I hate to write this but I had to voice my disappointment. I've been coming here with wife and friends for many years now. Everything has always been good. Love the food, the prices, and the vast... More

I hate to write this but I had to voice my disappointment. I've been coming here with wife and friends for many years now. Everything has always been good. Love the food, the prices, and the vast menu. We mainly go for the grill table but now the place is so popular you can't get a grill table, not even at 7pm! I had asked not too long ago about making reservations and they told me they didn't take reservations. This last time I went in at 7pm, which we had to do last 2 times to get a seat, we couldn't be seated because they said all the tables were reserved till 10pm. So what's the story, you do or don't take reservations!? And there was NOBODY seated at ANY of the grill tables. The service is also often poor with it taking forever to get your server's attention. They also don't clean off the grills well, we often find dried pieces of food still stuck on the grill. This place is getting to be too much of a headache to try to eat at. It was once a gem, but now it's getting just too hard to eat there. Pros: Real charcoal grill, inexpensive, tons of menu items Cons: Can't ever get a table, not too clean, sometimes poor servic
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I love this place. The food is so delicious you can order anything, even strange sounding things are amazing. And it has such a great vibe, from the moment you sit down you just feel... More

I love this place. The food is so delicious you can order anything, even strange sounding things are amazing. And it has such a great vibe, from the moment you sit down you just feel happy! Pros: Service , Food is amazing Cons: there might be a line (well worth the wait)
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found a centipede in my diet coke, it is disgusting. the waiter were quick to address the problem with 20% discount of my entire meal. it is not anyone's fault but just the sanistation in the... More

found a centipede in my diet coke, it is disgusting. the waiter were quick to address the problem with 20% discount of my entire meal. it is not anyone's fault but just the sanistation in the restaurant is horrible. avoid this place if you can and and save yourself from potentially food poisoned with these hazardous insect. the yakitori portion were really small as compared to taishyo or other japanese restaurant alike around the area. the food in this restaurant is not bad but not superior either. won't comeback again Pros: good waitstaff Cons: found centipede in diet coke, small portion
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Village Yokocho is rather hard to find since they are located on the second floor. It is in the building next to the bookstore on the corner with a Japanese grocery store on top. They are a typical... More

Village Yokocho is rather hard to find since they are located on the second floor. It is in the building next to the bookstore on the corner with a Japanese grocery store on top. They are a typical Japanese Izakaya serving small family style dishes from grilled fish to yakitori. They also serve Korean BBQ. Price is great but be aware that you may have to wait for a long time.
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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... More

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.
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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???),... More

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
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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... More

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
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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... More

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
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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... More

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
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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... More

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
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