Jichan’s Onigiri-ya (rice Ball Shop)

Such a unique stop on our way back from LA and will be coming back here more! We tried the karate (proof that meat would pair well in onigiri spam musubi (great flavor spam musibi with tamago (great and unsuspecting combination picked beet and radish(great tangy flavor and a soy sauce seaweed version. The shop was clean and the staff were very patient and helpful!

Called in a phone order and it was ready earlier than expected which was great for us! Our favorite item was the Mentai tamago onigiri but we also enjoyed the karaage, salmon, and kakuni. Free parking in their small shared lot and friendly service.

I really wish that I lived closer to this business. My best friends brother told us about this place and oh my god I'm so glad he did. If you love onigiri/rice balls, then you need to come here. I came here during the weekday and there wasn't a huge wait. This is located in a small plaza with some other shops and parking is in a pretty small lot. They have a variety of onigiri and even options for vegetarians and vegans. I got their Spicy Miso Buta Kakuni Onigiri and their Kara-age Onigiri. Both were so good. The first one is a pork belly rice ball with spicy miso on it. I would definitely get this again. The pork was really thick, tender, and soft. I was shocked at how big the piece of pork belly was lol like it felt so generous to me. The fried chicken rice ball had extra crispy fried chicken that stayed juicy. It's so crunchy and the piece they put in the rice ball is so BIG!! It's also placed inside a dashi flavored shiitake mushroom rice so that added more flavor. They have specials during the week and if you're a fan of spam musubi they have this here as well. Maybe someday when I'm free I can come back and try their rice bowls/donburi, combo meals, salads, and possibly dessert. TL;DR Great option for meat lovers and vegetarians/vegan. Located near Rose Hills. I've been told this place gets packed during the weekend so try to plan on getting here during an off day.

This is probably one of the best onigiri rice ball shops I have ever been to! From the aesthetics of this tiny shop to the super cute drawing of the grandpa (Jichan), what's not to like about this place! When I talked to them a bit a while ago, this place is essentially like a small homage to what Japanese stores are like and it's also really good as well. I was gonna buy like 3... But I got really indecisive and bought 10. Was it worth it though? Yes it was! Also, I'm not from SoCal so I had to get as many as I could to taste them all. One of my favorite one was definitely the onsen rice ball. It's basically a soft-boiled egg that's wrapped around rice. Firstly, you can't go wrong with anything eggy so this was a hit for me. The second I liked a lot was the kakuni and the karaage onigiri. The kakuni was fatty and tender and the karaage was tender as well as juicy too. Not every onigiri was a hit for me, but I liked majority of them overall and it was fun just being able to see their craft. I was super happy I ended up trying this place and it was fun seeing the employees work super hard to craft these rice balls for us. They even have T-shirts that they sell with the Jichan logo on it which is really cute. When I'm back in Monterey Park again, you can expect me to come back again.

So we were on the way back home from LA, we found this spot and decided to check it out! This is the first restaurant I've been to that focuses on Onigiri and there was ample parking when we arrived. The restaurant was clean inside and all the staff were friendly and fun. I wanted to make sure to order a good amount of Onigiri to try each flavor. Onto the food, the Spam Onigiris were delicious and had a good balance of rice and spam. The Kara-age Onigiri had good flavors as well and good texture. The Buta Onigiri's pork belly was flavorful and it was a thick piece of pork belly. I wasn't a fan of the Kombu and Shibazuke Onigiris since they felt like both lacking flavor and weren't as filling as the other ones. I might have to try other Onigiris in the future!