Tempura in California

A broad Gardena Japanese restaurant with tempura dinners, rice bowls and kakiage options, and a 2025 critic's direct endorsement of the tempura.

A Gardena Japanese restaurant with a 2025 diner report specifically praising king oyster mushroom tempura alongside chilled soba.

A South Bay soba institution with unusually strong published support for its tempura, including specialist-style meals described in earlier criticism.

Two Torrance branches for the straightforward pleasure of noodles with tempura, including ten zaru on the official Old Torrance menu.

Kakiage is a substantial vegetable-and-seafood focal point at this broader Japanese restaurant.

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.

Corn tempura with green-tea salt and rock-shrimp tempura/tendon make this izakaya tempura-relevant beyond sushi rolls.

A Little Tokyo udon specialist with a substantial tempura selection and recent published praise specifically for its frying.

A multi-location udon-and-tempura counter for an accessible, choose-your-own meal, not twelve independent tempura specialists.

A Costa Mesa noodle house whose official site promotes a lobster-and-kakiage tempura pairing, giving tempura an explicit place in the experience.

The Costa Mesa Mitsuwa merchant listing combines Mugimaru and DonDonTei, with tendon bowls and a dedicated tempura category.

A Mitsuwa food-court option explicitly described by Torrance tourism as combining udon with a variety of tempura.

Meiji's Tustin counterpart pairs house-made noodles with tempura, including a seasonal pairing advertised on its own site.

A Gardena noodle specialist where a cold-soba-and-tempura meal is a documented reason to visit.

A historic Boyle Heights Japanese diner with published tempura praise as well as cultural significance.

A neighborhood Japanese restaurant on Centinela with a directly documented tenzaru meal, including shrimp and vegetable tempura.

Separate assorted, shrimp-only and vegetable tempura options make this coastal izakaya a meaningful metro recommendation.

An Oakland soba destination for the classic shrimp-tempura-and-noodle pairing, with a restrained tempura-quality claim.

A Laguna Hills soba-and-udon destination with published criticism specifically praising its kakiage tempura.

Handmade buckwheat soba restaurant explicitly featuring kakiage and seasonal tempura; dine-in-only approach emphasizes immediate serving.

A soba-led Westside restaurant whose official menu includes a shrimp, scallop and vegetable kakiage bowl.

A Brentwood Japanese restaurant with tempura and noodle options, recommended by one diner as a closer alternative to South Bay tempura-soba outings.

A Tustin soba restaurant with tempura woven through its menu, from tenzaru to shrimp and vegetable rice-box options.

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.

Handmade-udon restaurant with an extensive independent tempura menu including squid, shrimp, mushrooms and vegetables, plus tendon and noodle sets.

A West LA soba restaurant whose official lunch menu offers both seafood-and-vegetable and vegetable-only tempura pairings.