Koji’s Japan

$ 60 for two people. Overpriced Japanese food. If you’re unfortunate enough to sit at the sushi bars (closest to the alcohol bar), be prepared to have people hovering over you while you eat. It was so loud, you couldn’t carry a conversation.
Fried tofu
Soft-​shelled crab roll
Yellow-​tail sashimi with ponzu sauce
Dynamite roll

Koji’s– Im so sad you closed~~ You had an awesome happy hour menu… Whose’s going to offer me $ 1 large sakes now??? with the apple or pear flavor? and your beef wrapped asparagus rolls, those were DELICIOUS!!!
Bartenders were friendly and they remembered us regulars who went there occasionally… to drink all their sake supply…

I went to the block a few days ago and Koji’s is no longer open, they lost their lease. Which probably explains why the place was looking so dilapidated. Sure will miss their delicious food.

Over a decade ago, I had my first shabu shabu experiences here. While the service was at times great and at other times spotty, I was a huge fan of their affordable and refillable vegetarian plate.
Its always sad to see a long-​standing restaurant close, but its time to say goodbye to Kojis. Maybe we will meet again at another location?

Holy happy hour! $ 1 large sake and $ 3 beers.
The bar staff are really cool and I even received two thumbs up from a waitress (not sure what for but I’ll take it). They were constantly making sure we were okay and ready for another round. My kind of people.
Only ate the edamame so sorry can’t help you with the rest. But if you’re thirsty and need to get a little off your chest… Koji bar is an inexpensive and friendly environment to scratch both of them off your list.

I used to LOVE this place. I love Shabu Shabu.
My last experience was so disappointingly painful (literally).
The wait was ridiculously LONG (over an HOUR!) from the time we were seated to the time we had our Shabu Shabu brought! By the time we finished eating (30 mins), we waited about 45 mins from the time the check was brought and the time the waitress collected payment (and returned the slip for signature.) Were they understaffed? It did not seem so.
The food was good. But was it? When I got home, I was struck with SEVERE stomach pain that lasted all night. I contemplated going to ER for check-​up, but decided not to.
Read the reviews — others have had food poisoning from this location too.
I will never return. They have lost a regular.

I’ve dined here several times and most recently over the weekend. I haven’t had shabu in awhile so I was craving badly.
It was me and my girlfriend. We ordered a large Angus Beef (Prime) and Rainbow Roll to share. The food was more than enough. Our friend showed up later on and finished the rest of our food. The Rainbow roll was fresh and delicious! The shabu was quite satisfying though I wish it came w/​more mushrooms.
Service = 4 stars
Food = 4 stars
Ambiance = 4 stars
Value = 4 stars
Location = 4 stars (love the shopping minus the young crowd)
After shabu, we headed over to the bar area & loaded up on cocktails while watching the Giants game. After the game, we went to D&B’s to watch the UFC fight but later returned to Koji’s for more cocktails & happy hour specials. The Lemon Drop and Bonzai Martini are a must try! Spicy Tuna roll was appetizing and larger than other places.
The Block is a nice place to check out but it’s filled w/​boppers on weekends so beware of the crowd. I much prefer going here on a weekday or weeknight.

Happy Hour at The Block.
My friend and I sat outside at this little place and «people watched». We had some Sushi off the «Happy Hour» Menu and about a bottle of wine each… lol. the service was passable except that the girl that served us talked non-​stop about how much she hated her co-​workers. I found it sort of funny, but I guess some people would have totally been annoyed. They need to staff up a bit.
The sushi was pretty good for the low price. My bill came to about 30 bucks with the tip. which is very cheap for sushi and wine with me. and keep in mind we way over ordered and left two plates of sushi unfortunately…

Wife and I were going to go to the movies at the block so we went early for some lunch here. we have been here before when we lived closer and it was ok.
I’m going to give them a 3 today as the meal was pretty damn good. The servers seem to disappear into the back somewhere and we had to ask for a waitress to come back so we could get drink refills but the fish was really good and fresh.
I wouldn’t go out of my way to go to the mall just to go here (matter of fact, i wouldn’t go to the mall for most things) but it was a good lunch.

We have been to Koji’s twice, once for Shabu Shabu and once for sushi and salmon.
It was our first experience with Shabu Shabu. We had two different kinds. The meats were sliced too thinly. Maybe that’s how it is supposed to be, but I like my food to be more substantial! My wife and I thought the Shabu Shabu was A-​OK.
On another visit, we had sushi and salmon teriyaki. Both were okay. During both visits, the service was fine.

The food is decent but the service and wait staff are completely horrible! They have teenie boppers waiting on you who have zero common sense in customer service. They’re rude and stand around like useless idiots when they’re not rudely waiting on you or taking your order.
Shabu shabu is ok here. The goma (sauce for the shabu) is super watery and not thick like other places. The sushi rolls aren’t bad but seriously this place isn’t worth it especially considering the horrible service. I’d rather go to a mom and pop joint, pay less, and be treated like how a patron should be treated.

This is not to be mistaken for the truck that goes around the Southland with the same name.
I find that I actually make this place a house of drinking, when clearly its primary function is not that.
After typically being booted out of Dave & Buster’s or some other joint in the area because a buddy may throw up or because we’re downing drinks way too fast, we may end up here to continue the binge… only because it’s walking distance and within the same shopping complex.
Actually, I enjoy the music they play here, and since the wet bar is smaller, you can get your drink order in faster. Typically when I drop by, there isn’t as many people sitting at the wet bar (I avoid the generic term «bar» because Koji’s is also a sushi bar), so it makes for easy drinking. Typically, I’m a no frills kinda person, so beers will do for me.
The interior is a bit darker than most places, especially, as it gets later in the evening. They usually have a disco ball spinning around, so if you’re under some kind of influence, it may make your head spin.
Normally, the service I’ve received here in the past is prompt and courteous, but I feel the prices could be a bit lower, especially when it comes to their beers. Although, if you hang out with the people I do, sometimes, prices are overlooked so long as it means that we can continue our good times unabashedly.

I used to really like this place. I would come at least once a week. The shabu shabu and sushi were ok. It started falling apart after. They lost one of the best bartenders I have ever had (Jay-​Now works at Mastros). Every return trip it seemed to get worse.
My latest visit yielded nothing really positive for me to say… other than it is kinda cool to people watch if you eat sushi outside.
Other local places that you might want to try: California Shabu Shabu and Shabu Shabu Bar (17^th. Street.)

First, it was in an outdoor mall.
Second, the sushi was RIDICULOUSLY expensive for the quality and price.
Third, and the only good part was the semi attentiveness of the staff.

I was at Burke Williams with three girlfriends when we decided to pop over to nearby Koji’s for dinner. I should’ve known there were issues when as we’re being seated, the waiter asks if there’s a problem with only having two working shabu burners at our table. We looked at each other and said okay I guess — not realizing how many of us would like to do the shabu shabu and having three shabu shabu virgins with me.
It turned out to be a bit of a bummer cuz once the menu came I wished I could’ve ordered shabu shabu but didn’t want to inconvenience the rest of my group by getting up to move. Also, as I looked around the restaurant it seemd that most of the tables had one or two broken burners — you could tell cuz there was no pot on them. I let two of the ‘virgins’ have the burners since they’d never tired it but boy, did I have some shabu shabu-​envy later in the evening! :-\
Regardless, they seemed to enjoy their shabu shabu and once I told the waiter they were ‘virgins’ he gave them a full explanation of how to do it, etc.
I ended up ordering the Bento #1 with tuna sashimi, beef krepes, and tempura. The beef krepes were really tasty — basically beef wrapped around asparagus in a teriyaki sesame type sauce. The tuna, however, left a bit to be desired as it didn’t look particularly fresh and tasted so-​so. The tempura was good but nothing extraordinary.
All in all, it was a good dinner but c’mon. how can a restaurant that specializes in shabu-​shabu have so many broken shabu burners? Get with the program folks! :-\

I’m kind of torn between giving Koji’s a 2.5 and a full 3. The bf and I came here after glossing over all the other mediocre places at The Block. The entire shopping center has changed dramatically since I was last there probably like 5 years ago, and even more so from like 9 years ago. I never really liked going there even back then because it was always crawling with teenage hoodlums. And I was younger back then. Must be my high maturity level.
Anywho…the place is totally dead now, and probably its demise came from the fact that its demographic has always been a bunch of punk kids who just go to loiter and don’t really shop. Or don’t shop at the stores that were there, because there are a lot of «For Lease» signs and dark store fronts. Add the recession to that and you have a shopping center with no good shopping to be had. The stores by Koji are all gone, which is weird because Koji’s, like the mall, used to be really loud and lively.
When we walked by Koji’s, I had to kind of peer in to make sure they were still open. The bar side was dead, there was no one in the patio area. When we went in, I expected us to be seated right away, but alas, we were told it would be a 25-​minute wait. Uh, what? Okay, whatever. We ended up killing some time in the Nike store and few empty stores away.
But when we were seated, our waiter was totally on top of things. Drinks and food were ordered, and drinks came right away, but shabu did not. It’s not cooked, so what the heck took so long? We did sit and take our time eating and cooking. The quality of the beef was fine, for the Choice cut, it was $ 16.99 for 7 ounces and $ 20.99 for 9 ounces. I don’t think 2 ounces of beef is worth $ 4, but the bf got the bigger one and I the former, so we could compare.
The quality of the beef was fine and the veggies was fresh. The garnish of scallions, garlic and radish were good, and sauces were the same as what I remembered from years ago. Overall, good experience, except for the wait to be seated (there were empty tables) and the wait for our food. But totally overpriced for that type/​amount of beef.
Sad to see it like this after having come here in its heyday when music was pumping out from the speakers on the patio and drunk people were hanging out in the bar singing karaōke.

Wait staff here is always friendly. and yes there are some cute boys that work here. but what keeps me coming back to this place is that
I AM A SHABU JUNKIE… yes. I’ve tried to kick the habit for several years now. (over ten) but just can’t break it…
If you haven’t had shabu shabu before you’ve GOT to try it, at least once for the experience. I mean where else do you get to cook you’re own food in your own «d**m» pot. inside a restaurant of all places =)
So here’s the detailed confession from a true junkie…
The beef is great… so is the chicken… but It’s the miso sauce that keeps me coming back… and the dressing on their side salad… WHOAAAH…
I like this place so much I’ll never bring someone I don’t like to it since I don’t want to ruin it.=)
In all honesty it’s kinda trendy, middlingly clean, & definitely different… so only show up if you like to have fun with your food =)

My friend and I decided to have lunch at the «Sushi» side of the restaurant instead of the of the «Shabu» side.
First of all whoever our waiter was, he was seriously distressed to be working there and was very un-​waiter like lol. He had no server-​like qualities while servicing us and that was definitely a negative.
I did somewhat enjoy the fried vegetable tempura and the Chen roll. The rolls are pretty small.
Your better off eating somewhere else if your at The Block of Orange.

This restaurant isn’t bad for shabu shabu but it is on the pricey side. Came with 3 other people and we all decided to get their Premium Ribeye shabu shabu plate. Most plates have the option of regular or large. The large comes with maybe 4 more slices of ribeye. They have combo, chicken, and seafood plates too and the plates range from $ 16 – 23. They also give you a platter of veggies, udon, and vermicelli noodles with your order. I usually dump all my veggies in the hot water immediately (it helps give the soup flavor), then I add the noodles in at the very end of my meal.
There are two dipping sauces — one is more creamy and miso based, the other is a soy ponzu type sauce. They also have garlic, green onions, and radish on your table. I recommend dumping a lot of garlic and green onions in both sauces (it’s really flavorful and good this way, though it will make your mouth stink!) — you can add the radish to the ponzu sauce if you wish too.
All in all a satisfying meal, but pricey. Service was good — the waitress we had was super nice and checked up on us often making sure that we were enjoying ourselves.

It was late; I was hungry. I had just landed at LAX and picked up my friend for lunch. I got lost (even with GPS) and all the places we found already had finished serving lunch and were in the process of preparing for dinner.
We ended up at Koji’s, in a mega shopping complex in Orange. Parking was easy, we just had to walk a little. Koji’s can handle large parties, and large windows provided welcome warmth and plenty of natural light.
We shared tempura and a few sushi rolls (prices were higher, as expected) that weren’t horrible, nothing amazing. By this time, we were BOTH ravenous so it was easy to stuff ourselves silly full of sushi, no matter the taste. Service was fine, we had our check when needed. It’s not a bad spot, and I can see it being a lot of fun with a crowd.