What I like about Miso: - Tasty Tonkatsu. Lightly crisp panko crumbs hug the tender pork. The pork is seasoned perfectly. - Amazing Strawberry Soju - Friendly Servers - Food presentation was lovely What I thought was OK about Miso: - There were 2 tiny pieces of Bulgogi in their Bulgogi Teriyaki. - The salad and mini udon soup were not memorable. - Our server was extremely kind, but he would often disappear for long periods of time. This made it a bit difficult for us to ask for refills and our check at the end of our meal. Overall, Miso is a nice place to bring a group of your friends to chow down on some yummy Katsu and drink lots of delicious Soju. read more

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Miso Cafe Japanese Restaurant is charmingly small, with ornamental metals and a forestral wallpaper. For its size, there's a healthy amount of booth, table, and outdoor seating. Their menu features Korean-styled Japanese dishes and is one of the best organized I've seen recently, each page showing a meal set, complete with photos. We cleared a plate of a delicious squid appetizer, and another with colorful spicy mussels (what a kick!). My bowl of kimchi udon noodles ($9) was deeeeelish, with a soothing broth that managed to stay saucy, tangy, and wasn't the least bit shy. Service was outstanding! Jimmy, our server, checked how we were during AND after the meal, never rushing us. He even brought extra pickles: everyone took down their sliced, tangy kimchi and the yellow radish pickles in no time. After checking our IDs, he brought a large carafe of sweet, sweet *yogurt* soju ($18), which was ambrosial - couldn't taste the alcohol, but certainly FELT it. Four of us took shots of the stuff, and it lasted the whole dinner. Miso is worth every penny, hands down, satisfaction guaranteed - go there today, and bring friends! Highly recommended. read more

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Best chicken and pork katsu to ever enter my mouth. The crispy ness on the outside hits with their sauce and the inside was super moist and juicy. Side dishes were amazing. read more

Miso - Katsu, chicken and pork - Japanese Near Me - Annandale, Virginia

I am a picky picky picky udon fan. Miso's noodles are SOFT, a quality which surprisingly is hard to find for some reason. Now, the soup base is a different story, it's edible but has room for improvement. But for a bargain of $6.95 (to-go) lunch special, I ain't complainin'. Other great lunch specials that I have tried (for to-go): Kimchi udon $7.95 Chicken/Pork Katsu $6.95 (comes with rice, salad and miso soup) Shrimp wrapped w/ Potatoes (sae woo gam jah mah ree) $5.95 Sashimi assortment w/rice (hwe dup bap) $9.95 (warning: the sashimi pieces are small, booo) One star added for great lunch special prices and quick pick-up turn around time! read more

Miso - Lunch special menu - Japanese Near Me - Annandale, Virginia

Good food and good service. The katsu was crisp and juicy and side dishes were good compliments. Highly reckmmend, especially for lunch! read more

Miso - Combo menus - Japanese Near Me - Annandale, Virginia

Came here for a quick lunch (food pick up) the place looks very cozy inside and had a ton of people in it. I got the potato wrapped shrimp which came with a delicious mayo based sauce. Amazing! Perfectly friend and the sauce complement the shrimp well. I got the pork loin friend to perfection which came with rice and a side salad. Yummm big portions for the price you pay. The meal also came with a small noodle soup which was also very flavorful and hit the spot :) I would love to return and try more menu items next time ! read more

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The katsu here was pretty good. Crispy on the outside and tender inside. The service was not very good, server was inattentive. Hopefully the service will be better next time. read more

Miso - Japanese Near Me - Annandale, Virginia

Outrageously good. Ramen and katsu fresh and well cooked. Great portions. Will definitely come again.

I went to miso for all you can eat special. Which they raised up the price and removed couple of the items since first time it came out. My friends and I got the combo B ( 26 dollars / more expensive and options). But about 10% of the menu wasn't available, which it reduced the size of the menu to around combo A ( 22 dollars / less options ) but they charged us for $26 anyways. If employees let us know before we actually ordered our food, we would have definitely gotten combo A instead or went somewhere else. Its almost like a scam at this point. Make you buy B but give you A and charge for B. Middle of the meal one of the employees came up to me and told me that I need to finish my bowl of rice or I will be getting charged extra $5 and desert won't be served. I felt like a little kid, getting yelled at by parents to finish what was on the plate. But how can I finish burnt and dried up rice bottom of the bowl? I understand that its all you can eat and I need to finish what I ordered in order for me to not waste food. But I paid money to eat at a restaurant and I am expecting to get served food that is worth the money. Even if they charged me more than $5 I wouldn't have eaten burnt food anyways. At this point it was more than a scam, its more of a prison. Once you signed up for all you can eat prison agreement, you have to eat everything they throw at you even if its a trash. After the meal I asked for a check. On the menu I have notice there was a foot print on the menu saying "18% of gratuity will be automatically charged for all you can eat for party of 4 or more." Even though I never saw tip getting automatically charged for party of 4 I was fine with it because thats around how much I normally pay. After receiving the check, I found out something weird. We didn't get charged 18%, instead we got charged 20%. Now this is really a scam. They made us buy B and served A but charged for B plus 2% more than what is listed. I will gladly pay if 20% was the amount that was listed but I felt cheated. Well, with some argument with employees I only paid 18% but I didn't feel good afterwards. Their excuse was that it was changed very recently but I as customer wasn't informed before hand. About their all you can eat food. Its not great period. I had Miso's regular combo many times before and it wasn't bad. It felt like all you can eat items had lower quality to it. Maybe it was sitting in the freezer for 10 years. Who knows what but most of the roll katsu meat had chalky texture to it. Just meat itself didn't look too appetizing and cheap chemical or sour smelly mozzarella cheese overwhelmed the whole katsu (I love cheese, sourish smell mozzarella isn't good sign.) I also ordered fish roe over rice. Purpose of fish roe over rice isn't to serve you good food, they implemented to make you full by stuffing it with much rice as possible. Udon was okay. They had 3 different udon. Regular, seafood, and something else that wasn't available. When you order seafood udon, you don't get anything different. You get one mussel, shrimp in regular udon. It tasted exactly same. Ramen was disappointing. Way too much onion. One of our order had more onion than the noodle. My recommendation. Stick with regular katsu. Matter a fact, just stick with their regular meal. You won't get the same quality meal for your money. Don't try bunch of specialty Hawaiian roll katsu and stuff unless you want to stuff with yourself with bad mozzarella cheese which it was stringy but tasted blend and smelled horrible. Do eat fish katsu and shrimp katsu. I think we ordered about 10 orders of shrimp katsu. Thats total of 30 shrimps, 3 shrimps per order. I want to recommend you to go somewhere else but where else can you go to eat katsu? No where around here. read more

Miso - shrimp and flounder katsu from all you can eat. - Japanese Near Me - Annandale, Virginia

My wife and I heard about this restaurant, so we had to check it out on a rare lunch date. We both love Korean and Japanese food, and this appeared to be a great place that had both. I ordered the lunch specials, which included a pork katsu and a sashimi rice bowl. I really enjoyed the pork katsu. Great flavor and crunch and the right amount of tenderness. It was incredibly good. The sashimi rice bowl was great too, but i always think of poke when I have these, which is an unfair expectation. Otherwise, I thought it was good although I wouldn't mind having more fish. Some bites seem to be missing fish. My wife had ramen and the chicken katsu. As a quick comparison, I took a few bites of the chicken katsu and really enjoyed it. I think it might be better than the pork because the flavor was incredibly similar but it was more tender. Overall good amount of food for the price. We will be back again for sure. read more

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I was craving cheese katsu, a very specific craving, and Miso really delivered. When we went on a Friday evening, it wasn't too busy. We ordered seafood udon + pork katsu and the cheese katsu entree and everything tasted amazing! The cheese was everything I wanted in a cheese katsu - abundant, flavorful, and stringy. Miso offers a lot of "combination" meals, which I would highly recommend to try more of what they offer. But if you're not lactose intolerant and a cheese lover, the cheese katsu is a non-negotiable and I can't wait to go back! read more

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Take your time when preparing your meals..food not tender... I had the tonkatsu ramen, broth was pretty good but the pork chashu and steamed egg was cooked too hard. Also tried takoyaki...octopus was too chewy and hard..please take this off your menu...disappointed. read more

Great place to get your lunch ramen and katsu combo! I often order to go here and the food tastes good and clean. My colleagues and I really enjoy this place. Only thing I was a bit disappointed was the amount of food. The quantity of ramen and katsu lunch combo was a bit small. Other than that, it's a good place to grab a quick bite! read more

Miso - Japanese Near Me - Annandale, Virginia

Driven past this restaurant so many times and finally stopped to try it on a Saturday night. Had the chicken katsu combo with ramen and other diner had the pork katsu with bulgogi. Both katsu cutlets were amazing - crispy breading, tender middle, and good sized portion. The bulgogi with rice was also delicious but the ramen was only mediocre. Maybe that's not an issue with so many other menu options but definitely would not order the ramen again. The real downside is the very short business hours. Several people came in around 8:15 and the servers refused to seat them. I respect business owners having reasonable hours and deciding when they want to be open. But Yelp says they're open until 9pm and it's not true. They also don't post their hours at the restaurant. They didn't kick us out at 8:30pm, but were definitely try to hustle us out the door to close when we had barely finished our meals. read more

We happened to be in the area and thought of this place for dinner. Recalling our positive experience years ago we never gave it a second thought. We ordered pork katsu and somehow we felt that our order wasn't freshly cooked, It tasted hard and dry like it had been sitting out under a warmer for awhile. Dry inside. It was like chewing on cardboard. In short I think quality has gone down. read more

Miso - Japanese Near Me - Annandale, Virginia

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Came here on a recent Sunday after being impressed by pictures on Yelp, but it could've been even better. The combo meals seem to be popular here, so we ordered two combos. The egg custard and side salad were part of the meal and served before the main came out. The custard tasted like it was freshly cooked and very nice, but the salad could have used fresher lettuce leaves and a dressing with more of a kick to give it more interest. - Udon & hirae pork katsu: both nice, but the katsu could have used a thicker cut and should have been juicier. Still a nice combo. 4/5 - Sashimi bibim rice & hirae pork katsu: I really came here for the sashimi bibim rice, and the pictures on yelp all looked amazing so I looked forward to it. The veggies in the bibim rice were fresh and delicious. I still believe it needs more and better quality sashimi, since I found some bits that were hard to chew. The whole bowl was roughly 85% veggies, 10% rice, and 5% sashimi. 4/5 A choice of vanilla ice cream or yoghurt drink - or yakult - was offered, and the vanilla ice cream was a fun finale. Since the meals were combo deals, the serving size was pretty huge. I wish I could have just have the sashimi bowl if it was done exceptionally well. read more

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I have never been so upset with the service of a restaurant. If I can give a negative 5 stars, I would. First off, why are we getting charged gratuity for only having 4 adults and a toddler, better yet 20%?! Our waiter is lucky to have such a great manager to defend all his wrongs. Everyone at the table heard that we ordered shrimp katsu, but the waiter insisted that we ordered chicken because that's what he wrote. It was like pulling an arm and a leg for him to change it. From then on he never came back to the table to check on us until we had to flag him down. When I asked for a refill on water, he literally just refilled mine while everyone else's cup was empty. We had to wait until the very end of dinner before we asked for the check that we were able to get a refill on water for the entire table. read more

What's not to love about all you can eat katsu/udon/ramen/rice bowls? Admittedly it's a lot of food so you have to be really hungry to do the AYCE, but now that I've tried so much I know what I'll want next time I go, namely: katsu and curry rice. The katsu is so crispy and delicious. We got chicken katsu, tonkatsu, flounder katsu, and a chicken-mushroom katsu roll! I had curry rice and tonkatsu ramen. The curry rice is delicious, I'm obsessed with it. It's extra good when you dip the tonkatsu in the curry sauce. The chicken katsu was a little dry, and you do get charged if you don't finish everything you order if you do AYCE. But it's so delicious it's hard not to finish! read more

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Miso is one of my go-to places in the Annandale area, especially for lunch, because of how affordable their menu is. I'd have to disagree with a lot of the reviews here, I think you get a fair amount of food for a lunch combo and the portions are extremely reasonable. The katsu is always crisp and flavorful but the soba is a hidden gem! I typically always get the katsu + udon or katsu + soba sets and am never disappointed. Service can be a little slow but most businesses are hurting for help during the pandemic, so that is understandable. read more

Miso - Katsu with Udon lunch special - Japanese Near Me - Annandale, Virginia

If you're looking for a cute date spot to grab some goooood food, then Miso is the spot. I can see the intimate appeal of this place with private booths to allow private conversations amongst friends, couples, or families. The overall atmosphere of this place makes me feel good on the inside. The staff is always friendly and quick with service, extremely accomodating as well. My only qualm about this place are their portions. It is about 14 dollars for the Katsu + Udon combo I ordered, but it really wasn't a large amount of food. Although it was very good, I don't think it was worth the price. They serve one piece of katsu with a moderate amount of udon on the side. The side dishes that come with it are abysmally small; about two or three pieces of pickled radish and kimchi each. There is no rice that comes with it, but I asked the server and he offered it for free. I would definitely come back, but I would not be a regular here. read more

Miso - Japanese Near Me - Annandale, Virginia

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Best hidden gem Korean place for their katsu - we love the chicken katsu and come here regularly

I'm a bit conflicted here. We came here after work one day to try this place out to wait out the traffic. However, based on the reviews and our experience, it was just OKAY. We had the shrimp wrapped in potato. It was tasty. It didnt taste fresh though. The sauce that was with the shrimp was good, but it was not mind-blowing. I kind of just ate the shrimp and said to myself: "That was okay." The other food pieces were a bit bland. Perhaps we chose some bad choices or they were not expecting us as we went right before the dinner rush and we got the practice/start up entrees. Either or, it was not that great. We are definitely willing to try it out if we are in the area again, but not a great impression. The inside was a bit messy, but I can see that they are aiming for the more darker theme and low key atmosphere that is for high end establishments. read more

This place is okay. Each entree comes with a complimentary ginger salad and steamed egg. We had a party of 8 and I was the only one that didn't order an entree. The waiter was nice and gave me the appetizers, as well! However, the steamed egg was kind of bland and the salad was very watery. I ordered two appetizers... muscles and shrimp dumplings (steamed). The shrimp dumplings were disappointing but the muscles were good. The sauce that was on it definitely made the dish! I ended up dipping the shrimp in this sauce and it was good. read more

Miso - Japanese Near Me - Annandale, Virginia

So so good. Excellent quality and nice price. Definitely gonna come here again! The server was nice, too. read more

Solid place for some delicious asian food... The Katsu is very crispy while keeping the meat juicy.. The udon soup is a perfect pairing. Dinner came with a small dish of kimchi, yellow pickled turnips, and sweet BBQ sauce. They also give you a complimentary egg custard and small ginger dressing salad. Oh, and did I mention, FREE ice cream or yogurt for dessert?!?! read more

Miso - Bulgogi Teriyaki - Japanese Near Me - Annandale, Virginia

Place is pretty good. Very different from restaurants I normally go to but I liked it. I think they are known for their different katsu's and udon combos. I had the Hawaiian katsu and that was really good. I liked the concept. One of the shrimps fell on the floor and they wouldn't replace it so that part sucked but overall it was still a good experience and nice place to eat If I'm in the area, I'll come back for more to try different things and for some soju read more

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Been eating here + takeout for years, but seems like the quality recently went way down. The color of the caviar rice used to be bright orange... what even is this color. It looks like just bibimbap. Called the restaurant and they were super rude, deflective, then straight up lied saying this is how it always was, then demanded a picture after, so here is the picture on yelp. The vegetables last time... were also very discolored and did not seem fresh. read more

Miso - Japanese Near Me - Annandale, Virginia

I had been craving ramen for a week. I've eaten here numerous times and I didn't think twice about ordering to go... I've never been dissatisfied until now. I ordered pork katsu and ramen combo. Both were very bland...the katsu was cold and didn't seem to be freshly prepared. I was so disappointed that I couldn't finish the meal. I won't be ordering to go again... I think it will be a while before I return...if that. read more

One of my favorite local katsu spots in the area. They have very juicy yet crispy katsu. Dine in experience feels very at home. The staff is super welcoming and nice, ive never had a problem. Would recommend to anyone! read more

Katsu, katsu, katsu!!! Best katsu in town. The end. Oh and their ramen and udong noodles are definitely good too, but you can't go wrong with the katsu. Plus the sides that comes with each meal you order is the cherry on top! read more

Meh - I ordered a sponge cake with milk chocolate as a DoorDash add-on. It was okay, not my thing.

Pretty good restaurant known for their katsu dishes and their ramen/udon combo pairings. They are pretty reasonably priced! Individual dishes are about $12 and the combos are about $15. They always offer free dessert (either ice cream cone or a yogurt drink) at the end! Their fried meats are pretty good! I've tried their regular udon and their spicy miso ramen. Both were pretty average in terms of taste and flavor. I've been here twice now and the service is always good and fast. I would give it a 3.5 rounded down to a 3 because of the lackluster noodle dishes but hopeful to find a dish that I will enjoy. read more

Miso - Japanese Near Me - Annandale, Virginia

Came during lunch time. They didn't have specific menu for lunch special. The menu itself was very confusing to understand. I got ramen which was actually delicious. The customer service was flawless and efficient. read more

Miso - Steamed eggs and salad - Japanese Near Me - Annandale, Virginia

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probably the best katsu place i know. i ordered the pork katsu with udon and it was immaculate. tender pork and still very crispy. i ate it up so fast i recommend ordering at the restaurant yourself rather than pick up or to-go because it's really best when fresh. the staff was so nice as well :')) and frequently attentive making sure me and my friend were satisfied! read more

I LOVE THIS PLACE! No frills and just good Katsu all around. The food has been so consistent over the years!! The dinner box is worth every penny EVERY TIME! read more

This place has excellent Japanese comfort food. The value of the sets is particularly excellent. The pork tonkatsu was extraordinarily crispy. The sashimi don was fresh. Our daughter enjoyed the steamed egg with rice. read more

This is one of my favorite Annandale spots pre-pandemic and I have got take out from them post. They do an admirable job given that most of their menu is fried food. They specialize in Katsu: fried fillets. Chicken and pork are as good as you can get. The fish was good and the only clunker was the shrimp which had too much coating. The katsu comes with a side dish if you want and I am a sucker for their cold noodles. Any entree you order comes with chawanmushi, salad, pickle, kimchi, and katsu sauce. So for $12 to $15 you get quite a substantial meal and a very good one at that. The people are very nice and I always leave with a spring in my step. Well, it would be a springy step if I were not so full. But the smile is always there. If you have not tried them, please support them thru the pandemic. Your belly and their loyal customer base will thank you. read more

This was one of the first places I ate at when I moved into town a year ago! They've always been very kind, and at this point, I've had everything on the menu at least once. Great service, delicious food, and consistent food quality/texture. It's always a good time when I pop in for dinner read more

Great spicy pork katsu and rice bowl (also came with a small cup of clear miso). Udon was nice. The small streamed egg cups were such an unexpected but lovely addition. I'm a fan. A bit pricey but I really did enjoy the well-put-together combinations of dishes. Although I was secretly hoping for a Japanese curry dish somewhere, I really am glad we stopped in on a whim! read more

As always, Miso's food was delicious. I went in with my sister and was greeted promptly and sat. We ordered the potato skin shrimp appetizer (our favorite), my sis ordered the spicy pork katsu/udon combo and I got the chicken katsu/udon combo. Before our entrees come out they send out steamed egg and a salad. I was a big disappointed with the salad for the amount that was given, but the flavor of the dressing was still good. The app came out, hot and fresh! It was nice and crispy on the outside but tender and juicy inside. The sauce compliments the flavor. I'm not sure what sauce it is, but it has a cream base for sure. Our entrees came out shortly after and I had nothing to complain about that. The chicken was tender and not too dry, the udon broth was flavorful, it was definitely what I was craving. The only reason I had to go one star lower than last time was because we were only checked up on once after they dropped off the food. I wanted more sauce for the katsu. But it's okay! I'll come back again, because the food is good! read more

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