Village Yokocho

07/09/2008 Posted by natsuko82

I've been coming here for years. I've worked in the area and understand that the clientele at yokocho leaves much to be desired - college students, newbies to the tipping culture and general cheapskates who failed to learn basic manners and tipping norms - 20% at least children. Anyways, the clientele generally leaves much to be desired, so I understand if my waiters don''t give 5 star service. It's ridiculous to expect Masa level service when the clientele doesn't warrant it. However, the service I recieved here was so abominable that I had to comment. Generally, the wait staff is fast, efficient and friendly. However, this new waitress made me want to do the unthinkable - tip one penny. I think I've seen her before at Sobaya and am pretty sure she was fired for her poor attitude. Well, the attitude has followed her and she ruined our evening. We come to yokocho at least once a week, but this girl was ridiculous, and we are considering Taisho just so we can avoid her. She failed to bring our drinks, had a terrible attitude - as though she couldn't fathom the fact she had to talk to people, and that she was inherently better than us, and constantly ignored us, though she watched us, laughing, while we tried to get her attention, yet failed to acknowledge us. For some reason she found our attempts to signal her hilarious, and carried on with whatever it was that had amused her. This in addition to her failing to place (forgetting) some of our orders. Perhaps this girl doesn't need a job badly enough to do it competently, or perhaps she just hates people in general. Whatever the case, the "service" industry does not seem to be one which she is suited for - to be honest, any work where she must interact with people does not seem to be one for which she is suited to. / The management should have a talk with this rude girl and retrain / re-educate her. Management should retrain or re-educate her because she is clearly an unfit and terribly rude waitress.

06/25/2008 Posted by datingfiend134

It pains me to write this review because I've been eating at Yoko Cho for about 8 years now. I've turned a blind eye to the fact that it is a dirty establishment (have you seen the bathrooms???), because I like the food so much. Tonight I went with my friends and I found a hair BAKED IN my seafood pancake. And then I look up and behind my friend is a CREEPY INSECT crawling on the wall. (I had to type "creepy insect" because they censored me on the real word for it -- cockr*ach). It then crawled onto our TABLE and my friend smashed it. Needless to say our appetites were ruined, but we tried to be sensitive and discreetly told our waiter about both... and although he was apologetic, he brought the bill with a FULL CHARGE. We're not trying to scam a free (hairy) meal in the least but to have such extreme unsantitary conditions so obvious -- well, they are really lucky we didn't cause a scene. It was gross. After 8 loyal years, I won't go back and I urge you to pay close attention to cleanliness if you do.

Cons: Hair in food, creepy crawlers in plain sight

03/13/2008 Posted by joebartender

Yokocho is definitely not what i remembered. Ive been going there for the past 7 years and it always felt like a hidden little gem. The food used to be great and service was always friendly and personal. Its also pretty cool that theres a bar located on the same floor called angels share. I actually got to know one of the waiters, this cool japanese dude named Toshi, who left for hawaii i believe a couple yrs ago.... but I recently went out with a couple of friends and suggested Yokocho.....and boy has this place changed. I didnt recognize any of the new waiters except for mabye one or two of the females...the new waiters seemed like they didnt know what they were doing and one of them was plain out rude...we ended up waiting 45 minutes to be sat next to the kitchen in the back which wasnt all that terrible except for the fact that they left the door to the balcony open and we had freezing gusts of wind blowing in our face the whole meal. In the oden (hotpot) i ordered the daikon radish was actually cold....This used to be a place with close friends and a good time....

Pros: Bar next door, Cheap Sake

Cons: Terrible wait staff

01/18/2008 Posted by Lizisit

This place is awesome, the service is a bit slow and unattentive, but who cares when you are sipping on a glass of Shochu and oolong tea. Try the grilled squid legs, yum yum and all the yakitoris are amazing. I still have yet to try the huge bowl of clams in broth my friend had once. Great place and I saw the fabulous Jamie Lidell eating right across from me ( talk about Eye Candy) A freakin' plus!!!!!!

Pros: Shochu and oolong tea

Cons: service

12/06/2006 Posted by pminty

Now that I've lived in Tokyo, I can say Yokocho is authentic, the real deal. Every Japanese person I met in Tokyo who's been to NYC knows Yokocho. My friends and I have been eating at this place for 10+ years. We used to come at least once a week, up to 4x/wk. While the service is not as good as it used to be (where's the "irrasshyaimasei!!" when you walk in the door?) and the staff while still all-Japanese has completely changed guard (except for Mari who's part of the original crew), the food is as good as it's always been. My faves include yakiniku (beef yakitori), yaki anything on a stick, asari butta (clams in butter), spicy squid legs, deep fried squid legs, seaweed salad, karage (fried chicken), and ice cold nama biru (Kirin of course). To qualify as a true izakaya, they could use a better selection of sake (there's only 1 or 2 mediocre, mama sakes). I'm getting hungry just thinking about the food, going there again tonight. Can't wait!

Pros: Food, Ambience

Cons: Wait time can be long especially with groups bigger than 4

12/03/2006 Posted by kingjofa

I have been going to this restaurant for over 10 years now and can honestly say that the quality of service and quality of food has declined tremendously. The waiters are rude and will make you wait a long time before the arrival of not only your food but a simple glass of water... 20 minutes is a long time to wait especially just to take an order when there were only about 5 full tables there to begin with and a full serving staff readily available. To top it all off, they will take the right order but bring you the wrong food and claim it was not that individual himself that took the order. It is unclear why it matters who took the original order. They will just put everything down on your table without asking who ordered what. Yet, it is amazing how fast the check comes at the end of the horrible meal. I regret the necessity of this review but am greatly disappointed with this restaurant as I have eaten here as both a NYU student and now as a professional. What a great shame... it used to be my favorite restaurant.

Pros: none

Cons: everything

09/08/2006 Posted by b00pi3flak3s

Its not all about sushi as this place is probably one of the more authentic and less explored Japanese yakiniku options in the city. Order in small plates and come in larger groups as the place is very friendly like that. The cream croquettes are the bomb.

Pros: Service, Food, Decor

Cons: Location, Hours

08/02/2006 Posted by hayashimomo

my sister and i always go for kaisendon and satisfy my yamaimo cravings. i'm not a fan of the okonomiyaki here but the prices are very reasonable and we always leave happy! seared fatty salmon is yumm and they have my favorite oo-long hai! HAI!!

07/15/2006 Posted by oscar725

love the food. it's the only place you can get yummy authentic japanese comfort food. it helps if you know what to order. and you can't beat the prices. highly recommended.

Pros: food and price

05/01/2006 Posted by yakkers

came to the restaurant with three friends on a quiet sunday afternoon. great looking place with a wide assortment of wonderful food. great yakitori, even better to try the raw crab and fried tofu.