Katsuya STL Takeaway. Fast casual fried bento boxes in da Loop. You have to be in the mood for fried food. Fried pork, chicken, cheese, tofu, or a mix. Solid bento components didn't add up to a unique enough experience to push my ranking higher. The pork katsu and pickled vegetables topped my list for $15.50. The vegetable roll tasted kinda soupy. The spicy tuna wasn't bad, but I'd rather go for sushi elsewhere. Takoyaki (minced octopus balls) was an accidental experience.
You get a pager after you order at the counter. Took maybe fifteen minutes to get the food from the moment we stepped in the door. Relatively happening on a Sunday at 7 pm. Parking on Delmar or across the street in a lot worked for us.
Overall, it's worth visiting once to see if you enjoy katsu-style food. If you do, I could see you rating it much higher.
Katsuya STL Experience Summary
Last night, we went to Katsuya for a date night with some of our friends. I'd been in the building before when it was a hot dog restaurant.
It turns out that Katsuya opened in 2023. We stopped by because our friends were attending a concert at the Pageant afterward.
My friend calls Katsuya fast-casual Japanese food, and I think that's exactly right. Most everything is a bento box or its constituent parts. I got the pork katsu bento box. If you're unfamiliar with katsu, consider it a Japanese wiener schnitzel--a thin piece of pork breaded and fried. The limited options on the menu combined with the pager system give the experience a sense of operational efficiency.
The bento box included a mix of Japanese sides, from edamame to takoyaki. I'd give the overall experience a solid 7.0 / 10. It was objectively good Japanese food.
Each bento box goes for $15 to $20. You order at the front and then get a pager that goes off when the food is ready. I had no complaints about the service. It came out hot and ready to go when our pager went off.
Easy enough.
The restaurant space is small, with maybe a dozen tables. They optimized the setup to get you in and out. We sat there for an hour and a half to hang out, but we could have been in and out in thirty minutes.
Overall, the food is very good, but you'll have to be a fan of Katsu to become a regular at Katsuya.
The Food At Katsuya STL
Your take on Katsuya will 100% come down to how much you like the katsu. If you love it, you'll love it. If you're like me, you'll like it.
My favorite part of the meal was the pork katsu. It was evenly breaded and fried from tip to tip using a secret, symmetrical cooking process. Each bite tasted the same. That said, my mother-in-law can make chicken cutlets of about the same quality. That means they hit the Flood Line of 7 / 10 but don't have a unique enough experience to top that.
The sauce that came with the katsu tasted like a run-of-the-mill barbecue sauce. I wasn't a huge fan of it, but mixing it with some wasabi added a kick of flavor. Just beware--it's very, very spicy.
The rest of my bento box included:
Two pieces of a California roll
Rice
Edamame
Pickled vegetables including kimchi
Salad with ginger dressing
Seaweed salad
Potato salad
Tofu/Egg/Cheese thing
I enjoyed every side dish except the tofu/egg/cheese thing. I don't know what it was, but it lacked distinguishing flavor.
My favorites on the list were the pickled vegetables, salad, and potato salad. The kimchi had an excellent fermented flavor without being overbearing, and the other vegetables had a pleasant vinegar experience without being too sour.
The ginger dressing on the salad is exactly what you'd hope to get at a Japanese restaurant. My wife loves the stuff, and she raved about it.
And the potato salad had mayonnaise, but it tasted vinegary to me. That made for an excellent combo.
The little piece of sushi was a California roll but overly fishy. The rice underneath it was good.
My wife got the spicy tuna roll bento box. The spicy tuna was ok but not nearly as good as something like Top Sushi. The bento box included crab rangoon and takoyaki, which we learned later is a minced octopus ball, breaded and fried. You should try it for the experience, but no one liked it in the heat of the moment. I only figured out what it was when I started writing this review.
The vegetable roll I tried had a soupy consistency in the middle. The outer shell had a nice crunch and flavor, like everything else fried at Katsayu, but the middle brought it down a notch.
Overall, I'd go to try the katsu. The fried pork, chicken, tofu, or cheese option you choose will ultimately decide how much you enjoy Katsuya. I don't think the sushi is worthy of being a standalone sushi kind of place. The bento box experience, while fast and easy, didn't add enough value over going to a place for a specific meal. It's a good lunch spot to go with colleagues but not a standout winner, given all the fantastic Asian options in St. Louis.
Katsuya STL Atmosphere And Miscellaneous
Kaysuya has a distinct fast-casual vibe. With bright white paint and lights to match, you're not coming here for a romantic date night atmosphere.
Without a wait staff, you order at the front, and they give you a pager to let you know when your food is ready.
The line was three or four people deep when we got there. It took about 10 to 15 minutes to get food when we entered the door.
They arranged both sides of the restaurant with seating, booths, and tables on the other. The back of the restaurant had a sauce table and a restroom.
Parking At Katsuya STL
You have a couple of parking options. You can try to find street parking on Delmar as close as possible to the restaurant. Alternatively, we parked in a lot across the street next to Pokedoke. You do have to cross Delmar without a light to get there.
Lastly, you can park in one of the lots or streets north of Delmar and walk a bit.
Katsuya STL Receipt
