Aburaya Tonkatsu & Noodle House

UPDATE: Aburaya has merged with Ojiya in Hacienda Heights. Most of the original menu is there. Even the original owner is now working as a waitress at Ojiya.
Ok…basically the summary of what everyone says is right:
Go to Aburaya for the #1 (Golden Berkshire Pork/​Premium Kurobuta).
It truly is the Wagyu beef of the pork kingdom. The inside is so moist and tender. They bake their own bread that they use to fry the tonkotsu with. It’s perfectly crisp and not tough at all. I also recommend not letting the pork sit too long. It’s best fresh and eaten before it gets cold.
Expect a wait.
It’s a small place with 1 waiter (2 if you’re lucky). The #1 also takes 15 – 20 minutes to make. So if the place is packed and you order a #1, expect an even longer wait.

i was hoping to find an awesome local tonkatsu place, but wasnt wowed.
what i ate:
— combo 12 (i think): pork loin tonkatsu with one shrimp: the tonkatsu itself was okay. the breading to pork ratio was decent, but i found the pork to be a bit on the tough side. the shrimp was only decent; i found there was too much breading.
pros:
— service: server was attentive, though on the slow side. she was the only server there
— combos: the menu offers a good range of many different combos. i like being to try a little bit of everything
cons:
— i wasnt wowed by the food
while the food wasnt horrible and the service wasnt bad, i dont think i enjoyed my meal too much. would i go again? probably not.

Hmm, this restaurant sounded really interesting but when you got down to it, everything was mediore. They were out of their signature berkshire pork cutlet on a Sunday afternoon which is not a good sign in my books.
We got the cutlet with cod roe inside– didn’t really taste much of the cod roe although my nicely sliced up pieces of regluar katsu pork were decently tasty. The price just seems a bit high for the quantitiy of food you’re receiving. You get everything in sets for the most part. Miso soup is nothing special and their sides don’t particularly stand out in the potato salad or mixed cabbage salad field.
Maybe if we’d tried the $ 16 special pork we’d want to come back? I don’t know, I just don’t feel wowed. The over-​simplified take on decore (or lack thereof) isn’t helping either.

Being a fan of tonkatsu and katsudon, I was excited to eat at this fried pork joint.
Ordered:
pork dumplings (think gyoza)
katsudon
tonkatsu
Didn’t get the «top of the line» black pork, something about being unable to drop $ 15.
My 4 pieces of $ 11 pork was just as tasty. The perfect combo of panko and pork. Nicely fried so grease wasn’t dripping as you chow down. Most important of all the pork wasn’t dry due to over frying.
Friend enjoyed the katsudon as well.
Will be back.

Pretty good tonkatsu. I got the cod roe filled one and was surprised by how much cod roe was in it. I didn’t think my lunch set would fill me up but it was actually a lot of food. I had to wait a bit for my food so I appreciated the grind-​your-​own-​sesame-​sauce activity that kept my mind off my growling stomach. Although I liked grinding the sesame, I didn’t enjoy the sauce much (btw, I love sesame).

This was my second time back at Aburaya and they seem to have consistently good comfort food with exceptional service. This place is a fairly small and we shared the oyster udon and pork Tonkatsu plate. The pork was thick but tender and included two salads and soup.
The oyster udon contained all kinds of goodies and was hot and yummy but I preferred the pork cutlet with seafood udon a tad more. In addition, the waitress here is sweet and friendly which makes this place inviting.
I’ll continue to return here for a solid and reasonable meal.

this is part of the ojiya restaurants. i think it was a good idea for them to change it to tonkatsu and noodles instead of just ramen. there are too many ramen places nowadays.
they have three types of tonkatsu: kurobuta, pork loin, and pork tenderloin.
after browsing through the menu, we decided to a get mini bowl with pork loin and a mini bowl of pork tenderloin along with our spicy sesame noodle.
in this way, we tried two kinds of pork and a noodle.
*mini bowls are $ 4.95*
spicy sesame noodle — delicious thick sesame broth with tender pieces of pork
topped with green onions *broth is on the heavier side.*
pork tenderloin mini bowl — crispy pieces of tonkatsu with some shredded cabbage. you
can add your own sauce since there is a huge bottle on the table.
pork loin mini bowl– this one reminded me of a oyako-​don. it had pork with sliced cooked
onions with some egg.
i prefer the pork tenderloin to the pork loin. you can tell that the food is made-​to-​order.
service was great. the waitresses were sweet and friendly.
we will be back!
*side note: best tonkatsu i’ve ever had was in hawaii. =)

On Fullerton and Colima there used to be a Korean Tonkatsu place that served decent Tonkatsu and priced right. Too bad it went out of business. I know specializing in just fried pork chop is a bit too small of a niche. It is hard to stay in business unless it is like O.M.G good because the menu is very limited for tonkatsu restaurants.
Anyhow, I tried the Golden Berkshire Pork. It was just okay :(The sesame noodle was good though. Well said by Cherry T.‘s review down below, the Ojiya ramen used to be really gross. This new tonkatsu joint is not any better.

Simply wow. As far as Tonkatsu, this IS as good as it gets.
Rarely are there specialty eateries that focus on one type of dish, with Aburaya it’s pork cutlet. Even more rare these days, a restaurant that makes everything from scratch. With attention to detail, you can tell a master food artisan prepared it. The cabbage salad is sliced ultra thin, fried tofu is silky smooth, miso soup taste like it’s home-​made with chunks of cabbage… and of course the tonkatsu, simply amazing.
The service is ultra polite, something lost in the newer Japanese restaurants. Some may find the price up there, but I think it’s on par all things considering.
Suggestion: The premium tonkatsu was good, but I think the regular was better.
Interested? Check out my photo…
Thumbs up, for being uniquely you! But as always, let me know what you think.
*******
They’ve moved, combined forces with …

I don’t give away too many 5 stars but Aburaya certainly deserves it! This place used to be the ramen house called, «Ojiya.» The owner is the same and decided to change the place to a traditional tonkatsu house and let me tell you, eating there just reminded me of what I used to get when I used to live in Japan. Ojiya actually comes from Japan and there is even one in Hawaii. Anyways, more about the food…
The kurobuta pork was juicy, tender and delicious! The fillet-​katsu was a 10 and the ume-​katsu was great too (although they could have toned down on the ume sauce).
Service was great and you can get free second helpings of rice and shredded cabbage.
Highly recommend this place! 5 STARS!

I miss old Ojiya… This one is a good place if you like pork, you get to choose what kind of pork you want, but for me, there is not much I can order on the menu, pretty much everything is pork… :(
They have grilled fish, squid, and an oyster ramen or udon, you get to choose what kind of noodle you want, I think the broth is still pork base soup… Oh well ;p Good thing is the food is really delicious, bigger portioned, a bit more expensive than previous Ojiya.
Good lunch or weekday dinner spot, cheap, fast and delicious. :)

Our server told us that the Pork in the Berkshire Pork Tonkatsu is supposed to be compared to the «Kobe» of all beefs. Of course it comes at a hefty price tag that I consider too much for «fried food». If you order the Berkshire pork, it will take quite some time to cook. It’s juicy and flavorful and it was soo tender! We also got the omelet rice with pork cutlet. All dishes come with small side dishes and you can grate your own sauce for the tonkatsu. Dishes come with miso soup, salad, rice, and potato salad. I gave it three stars because I felt the menu was lacking. I like having options and I felt like there weren’t too many choices on their menu. Also, in my opinion the price is pretty steep for deep fried food. Service was good.

Ordered their #1 which was the berkshire pork cutlet. It was about $ 16 and the waitress said it would take 15 – 20 minutes. I decided to try it anyways. Before they bring the food, you are given a bowl of sesame seeds which you can crush up yourself and then add to the sauce.
My entrée came with a side of rice, miso soup, cabbage salad, and a mini scoop of potato salad. I very much enjoyed the breading on the tonkatsu. It was light and crispy and looked like they use panko? I’m not sure if it was worth the $ 16 but it was still good.
The only complaint I have about the service is that there was only 1 waitress serving about 5 – 6 parties so it took a little while just for our orders to be taken.

I order their fried pork noodle and my friend ordered their pork tenderloin bowl. Both of the pork is in our expectation, not super good but not bad. The noodle soup itself is over my expectation has they put a lot of seafood and veggie with a strong soup base. The sauce of the rice bowl is a bit salty.
It is on Saturday night which they don’t have much people so the service is good.
I will go back to try other item and see ~

The thickness of the Crispy Tonkatsu was perfect along with the fresh salad on the side. The veggie spicy Ramen taste great! The noodle was well cooked, not so soft like other Ramen places.
The food does take awhile but overall the service was wonderful!
Would definitely go back again soon. :)

15 dollars for the premium berkshire pork, (after watching yakitate japan, i just had to come here to try the kurobuta)…it’s weird… my friend had the tenderloin. the taste of the tenderloin is what my palette rememebers when it comes to pork cutlet… but the berkshire, it was really juicy and soft and fatty… i dont know what other Unilocalers are talking with slow food. but i thought my food came out at a very average and normal speed. i also got the mango soda float. which was delicious. it comes with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Now, onto the good stuff… like i said earlier, the pork was very tender and juicy, the meat is definitely a cut above the average, maybe it’s because i’m accustomed to the normal pork, i couldn’t decide whether or not the berkshire was really tastier? the fun part is, after you order, you are given a small amount of pickled vegetables and a small 1.5 inch square tofu. you also get your own mortar and pestle to grind your own toasted sesame seed to mix in with your tonkatsu sauce. i rocked that pestle and finely grounded my seeds but i can’t say the same for my friend Jillian T. The cutlet also comes with some shredded salad and mashed potato. which was also delicious
the girl who served us was really nice and friendly, she seemed a bit timid at first but whatevers, we’re all friendly people here XD. i do like how they have a small bottle of red chili powder on the side along with black pepper, i love me some spicy powder in my cutlet ;D my friend did rave about their fried shrimp, i will try that next time when i go back. there’s potential here, it’ll just take time for it to awaken,

The lunch group couldn’t decide where to go for lunch… Saw this new place so we decided to give it a try.
It has a lot of the usual Japanese dishes but since the place had a pig as their logo, we’ve gotta try their pork chops. They give you toasted sesame seeds in a special plate where you can grind the sesame seeds into power with a branch looking stick. You then add sauce and mix with the freshly grind seasame powder to complete the «sauce». An extremely small portion of «pickled» vegetable was also served… It’s not really «pickled», more like it’d been sitting in dashi (Japanese fish stock). Kinda strange tasting. I ordered the mentaiko (spicy cod roe) mille-​feuille. I realized that they were actually layers of the special pork rolled with mentaiko in the middle. Not bad, slightly on the dry side. You also get some shredded cabbage salad (beware of the dressing, my salad ended up swimming in it), miso soup and rice for the set. It’s the first time having miso soup with egg flower in it.
The waitress was really nice, but the speed they put out food needs much improvement. There were only a few tables and we waited a long time for our food. For the price, you get quite a bit of food (it may not seem like a lot, but it creeps up on ya).

I don’t know what Cherry T. is saying about nasty food, because I thought it was delicious. I’m not much of a fan for fried foods, but their tonkatsu is very satisfying. Most Japanese people probably know this, but usually tonkatsu served at many other restaurants taste like crap. But here, they took tonkatsu to a whole other level!
First of all, I like how they give you different kinds of pork. They have regular pork, black pork, and premium berkshire black pork. So depending on how much you can spend, how satisfied you want to be, and what qualities of pork you prefer, you can decide which pork to eat.
Personally I like the Hirekatsu (Pork Tenderloin). It’s less fat but more tender. :)
The food does take a bit to come out, but I asked the server why and she told me it’s because they take time frying the food in a low temperature. No wonder why the katsu is just perfectly crisp on the outside and juicy in the inside! It’s definitely worth the wait.
They have a lot more yummy looking items on the menu that I will go back and try.
My mom and I were talking about this place, and we think they are one of the EXTREMELY few restaurants that serve good tonkatsu.

Not bad. This place used to be Ojiya. We came here expecting it to be ramen but were surprised that it was tonkatsu. I got miso ramen and my dad got the #1: premium tonkatsu (the black pig wearing the crown). My ramen was decent. The flavor of the soup was pretty good but the noodles were kind of al dente, aka, undercooked. If I want miso ramen, I will continue to go to Foo Foo Tei because it’s way better. The tonkatsu was good. Very crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. They serve it with rice, miso soup, and cabbage salad. The downside of it is that it costs $ 15.80 for a piece of fried pork! It’s suppose to be the best cut or whatever but come on, $ 15? I’m very curious to see what the $ 10 version tastes like.
Contrary to what Cherry T. said, the service was decent. We didn’t wait long for our water or food and our server was nice.
Sadly, Hacienda Heights lacks good Japanese restaurants… probably because there are not many Japanese residents here. This one will be added to my list of so-​so Japanese restaurants in the area.

Japanese restaurant specializing in tonkatsu.
Yum. This restaurant offers Golden Berkshire Kurobuta (pig) and it was delicious. Served on a metal grill, the juicy pork was fried to perfection. The breaded crust was crisp on the outside and held in the creamy batter and cut of kurobuta. Included with the tonkatsu was a bowl of rice, pickled veggies, tofu, cabbage salad and miso soup. The miso soup had a few chunks of pork inside which added a nice twist.
Service was on point and the waters were topped off regularly.
Try this place out.