Izakaya joints are not your traditional North American Japanese restaurant with all-you-can-eat sushi, but rather, they are Japanese tapas bars, which specialize in serving a wide variety of alcoholic (and non-alcoholic) drinks. Food is meant to be shared and enjoyed with your party. Say sayōnara to the bento box, and say kon'nichiwa to izakaya!
They serve up a slew of saké, shochu, plum and regular wines, as well as their proprietary cocktails, like the shochu mojito and the green cow maccha latte. To go along with this great selection of drinks, they prepare Japanese carpaccio called tataki, skewers of various meats and the more traditional Japanese fare.
Robata is fireside-cooking or Japanese-style BBQ, if you will. To go along with some great grills, there’s a fabulous selection of drinks. There’s also the option to try traditional and original tapas, such as saké twist with tofu twist; kikizake with kamikaze cocktail; plum wine with tataki; and dan dan with chicken kara-age.
With such a huge drink selection, you won’t know where to begin. Start with a little bit of everything - plum wine by the bottle or glass, different sakés (they have three-plus pages of options), Japanese beer, and other wines and cocktails. The tastiest items on the menu are the gyoza, anago rolls and sashimi martini.
Try the deep fried salmon head, salmon balls, seaweed salad and tempura. Oh, the tempura: yam, veggies, shrimp or if you like it all, mixed. Any item will go great with the saké and assorted cocktails.