Masacasa

I’m really sad to say that Masacasa has closed.
My husband and I loved coming here for lunch. Their curries were spectacular, and I could eat their tunamayo sushi all day.
The staff was always warm and friendly, and the space was small but cute.
I hope that they pop up again soon somewhere. Eagle Rock is sadder without them.

Masa what happened? This place was ideal. You always had happy customers and then poof! One day you’re gone. I am so angry about this. Here was a place where you could have a nice Japanese dinner in a sweet atmosphere with someone special for around $ 20.
They even had a book exchange!
I hope this was not another case of rising rents pushing out good affordable establishments. That’s what happened to Nature Mart in Los Feliz, and Figueroa Produce in Highland Park.
There is a dark side to gentrification, folks. I don’t know if this was an example, but it would not be the first time if it were.

Small homey place with cool artwork on walls. Yummy chicken katsu, veggie curry and shrimp platter. Friendly and attentive staff. Good prices. Very family-​friendly with books, jazz music, markers and even free origami paper. We’ll definitely be back!

I picked up a quick little to-​go box for dinner here when I stayed at my brother’s place in Eagle Rock. It is a small Japanese restaurant in a little strip mall. A few small seats and tables, but it looks like they do a lot of to-​go orders too.
I got the Katsu Curry, which was okay but kind of small portion sized for what I paid. Also the katsu was a little too crunchy bordering on burnt. I’d say this place will do in a pinch for Japanese food but it’s a little pricey for what you get.

This is a nice little place to try on a random weeknight. Don’t think there’s another place nearby where you can get katsu curry (a favorite of mine!) and it is reasonably priced.
Ordered the keema katsu curry… it had more of a spicy kick to it than your usual japanese curry (I could see it being too spicy for some sensitive people but I thought it was perfect). The keema curry was more like a stew consistency but still tasted awesome. My wife ordered the karaage burrito (japanese burritos sound like a winner). It had a nice sweet flavor to it which was sort of overpowered by the salsa verde that is served on the side.
The service was nice… the waitress was really friendly and attentive despite her being the only server. There were also only two kitchen staff. The food took a bit longer than I would’ve liked to come out but it was sort of a nice wait since the feel of the café is kind of relaxed (with it being small and sort of out of the way).

Masacasa is a good place for a quick Japanese meal. I always get the chicken curry katsu. The katsu itself is a decent sized serving with a light panko breading. The curry is a standard Japanese curry with a few potatoes and carrots in it.
Add in an order of yakko (chilled tofu with soy sauce and bonito flakes) and some gomaae (chilled spinach with sesame dressing) and you’re all set.
The restaurant is casual, the food is unpretentious, and the service is friendly. Sometimes it’s nice to just come and get an easy, no fuss meal.

The hubby and I love us some Japanese curry so we were excited to try Masacasa out! Service is fine and the restaurant itself is small but at lunch there weren’t too many people.
We shared the KATSU CURRY plate which came with salad, potato salad and miso soup. Overall it was fine. The katsu chicken-​to-​rice ratio was way off: there was a lot of rice leftover, and the chicken was quite thin. We would’ve preferred the curry to be a bit thicker and maybe deeper in flavor. Looks like we’d rather trek out to Hurry Curry on Sawtelle for our curry fix.
We also shared the EBY FRY BURRITO which was actually pretty good! Again — a bit too much rice, but we enjoyed it so much we’d come back to try the other burritos!

This rating is not based on the food. Why? We never had the chance to try it! The reason why I am taking the time to write this review is for one reason: We went out of our way to eat here! So why didn’t we get to taste the food, and satisfy my wife’s sushi craving? The hours posted are/​were wrong. We showed up when the place was supposed to be open, and it was not. Plain and simple. Ghost town, nobody home, lights off. We drove off and had some pretty lame Thai food nearby.
Please update your business hours if they are wrong (the hours posted outside of your door were the same as Unilocal), and value the TIME of your customers! You had a chance of making customers out of us, but that chance is gone.

This is a great place for authentic Japanese food in Eagle Rock, which I think was pretty nonexistent before Masacasa came around.
Service is pretty slow, there’s usually only one girl working and she’s swamped! So be patient because the food will take awhile.
Onigiri: A good appetizer. I never had it before this but it was pretty good! We got 3 different kinds, but I don’t remember which ones we got, oops.
Karaage burrito: Just OK. They are trying to do Japanese fusion a la Kogi but it’s not the same. It was kind of bland, and the green salsa that comes with it was not very spicy. The burrito was pretty small for the price. The karaage was cooked well, but I’d opt for the other dishes instead of the burritos.
Katsudon: Yum! Huge portions. Rice topped with chicken katsu topped with an egg. I love the sweet soy sauce that they cook it in.
Perfect for your Japanese food hankerings when you don’t want to make the trek out to Little Tokyo!

Food was very underwhelming. We ordered a burrito, chicken karaage, curry, and katsu curry. Pretty small meat portions with a lot of rice. Service was good, but the ambiance was a bit odd. It was like a small café that served food rather than a restaurant. The interior was a bit smoky as well (no kitchen vent?).
Most reviews are either 5 stars or 1 to 2 stars, which tells me there’s a lot of inconsistency. Maybe there’s some amazing dish that I did not experience, but regardless I’m not expecting to make a return trip.

I don’t know if they have the most awesome Japanese food, but as a lunch place, and as a café, they’re really cool. 1) They have a bookshelf with really great books while I ate! I started reading Amartya Sen (developmental economist) over a plate of katsu curry and rice. 2) They work with independent vendors for their desserts. The chocolate mousse was amazing and I would have ordered the green tea cheesecake had I not been too full. 3) The background jazz music! They played classics like Hot House. Really set a great mood. 4) They hang local artists’ paintings on the walls — you can buy them and the proceeds go to Japanese earthquake or tsunami victims’ funds.
The second meal I had was a fried chicken over rice — this was less impressive — somehow too much rice, not enough chicken. I do look forward to checking out the burrito dishes.
The maitre d’ is really nice and excited about her place, high enthusiastic.
The food scene in L.A. is highly competitive, so perhaps a slight upgrade on the food is called for in order to survive. However, if you’re in the area, definitely check it out!

I really want this place to do well, so I do hope they are paying attention to the reviews.
The food was just ok. Generous on the rice, which isn’t necessarily a good thing. It screams like they are overcompensating.
The thing that got me is that they had one waitress and what looked like four people in the back who never came out to help. This poor waitress was friendly and nice, but she was slammed with take-​out orders, cleaning off tables, etc.
I hate it when I feel like I should jump in to help because I can’t focus on anything else.
The food also took forever, probably because of all the to-​go orders they had. A second waiter showed up later. They were both super apologetic for the wait, etc. but by that time, it was almost too late.
Oh! Again, if the restaurant is reading this… your «library» may seem like you’re offering something cool, makes me think that the reason why you offer reading material to your patrons is because you know your food takes that long to come out.

Why call this place a Japanese restaurant?!? It’s more like a wannabe Japanese restaurant for health nuts with bland food!
Onigiri — crappy rice, not at all Japanese sticky rice with only 3 tiny salmon roe eggs … And they call this Ikura Onigiri??? I couldn’t even tell you what the «seaweed» portion was made of… But it wasn’t seaweed, that’s for sure.
Ordered a curry dish — where’s the curry??? More like watered down spice! Ugh.
If you’re a health nut and love bland food, this restaurant is perfect for you.
If you love places like Shabu Shabu, Kosuke, Ten Ren’s Tea Time or other authentic Japanese restaurants… Stay away!!! You won’t find the taste you’re used to and the authenticity you’re looking for at this restaurant.
Never coming back here. I’ll drive 10 more minutes towards J-​town or Monterey Park so I can actually enjoy my food and taste what I actually paid to order.
Service is okay. Food is terrible and bland. You’ve been warned.

Terrible food. My fiancé and I love to get the ikura onigiri from the market in J-​town next to Shabu shabu house. I was excited to try it here and it was awful. Not the good sticky rice and 3 tiny pieces of ikura inside. Wth! Couldn’t even finish it.
I also got the teriyaki chicken plate. The chicken was ok, nothing special. The miso soup and salad I did not like. My fiancé got the curry chicken donburi and it was ok.
We love authentic Japanese restaurants and this was definitely not one and the tastes completely suffers because of it. We are now going to fix this mess and eat at one of our usual favorite authentic spots (Kosuke).

This is a though one… I am going to go ahead and say this is still an A-​OK place but only because I have a child. This place has turned into a toddler dining free-​for-​all and the parents let their kids run amuck! There was one little boy with a sparkly bedazzled pink stuffed pony hanging from his neck while he climbed the front counter with the register which was completely unacceptable and rude on his parent’s part. Under no circumstances should you come here looking for a relaxing midweek dinner.

Japanese comfort food at its best. I’m about halfway between this place and Little Tokyo, but I always suggest this place first. Parking is easy, the service is so warm and welcoming and their menu covers both fusion and traditional items. This place wins by all accounts.
My favorites are the tofu curry, udon soup and their onigiri (ume!) I always get a side of their kabocha and natto too. This place is perfect on a rare cold night in LA… or really anytime you’re in the area and craving something non-​pizza, non-​Mexican. Great addition to Eagle Rock!

Masacasa is a great addition to the Eagle Rock area.
It’s hard to find a decent Japanese restaurant that serves more than just the usual sushi and chicken teriyaki, and Masacasa goes beyond decent – it’s great! I’ve had homemade Japanese food numerous times and this is as close as you can get without being inside a friend’s kitchen. In my opinion the chicken curry was perfectly full of flavor and spices to make your mouth water. If you’ve had Thai curry but not Japanese curry, try it here before you try other kinds! This is the one to compare it to. The plates also come with miso soup and a side salad. The restaurant also had specials of the day, and a cute little display on the front counter so you could get a feel of what the specials looked like.
Great find, check it out!

So after seeing a small art gallery/​show with some friends all the way in Eagle Rock, we got hungry and wanted to get food. Unilocal told us that a well-​rated Japanese restaurant was nearby so off we hiked to find the unassuming Masacasa (the sign was a vinyl banner!) in a plaza. It was quaint and nice inside with enough seating for, say, less than 20 people. The staff was Japanese and greeted us all nicely in such language. They were nicely accommodating. There was lots of art on the walls that gave a nice vibe to the place, and I really liked the chopsticks they had!
I ended up ordering the chicken katsu curry (how does one resist such crunchy goodness?) which came with some salad and miso soup! I found the salad dressing very plain but the mashed potato salad was deliciously smooth and flavorful. There was also some kind of vegetable in it that lent a unique texture — hard to describe but I thought of jellyfish for some reason. The miso soup was a bit bland unfortunately. As for the chicken katsu curry itself, the cutlet was a lot thinner than I was used to. They either had a small chicken breast or pounded the bejeesus out of it before breading and frying. There ended up being too much rice for me but the curry was good with a tad bit of spice to it. The waitress hadn’t asked what level of spiciness I wanted so I guess this was the regular. It sated me, sure, but nothing extraordinary.
My two friends had tofu curry (soft tofu! not firm!) and chicken teriyaki plate. The curry was the same as the one I had had. The chicken teriyaki was actually quite good, particularly because I don’t like my chicken doused in teriyaki sauce when having this dish. I mean, who likes smothered chicken? It almost drowns the other flavors but this one had it modestly enough where I could taste the succulence of the chicken slices themselves and enjoy the grilled texture.

What a great locale. Cheap, random location in Eagle Rock, but very clean, friendly interior. The chef recognizes and greets his regulars (mostly newbie nuclear families with 1 or 2 babies) with a real easy grace, and both he and the rest of the staff are welcoming to new guests. I never felt any pressure to hurry up or slow down any part of my meal experience, which was good because I was a first time customer meeting up with a returning customer, a local resident and friend.
Like other Unilocalers, I appreciate the a la carte style menu, and I totally agree that the portions are satisfying (not too much and not too little, having left the restaurant with no leftovers but a comfortable, not-​overstuffed feeling). The dishes are very fresh and simple, as Japanese food should be. My friend had a soba salad with tofu. The ingredients in that salad mixed well flavor-​wise, I think, because the dish was prepared to order, so nothing had time to wilt, soften, etc. I was quite amused though and naturally won over by the fusion concept of Japanese burritos, having had the chicken katsu one. We also shared a veg roll (6 pieces in total, if I recall correctly), and that was a neatly rolled, tasty combination of rice and vegetables.
There is no better word really to describe Masacasa than FRESH. I like it! I’ll look forward to a few more veggie options on the entrée choices, but overall, the place caters well to its crowd.

Several weeks ago, I heard from my gal pal elite Unilocalette
about this new spot.
Bookmarked.
And yup. Here I am.
We both had the katsu curry. Which kindah suck
choosing the same dish, I know.
Unfortunately, the menu is very limited and we
were both craving curry. And knowing us, we were both
not willing to share our dishes! hahaha Except for a
side dish. May be.
We also ordered hiyayakko. Im almost certain it came
with shiso. Which is definitely an added plus:) TY!
Perfect portion on the katsu curry which was served over
a bed of rice with just the right amount of curry. The curry was
also very light; which I love. I am not a fan of rich curry
like that of Curry House. Although I am more use to a lil
more kick to my curry as well. But it was good. Pickled
daikon on the side was a nice touch as well.
Accompanied with their house salad and miso soup,
it was a very hearty lunch indeed.
I can’t wait to try your other dishes as you expand your
menu.
Good luck. And see you again!