We didn't need to wait on a friday night for a table for two. The ambiance was very lively. I ordered the sake chazuke and the grilled mentai onigiri. The sake chazuke was basically a Japanese version of congee. It was very flavorful, with a bit of wasabi on the side. The salmon was portion was just enough to have with the rice. The grilled onigiri was not my cup of tea. There was much more rice than filling and the filling was too salty for me. Maybe it'd be better if I got it with a different filling. I also had the kirin light which is a better tasting beer than heineken or corona, but it didn't give me that buzz I needed because of its low alcohol content.
Kiyoshi S.
10/10 rustic izakaya atmosphere. 3/10 food. If the food was better, this would be a great option for late night snacking in St. Marks. Prices are decent and the menu includes bbq skewers, curries, ramen, rice bowls, appetizers, alcohol, etc. Reminds me of kenka and village yokocho nearby. Authentic Japanese izakaya atmosphere. All the food seems to go well with beer or alcohol as it's very salty. Limited seating with less than ten tables, and some bar seating. @ Tako wasabi (5/5) - chilled raw octopus pieces in wasabi, good if you enjoy slimy chewy raw octopus with wasabi to cut any fishiness, yum as expected @ okonomiyaki (0/5) - a warm hunk of a pancake, mushy inside, tough outside, not enough sauce/flavor to make up for bland batter and vege inside, not at all enjoyable @ oh Taisho don (3.5/5) - saucy tangy salty pork cutlets, meat is bouncy the way I like, rice covered in the punchy sauce, not enough rice for the amount of salty sauce @ yakitori set A (3/5) - includes two of each- pork belly, chicken gizzard, chicken meat, chicken meatball, chicken skin. I liked the skin (crispy, tender, clean tasting), gizzard (trimmed neatly, some tender), and meatball (mild flavor, soft). The belly was dry. Yakitori seems to be the speciality here. @ age takoyaki (2.5/5) - deep fried takoyaki (potato starch?), so probably frozen takoyaki fried again like karaage, wasn't gooey as it should be, plenty of octopus inside mine though tl;dr decent drinking izakaya, food is all mediocre or below expectations, only thing I could recommend is the skewers and pork cutlets
Wendy J.
If there were the 0 start option I will definitely choose that one.. starting from the service that is bad, second of all the food is not that good and very small portions. I would not recommend you this restaurant. Asked to speak to the manager and the waiter didn't want to and basically just ignore. Please save your money and go to a different place.
Jessee V.
Disappointed. I've been here a few times and their food has not been consistent. First time, the food came out cold. Second time, it was good. But this most recent time has been the worst experience by far. We were served raw shrimp and raw pork. Our server was great and was just as surprised as we were about the raw pieces.
Randi L.
Located at St Marks place NYC, popular hangout place. The stmosphere was okay, but the seats are kinda tight. Service and food was good, which are the traditional Japanese style, with lots of variety and reasonable prices.
Ti W.
Food was great, environment was extremely crowded and noisy. They used to have two restaurants in East Village but closed one after COVID. I can imagine if they spread out the people it would be a much better experience for everyone. Nevertheless, the food was the reason I kept coming back. Here you could enjoy some of the most commonly seen and well-cooked Izakaya-style food.
Adam Harvey
Very disappointing! Got my staples to try (Takoyaki + okonomiyaki), plus some yakitori (beef tongue, meatballs, garlic, and scallion). The Takoyaki was noticeably raw/doughy inside. When I politely noted this, i received the same 4 pieces of my original 6 "cooked more." That's just cheap & unacceptable. Restaurants that take pride in their cooking simply don't return the same dish back to the customer after throwing it back into the same cooking vessel a second time for 20 more seconds.The Ononomiyaki was cooked just enough, but was suspiciously "thick" in size. That's because it was packed with an unnatural amount of flour as filler.The meatball yakitori was good. The tongue was inedibly chewy, the garlic was basically half-raw pieces of whole garlic in their grill-burnt shells, and the scallions were actually great.The best part of this meal were a couple of thin pieces of scallions on a stick. I'm sure there's other stuff here that's great, but these are basic dishes for this type of Japanese bar food cuisine. This place has been here for years. Maybe they just lost the spark.
Brandon Wang
Pretty affordable. They seemed stressed out, so maybe some of it is nerves from COVID. They got our order wrong and accused us of ordering a $75 dish that we didn't. We ended up paying for it after getting yelled at. Don't think we'll be coming back.
Han W.
This is a famous place in east village I went before the covid tho and the price is very affordable and taste i think is above average And yakitori is delicious
Josephine P.
oh taisho? more like oh tight yo! *set menu is a value trap. be aware u will get for set c two stick of skinny shrimp, two baby pepper stick, two stick of salted scallion, half a mushroom split into two sticks and a bed of raw cabbage, unseasoned just fluffing the plate. will only cost you $30+ after tip and tax. come here if u want some over salted $3 scallion on a stick! and a plain 'ol half raw mushroom (with 1:1 salt to mushroom ratio) for also; you guessed it... $3 on a stick! and lil green pepper with (1:1 salt to pepper ratio) for ANOTHER $3 on a stick! actual critic says "when i first saw the scallion on a stick, i thought it must have been picked out of God's garden or something."
Came here on a first date because he swore it was one of the best restaurants in the city. To be quite honest, this was one of the worst I've been to.. He ordered us a variety of skewers of different meat. We ended up with about $50 worth of food (not sure how that happened as this place was supposed to be cheap..) Every single piece of meat I put in my mouth was cold and under seasoned and had no sauce whatsoever. It was flavorless food with some off putting textures. The apple cocktail we got tasted like medicine and that's being kind. The tables are not distanced at all and the table they had us sitting at was next to a door that led downstairs. Servers and staff kept needing to go downstairs and they would hit me in the back with the door or get me to stand up for them to go downstairs. Our server was very friendly and helped answer our questions but that was the only redeeming quality of this place in my eyes. Personally, I won't be back. 2/5
Alice L.
It's good for a light dinner. The restaurant is very small so I don't recommend going with a group larger than four. My friends and I got here around 6 pm and had Party set. It was good for three people to share. We also had a set A for our fourth friend. Honestly, I didn't have too great of a time here. The skewers were very oily and did not taste good. There were flies flying around. It was dirty and cramped. The okonomiyaki was alright. It was more mushy than crispy. The only item on the menu I enjoyed was the charsiu avocado. That was delicious.
Chiaoyi Chang
The cream & salmon stir fry noodle (there is a name but I forget) is rich and delicious!! Highly recommend.Also, seasoning of the octopus is great!
Deirdre L.
Glad that this place has survived pandemic times. A St. Mark's staple that has been around forever. Love the okinomiyaki & the karaage!! If you're into chicken skins, yakitori & all the fun skewers - this place is for you. Try to get there with your full party or you won't be seated. Good place to go with good friends where you will be happy sharing everything.
Joyce C.
Mediocre food at best. The food I would've given a 3/5 but the service was awful. We ordered individual skewers rather than sets because I was not a fan of the options in the sets. We had asked for 8 different skewers and didnt realize that when the food came out there were only 7 on the plate. After spending time differentiating what was what, we had come to the conclusion that the chicken heart was missing. We tried flagging the waiter down for the longest time, in which he never ended up coming to our table. I get that it was super busy, but sitting in a restaurant for a whole hour and not even having the waiter check in on you even once is aggravating. Even when they acknowledged that we called him over and said he would be over. After relentlessly trying to get the waiters attention, the final skewer that we thought was missing came out, a single skewer on the plate. This wasnt our waiter who brought it to us but a worker from the kitchen. The worker never told us that the last one was coming out separately but nevertheless it was a chicken skewer and not chicken. We once again tried to flag our waiter down with no avail, and called the same worker that brought the chicken skewer out. We explained the situation that they gave the wrong order and were willing to pay for the one they accidentally sent out but wanted an adjustment on the price since the chicken heart skewer cost a whole dollar more than the others. He refused and told us that we were mistaken and didn't know what we were talking about, without even considering that it was a possibility they made a mistake. On top of that the skewers weren't anything special. It was meat grilled on a stick that was unseasoned. A good amount of it was burnt. And 4 tiny pieces of scallion on a stick for $2. Not a big fan of this place, would not say the wait is worth it.
We didn't need to wait on a friday night for a table for two. The ambiance was very lively. I ordered the sake chazuke and the grilled mentai onigiri. The sake chazuke was basically a Japanese version of congee. It was very flavorful, with a bit of wasabi on the side. The salmon was portion was just enough to have with the rice. The grilled onigiri was not my cup of tea. There was much more rice than filling and the filling was too salty for me. Maybe it'd be better if I got it with a different filling. I also had the kirin light which is a better tasting beer than heineken or corona, but it didn't give me that buzz I needed because of its low alcohol content.
10/10 rustic izakaya atmosphere. 3/10 food. If the food was better, this would be a great option for late night snacking in St. Marks. Prices are decent and the menu includes bbq skewers, curries, ramen, rice bowls, appetizers, alcohol, etc. Reminds me of kenka and village yokocho nearby. Authentic Japanese izakaya atmosphere. All the food seems to go well with beer or alcohol as it's very salty. Limited seating with less than ten tables, and some bar seating. @ Tako wasabi (5/5) - chilled raw octopus pieces in wasabi, good if you enjoy slimy chewy raw octopus with wasabi to cut any fishiness, yum as expected @ okonomiyaki (0/5) - a warm hunk of a pancake, mushy inside, tough outside, not enough sauce/flavor to make up for bland batter and vege inside, not at all enjoyable @ oh Taisho don (3.5/5) - saucy tangy salty pork cutlets, meat is bouncy the way I like, rice covered in the punchy sauce, not enough rice for the amount of salty sauce @ yakitori set A (3/5) - includes two of each- pork belly, chicken gizzard, chicken meat, chicken meatball, chicken skin. I liked the skin (crispy, tender, clean tasting), gizzard (trimmed neatly, some tender), and meatball (mild flavor, soft). The belly was dry. Yakitori seems to be the speciality here. @ age takoyaki (2.5/5) - deep fried takoyaki (potato starch?), so probably frozen takoyaki fried again like karaage, wasn't gooey as it should be, plenty of octopus inside mine though tl;dr decent drinking izakaya, food is all mediocre or below expectations, only thing I could recommend is the skewers and pork cutlets
If there were the 0 start option I will definitely choose that one.. starting from the service that is bad, second of all the food is not that good and very small portions. I would not recommend you this restaurant. Asked to speak to the manager and the waiter didn't want to and basically just ignore. Please save your money and go to a different place.
Disappointed. I've been here a few times and their food has not been consistent. First time, the food came out cold. Second time, it was good. But this most recent time has been the worst experience by far. We were served raw shrimp and raw pork. Our server was great and was just as surprised as we were about the raw pieces.
Located at St Marks place NYC, popular hangout place. The stmosphere was okay, but the seats are kinda tight. Service and food was good, which are the traditional Japanese style, with lots of variety and reasonable prices.
Food was great, environment was extremely crowded and noisy. They used to have two restaurants in East Village but closed one after COVID. I can imagine if they spread out the people it would be a much better experience for everyone. Nevertheless, the food was the reason I kept coming back. Here you could enjoy some of the most commonly seen and well-cooked Izakaya-style food.
Very disappointing! Got my staples to try (Takoyaki + okonomiyaki), plus some yakitori (beef tongue, meatballs, garlic, and scallion). The Takoyaki was noticeably raw/doughy inside. When I politely noted this, i received the same 4 pieces of my original 6 "cooked more." That's just cheap & unacceptable. Restaurants that take pride in their cooking simply don't return the same dish back to the customer after throwing it back into the same cooking vessel a second time for 20 more seconds.The Ononomiyaki was cooked just enough, but was suspiciously "thick" in size. That's because it was packed with an unnatural amount of flour as filler.The meatball yakitori was good. The tongue was inedibly chewy, the garlic was basically half-raw pieces of whole garlic in their grill-burnt shells, and the scallions were actually great.The best part of this meal were a couple of thin pieces of scallions on a stick. I'm sure there's other stuff here that's great, but these are basic dishes for this type of Japanese bar food cuisine. This place has been here for years. Maybe they just lost the spark.
Pretty affordable. They seemed stressed out, so maybe some of it is nerves from COVID. They got our order wrong and accused us of ordering a $75 dish that we didn't. We ended up paying for it after getting yelled at. Don't think we'll be coming back.
This is a famous place in east village I went before the covid tho and the price is very affordable and taste i think is above average And yakitori is delicious
oh taisho? more like oh tight yo! *set menu is a value trap. be aware u will get for set c two stick of skinny shrimp, two baby pepper stick, two stick of salted scallion, half a mushroom split into two sticks and a bed of raw cabbage, unseasoned just fluffing the plate. will only cost you $30+ after tip and tax. come here if u want some over salted $3 scallion on a stick! and a plain 'ol half raw mushroom (with 1:1 salt to mushroom ratio) for also; you guessed it... $3 on a stick! and lil green pepper with (1:1 salt to pepper ratio) for ANOTHER $3 on a stick! actual critic says "when i first saw the scallion on a stick, i thought it must have been picked out of God's garden or something."
Restaurantji Recommends
Came here on a first date because he swore it was one of the best restaurants in the city. To be quite honest, this was one of the worst I've been to.. He ordered us a variety of skewers of different meat. We ended up with about $50 worth of food (not sure how that happened as this place was supposed to be cheap..) Every single piece of meat I put in my mouth was cold and under seasoned and had no sauce whatsoever. It was flavorless food with some off putting textures. The apple cocktail we got tasted like medicine and that's being kind. The tables are not distanced at all and the table they had us sitting at was next to a door that led downstairs. Servers and staff kept needing to go downstairs and they would hit me in the back with the door or get me to stand up for them to go downstairs. Our server was very friendly and helped answer our questions but that was the only redeeming quality of this place in my eyes. Personally, I won't be back. 2/5
It's good for a light dinner. The restaurant is very small so I don't recommend going with a group larger than four. My friends and I got here around 6 pm and had Party set. It was good for three people to share. We also had a set A for our fourth friend. Honestly, I didn't have too great of a time here. The skewers were very oily and did not taste good. There were flies flying around. It was dirty and cramped. The okonomiyaki was alright. It was more mushy than crispy. The only item on the menu I enjoyed was the charsiu avocado. That was delicious.
The cream & salmon stir fry noodle (there is a name but I forget) is rich and delicious!! Highly recommend.Also, seasoning of the octopus is great!
Glad that this place has survived pandemic times. A St. Mark's staple that has been around forever. Love the okinomiyaki & the karaage!! If you're into chicken skins, yakitori & all the fun skewers - this place is for you. Try to get there with your full party or you won't be seated. Good place to go with good friends where you will be happy sharing everything.
Mediocre food at best. The food I would've given a 3/5 but the service was awful. We ordered individual skewers rather than sets because I was not a fan of the options in the sets. We had asked for 8 different skewers and didnt realize that when the food came out there were only 7 on the plate. After spending time differentiating what was what, we had come to the conclusion that the chicken heart was missing. We tried flagging the waiter down for the longest time, in which he never ended up coming to our table. I get that it was super busy, but sitting in a restaurant for a whole hour and not even having the waiter check in on you even once is aggravating. Even when they acknowledged that we called him over and said he would be over. After relentlessly trying to get the waiters attention, the final skewer that we thought was missing came out, a single skewer on the plate. This wasnt our waiter who brought it to us but a worker from the kitchen. The worker never told us that the last one was coming out separately but nevertheless it was a chicken skewer and not chicken. We once again tried to flag our waiter down with no avail, and called the same worker that brought the chicken skewer out. We explained the situation that they gave the wrong order and were willing to pay for the one they accidentally sent out but wanted an adjustment on the price since the chicken heart skewer cost a whole dollar more than the others. He refused and told us that we were mistaken and didn't know what we were talking about, without even considering that it was a possibility they made a mistake. On top of that the skewers weren't anything special. It was meat grilled on a stick that was unseasoned. A good amount of it was burnt. And 4 tiny pieces of scallion on a stick for $2. Not a big fan of this place, would not say the wait is worth it.