Yoshino's

I have a very special place in my heart for those Mom-and-Pop, American-Japanese restaurants, what many people I know call "Teriyaki-Tempura joints". Growing up in Hawaii, a special occasion would mean a meal of either Chinese (what I call Hawaii-style Chinese), or a trip to either Wisteria Restaurant or Suehiro Restaurant, both now sadly gone.

Yoshino's on Washington street is one of those simple "old-school" Japanese restaurants.

I used to have quick dinners at Yoshino's when I first did some consulting work in San Diego in the late '90's, and we used to eat here once in a while when we first moved to San Diego. A few years ago, the restaurant changed hands, we paid a visit, and the food didn't seem to be the same, and we had never returned. Yoshino's just kind of dropped off the radar so to speak. The storefront is so unassuming, that you don't give it a second glance. I must drive past Yoshino's at least 6 times a week, and I still paid the restaurant little or no attention.

Until recently. One of my regular inexpensive Teriyaki-Tempura-Rice Fix lunch stops; Teriyaki Cowboy had closed, and an Email from Claudine, mentioning Yoshino's jogged my memory. And so I thought, why not?

As you can tell by the interior, this restaurant is no thrills and no frills. Sometimes the best food is found in places like these.

A daily special is offered for lunch Tuesdays thru Fridays. The price is not bad, $6.45. I'd say the best of the specials is the Sesame Chicken(Tempura-style - Wednesday lunch special):

The meal comes with a generic iceberg lettuce salad, rice, and miso soup. The miso soup is really not bad for what is usually included in these types of lunch specials, though a bit light on the miso, and salty. The chicken is satisfying, two slices of  white meat chicken, coated with tempura type batter, deep fried, brushed with a mildly sweet teriyaki sauce, and finally sprinkled with sesame seeds. As someone very dear to my heart says; "hey, if it's fried right, it's got to be pretty good, right?"

Crunchy, salty, fried, slightly sweet...............say no more!

There are other dishes offered for lunch. Here's the Katsu Don($6.95):

On the good side, the pork cutlet(Tonkatsu) was very moist. On the bad side, everything was too moist, the Tonkatsu and egg was over saturated with the sauce, leaving not one bit of crunchy goodness. Think of over saturated Chicken Parmigiana...why bother breading? The sauce was decent, maybe a bit on the sweet side, with not enough soy, though many people enjoy it that way. The portion size was good, with enough rice and sauce. Though it seems very easy, a good KatsuDon isn't that easy to make. This also came with the standard miso soup.

One day, I had to try the Teriyaki Chicken(Tuesday lunch special - $6.45):

Not a good move on my part. First off the chicken wasn't caramelized at all, and had a gummy texture, and though I enjoyed the teriyaki sauce on the sesame chicken, here it didn't add enough flavor to the dish. In this case the sauce was really wimpy. I'll stick with the Sesame Chicken.

Just for the heck of it, here's the ala carte Tempura($5.95):

Didn't care for the vegetables, zucchini and carrot???? The batter was too thick and not crunchy enough for me, but it wasn't bad as a whole, I've had much worse priced much higher....

Though I still haven't been back for Dinner, Yoshino's provides me with a good "rice fix" for lunch, and the prices are very reasonable. Here's something I noticed, and found interesting, all the Servers are very nice, and are also Japanese, but I have yet to see any Japanese, or anyone of Japanese ancestry in Yoshino's(except me). But maybe they're coming for dinner???

Some notes on Yoshino's: There is inadequate parking for the businesses served, as with everything else in the area. Yoshino's is closed on Mondays.

Yoshino's
1790 W Washington St
San Diego, CA 92103

Lunch: Tues-Fri
Dinner: Tues-Sun

Thanks for the reminder Claudine!

Comments

[Jack]

Back in the day, Yoshino's was happening. Lines out the door was the norm. I think it was because Yoshino's was one of the first "old-school" casual Japanese places in town, or at least in uptown. I haven't been here in awhile but remember it like you described, a mom and pop place like back home in your local 'hood.

[rj]

Hi Kirk -- do you know if they have any "curry" dishes ?
Thanks,
-RJ.

[Kirk]

Hi Jack - Where would we be without these Mom and Pop restaurants......

Hi RJ - I didn't see any Curry on the Lunch Menu - how's that for "Old-School" Japanese? I haven't been there for dinner, though.

[reynila]

Hi Kirk
I've noticed that most Japanese restaurants are closed Mondays. Is there a reason for that?

[Kirk]

Hi Reynila - I've always taken that for granted, and never really asked why......probably because it's the slowest day of the week?

[26chickys]

Is this the place where the parking lot is funky? I seem to recall double-parking. And being annoyed at having to move my car half-way through my meal.

Those dishes look really sad...how disappointing!

[Janice]

Non-crunchy tempura is no good! If fried foods are not crunchy, then I'm not sure why it's even fried in the first place (unless it's chinese food... flash frying is great!). Hope you find a better family run Japanese restaurant soon!

[Chubbypanda]

Hey Kirk,

You know, I've always felt there was too much snobbery amongst foodies towards adapted cuisine restaurants. By adapted cuisine, I mean ethnic restaurants that have altered their menus to fit the tastes of their host countries. Foodies sneer at these places as not being "authentic", but Chowhounds know good food can be found anywhere, whether or not it's been prepared to some food snobs rigid standards of culinary purity. After all, where would a
large portion of Hawaiian cuisine be without the adaptations to their cuisine made by Japanese and Korean immigrants?

Thanks for blogging this restaurant. I like reading your thoughts about food, wherever you come across it.

- CP

[Kirk]

Hi 26chickys - It's on Washington just East of the 5 freeway. The parking lot gets full really fast - I don't know if they double park cars or not. The food is really not that bad, it's not great, but not bad.

Hi Janice - Well if you check out some of the bentos at Nijiya and Mitsuwa, or any of the Okazuyas in Hawaii you'll see Tempura that's been sitting for a while, and it's really not that bad. But you don't expect that at a restaurant. The sesame chicken is pretty good, the prices aren't bad, and the service is quite nice. Still I'll stay away from the Teriyaki.....

Hi CP - I hear you loud and clear. I don't know if you've ever noticed, but I almost never use the word authentic...unless it's in the name of the restaurant. Diaspora has resulted in many great tasting, and creative dishes. The main things are, does it taste good, are you getting a decent value for your money, how's the service, is the food prepared adequately, etc, etc, etc.....

[Claudine]

Hi Kirk,
So glad you made it back to Yoshinos. I usually order the sesame chicken, tempura combo.
If you bo back to L.A., try Thai Original BBQ. Good beef sate, thai style BBQ chicken (kaiyang) --so moist. Website is www.thaibbq.com. They have several locations, but I've only eaten at the Ardmore location.

[Kirk]

Hi Claudine - Thanks for the recommendation! That Sesame Chicken is the best item I had there.....

[Terry]

One of the first places I took a date to right out of high school in the early 80's.

It was awesome and you expected to wait to get in, but it was well worth it.

Thanks for the memory - the date's name - Karen.

[Kirk]

Hi Terry - Thanks for commenting. I'm glad you got some enjoyment out of our humble little blog!