Torihei Yakitori Robata Dining

Torihei serves quality yakitori and we are repeat customers. I am delighted to find out they take reservations on weekends. With 2 adults and a 9yo boy, we ordered several dishes, grilled unagi, meatballs, chicken wings, chicken liver, pork belly, grilled okra, grilled Yellowtail, collarbone, beef tongue. The liver was a hit with my 9yo, it was so flavorful he asked for more. Unagi, meatballs, beef tongue and pork belly are also delicious and we repeated our orders for these. Overall, they did a great grilling.

It is a small place and the restaurant maximizes the space. It can feel tight though it did not bother us. We were able to call ahead to reserve a table for 6pm on a Saturday. This is a plus and we did not need to wait for a table.

We spent $250 with a mock tail for my kid and apple shochu for the adults. We will come back again!

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 5

At Torihei Yakitori Robata Dining, there's plenty of parking available outside, while the inside of the restaurant was small but cozy. I recommend making a reservation due to the limited seating.
There are many appetizers, skewers, and sake available on their menu. Once we ordered, the food came out fast. The beef tongue skewer was very good. It was tender and paired nicely with the wasabi sauce. The chicken thigh with green onion could have been grilled more, however.
Overall I had a good experience dining in this yakitori restaurant.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 4

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Rice \u0026 Beef Tongue Soup Set

Don’t judge a book by the cover. This place is so yummy! Looks old outside and you can’t even see inside the restaurant. All the dishes we ordered were so delicious and I think is better than some of the places I been in Japan. Will definitely go back. Thanks so much for your hospitality! 🥂🌸

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 5

Our little piece of Nihon heaven my wife and I truly love this place

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Great Yakitori however the restaurant forces you to purchase water or a drink. They are in violation of California Code of Regulations, Title 23, section 864(b)(1) which requires restaurants to provide free water if requested.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 5

Amazing yakitori izakaya! The charcoal-grilled skewers are delicious and very affordable. My favorite is their homemade chicken liver paste — absolutely must-try! The place is always busy, so I recommend making a reservation in advance. Great food and lively atmosphere, highly recommend!

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

As authentic yakitori as you can get in LA – great food, friendly Japanese service, and they don’t rush you. The food is served slowly, which is a nice touch.

The only downside is that it can get expensive if you want to eat a lot, like at KBBQ, so it’s more of a slow-paced, savor-and-enjoy kind of experience. Also please make water free 🙏

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

This is probably one of the best yakitori places in all of LA.

The yakitori and variety of choices is amazing here. You have so many choices of what you'd like to try and they're all very good. The chicken meatball was very tender and delicious the beef tongue was awesome. We also got the beef short ribs and grilled squid which were excellent and not overly savory. The tako-wasa was also very good.

The staff was very attentive on the items we got and we were able to order more we needed..keep in mind the food does take some time to come and you will end up spending a fair amount of time to eat but it's very enjoyable. Reservations are highly recommended as it gets packed and the wait can be up to 1.5 hrs or no reservations at all day of.

The restaurant is your general Japanese style decor with staff greeting you and serving you. The staff also knows Japanese if you happen to speak the language.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Recommended dishes: Grilled Squid Ika-Yaki No Legs Part, Torihei Meatball, Fried Jidori Chicken Kara-Age, Wagyu Beef Tataki, Raw Octopus with Wasabi Tako-Wasa, Marinated Quail Eggs

A few weeks back we had such an amazing and delicious authentic Japanese Yakitori izakaya experience, @torihei_yakitori in Torrance, Ca.
Torihei Yakitori Robata Dining refers to a very specific way of preparing dishes by cooking the food on skewers over a bed of hot coals. I love this place , and definitely going back for more! #foodie #whatchefsliketoeat #whereiliketoeat #izakaya #yakitorirobata #toriheiyakitorirobatadining #torrance #california #southbay #foodporn #chef #foodlover #foodporn #foodstagram

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 4

Recommended dishes: Yakitori SP Best Seller, Torihei Meatball, Salad, Sausages 2pc, Liver, Yellow Tail Sashimi

Not what it used to be. when making reservation for 7 was expecting at least 2 hrs wait but was accepted right away. Sat down and realized why place is empty now.
First thing they charge $1 for water! And they changed the menu. Was pretty flabbergasted that they charge for water so we only ate one skewer each, had 3 glasses of beer and left for another restaurant.

It took 20 minutes just for someone to come take our order.

The yakitori didn’t taste anything like it used to — it used to have that authentic Japanese charcoal-grilled flavor, but now it’s just overly sweet and tastes like the meat was boiled and then dried out. The texture was also disappointing.

We ordered 16 skewers, but they came out so late that we had to ask about them. One server told us all the skewers had already been served, but another server brought the missing ones right after. Only then did they realize a mistake had been made and double-checked the order.

When we said it was taking too long and asked to cancel the skewers, the staff claimed they were already on the grill and couldn’t be canceled.
Since we were sitting at the bar, we could clearly see that wasn’t true. They hadn’t even started cooking them yet. When we asked why they were lying, the manager just said it was a “miscommunication” and didn’t even apologize.

The flavor is no longer the same, the service was rude, and the staff seemed more focused on pushing out food than actually taking care of customers. It was a frustrating and unpleasant experience. We won’t be coming back.

Atmosphere: 2

Food: 1

Service: 1

All items ordered and served were delicious. We recommend chicken wings, chicken meat balls, gizzards, beef tongue, sliced beef salad, and beef soup. Gizzards were done just right. Beef tongue was tender. This restaurant also sell a small sample of their special sauce/dip. I think it's soy based fermented with fish (of course i don't know their secret ingredients, just guessing), it's good to try with their meat yakitori dishes. We'll be back. Lastly, best to make reservations ahead of time.

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

Good but overpriced

Skewers came out perfect, tender and juicy. Rice is made perfectly. Service is quick and warm

Atmosphere: 5

Food: 5

Service: 5

The food here is really good. I came in on a friday night and got seated right away. They basically give you a paper with the options and you mark off what you want to order. They also have a separate menu for things like drinks and specials, but a majority of your ordering will happen on the slip of paper. Once ordered, they start bringing out your food. I thought that the service was pretty slow and it took them a while to actually get food out. They started slowly trickling the food in so it's hard to tell when you have received all the things you ordered. My party just assumed that they were done and we only got the confirmation when we went to the front to pay. Besides that, we would have never known if we received all of our food or not. It's a place that serves alcohol in a tight knit restaurant, so people are going to be loud. Overall, the food was good.

Atmosphere: 4

Food: 5

Service: 3