Jinbei

Best Japanese restaurant in Irvine and lunch special is genuinely special. It's in my neighborhood and I was not disappointed. Very authentic and delicious Japanese food that I have been looking for and couldn't find in Irvine. Lunch special is the best. Everyday, 3 special dishes are offered for max of 10 orders. So be there at 11:30 opening time. The rest of the lunch menu items are delicious too. Very reasonably priced. Always a long wait list but the service is fast. The only thing I feel could improve is the seating, which is a bit cramped and chairs are a bit greasy. Regardless, the food here is to die for!

This place is a quaint little restaurant packed away in the pavilions lot, and the food is good. I like coming here for lunch because the combos are a good price and come with a variety of things. The sushi is fresh and the presentation is nice. If you get the sushi lunch combos, they usually sell out quickly so try to get there on the earlier side. The karaage and tonkatsu sets are really good and flavorful. Overall it had a very casual, but presentable atmosphere, and the staff is very friendly.

Amazing lunch combos! The quality is great and at an excellent price. To get the limited combos you have to get hear early. We lined up about 15 minutes before opening which was perfect to get in on the first wave for a weekend lunch. The servers were very quick and the presentation is great. I enjoyed my meal and would love to return soon.

Went last Thursday on a whim with a friend and can't believe we have such a nice restaurant in Irvine. Service, quality, and presentation were nothing short of amazing. Seems like they're packed all the time. We ordered the orange clam and seaweed w miso vinegar (so flavorful), split the 5 kinds of sashimi, and ordered two pastas--mentai cream and uni. The fish quality here is extremely good; hamachi (amberjack, nice fattiness) and the hotate (scallops, tasted very clean) were my favorite. I was craving mentaiko cream for the longest time; my go-to place for this is Pasta e Pasta in LA, but now that I know Jinbei's is equally as good I'm happy I don't need to travel as far for it. Portion size for pasta is really good! Pastas were al dente and the cream was nice and light--not heavy; mentaiko and uni flavor was all there. Total was around $40ish/person splitting the check. Definitely will come back, probably to have sushi for dinner this time.