to take our order I ask him if he thought it would be enough for me and my boyfriend for dinner and he said yes it would be. So we order only that, and 2 bowls of rice to eat with our sashimi and waited for our food to come.
When the waitress brought over the sashimi I was so shocked I asked her if that was the entire sashimi platter and she said yes. By NO means was the sashimi platter even CLOSE to being enough for 2 – 3 people… Barely even enough for one person!
The platter was only 12 half-​pieces of sashimi… And for $ 28 that’s $ 2+ per piece and their pieces were smaller than average and tasted no better than any other sashimi I’ve had before.
So my boyfriend and I decide to add a tempura roll to our order after seeing that clearly what we ordered wasn’t enough food for dinner. Over 20 minutes later our tempura roll finally shows up tasting totally average for $ 14.
Finally when we get the bill, we also find out that they charged us $ 2 for each tiny bowl of rice on top of our ridiculous sashimi prices.
My hugest issue with this place is not only the ridiculous prices for average sashimi… It’s that the staff did not accurately inform us about our order! If our waiter had told us that the platter truly wasn’t enough for 2 people for an entire meal, only consisted of 12 pieces and suggested we get more food, we could have adequately assessed what and how much to order instead. I can’t understand how anybody would believe that 12 tiny pieces of sashimi would be enough for 2 – 3 people. Also, it would have been nice if they had asked us if we were ok with paying $ 2 for a bowl of rice when we requested it in the beginning.
Food takes forever to come. Completely overpriced beyond reason. Staff totally clueless about proper service etiquette. I will never be coming back here again.
Seriously save yourself some money, don’t come here, and go to Sushi Gen or Sugarfish or Kazunori instead where you’ll actually get what you pay for if not better.

3 stars for food + .5 star for service = 3.5 stars
The food was not bad, but nothing amazing either. I was excited to try their homemade tofu so we ordered the creamy tofu. Maybe I wasn’t used to it, but it tasted very milky and it got too heavy after awhile. I enjoyed the salmon tar tar with sweet cream cheese. The steamed shabu was unique and it was good, but it was only about 10 thinly sliced beef and 10 thinly sliced pork which had no meat on it, just fat; so we really could only eat the beef. It’s meant to be shared between two people and I don’t know if it was worth the $ 35 when I only ate 5 pieces of thinly sliced beef plus some vegetables. We were still hungry so we ordered the Butter Fish, which was overly salted.
Overall, I felt like everything was a little overpriced for what it was. I still gave them 4 stars because the service was really good.
Parking: Validated parking at Japanese Village Plaza