Reviews Oishinbo

The complementary Rice tea is addicting to drink. The ramen is good for 2 and is really good. So many authentic Japanese dishes to chose from.

Try their fresh sashimi, and crunchy tempura. They have the best tempura in little Tokyo, with big prawns and crunchy coating. Best way is to eat in the courtyard and cross order from the other restaurants.

Had lunch here last Friday with two of my former team members. I'm loving the salmon sashimi. 6 pieces, very thick, very fresh, juicy and well presented atop a bowl of ice. Gujab, guys. Though its hefty price tag at P390 makes it a bit of an ouch on the pocket, I think it was more or less worth it. Not a bargain certainly.

Ordered also their Yaki Soba lunch set, which comes with rice and two fat pieces of Gyoza, P330. Also a pretty solid, if unspectacular, choice.

I also ordered one pork yakitori (otherwise known as their butabara), and I liked that too. Well seasoned with salt, big pieces. P80 a stick. It'll be cheaper at San Juan's Tori Tori, but this one's good.

Also got to try their Unagi Rice. Solid stuff. Like the ones I ate in Tokyo last July.

Service was good.

Ambience was okay. Feels like those Japanese restos in Tokyo side streets, but less well maintained. A bit pricey but they have lunch bento sets for about P300 to P390. Not bad. Good quality.

Seems to be the norm in Little Tokyo. I like the idea, it's right at home with the nooks and crannies in Tokyo, where locals would eat the drink their sake or beer right after. Malakas pa ads ng Asahi Super Dry dito. Haha.

The place was cozy, food was good for sharing, crew was a bit picky about serving customers, but all was good. Price was okay for the food servings.

I used to call the ebi tempura here the best I've had. Today, it didn't quite live up to that, but it was still pretty good tempura and still among the best I've had. Just not as good as it used to be. The saba bento and chicken teriyaki bento are also among those dishes I frequently order here. The only thing I didn't enjoy was the grilled Unagi I had a while back. Why didn't I give this place a higher score? Ventilation isn't that good. It's sometimes hot inside the restaurant. Prices are very reasonable during lunch. About a hundred bucks more expensive at dinner.

Satisfied with the service and the food. We had their Teriyaki Chicken and Pork Tonkatsu Bentos. They take a bit of time to serve, so I'd suggest to get appetizers. We were lucky to have some Takoyaki from Hana while waiting for our food (or not too lucky because it already made us full and left little space for the meal).
Bento dinner boxes come with generous servings of rice, mixed vegetables (sautéed cabbage, carrots, onions, and bean sprouts), and mashed potato (on what I assume was shredded raddish), miso soup, plus two wedges of tamagoyaki (egg). The mashed potato was heaven!!! Super smooth and very flavorful. The chicken and the pork were also very satisfactory. The servings in the bento are so large, two people could share it and just order extra rice.
I enjoyed everything on my bento but had to take half of them for take out (except for the mixed veggies) because I couldn't finish them.

Had an awesome dining experience at this restaurant. In general, Little Tokyo gives you the authentic vibe. I particularly liked the salmon sashimi (6pcs) and gyudon (generous serving). Great food and good service! Will definitely come back! :)

It’s our first time in Little Tokyo and we had a hard time choosing where to eat. All restaurants seemed so convincing but we settled for Oishinbo because of its pretty interiors. We really felt like legit Japanese when we entered this place. It’s a bit small but it’s okay – the place’s intimacy is also one of its best features.

I ordered their special gyoza and every bite is heaven. I have always been a fan of these Japanese dumplings but this is the best I’ve ever tasted. You can even eat it on its own! Will surely come back to try their other menu items.

another Japanese resto that I liked!

Huge servings for those who have big appetite..

Cozy ambience plus friendly staffs! here's a 4 for you!

another place in little tokyo that i was able to tried.

came here for dinner with boyfriend and friends on one rainy night. Ordered chicken karaage, spicy tuna maki, spicy salmon maki, unagi kabayaki, 1 set of ramen (forgot what the name) for a friend, and for the love of heaven i ordered my very first natto.

overall, the maki not as astounding as the one in izakaya or seryna for comparison, but the unagi kabayaki indeed delicious. my friend said the ramen is ok (passing note) and for the natto, it might be my first and last to order...hahaha *we're not meant to be.

but one thing i noticed, some of the staffs are not well familiar with the menu that they are serving and it's a turn off for me watching them go asking around whenever i asked on the kind of food is on the menu. well they could improve on that i supposed.

Despite the proliferation of newer and more sophisticated Japanese restaurants, the quaint establishments in Little Tokyo Makati still keeps me coming back. The first time I went there years ago, I somehow knew that food would be authentic and interesting because I could hardly read anything on the walls and menu since most were written in Hiragana and Katakana.

A friend and I recently had lunch at one of the inner restaurants, in Oishinbo. I had the Ebi Tempura bento box, while she ordered the Katsu bento box. Since Hana was just nearby, we also ordered some takoyaki which they willingly brought over to us at Oishinbo. We were the first customers that day, and though we were already hungry, we appreciated the fact that everything they served was freshly- cooked.

Since they have a semi-open kitchen at Oishinbo, one also gets to appreciate the tempura cooking process. They started off with a big black tiger prawn and dipped it in cold batter. The chef waited for the oil to reach the ideal high- heat temperature before they deep fried the prawn. I think this could only be achieved through the use of a high- pressured, blue- flame gas stove. One could actually hear the flames blasting with all its might at the bottom of the pot. As the oil boiled around the battered prawn, the chef drizzled more batter on it. He then took the prawn out of the pot, rested it for a few minutes, and did the same process again. It gave the tempura the feathery fluff and authentic appearance. The taste was just sublime. The soft prawn and the hot crunch of the batter, together with the soy and mirin-infused sauce was delightful.

A bit of a letdown was the Katsu which was very ordinary and seemed more like flour-coated porkchop. But like good role players in any team sport, the other items in the bento box definitely made-up for the slack.

The vegetables (which were julliened cabbage, carrots, and bean sprouts) had the flame-licked and wok-tossed taste. The mashed potatoes had the right “not to thick, not to thin” consistency and had a hint of onion which we enjoyed. The rice was fragrant and had long- grains, while the sliced tamago(egg) roll was soft and mildly sweet.

We shared a stick of yakibuta (skewered grilled pork) for dessert. (Haha) We were thankful since they spent time to start an indoor coal-fire for our one stick order. Its amazing how the simplest of ingredients (salt and pepper) can bring out the succulent natural flavor of pork.

Old and a bit untidy as the place may seem, the food is worth it. At Oishinbo, food is truly oishi.