Izakaya Ajito

They currently only have takeout. The menu is pretty big with some inventive dishes. The food is delicious (even after you take it home). The Salmon Poke, the seafood bento, and the chicken bento are all great. For appetizers the akedashi tofu and chicken wings are great as well. The menu has few vegetarian restaurants, but there is always kappa maki. Even for a Japanese restaurant, a little pricey. But, food is delicious.

I came here with my family on a Sunday night and we didn’t have a reservation but we waited around 20-30 minutes to get seated. Vibe: the place has a hipster vibe, the lighting is darker than most places but is very clean Service: the food came relatively quickly, though they forgot one of the dishes we ordered so we had to remind them Food: we got the salmon avocado tartare and the squid ink udon and the risotto, beef tongue stew, chicken skin skewer, salmon skin salad, daikon mochi, and yellowtail fish. The beef tongue stew and chicken skin skewer and risotto stood out the most as interesting and flavorful dishes — the chicken skin skewer was perfectly crispy and savory and the stew was cooked to a tender texture and had nice baguettes to absorb the flavor. The risotto was prepared in front of us on a cheesy base and was very tasty though the portion size was smaller. The salmon avocado tartar was decent but was quite small, the chips were a nice touch and the sauce was flavorful. It almost tasted like an unrolled salmon avocado sushi with chips instead of rice. The daikon mochi was decent but I didn’t quite find the fried savory taste as good as if it had red bean instead inside. The udon was quite good but also small in portion size and had a good kick to it with the flavorful ink. Overall, enjoyed the experience, unclear if I’ll go ahead but the food was very beautiful and it’s definitely a unique experience.

A yakitori restaurant, with kind of a dark ambience which I didn't quite enjoy. As with almost all yaki styled restaurants, the ventilation is always a problem, felt like we were in the kitchen. Ordered a good variety of appetizers. Tell you the truth, nothing stood out. The dishes were all very average, chicken skewers were so so, the rice balls were extremely salty, though the rice was ok tasting. Beef tongue was tough. Kind of disappointing!

Food: 4/5 Consistent food, new experimental dishes once in a while Service: 4/5 Could feel understaffed when it was super busy Value: 4/5 Reasonable price given the quality of the food Ambiance: 4/5 Table seating available Used to frequent the location while I was still living in the Bay Area, 3rd favorite kushiyaki restaurant after Gaku and Sumiya. The quality of the food was a consistent, there were seasonal items that were listed on the menu on the chalkboard, the owner would always work on new dishes to improve the selection of dishes on the menu. Service was generally good as long as it wasn't too busy with customers. Glad to read that this establishment is still around.

One of my favorite lunch places! There are always so many great lunch combo choices and you just want to try them all! Foods are prepared with right seasoning and time with good flavors and healthy combinations. Service is a little bit slow when there are a lot of people eating. Come before 12pm for lunch when there are plenty of empty seats. Around dinner time, the wait is usually longer, probably 30-40min. The location is easy to find and there’s a small parking lot.

Making a reservation is recommended since it is usually crowded when I visit. This Japanese izakaya is probably the best in the bay area compared to other izakayas I've been to. The service is fast. And the food here are generally good. All that we ordered were delicious except the fried fish since it was way too salty. All I could taste was the salt. My favourite dish is the Salmon Tartare. It is a must-have. I will for sure come back to try other things on the menu.