Tempura in Los Angeles
The tempura counters worth knowing in Los Angeles.
- Azuma Japanese Restaurant
A broad Gardena Japanese restaurant with tempura dinners, rice bowls and kakiage options, and a 2025 critic's direct endorsement of the tempura.
- Fukagawa
A Gardena Japanese restaurant with a 2025 diner report specifically praising king oyster mushroom tempura alongside chilled soba.
- I-naba Japanese Restaurant
A South Bay soba institution with unusually strong published support for its tempura, including specialist-style meals described in earlier criticism.
- Ichimi Ann
Two Torrance branches for the straightforward pleasure of noodles with tempura, including ten zaru on the official Old Torrance menu.
- Kaneko Hannosuke
The U.S. arm (operating as 'Hannosuke' / 'Tempura Hannosuke USA') of Tokyo's Nihonbashi Tendon Kaneko Hannosuke, an Edomae tendon (tempura-over-rice) specialist. Casual counters serve the brand's signature Edomae Tendon; two California locations.
- Marugame Monzo
A Little Tokyo udon specialist with a substantial tempura selection and recent published praise specifically for its frying.
- Marugame Udon
A multi-location udon-and-tempura counter for an accessible, choose-your-own meal, not twelve independent tempura specialists.
- Meiji Seimen
A Costa Mesa noodle house whose official site promotes a lobster-and-kakiage tempura pairing, giving tempura an explicit place in the experience.
- Mugimaru / DonDonTei
The Costa Mesa Mitsuwa merchant listing combines Mugimaru and DonDonTei, with tendon bowls and a dedicated tempura category.
- Mugimaru & Toritetsu
A Mitsuwa food-court option explicitly described by Torrance tourism as combining udon with a variety of tempura.
- Okidoki by Meiji
Meiji's Tustin counterpart pairs house-made noodles with tempura, including a seasonal pairing advertised on its own site.
- Otafuku
A Gardena noodle specialist where a cold-soba-and-tempura meal is a documented reason to visit.
- Otomisan
A historic Boyle Heights Japanese diner with published tempura praise as well as cultural significance.
- Sakura Japanese Restaurant & Sushi Bar
A neighborhood Japanese restaurant on Centinela with a directly documented tenzaru meal, including shrimp and vegetable tempura.
- Soba Izakaya Minami
A Laguna Hills soba-and-udon destination with published criticism specifically praising its kakiage tempura.
- SOBAR
A soba-led Westside restaurant whose official menu includes a shrimp, scallop and vegetable kakiage bowl.
- Taiko Brentwood
A Brentwood Japanese restaurant with tempura and noodle options, recommended by one diner as a closer alternative to South Bay tempura-soba outings.
- Tanakaya
A Tustin soba restaurant with tempura woven through its menu, from tenzaru to shrimp and vegetable rice-box options.
- Tempura Endo
Kyoto-style tempura specialist in Beverly Hills, an intimate, traditional counter serving a tempura-focused omakase from the Endo family, whose Kyoto tempura lineage traces to a Gion tea house founded in 1885.
- Yabu
A West LA soba restaurant whose official lunch menu offers both seafood-and-vegetable and vegetable-only tempura pairings.
