TANAKAYA Japanese Soba Restaurant

If you're looking for a solid soba/udon place in the OC area, Tanakaya is a great little specialty restaurant. Plentiful parking; kind staff and pricing that doesn't break the bank.

I went with the soba kitsune. My partner went with the sansai toji soba. The kitsune was okay. I liked the broth flavor and just wish there was more of it. I saw a Yelp image with an egg bowl donburi on the side and thought it came with it but didn't realize it came separately and so the kitsune was a bit plain on its own. However, I did like the sansai toji quite a bit more. The broth had a wonderful flavor and the egg drop/veggies added a good side to help make the dish come alive.

Food and service was good. Lots of options on the menu. I had the udon curry. It was good but heavy. I tried the vegetable tempura and it was good.

authentic Japanese food and excellent polite service. I heard a lot of Japanese spoken. You can see the chef making the noodles!

When we arrived before they opened and there was already a line forming, I got excited because I thought it meant we were lucky to get the first seating. Unfortunately, being seated early did not keep us from a ridiculously long wait for food.

I think once we placed the order, it took another 20-30 minutes for the food to arrive. We were actually one of the first tables to order once we were seated, so I felt bad for all the other tables waiting for their food for that first round of ordering. When we were leaving, there were still some first seating customers waiting for their order.

That being said... the soba is great. Great enough for the wait? No. But clearly I'm in the minority opinion here as this place is always packed!

The place looked nice and the staff were kind. There was a wait and it looked busy. People really seemed to enjoy the food. For our family, the noodles and the taste just weren't the best. The rice dishes were a bit too sweet and the texture of the noodles were a bit too soft for us. I'm sure others might love it. It just wasn't for us.