Oriental Breeze

Did a quick little Togo here since they had the most vegetarian options on the pier… haha. Got the seaweed salad which was delicious! Really fresh tasting and more complex then just your basic seaweed salad. Miso soup is a staple, it’s hard to mess that up. I also got the shishito peppers which were nicely grilled. Restaurant was nice and cozy, really cute little set up. Other things I noted but didn’t get, the restaurant boasts having the best Cesar salad on the pier and they sell soft serve green tea ice green. Next time!

Do not buy funnel cake, churros, or anything they sell by the window. They sell old food… U might be eating food with expired ingredients.

I come here about twice a month now with my bf. That’s how much I love this place! They always have awesome service and delicious sushi!

If you’re coming for the sushi, you won’t be displeased with the taste. Accurate pricing for what it’s worth and a calm ambience along with the spectacular views. Service is outstanding, exactly what can be expected, our waitress was amazing and very considerate. I’m impressed, even though there are many other places where you can taste the same if not better. The dragon roll was very creative. You can tell they put forward great effort. Recommendable for the quality and amazing service without a doubt.

I will never go back here. Foods are so bland. Crab fried rice has no flavor whatsoever. Sushi rice has a bad texture. Fried calamari was soggy and super oily. Very small serving size, i did not mind because they were all tasteless. Very disappointed. Waste of my time and $.

Oyster shooter: delicious ⁸⁄₁₀
Red snapper sashimi: fresh ⁹⁄₁₀
Grilled Chilean Seabass Marinated w/​meso: ¹⁰⁄₁₀
Salmon skin salad: crunchy and chewy ⁹⁄₁₀
Tan tan men noodle: meaty and spicy ⁸⁄₁₀
Tuna & red snapper sashimi w/​hot olive oil: like butter ¹⁰⁄₁₀
Green tea ice cream: very good ⁸⁄₁₀
Ambiance and view: romantic

Disclaimer: I am not a Sushi expert but I trust my taste buds.
Point being that I cannot judge this place as someone who knows a lot about Japanese food/​Sushi, it just wouldn’t be fair. After a long walk from Torrance Beach, sushi rolls and iced green tea followed. For the simplicity, the rolls were fresh and delicious. We sat at the Sushi Bar near the entrance and were greeted by 3 very happy Sushi chefs and a sweet waitress ready to take our order. Grab a paper menu and mark your order!
The Dragon Roll, Rainbow Roll, and Yellow Tail Roll were all light and appetizing. The service was great… the 3 chefs ended up finishing our meal with cheers-​ing each other then chugging a beer mug. Guess they were having a great night too! I would return here and definitely grab a booth… they looked very inviting, intimate, and comfy.

This restaurant lost my reservation and would not seat me, when half the restaurant was obviously empty. By the time I was seated I had already lost all enthusiasm to eat here. Poor service up front. Something seriously wrong with this place if you are uninspired to even open up their menu once seated. I’d give this place 0 stars if it was possible.

Man I just miss Hisashi san’s customer service. (He’s the owner) I don’t live in the area and I miss their foods so much. Anything you order, it’ll make your day. If you know what the authentic Japanese foods are, this is the place you gotta hit!

Staff was very helpful and the food was very good. Aye at 6:30 pm in July and had to move from the window. Better to eat later when the sun is lower. 7:30 or later.

Such a great place… And Yes, they do have the best Damn Caesar salad, that we make the drive from Downey to have. Excellent atmosphere, great service… Another ‘Brand’ spot!!!

This is the best spot to get a great view and food at the pier if you don’t want all that fried unhealthy pier food. The staff is very friendly and attentive. I haven’t ordered anything I didn’t like!
MUST TRY:
Caesar Salad (⁵⁄₅): really the best caesar salad, they make their own dressing
Crêpe (⁴⁄₅): can’t beat crepes for dessert, but don’t ever order it at the stand outside because it’s different
Spicy Tuna Roll (4.5÷5): i really like their spicy tuna here
I think prices are pretty reasonable due to their location on the pier. This place is great for a birthday dinner or date. Be sure to ask for the couch table right by the window to have an amazing view. For three people it was about $ 100 including drinks so not too bad at all.

Oriental Breeze is one of the last standing Japanese owned restaurants that serves a wide variety of items, including sushi rolls. It’s on the pier across from Tony’s.
I really like this place because it’s very casual and laid back. It also serves alcohol. It’s dated, but it has a home feel to it.

This place is so cozy! The benches are soft with lots of pillows. Hot green tea was good. Typical green tea. Miso soup has fresh hand cut tofu — excellent. We ordered the Philadelphia roll with soy paper, rainbow roll, and the shrimp tempura roll with soy paper. Shrimp tempura was great. A little dry, so soy sauce was necessary. The salmon in the Philadelphia roll was extremely fresh and there was just the right balance of sweet and salty. The rainbow roll had perfect fresh fish, but the seaweed was overbearing for me personally because it was so fresh! Over all a great experience and yummy sushi.

My family and I came here on a busy Sunday evening. Being a larger group of 8 they sat us almost immediately. The wait staff were very friendly and attentive. Although their English was not great they were eager to make us happy.
The food was excellent in taste and quality. Next time I’d like to go without the kids. It seems like a super romantic intimate setting in the cozy booths. Can’t wait to go back.
Side note: Parking sucks balls. Park outside and walk down. Parking by the elks lodge is where we scored.

amazing! I ordered the spicy crab dynamite. They cook and serve the meal in the crab shell, and it was fantastic!
On top of that, the people and service was great!!!
5 stars

Ironic name for an ironic place. They have sushi fusion with some warm plates. The sushi is just above average. The sushi chef makes all the California standards with some fusion rolls.
The seasoning on the warm dishes is very good. The only downside is the service. The food comes out very slowly. It takes them on average 90 minutes to prepare three plates so plan your parking time accordingly.
The place has no ventilation. The only breeze you get is from tiny screen windows above the main windows. So it’s stuffy in there. In the summer, it’s stuffy and hot. In the winter, it’s stuff and warm.
I still go to this place but I try to go before peak hours so I don’t have to deal with an overly stuffy restaurant.

What a great find on the pier! We were wandering & looking for somewhere to eat & decided to try this place. We got a booth next to the window. It was very cozy, with high walls & pillows against the back. It made our table pretty private.
I had the tofu agedashi & vegetarian roll– both pretty good. My husband had a philly roll & said it was the best one he has ever had.
The only reason i dropped one star is that it was too warm in there. I am usually always cold & if u am warm it is probably hot to everyone else.

Oriental Breeze is no pearl of the pier, but it had a few a-​ok Japanese dishes if you already are at Fisherman’s Wharf in Redondo Beach.
Olivia Z. and me went to Oriental Breeze for the advertised Ramen Week special. A few other tables had the same coupon in hand eager for $ 4.75 bowls of Tan Tan Men, too. Unfortunately, Oriental Breeze isn’t exactly the Orient Express when it comes to ramen because they have just 1 burner for ramen which means only 1 bowl at a time is prepared for the entire restaurant. Oriental Breeze is half Sushi Bar and half Japanese Family Diner, but it is definitely not a ramen shop.
The service was struggling because the restaurant was packed; however, thei team’s attitude stayed positive the whole time. I sincerely appreciate their efforts.
Tan Tan Men (Regularly $ 9.75) with Sesame-​flavored Sichuan-​style soup of Chili Oil and Ground Pork was full of thin curly Ramen Noodles and Bean Sprouts. The broth and pork blend was light on the classic spiciness. Even at a discount price (yay), it was barely worth the near hour-​long wait. (3 stars)
Cold Cha Soba Noodles ($ 6.75) were a better match for my summer mood. Chilled Green Tea-​flavored Noodles with Mentsuyu Dipping Sauce always brings back fond memories of Japan even if the noodles were unremarkable. (3 stars)
The best matches for my mood were a super-​size mug of Sapporo Beer while waiting for the food and then a Dipped Cone from the external facing counter outside on the way out.
Oriental Breeze may not have the most politically-​correct of restaurant names, but the décor, menu, and location on the Redondo Beach Pier harken back to a previous era. The two noodle dishes I tried were average at best, so, you may want to give the Sushi, Dungeness Crab, or Grilled Seabass a try instead.

Oriental Breeze has a name that might not imply it is a Japanese restaurant, but is actually a Japanese-​owned izakaya located at the edge of the Redondo Beach boardwalk. There is a sushi bar by the entrance that seats no more than 8, and as you continue inside, a handful of diner booths and about 4 tables can be found in this dimly-​lit shack. The environment is very casual-​cozy and there are several tables with spectacular views of the pier. It’s surprisingly quiet enough to hold a conversation, even on a Friday evening when most people are expected to be holding beers at an izakaya.
The small kitchen at Oriental Breeze does not enable food variety to be as extensive as other izakayas like Sanuki no Sato or Honda Ya. Simplicity is the theme for food here. The first two pages of the menu conveniently highlight top 10 cold and hot izakaya dishes, with the #1 hot choice being the Chilean sea bass. There are also two types of ramen, oyster/​uni shooter, grilled squid, calamari, sashimi appetizers, and many other simple deep fried snacks that you most likely won’t eat at home while washing down with beers or sakes.
Seafood is usually a standout at pier restaurants, so we ordered the Chilean sea bass from the kitchen and a chirashi bowl from the sushi bar. I’ll have to give the Chilean sea bass the edge between the two. It was delicately glazed with miso and rice wine marinade, which added gentle sweet and salty flavors to the mild fish. The fillet was then baked in an oven for about 20 minutes. What made this fish a hit was definitely its intense buttery texture — firm body, moist, and highly tender meat. It’s easy to bite into and swallow, and if you want to savor it, rest each piece over your tongue and let the butter fish melt naturally.
Chirashi bowl is actually not on the Oriental Breeze menu. It’s a special order that is assembled with the chef’s selection of fish. My order consisted of moderately thick cuts of fresh yellowtail, mackerel, salmon, snapper, uni, ama ebi, salmon roe, and scallop (~2 pc each). It was neatly presented and the rice was perfectly moist, but there was nothing spectacular about the fish variety. The ama ebi was extremely long and firm. The uni sashimi was placed on a bed of shiso leaf, which I ate together for the very first time. Its initial taste was very minty but then soon evolved into a bittersweet flavor that I was not a fan of. I probably won’t eat the shiso leaf next time.
Overall, I thought that the food at Oriental Breeze was surprisingly tasty and well-​crafted for an izakaya that is not very well-​known in the area. The prices seemed to be a bit high and in the tourist-​range, as the Chilean sea bass small plate costs $ 15 and the small chirashi bowl was $ 22. Service was close to non-​existent, as servers failed to greet us at the entrance and we actually seated ourselves. Our waters never refilled our waters and it took a very long time to receive the check. I’m not sure if I will repeat (not because of their food or service, but because of its ‘out of the way’ location), although it’s a place I would recommend people to try once if they happen to be in the Redondo Beach area.