KATSU JIN
ADDRESS: 711 Fair Oaks Avenue, Suite K, South Pasadena, CA 91030
INSTAGRAM: @katsujin_official
Katsu Jin showed up on my radar after I saw a TikTok post talking about a new katsu restaurant in the Pasadena area. I hadn’t seen a lot of restaurants up to that point that specialized in katsu in the San Gabriel Valley, so this definitely made it onto my Google Maps bookmarks. One day after I finished getting my car tint done at a shop down in Monrovia (shoutout to Detail Union), I decided to head over to Katsu Jin to check the place out.
The first thing that struck me was that inside the restaurant, it was a lot smaller than what I expected from what I saw on the outside. There were a mixture of two- and four-person tables that amounted to a total of 20 people that could sit at a time. I arrived to the restaurant right at 6PM, just as the Friday night dinner rush was starting. It was probably about 10 minutes that I had to wait before one of the tables opened up. By the time that I left probably about a half hour later, the line was definitely pretty built up, with what looked like at least four or five parties waiting to sit.
In addition to featuring their namesake on their menu (offered in pork, chicken, and cheese options), Katsu Jin also had an assortment of appetizers, ramen, and rice bowls as well. I’m definitely a big fan of chicken katsu, but all of the reviews I had read said that their pork katsu was not to be missed. I ended up getting their pork katsu set meal along with their corn ribs appetizer.
One way that you could tell that this place was serious was that they gave you a small bowl full of sesame seeds at each seat, along with a small pestle to grind them up. Once the katsu plate was served to you, the staff then poured the katsu sauce into that bowl with the freshly ground sesame seeds. In looking that up before I went to the restaurant, I found that having the freshly ground sesame seeds was a very traditional thing when eating katsu.
Even though the entire dining area was full, the kitchen was doing a solid job of churning out the food to make sure that things didn’t get too backed up. I got my corn ribs appetizer plate probably about 10 minutes after I ordered, with my pork katsu plate arriving not too far after that. The corn ribs (which were sliced off the cob) seems like they were cooked on a grill, after which they were buttered and seasoned with furikake. I had never tried corn in this form before, so it was definitely neat to get to experience it.
The plate came with a total of six corn ribs, which was more than I had expected to handle just on my own. But I was still able to power through it and finish off all of the ribs. By having all of the ribs individually, I thought that the flavors were spread out across more of the corn than if you just ate it right off the cob. The butter was nice to help the corn eat pretty smooth, and the furikake brought that nice combo of sweet and salty to it as well. It was a good way to get the meal started off.
I actually ate half of the corn ribs plate before I decided to start switching over to the pork katsu, since I wanted to eat it while it was fresh out of the kitchen. The pork loin katsu was definitely at least 3/4″ thick, with all of the pieces presented on a half-moon wire rack to ensure that each piece was crispy all the way around. The meal set also comes with a mound of shredded cabbage and miso dressing, miso soup, rice, along with a small dish of chilled tofu and pickled vegetables.
I started off with just a plain piece of pork katsu, no sauce, since I wanted to see how the flavor was on its own. The pork loin was juicy and the breading was just right, with a nice crunch to it. Pair that with the katsu sauce + sesame seed mixture, and it was a fantastic blend of tangy, umami, earthy, and slightly sweet flavors with each bite. The shredded cabbage was nice to eat periodically to cut the flavors from the pork, and also helped your palate reset slightly. The miso soup and the rice were nice complements to everything else, helping to provide a nice overall balance to the meal set.
In the future, if I’m in the mood for a good katsu, I know that Katsu Jin is a place that I can turn to. The pork katsu was moist and the breading was a great ratio to the amount of meat. I liked the element of having the self-ground sesame seeds with the katsu sauce, and the shredded cabbage (with the miso dressing) also seemed like a very traditional thing to do with the katsu as well. Even though the dining area might seat only 20 people, the kitchen keeps up very well, turning out the food to make sure that the diners keep rotating through. If you’re a person that appreciates katsu like myself, add Katsu Jin to your list of places to look out for on your next visit down to the San Gabriel Valley.
Let’s now take a look at the Katsu Jin Dish Spotlight. Asterisks (*) below mark my recommended dishes.
** Corn Ribs **
Grilled corn ribs, seasoned with furikake.
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** Pork Loin Katsu Set Meal **
Pork loin katsu, served with shredded cabbage and miso dressing, miso soup, rice, pickled vegetables, chilled tofu, and katsu sauce.
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And finally, here are my rankings for Katsu Jin:
Food: 4.75 / 5
The quality of both the corn ribs and pork katsu were excellent, with the katsu certainly living up to the expectations as the restaurant’s namesake. The pork was very moist, and the breading through the whole pork loin piece was just right. Their other options of ramen and rice bowls help to diversify the choices for future visits as well.
Atmosphere: 4.25 / 5
For the décor of the dining area, it certainly leans into the use of wood elements to keep with a Japanese theme. Ample overhead lighting, in addition to the natural lighting from the windows on the front of the restaurant, helps to illuminate the area to give you a good view of your food. The only downside of sitting at the tables near the entrance would be that you may get hit with a blast of cold or hot air whenever those doors open.
Service: 4.25 / 5
All of your ordering was done through a menu website found via the QR code on each table. That website portal would link directly to the table number you’re sitting at, so there was minimal interaction with the waitstaff unless they were bringing out your food. As I mentioned a few times in the review, I thought that the kitchen did a good job with keeping up with the orders coming in from the diners.
Price: 4.75 / 5
The pork katsu set meal totaled almost $19, while the corn ribs came in right around $8. For the pork katsu, I thought that there was enough food that came along with the set (katsu, shredded cabbage, miso soup, rice), along with the quality of the food itself, that certainly made it worth the price, especially if that was what you were there to eat.
Overall:
18 / 20
(90%)
Categories: California, Restaurants
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