My Favorite Restaurants for 2012!

Here is my list of my top places that I went to go and eat at in 2012! In no particular order just in chronological order!

25 Degrees in Huntington Beach - Best Place for a burger and an "adult" milkshake
http://www.sasakitime.com/2012/01/review-of-25-degrees-in-huntington.html

Cocoa Lounge - only available near Valentine's Day - all you can eat chocolate!
http://www.sasakitime.com/2012/02/review-of-cocoa-lounge-2012.html

Game Day Fire-Grilled Hot Dogs - home of some very inventive hot dogs!
http://www.sasakitime.com/2012/02/review-of-game-day-fire-grilled-hot.html

Izzy's Bagels - best place for an amazing variety of bagels and cream cheeses!
http://www.sasakitime.com/2012/02/review-of-izzys-bagels.html

Chapter One - Best Sunday Brunch - endless mimosas and Sinatra music!
http://www.sasakitime.com/2012/02/review-of-chapter-one-modern-local.html

Nadine's Irish mist - my favorite Irish pub!
http://www.sasakitime.com/2012/05/review-of-nadines-irish-mist.html

The Ranch - one of the best high end meals I had all year!
http://www.sasakitime.com/2012/03/review-of-ranch.html

Kula Revolving Sushi Bar - one of the best and affordable!
http://www.sasakitime.com/2012/06/review-of-kula-revolving-sushi-bar.html

Poquito Mas - one of my favorite places to eat near The Walt Disney Studio!
http://www.sasakitime.com/2012/07/review-of-poquito-mas.html

Honda-Ya - one of my favorite places for Japanese food!
http://www.sasakitime.com/2012/08/review-of-honda-ya-in-fullerton-yakitori.html

Portola Coffee Lab - the best cup of coffee in SoCal!
http://www.sasakitime.com/2012/09/review-of-portola-coffee-lab-perfect.html

Theorem - the best place to be educated on coffee!
http://www.sasakitime.com/2012/10/theorem-review-by-chelsea.html

Seventh Tea Bar - soon to be my favorite place for tea!
http://www.sasakitime.com/2012/12/media-preview-seventh-tea-bar-december.html

Review of Honda-Ya in Fullerton: Yakitori!

Honda-Ya opened a new restaurant in Fullerton! They are already very well known the Southern California area for great Japanese food! But they are even better known for their yakitori! Yakitori is basically just food that is skewered and cooked on a grill!

They have regular table dining as well as bar dining. But my friend and I chose the traditional tatami mat floor seating!

She and I started with a few skewers! Going left to right, we have chicken meatballs, spicy shrimp and chicken hearts! The chicken meatballs were soft and moist and full of flavor! I would order this again! The spicy shrimp was only ok in my opinion. It didn't have that much flavor other than the flavor of the shrimp! The one you probably really want to know about is the chicken hearts! It was my first time eating chicken hearts and they were delicious! They were slightly rubbery but tasted like a cross between pork and beef! A real winner!

Next up was an order of Japanese beef! Real moist and tender! The fresh onions and tomatoes on top send this over the edge! Just perfect!

The one on the left is the lamp chop! Perfectly seasoned with some garlic salt and a bit of pepper! Just like how I would have seasoned it at home! The one on the right is already one of my favorites at Disneyland from the Bengal BBQ in Adventureland! Bacon wrapped aspragus! A fresh squeeze of lemon and the price was so much better than an old Disneyland favorite!

Fries? Yeah my friend had a craving for fries! I told that she can no logner go with me on my food adventures! Haha! Sasaki Time is looking for a new partner in crime to go on food adventures with!

Up next was the salmon cheek! I think we should have ordered one for each of us! This was so good! The salmon was light and flaky! It was lightly salted and went perfect with a hot bowl of rice!

We also ordered some crab shumai. These were only ok as well. They were good but nothing special.

The next round of skewers have arrived! Starting once again from the left, duck, chicken skin and bacon wrapped baby scallops! The duck was cooked perfectly and the combination with the grilled green onions was just perfect! The chicken skin was crispy and full of flavor! I already love bacon and scallops so the two combined was pure heaven!

The last skewer of the night was the fatty chicken hearts! This one was slightly more rubbery than just the regular chicken hearts but still full of the same great flavor that I had experienced earlier! Another winner!

I forgot to take a picture of my Kirin but I took one of my white peach shuju! They sell them in singles and doubles! This is a single! So delicious! Maybe if I'm not so full I'll get another one next time!

Taking a look at the grill where all of our amazing yakitori came from tonight!

My new favorite Japanese restaurant! It was such a great experience and the serving staff is awesome as well!
I had such a great time that I went back the next night to try their regular menu! I'll be posting that review soon!

They are only open for dinner but they are also open very late! So this works out great when there is that late night Japanese food craving!

Honda-ya

2980 Yorba Linda Blvd
Fullerton, CA 92831

(714) 577-0401
 

http://izakayahondaya.com/

Hours:

Mon-Sun 5:30 pm - 1 am