Yoshimatsu Japanese Eatery - Japanese restaurant in Tucson - 2741 N Campbell Ave, USA

When I come to Tucson I try to squeeze a visit to Yoshimatsu. I really adore the retro Japanese decor inside with the various Godzilla, super sentai, and retro toys. It reminds me of when I studied abroad in Japan. I also love that they have less common Japanese dishes, which is why I chose the zaru soba. Its chilled noodles with dipping sauce and perfect for the hot weather in Arizona, please try if you haven't! I also love getting tempura and sushi as a pairing. I also liked the drinks they offered at Yoshimatsu! As for the service and atmosphere: our servers were very busy and often took a while to get back to us. As for the atmosphere, it is a small restaurant, so noise reverberates very well unfortunately. I really do love the food and place, but the noise and small area makes it overwhelming. So, do be prepared if you come during the busy hours: it is, really, really busy. Parking is a bit of a gamble as its difficult to pull in, and the back parking lot fills up. Overall, a really cool place to eat at with great food.

Lunch special (choice of ramen + 4 piece choice of roll) for $13.95. The tonkatsu ramen had flavor, the noodles were pretty good. Gyoza were crispy but would give them a 7/10 overall on flavor. Ended up giving 3 stars overall bc of the sushi roll that came with the lunch special. I ordered the Cali roll (sub avocado for more cucumber). The rice and artificial crab were dry & the cucumbers weren’t cut into small slices… ended up taking a small bite of one to see if it actually tasted good, but to no avail.

EDIT: I had to revise my review from 9 months ago due to my last experience a month ago being very different from the past dozen times we’ve been there. Their food is fantastic but see the paragraph below. They are a bit on the slower end with service and the MOST significant change to their menu/ordering procedures is the fact that not only did they shorten happy hour times but they made it a REQUIREMENT to purchase an entree for EACH individual person for that specific person to even have access to the happy hour menu. Why would we want to pay for us to each have a full price entree that we can’t just share(then both people order happy hour menu items)? That’s too much food(and too much money to spend) just for each person to access happy hour. That’s a make or break situation for us and we won’t be returning after that change.

I have a new favorite spot in Tucson for Japanese food!! Yoshimatsu is a great spot and something that I'm very happy to have discovered here in Tucson. It has a great vibe and atmosphere inside of it - once you enter you forget that you're just in a strip mall location. It looks small but is surprisingly spacious within the dining area, which has a bit of a dark ambiance that I enjoyed. The decor is subtle and not too tacky, making it feel very relaxing and enjoyable within. Our order was taken without delay was all brought out with quick succession. I loved all of the plates that the meals came out on and the very heavy, authentic teapot for the jasmine green tea that we ordered for the table. I also got some of the hot sake, which was a lot of fun and a great accompaniment to the food. The food itself had great portions that fill you up without leaving you feeling completely stuffed. For appetizers, the edamame was perfectly salted and the veggie tempuras were cooked just right. I also thoroughly enjoyed my bento box meal that I ordered with the Chicken Katsu - it contained some greens and other side items such as some seaweed that were all very fresh and tasted great. The Chicken Katsu itself had a great sauce and was well cooked, and the generous amount of white rice that it came with was the perfect compliment to it. There was also numerous vegan food options available on the menu for those in our party that were looking for that, including a great veggie ramen and the option to get kale noodles with it. Great ambiance and vibe, quick service, and great food with goldilocks portions and very decent prices. I would love to return and I am happy to recommend!

Taste: 2.5/5 Service: 5/5 Price: 1/5 Nirigi lunch, it is so fishy, can tell they’re not the freshest fish you’ll eat. Almost taste like it’s gonna go bad soon. Even egg nigiri tasted like an day old bento. Was bit worried if I sit around too long the fish will go bad on my table. Some of the rice was hard too. Okonomiyaki, no katsuobushi on the top, very fluffy(not like fried), but the combination of the ingredients were good. Flour part of the Okonomiyaki tasted bad too. And definitely overpriced. Never had to pay $18 for an Okonomiyaki even in for LA where everything is so expensive. Not worth it for the price. Katsu curry ramen, it was okay. Not the worst ramen I had, not the best either. This will do mediocre. Iced Matcha float, I liked it, there isn’t much you can ruin when there is just an factory ice cream and a drink. Still not the best. Server was very friendly and nice. She did her best job.

Excellent Service, tasty food, clean restaurant, and a variety of items on the menu. Will visit again. Penty of large vehicle parking in the back.

どうもありがとうございました。 私たちはとても幸せです。 You have seriously no idea how beyond happy we are to be told about this place and to seriously love it 💗. I grew up with authentic Japanese dishes because my mom flew almost every month to Japan with AAL as an fa. She even knew how to make the formal meals on flight. So she'd bring back food in a cooler suitcase. Then living on Oahu I got spoiled there too with the authentic food. My mom almost gave up hope in finding Authentic katsu. We found it. And my beyond favorite okonomoyaki ❤️. Seriously thank you for bringing this to Arizona. Not only was the food amazing but our service was beyond 5stars. I'm terrible with names but he's from CO like I'm originally from. Seriously he went way way above and beyond. I must bring him a gift from Japan when I go back. My friends send me gifts all the time. We will be back for sure. Even more so when my fiance comes to visit from Italy. They do not have this in Italy. I've looked. And I suck at cooking it. So this will be my number one go to when I'm in az once a year 🙃. To anyone sitting near us, sorry if we were loud. My mom is 78 and refuses to get hearing aids. And I talk about topics she's familiar with. But apologies if we bothered anyone. 😕

Unhappy with the Thick oily tempura at Cortaro Sushi, I went in search of a new spot Very glad I did! This is real, light, crunchy tempura, not like thick opinion ring batter the other place serves up They were fair enough size and very very tasty Dipping sauce light and tasty too Quick service and the hot tea was good The California rolls were even better than Cortaro: a little smaller- which made them easier to eat, but oh so tender! Yum ! And LOTS of sliced ginger : I love me some ginger, and the wasabi was yum also It’s not a fancy place, but it’s no dive either Will I drive 30 min for better food! Oh hellya. No wonder it gets good ratings, without being “fancy” I’ll take good food over atmosphere any day But it’s not a bad looking little place -don’t take that as a slam Give it a shot ! I’ll be back to try other dishes 😁