Daikokuya Annex

ABSOLUTELY OBSESSED! We came to grab a little appetizer while waiting for a seat at Daikokuya for ramen. We got the salmon onigiri and spicy salmon. There was so much filling and this was the honestly the best onigiri I've ever had. It wasn't too busy and there was a decent amount of searing. You order from a self service kiosk but there are staff around. This would be a great place to study or meet up with a friend.

The food was so delicious that we came back the next day to get some more. I tried adding the shibazuke which was a nice addition to the salmon. The second day we did notice a slight odor inside and a slightly longer wait but we did order more. Everything tasted great still. We're already planning a trip back to LA to get some more.

I was having a little staycation in Little Tokyo and had a hankering for ramen. I was staying at the Miyako Hotel, with Daikokuya in clear view from my window. Of the dozens of ramen places in Little Tokyo, Daikokuya is certainly one of the more popular ones, as evidenced by the lines that form outside (they operate on a waiting list system). I opted instead to order pick-up online. Pick-up is done here at the Annex about 2 doors down from the restaurant. There are tables where I think one can eat one's order on-site, but I just went back to the hotel. The Annex offers some items, like onigiri, not available at the restaurant, but mostly the menu is identical.

I ordered a ramen combo with Daikokuya ramen and a chashu pork rice bowl. It came with a cabbage salad. The ramen was nicely packaged in a 2-tier container with the ramen and toppings on top and the broth on the bottom. You can request kotteri flavour for more punch at no charge.

Overall a good later-night meal.

Part of my personal food tour of little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles. Making the rounds to satisfy my son's Japanese food obsession.

Ended up here right across the street from my Buddhist temple. You order via visual monitor and take a seat. Not much for ambiance here as most orders are Togo.

We tried their pan fried gyoza, deep fried tuna in shiso leaf, a pork onigiri and a pork tonkotsu ramen.

All in all hit the spot. My son enjoyed the onigiri the best.

As we finished, I found out there was a sit down restaurant two doors down serving the exact same food but with more interior charm.

Meh. High prices and seat yourself and manage your own table. Staff uninterested. Six of us and food came out wildly different times despite one order together. Food was good, but there is a lot of good food around there. Not worth the money or feeling ignored.

We were here during Ciclavia and instead of waiting in a long line at the original Daikokuya I decided on this location. What gets me so mad is that you place your order on a screen and they ask for tip only to find out you have to get your own order and throw the trash away yourself. I'm tipping them while I should be getting service. It's essentially self service while tipping the restaurant.
The Tsukemen I ordered was subpar so I will definitely not be going back there again. I was told this was more of a takeout restaurant but they did have seats for individuals that wanted to eat at this location. It's a no frills restaurant so now that I've gone and seen and conquered I have no choice but to move on to better places in the area. For $19 you're definitely not getting much if you look at where the level of food is sitting compared to what you pay for.

I'm not sure if this is the same menu as the regular Daikokuya down the street, because it was so crowded around there that I couldn't get close enough to read the menu posted in the window. But I can sure say that the annex is less crowded! Hardly anyone there, it's mostly for takeout, but there are several tables so it's easy enough to eat your takeout container there. Comes with both chopsticks and Western plastic utensils.
I had what said it was a char siu pork bowl, but the pork wasn't barbecued. It was diced into medium sized pieces, lots of fat included, without sauce on top of rice. Pretty good stuff.

What a hidden gem. I was in line at the Daikokuya restaurat and got tired of waiting more than 30 minutes for my table. Then I walked a few doors downstairs and found this annex. They sell the same entrees so the difference is just instead of a ceramic bowl it is served into go containers. Even better because we couldn't finish our meal and it's already ready for us to take home. They also sold onigiri rice ball here and if you do a survey you can get one free. I got the honey umeboshi onigiri and it was delicious! We also got the original tonkatsu ramen, karage, and pork belly bowl. All were superb. But the time I was done with my meal and walked next door my table was ready. Hahaha.
Service and staff at this location was good. Ambiance was nice as well. Open seating and plenty of clean tables for you to sit down and enjoy your take out!

Late Thursday dinner out. For the price (~$20) and portion, the 2 piece onigiri combo is great because it includes 3 sides and a drink. It was slow as I was the only person dining in and the service was ok. I could imagine it being more lively on the weekend or packed with more people, there's a lot of high energy Japanese pop/rock music playing. Food itself was decent, just ok: miso soup and edamame were standard, vegetable croquette was oily/soggy, both onigiris were luke-warm: spicy karaage was missing this crispy texture I was looking forward too/batter seemed to be falling off-nonexistent (server confirmed that this is the way it's done); spicy salmon was a little salty to me. Willing to give it another try but wasn't impressed the first time around.

I came here to grab some take out lunch while I was in the office. I arrived around 11:10am and they were opened as advertised. The place was empty as they had just opened and smelled like rice. It was very clean. There were 2 self order kiosks where you can browse the menu at your leisure and check out by yourself. This annex location is meant primarily for Togo orders and food and there's a sign that advises if you choose dine-in your food will come out in Togo boxes.

We ordered the 3pc combo to share and chose the stamina niku, mentaiko, and mentai mayo cheese. The 3pc combo also comes with a miso soup ! The miso soup was piping hot when we sat down to eat. I had the mentai mayo cheese and there was so much filling ! The filling to rice ratio is really good and the rice is nice warm and fluffy. If it was taken right of the box the seaweed probably would've been crispier. The mentai mayo cheese was a little bit salty but the rice really offset it well. Each single order rice ball is $6.50 which is a little expensive for me-ow but the portions are big and filling. I would come back !

I have really been enjoying ordering lunch takeout from the annex. I believe they have regular menu and then some.

I have ordered the onigiri a couple times trying the different fillings, all very good. The sets come with a small miso soup. Also got the spicy miso ramen one day and it was excellent.