Torigoya

🔥🍢🍺🇯🇵

Every time I’m in Los Angeles, I make a point to come back to Torigoya Yakitori — it’s one of those places that never misses. Hidden in Little Tokyo, tucked inside a small shopping center on the second floor, you’d never know it’s there unless someone told you. You walk up the stairs, write your name, wait a bit (because it’s always packed), and if you’re lucky enough to score a seat at the counter, that’s where the magic happens.

You sit down, order a cold Japanese beer, and just watch the show — two chefs moving in perfect rhythm, skewers sizzling, smoke rising, every piece of chicken grilled to perfection.

🍢 The yakitori here is unbelievable — juicy, smoky, and full of flavor. I’m the type of guy who eats it all: the liver, gizzard, heart, skin, you name it. But if that’s not your thing, go for the meatballs, wings, and chicken breast — every bite is perfect.

The vegetables are also a must, and don’t skip the sides — the edamame, octopus with wasabi, and chicken nanban are all fantastic. Mix and match ten skewers if you want, or just go one by one like I do. Everything comes out hot, smoky, and seasoned just right.

The place has this cool, relaxed Japanese vibe — nothing fancy, just incredible food, friendly people, and great energy. It’s not expensive, it’s not pretentious — it’s just really, really good.

🍺 Grab a seat at the bar.
🔥 Order a beer.
🍢 Watch the show.
💯 Eat everything.

Five stars, every time. I’ll keep coming back, again and again.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Yakitori, Thigh, Breast, Liver, Wing

We were there for its famous skewers and the food was a 10/10 but not sure what went wrong that I was throwing up and had diarrhea after having that dinner 😭 could be the raw octopus? Or the raw egg on the chicken don…food was delish but still not sure why this happened…we have not had other food after the dinner and felt uncomfortable right after enjoying the meal…

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Incredible yakitori in a humble and unpretentious space. Sat at the bar and watched the chefs work the grill. Everything I tried was incredible and grilled to perfection

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

It’s always a place you have to wait for, but the taste is always guaranteed, the prices are reasonable, and personally, I think it’s better than Naban-kan.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

We came here for a company dinner — a party of five on a weekday evening. The meal totaled nearly $450.

Overall, the food was delicious and satisfying. We ordered a variety of items like salad, skewers, ramen, and drinks — and enjoyed every dish.

However, there were two major issues that left a bad taste in the end.

First, the way skewers were served was a bit confusing. For example, we ordered 5 gizzards and 5 meatballs, but only three of each came out first, and the rest arrived much later. We weren’t sure if this was intentional or just a kitchen delay, but the inconsistency made it hard to track.

Second — and more importantly — there was a billing issue. We placed an initial skewer order, then a second round with 9 more. After more than an hour, 4 of those skewers never came. When we asked the server, they claimed everything had been delivered. We explained that 4 were still missing and eventually came — but to our surprise, we were charged 3 duplicates.

When we pointed this out, the server seemed doubtful and said, “I believe I served everything as ordered, but I’ll just trust you and take it off the bill.” That attitude was extremely disappointing and unprofessional.

We work in an industry where we manage thousands of product details daily — we remember what we ordered. We clearly remembered the missing items. We even counted the actual skewer sticks on our table to confirm, and they matched our memory exactly. Only after showing this did the server sincerely apologize.

It’s a shame because we genuinely enjoyed the food, and spent nearly $450. Would we lie about 3 skewers..? Seriously?

The ending left us with a bad impression. Mistakes happen, but the way it was handled made us feel disrespected.

Yakitori is not what I tasted in Japan, not much of other side menu. Everything came out pretty slow, price was high for the quality of food.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 3

Service: 3

Recommended dishes: Yakitori Box, Oyako Donburi

I tried Torigoya's 10 course menu plus some additional skewers and the oyako bowl. It's not the best I've had, but it's not bad.

I usually like going early, right when they open to avoid the crowds since they have limited staff, and everything can get a bit slow when it's busy. Keep in mind it's just Tomo-san grilling every skewer himself, so patience is definitely key. I prefer ordering everything at once so he can pace the yakitori.

Reservations are a MUST here unless you don't mind waiting. Price-wise, it's pretty standard for LA. Used to be $35.50 for the 10 course 2 years ago, now it's $43.

I've noticed more yakitori places opening up lately, so I'm excited to try those and see how they compare with Torigoya.

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 4

Service: 3

It’s been almost four years since my last visit to Torigoya, and the service has improved significantly. The yakitori was incredibly fresh and flavorful. The Kirin draft beer was ice-cold and delicious! I felt like I was back in Japan. Lastly, there’s no validation at Torigoya, so you’ll have to pay parking or get a validation from another store if possible.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 4

Recommended dishes: Chicken Nanban, Yakitori, Thigh, Heart, Breast, Liver, Grilled Zucchini

Loved this place!! Before you wonder about the other ratings: please make a reservation ahead of time so you have a great experience.

The food is amazing, particularly the yakitori, we absolutely loved it!! They use proper charcoal here, and you can taste the difference. The meat was perfect. I have missed this level of quality since coming back and I'm so glad we found this place.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Their system is the worst of the worst

Atmosphere: 3

Food: 2

Service: 2

Best karaage in LA

Not friendly, I never have this kind of lazy service in a Japanese restaurant. I will never come back. Wasting my time.

Atmosphere: 1

Food: 1

Service: 1

Without a doubt, one of the best meals I've had, the chicken nanban alone is worth the visit, so full of flavor, an actual dance in your mouth. You get the skewers as they cook them one at a time over the course of the meal and it's fantastic, you get them fresh and ready to eat and can really isolate the flavor and the texture without being overwhelmed. The course meal is the way to go, you get salad and a light chicken soup, a few veggie skewers as well as a series of chicken skewers, you get to taste the whole bird and let me tell you the liver is amazing, so creamy. Order the cucumber appetizer it's so fresh. This was a wonderful night and I'll be thinking of this meal for a long time to come.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Heart, Thigh, Liver, Yakitori, Chicken Nanban

I’ve been a fan of Torigoya for a while because their food is genuinely great. However, I recently had a very disappointing experience when I tried to set up a birthday reservation for myself with five other people. I called multiple times to make the reservation, but each time, I was blatantly hung up on. It felt incredibly unprofessional and disrespectful, especially when all I wanted was to celebrate a special day and show a new place to my closest friends, but now I'm never coming back.

While I appreciate their dishes, the lack of basic courtesy and customer service has turned me away. I hope they work on their communication skills, because menu quality doesn’t make up for poor treatment of customers.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 4

Service: 1

Don't forget to reserve if you don't want to wait. Absolutely one of the best yakitori bars in LA. Authentic and delicious. Don't forget their Oyakodon!

Parking: Unfortunately, they don't validate for parking!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Oyako Donburi, Yakitori, Chicken Nanban