Hi there,
I know this other amazing hole in the wall restaurant if you're into sushi. At first when I started to live in Orange county, I was surprised how besides Mexican, Japanese and Vienamese cuisines are big in OC. The place I'm referring to is called Ikko in Costa Mesa. Besides some of their fusion dishes, they serve mostly traditional preparations of pre-seasoned sushi that calls for immediate eating when served and don't carry American-style rolls. They've even posted on their chalk board in the front where they would used to post specials saying that they don't serve these sort of rolls as many people would just flat out leave after looking at the menu. The first pic is a citrus vinaigrette carpaccio (must ask sushi chef directly for this as they've taken it off) with a fish imported from Kyushu, Japan called "chicken grant" (i know, weird name). Second pic: Maguro (tuna), Third: Albacore, Fourth: Toro (I think it's Chu-toro instead of the fatty O-toro). I've taken many friends to this place and they all love it. Even people who used to not like anything raw change their perspectives on sushi. Here's their address and reservations are highly reccommended: 735 Baker Street Costa Mesa, CA 92626
(714) 556-7822

For Mexican, I would travel to Santa Ana as they have a large, if not, the largest Mexican community in Orange County. Granted, it won't be as pearly as Laguna Hills. However, if you're looking for authentic tacos, especially al Pastor tacos with meat shaven off the shawarma/kebab grill, go to Taqueria 2 Guys. Here's a recent OC weekly article on the restaurant. http://www.ocweekly.com/2012-04-05/fo...

Also, the prices are really reasonable from around $1.29 a taco. After 5pm, the al Pastor tacos are only a buck each. Be sure to look at the other reviews on the net. Their really spicy Jalapeno salsa is amazing! The following pics are their al Pastor Tacos along with their special (all-meat) buritto for only $1 more (approx $6 total) with meat of your choice.

Hi there, I just came back from Tokyo and want to suggest a romantic restaurant. I had a posting on here about it but as it was linked to my blog, it was unfortunately taken down. Anyways, I want to recommend Pierre Gagnaire where it's at the 36th floor of the ANA Intercontinental hotel. It's a very fancy hotel and it views the entire city at that high of the level with an amazing view of the Tokyo Tower. As mentioned by others and yourself, the high-End Japanese restaurants aren't exactly the romantic type when it comes to atmosphere. At Pierre Gagnaire, the waiter thought I was being hasty and said it was alright to take your time and enjoy the meal. The service there is amazing and of course the food is too as well. I would recommend ordering the Apinac menu with the seasonal premium main course of the Japanese Beef Tenderloin topped with Uni. it's on their website if you google it. I hope this helps!

Hi everyone,
I was Japan recently and with how much I saved up, I ended up going to Pierre Gagnaire as my big meal in Tokyo. If I had more money, I would have gone to one of the fabulous sushi restaurants in Ginza. Nevertheless, I had to eat sushi in Japan. Near my hostel in Asakusa, Tokyo; I went to a nearby standing sushi bar called Maguro-Bito (Kaminari-mon Branch). Maguro-Bito is actually a famous chain of conveyor-belt sushi-ya but these branches of standing sushi bars under the same name could be privately owned as I asked on the Japan-guide.com forums (http://www.japan-guide.com/forum/quereadisplay.html?0+93361 ) After I ordered o-toro, the chef ends up pulling out this amazing-looking piece of well-marbled tuna and said it was kamatoro, the fatty part located around the collar. It was extremely delicious and the best piece of toro I've ever had, granted never being at one of the high end sushi restaurants in Tokyo. After researching from here: http://www.sushiencyclopedia.com/blog... I found out that this amazing part of the tuna was even rare in Japan. Therefore, if you arrive in Japan looking for sushi, especially in Tokyo, ask for the kamatoro!