Japonica

Japonica Restaurant Review:

The South Bay has no shortage of sushi bars and Japanese restaurants where you can get a good if unimaginative meal of tempura, teriyaki and ramen. Japonica is something different, a restaurant offering bolder flavors than you might expect, and vegetables like gobo, spinach and lotus root paired with seafood, duck and pork. Specialties include uni tempura, citrus salmon and yuzu pepper steak, along with some deluxe sushi rolls. There’s an extensive and unusually well-described list of sakés, as well as a small selection of wine and beer. Servers are enthusiastic and helpful, though occasionally hard to hear due to the sleek venue’s high noise level. A daily happy hour --- both early and late --- offers discounts on the likes of shrimp tempura, yellowtail carpaccio and saké and beer.