East Village Izakiya's

Village Yokocho
Ugh, finally a yakitori place with yakitori that I am actually impressed with. We had no wait for our party of 3 at around 8 on a Wednesday. We split a combo of the meat yakitoris, the skewers were flavorful and cooked well, not overcooked as I have found at other places. We also had a veggie tempura combo, all skewers were also good. We had a simple spicy noodle dish that was a good choice to cut the grease from the other selections. We all tried different shochu cocktails; oolong tea- no no no, lychee calpico- very nice, the japan- amazing, though in a smaller glass than the others.

8 Stuyvesant St

Oh! Taisho
Sometimes I feel like I make mistakes while ordering at these type of establishments. I ordered the sweet and sour pork belly here and that was definitely a good call, especially at $6.50 for a nice sized plate. Add a little bottle of sake to share with a friend, lively atmosphere, and the adorable men working the grill, and it was a perfect first stop on our sake bar hopping night.

9 St Marks Place


Yakitori Taisho
Got there early enough on a Monday and there was no wait at all. It was fun sitting at the counter and watching the sexy men prepare my food. The food was cheap, yes- but not quite as good as I hoped. The bacon wrapped scallop was definitely not a scallop, honestly, I have no idea what the hell that bacon was wrapping. The chicken meatballs were a favorite, chicken skin could have been crispier. Great potato salad that came with our entree of 5 yakatori skewers along with miso soup, turnip, salad, and some questionably spaghetti. The deep fried squid was ok. Nicely priced fun vodka drinks. I would come back, I would just need to drink a lot more before eating to really enjoy the place as it should be enjoyed.

5 Saint Marks Pl


Sake Bar Decibel
The first time I stumbled in here was on an outing with the family- it was not really the place for us but I vowed to come back. When I finally gathered friends and made it past the rope, I definitely liked the purposely sketchy setting and it more than impressed my friends. It didn't seem to be a place for eating, so we just snacked on edamame (which I absolutely HATE ordering at restaurants because its so damn cheap to just make at home)I enjoy sake and I know which descriptions sound better to me, so I appreciated the narratives on the sake menu that led us to good choices. That being said, it could get pricey and would best serve as a stop over for one drink type of place- as long as you meet the $8/p person minimum.

240 E 9th Street