Sakura House

This is a jewel in the rough. A small Japanese BBQ place that serves the most delicious Yakitori and other California inspired dishes. Reservations are highly recommended. Also try the cold Japanese beer on tap.

For over 15 years, every single time our family visits Los Angeles, there is one place we must go: Sakura House. Without fail, this incredible yakitori restaurant has been a core part of our travels, our traditions, and our most cherished meals together. Simply put, it’s our favorite restaurant of all time!! The moment you walk in, you’re greeted with warmth, both from the friendly staff and the tantalizing aroma of perfectly grilled skewers sizzling over charcoal. The menu is a masterclass in simple, high-quality ingredients transformed into unforgettable flavors. The beef is juicy and smoky, the chicken meatballs are packed with umami, and the mashed potato filled mushrooms are a must-order every time. And don’t forget the pork wrapped jalapeños. So good!🤤 No trip to LA is complete without a visit to Sakura House. It’s more than a restaurant to us, it’s a tradition, a place filled with memories, and a spot we look forward to returning to every single time. If you love authentic, expertly grilled yakitori, this is the place to go.

Must go here right now! Great place to eat over catching up with friends. The food fare is delicious. The skewers are meaty and you’re not getting filled up with carbs. The atmosphere is great and just overall a highly recommended experience. The chef 🧑‍🍳 was highly skilled and knew exactly what he was doing. Would go here again and again and again and ag…… ♾️

All the food on the menu is excellent. Flavorful and well prepared. Serving could be slow but that is the point of enjoying yakidori grilled in front of you. This place is one of our go-to Friday night dinner places, relaxing with beers and great foods.

Phenomenal food and outstanding service. I ate dinner here between meetings so I was short on time. The two women seating people and waiting tables were flying around as the restaurant got busier & busier, friendly and attentive the whole time. The grill master was a true professional and all five skewers he served me were fresh, flavorful, and cooked to perfection.

Solid place for yakitori, with a menu that actually is more expansive than it looks at first glance. Chef Yoshi and his staff are excellent. Just note it's pretty warm inside, which makes sense, considering a grill dominates the interior

The place was great! Tasty food, best service and the price is ok If you wanna try real traditional Japanese kushiyakis this is the best spot. Food is fresh place is clean and the flavor is like Japan

This Yakitori spot is delicious. Some of my favorites are the spicy chicken meatballs (it seems to be most people’s favorite here), the mochi (rice cake) maki. The quail egg maki was a first for me and I was not disappointed. The staff was extremely attentive and helpful.

I haven't been to this neighborhood spot in years and left thinking about everything I've been missing out on. Really nice meal in an unassuming strip mall. I called ahead on a Wednesday to make sure I'd have a spot at the bar. Highly recommend you call ahead so you don't run into any long waits to be seated, especially if you want a table. The skewers here are very solid. This is a traditional-style yakitori joint so don't come expecting fusion plates or wild ideas. They're serving up the classics over here and chef is attentive to every last skewer that leaves the grill. The skewers are actually larger than most around the city, so be careful not to over order! It takes a little while here to get through your meal as it's quite paced out and there's only so much room above the coals. I used the time between courses to watch chef do his thing and relax a bit. It really is quite meditative to watch him do his thing. Service is very friendly and attentive. I found the prices to be on par with what you're getting. Definitely worth a try if you're in the area and craving some skewers.

Stop who's giving this place less than 5 stars. Yoshi San been doing this for so long and always every single time delivering best quality yakitori in the city. Service always excellent. Comfortable casual place for downright good eating. Beatles music in the back. Nostalgic and chill been coming here for 20 years. They keep you coming back and craving it. Get the usual, meatball, chicken onion, miso beef, saborro which is chicken ground and rice. It's the best!

Definitely worth sitting at the counter! What a cool experience! Everything is delicious and you won't go wrong with ordering the Yaki Onigiri! The setting is quite cute and very cozy.

Food is very tasty. Service is always good. It is a small restaurant with few tables so it is better to reserve.

I can't believe after so many years living in the area is the first time i visit Sakura House. Was delicious and great service. Be aware from the new hours. The open only from 6 to 9 Wednesday to Sunday.

Sakura House is a solid spot for yakitori and Japanese apps. They have a large Japanese grill near the center of the restaurant with bar seating if you like a view. About $6-7 per skewer. Decent quality though at times could be a tad too salty. But everything had a good cook to them. And the gyoza was a good filler as well. There's also an Asahi draft machine that gives out a perfect head of foam. Plaza can be tight and busy so you'll most likely need to park on the street (metered) parking. Service was excellent.

This is one of my favorite neighborhood spots! The people who work here are very good, and the food is absolutely delicious! They even have a rice mochi hibachi, which is incredible! Perfect for a date night or an intimate dinner with a friend, or fun to bring family! Highly recommend!

We have been eating here for years. Great food and great service. Perfect for a keto diet lifestyle and I highly recommend.

The soul of Sakura House is the Yakatori grill and the soul of the grill is the chef carefully preparing, doting over, and turning skewers until grilled to perfection. The skewers have chicken, shrimp, beef or vegetables, some wrapped in pork (called Maki). They have other dishes as well, including appetizers. One unique dish is Yaki Onigiri (charbroiled rice balls with fillings). We went recently and ate ohitashi (spinach), atsuage oroshi (tofu) and various grilled yakatori and maki. All were excellent with straight-forward ingredients that come together together well. The grilled food had a slight smoky quality which we loved. Sakura House is also accessible - easy to park and easy to get in, with friendly servers that know and explain menu items well. Prices are reasonable with no sneaky extra costs. What you see is what you pay!

google says this restaurant is closed but it def is not. This is my favorite restaurant on earth. I go here for my birthday every year for the last 25 years. also go here for any excuse to celebrate. The best yakitori ever. don't forget to order the Mochi bacon. best thing EVER!! i saw a for lease sign on the building but was relieved when the kind owner said he's renewed it for 2 more years. thank goodness because I almost had a panic attack. absolutely never had a bad meal or bad experience here!! the best ever!!!

Great Yakitori style..Yoshi is the man with the plan. Cooking, prepping and hard working people I know.

Best skewers I ever had. The business owner (lady) was so nice and hospitable. Nice Japanese home restaurant vibe.

10/10 - Our local favorite restaurant. We come here once a week. The food is incredible. Best kept secret. Yoshi is incredible, every dish is phenomenal. Be sure to her yoshi's wings, service is the best. You feel at home but with Michelin star quality food.

Delicious! Everything was great, and lots of interesting skewers to try. Shrimp Maki was the best item we tried, of many.

Place is amazing! Yoshi is the man and his staff is on top of it! Food is delicious and is one of my favorite restaurants!

The restaurant is only open for three hours. Better make a reservation before heading to this restaurant. Parking is limited as well. When it comes to their food, they are all amazing. I enjoy watching the chef grill my food. If you don't mind, the heat sit at the bar. The food can get pricey. For a couple, prepare to spend over $200 if you order alcohol.

As authentic as you'll get in LA when it comes to Japanese BBQ. Reminds me of Tokyo.

This is a hidden gem in LA. One of the best meals and experiences I have ever had. Keep up the awesome job.

Menu of skewers (Nov 2022) I think people make reservations else the bar is the place that is open for walk ins. That was my case. The bar is a fun place to sit at because you get the energy of the constant non stop activity of the chef and crew....it's like a dinner and a show. The food was great. I looooooved the mushrooms w mashed potatoes. I didn't know it was a thing...I love mushrooms and these mashed potatoes were on point! They have a fried chicken pepper wing that is also excellent. I don't know what the peppery sprinkling was but it reminded me of the effect that a potato chip does on you...you can not stop. It's so good! Pork and asparagus skewers were great...all skewers were great because of that char, smokiness,...do wait a minute to let the skewers cool. They are MIGHTY hot.... There are so many skewer options that I don't think you will go wrong w any, even the chicken hearts! Haha...so tasty...next time I'm getting chicken liver and skin....hehe....enjoy!

Most authentic yakitori in LA. I've been coming here ever since we discovered it and I'll always come back. Excellent service. I even had my most recent birthday here!

Can't believe it took me 11 years to try Sakura House since adding it to my bookmarks. Showed up right when they opened at 5pm on a Thursday. My party of 3 sat at the bar and immediately enjoyed friendly, expedient service along with flavorful food. The restaurant filled up pretty quickly with what appeared to be many regulars. We ordered a bunch of yakitori including 3 orders of chicken hearts (our favorite of the night, including my 6-year old who had 2 skewers to himself), ribeye, chicken meatballs, bacon wrapped okra and a few other items I can't recall. The vibe is much more relaxed than Shin-Sen-Gumi and despite having one chef preparing the skewers, the food was efficiently served.

Best skewers in LA. The chef is a master at his craft and the plethora of vegetable and meat selections means there is something for everyone.

Everything I ate was delicious. I LOVED the asparagus maki in particular. Very small place felt very intimate. Small staff as well. Make reservations at least a day in advance. EVEN FOR THE BAR. The phone number does work.

Sakura House has great food and the best customer service. I've lived near this place for a few years and regret not coming here sooner. This place will now be a staple for me. If you live around the area, please give Sakura House a try. It may seem unexpected, but this is the best restaurant within a 5 miles radius of where I live. Also, you would be supporting the sweetest and most caring staff.

I love the food at Sakura House. I especially love the various veggies wrapped in pork, enoki maki, and the stuffed mushrooms. Such wonderful flavors. But the ginger miso beef, other meat/seafood skewers, and tempura are great too. And the servers are always so sweet and nice. It's only open a few hours a night and it's not a big place so you may need to make a reservation.

This is authentic Japanese food. It's not sushi and I don't think they have California rolls or Philadelphia rolls, but it's wonderful and authentic. The draft beer is spot on too!

I love this place! Fish is fresh, sushi is very good as well as udon. Service is very fast. The place looks nice, nothing special. I love to come here for a good sushi once a month

Warning on takeout. Don't trust their times. So this is my story and the caveat is I like the food so I'm not telling you not to eat here but warning you on takeout and how to handle it. I call in an order and ask how long it would be. They tell me an hour which I'm totally okay with. I try calling to confirm it's an hour before I go there. There's some weird telephone problem that they can't hear me even though I try multiple phones. So I decide to go for the pick up. I get there and they tell me it's going to take 10 min. I'm like that's fine. So I wait... then I go in after 15 min and ask them how much longer. They say 5 more min and I notice that a corn which I ordered was placed on the grill. Thinking it was mine and not wanting to wait longer I asked if it was my corn because I wanted to take it off the order and go home. They tell me it's the Maki and I repent because I figure it's a faster cook than corn. (Little did I know it was my corn). I wait another 10 min and finally I get my food (essentially 30 min late). They look at the order and say... sorry we forgot to cook the stuffed mushrooms. We will refund you for the mushroom. Frustrated I waited so long I leave and get home and realize half my order was done and now was cold and only the maki and corn were hot. The lesson is you may not want takeout here as their estimates are totally off. But, the food is good!

Our first visit to Sakura House definitely won't be our last!!! The Service, Food, Drinks & Chef are Five stars. Chef cooks up some really DELICIOUS Skewers that you can't help but order more Yum Yum Yum. This place is quaint, nice & clean we definitely will be coming back to dine in to indulge with the great service DELICIOUS Food Yum Yum Yum!!!!!

We love Sakura House. We come here as often as we can. You can sit at the bar, which looks very much like a sushi bar. They also have lovely tables and the place is very comfortable. It is not too large and it is not so small that you have to wait an hour to be seated. On the weekends it can get crowded, but don't worry they are pretty fast at getting you seated. Once seated a lovely server will come and explain the menu to you. The grill is right behind the bar so you can see them making your food fresh. They have many grilled items, from various meats to vegetables. A vegetarian could get a very good meal here as can a meat lover. Their Miso soup is fantastic and we love their rice. The atmosphere is very friendly and you will feel welcome. The prices are reasonable and parking is free. Have the best time.

Love this kushiyaki restaurant. Three of us arrived shortly after they opened on a week night and got seated by the chef. I requested a good cold sake and he recommended Manzairaku. Two of us ordered it and we ordered their set dinner courses: Natsu, Aki, and Fuyu. All were excellent, and the skewered items came to the table at intervals as in tapas dining fashion. Mixed rice was ordered by one of us, it was deemed excellent, the rest of us had steamed white rice. I really, really enjoyed the Manzairaku sake and had a couple of glasses. Their fun way of serving a full measure of sake is to overtop the pour so that some goes into the cup's saucer. You carefully slurp up the first taste of sake, and then when your cup is empty, you slurp up the saucer. Fun!

Everything Everything is so good. Hard to say perfect even though I want to say perfect!!! This is regarding the meats. The rib rye, the chicken the liver, the salad is all so good. I go once year so I'm not spoiled. Service is great too!!! Took 5 people. Reasonable prices!

Food: (first) Asparagus Maki, Chicken Meatballs, (second) Chicken Gyoza, (third) Soft Crab Tempura, (fourth) Pork Tempura Price: $4.75-$5.75 Ratings: 4/5; I like it! It's kind of pricey, but for the quality, it wasn't too bad. I recommend getting their asparagus maki, which is asparagus wrapped with thin pork, and their chicken meatballs. So juicy. I also really liked their gyozas! Pretty stuffed and crispy on the outside. The chicken heart was pretty small, but it wasn't too bad and had a crispy texture outside. I also really liked their Beef with Garlic, super soft and easy to pull. The pork tempura was pretty good and crispy, but there wasn't too much pork in it and was very thin. Service was good! Small parking lot.

You must support Sakura House! There is not an area available for outdoor seating so they are doing take out and some delivery I think on one of the apps. We have been coming for years and I can attest that the way the food is packed for take out is very careful and neat. Somehow it stays hot too! It's not a sad "stuff thrown together" situation. The good is very very good, there are many skewers to choose from, chicken, beef, veggie, etc. Something for everyone. Some items are wrapped in thin pork (aka bacon), almost everything is done on the grill except for certain items, the gyoza for example. The owner Yoshi is very knowledgeable about sake as well, he can tell you about the different variations. The staff has always been very nice every single time we have been here. Go!

It's been a while since I've been to this place, and now I remember why. The service is spotty and the prices are high. We paid $38 for a pitcher of beer and each chose one of the prefix dinners. The total bill for three meals and a pitcher of beer was $140 plus tip. The miso dipping sauce is yummy and the stuffed mushrooms were a fave. The skewers are good and the dinners come with a lot of food. The three of us could have shared 2 dinners. We also never got the fried rice bowls that come with the meal, which was ok because we were stuffed. We ordered beer and food when the waitress greeted us and the miso soups came out first. I would go back if it wasn't so expensive the quality just isn't worth that price tag.

I really wanted to love this place, however after my recent dining experience I remembered why I don't. We came on a Friday night around 8:45 to complete disarray. The staff took 10 minutes to acknowledge we arrived, and another 10 minutes to let us know if there's a wait or not. Meanwhile, the restaurant reminded me of a fraternity house kitchen.... hadn't been cleaned in who knows how long. The majority of tables were empty, however littered with the previous guests food who had clearly left a while ago. I wonder if that contributes to the "B" health grade they have. Lastly, I can enjoy a full sushi dinner at Sugarfish or Irori down the street for less than what I paid for dinner here. It's not wagyu prime meat either -- just run of the mill Sysco systems if I had a guess. I'll gladly spend $150 on dinner elsewhere.

Very good!! The food was delicious and the chef at the Yaki is a real master!!! enjoy it!

- Locale Destination - It's on W Washington Blvd and Glencoe Ave in Culver City. It's in the small shopping plaza. Ambiance: Kinda big inside unlike the outside look. Simple, casual. One big yakitori grill in front of the bar seating. Plenty of seating. Service: Friendly. They all speak English (The staff were all Japanese). Menu: Yakitori and some appetizers. Yakitori menu is a lot smaller than typical yakitori places. No cartridge. No skin... What kinda "Yakitori" place is this? Many of the stuff I like to have weren't on the menu. It's catered for non Asians. Parking: small - Gluttony Expedition - Stuffed lotus root: Not bad. Tofu w/ume plum : Tofu is very very good. Ume sauce is kinda weak, but the quality of tofu amend the problem. Yakitori: - Gin-nan: OK - Gizzard: It was big but too overcooked. - Beef: It was chewy, the sauce was kinda sweet. Terrible. - Conqueror's Deduction - It's way over cooked yakitori and limited yakitori menu (for Asians/Japanese especially). Quality of meats and cooking skills make huge differences on Yakitori. This place doesn't have those. It's all just ok including the appetizers. So many good places in Torrance, so I don't need to come here.

Used to be one of my favorite 5 star places. Blame it on the pandemic. Gone are the friendly professional staff. And the service as I had been accustomed for all the years (30 years) I'd been going to this place. Sad to see the level of service and quality drop so drastically. Last 3 visits this past year were all disasters - missing items, completely wrong order, way way past pick up time and being over charged and being told a credit will be issued (it wasn't). But it's OK - it's my last tip.

Great food but so expensive Usually worth the price but have to save it for special occasions

Back serving indoors and as delicious as ever! I had dinner here a few weeks back and it was just and awesome as ever. I have been coming to this little hidden gem for over 15 years and I am never disappointed. It took a little longer to receive our food since Yoshi was doing everyone all alone, taking orders, cooking, and serving! Please continue to patronize this place and keep this business open! The food is absolutely delectable and worth every penny! They are making every effort to socially distance their customers as well. YUMM YUMMY!

We love trying new kushiyaki places with our friends. Sakura House sits in an unassuming strip mall and offers some delicious Japanese treats. Over the course of dinner, we tried 8 different dishes--all were perfectly cooked and very tasty. This is a great place to go with friends, so you can sample the wide variety of offerings.

This place is a mixed bag of tricks. They do one killer business that's for sure. I ordered a few different skewers one of them was with a leg bathed, one was with meatballs. The service was adequate at best. If you want to get a full meal this place is going to add up at about five dollars per because there's not much on them. If I come back I'll probably get one of the combos which cost approximately $35. Basically it was king of a snack for about $30 with a beer including the tip.

More like 3.5 Stars. Food - Yakitori had a great charcoal flavor, meat was drier side. Grilled veggies were just ok. Torisoboro Bowl was decent. Ambience - not bad, I liked chefs wear Japanese traditional Happi. I wasn't sure if I got that cozy warm vibe that I usually get from Izakaya type restaurant though. Service - average Pricing - definitely a pricier side comparing to some place like Nanbankan Overall, it was good but nothing outstanding and honestly a little too expensive for what they offer.

What a great find! We've driven by multiple times but never stopped by until now. We were craving kushiyaki and decided to give this place a try. It suffices to say, we will be back! Parking: small lot shared with other business, people park in random places sometimes when it gets packed. Bring your parking "A" game, or try the metered parking on the street. Reservations recommended, this place was full by 6pm on Saturday night. If it is your first time or you're unsure what to get, they offer some preset selections at the top of the menu. In reality, you can't go wrong with almost anything here! Besides the meat skewers, we saw a lot of other people order charbroiled rice balls and stuffed mushroom. Our favorites were the chicken wing, chicken heart, and kurobuta sausage. Our least favorite was the fried chicken wings, it was too soggy. We'll try the crispy chicken addiction next time (we prefer it to be crispety crunchety). Try to order everything at once, as some items will take 25 minutes to cook (they are noted on the menu). Service was typical, we had our waters refilled (pet peeve of ours when you have to ask). Love the miso sauce! You get some raw veggies to dip it in while you wait for your order.

Can't order just one! Order all! This place is a gem! Try the rib eye accompanied by the sweet corn

I used to love this restaurant and my husband and I went all the time. After they opened back up after COVID everything changed. I've been already a couple of times since reopening and each time the service was slipping and last time the food was severely undercooked. I know they had a hard time getting employees to come back and they appear to still be understaffed while other restaurants in the neighborhood have bounced back. The staff seems to be overworked so there's limited seating. Only a couple tables in the restaurant. I called tonight to make a reservation (have always been able to get last minute reservations even recently) and nobody answered the phone. I called several times but I knew we could usually get a table so we walked there only to be rudely turned away at the door saying they were full for the evening. I explained that I tried calling multiple times and she just stared at me. So I asked her if that was why they aren't answering the phone and she said yes. It was quite unprofessional and my previously five star review of one of my favorite restaurants in my neighborhood that we visited at least once a week previously I don't want to visit again.

One of my favorite places to eat!! I come here as often as I can and they never disappoint. Great food, incredible staff and not fussy. I often see returning customers like myself. To last 32 years in the same location is attribute to doing things right. Sakura House has been hit hard by this pandemic as they don't have the ability to have outdoor seating. I highly recommend ordering and picking up or having Sakura House delivered. Please help support Yoshi!! I know I will and it's a win/win situation. Keep them in business and I win too with consistently good food.

Parking: small private lot and street parking I ordered food to go which was pricey if I think about it know. -pork belly wrapped rice cakes - GET -skewer hearts - GET -skewer gizzards - GET -skewer beef and garlic - pass -skewer beef with miso- pass -rib eye spinach with shiso- pass -chicken wings- pass It added up to a whopping $30-40. I am pretty sure eating there would have been a better experience because you can see the chef make it on charcoal in front of you at the bar. By the time I took it home, maybe the meat dried BUT THE BEEF SKEWERS ARE A NO GO!!! DO NOT ORDER. I would get the exotic stuff which is lightly seasoned with salt and possibly garlic powder. Would I return again? Yes, for a small, pricey snack

Love this place. Passed by it 100+ times before I finally went in about a year ago. Chef Yoshi and the ladies really know their Kushiyaki! Never had a bad meal here, and while it does get busy on weekends, the staff is always pleasant and helpful. Yoshi might not say much, but he puts other grill chef's to shame when he rocks 30 or more skewers at once on the Korin grill. Everything is perfectly seasoned and cooked over the hot flames (Beef and spinach and Yaki-onigiri are two favorites). It can be pricey, but you'll know where the money went when you taste the quality of the food. Finish it off with an ice cold Sapporo on draft and you're in business.