Izakaya On Smith

I dined at Izakaya for the second time last night as I was desperate for a convenient ramen joint close to home. And I was sorely disappointed a second time. Their ramen is overly salty to the max and otherwise lacking in flavor. It’s hard to F up ramen but somehow they do. Their sashimi also does not taste super fresh. Perhaps their rolls are better? I definitely would not return which is too bad as I do like their décor and ambience. Another annoying part was my waiter could not handle basic English so it was very difficult to ask for anything on the menu, even something as simple as «water». I’m Asian from immigrant parents so it’s painful to write this but I think if you are in the service industry, you should hire staff who can communicate with the public on the most simple level.

As someone who works in the service industry, I can sometimes be a lil critical. Having said that, I am soooooo happy about my experience at Izakaya! Great service and the food is delicious. Iam actually sitting here eating my spicy tuna rolls and just finished the Pork Belly Bins (amaze-​balls) while sipping my Lychee-​tini.
As a solo diner, I prefer sitting at the bar. Charlie is supper sweet and knows how to pour an excellent drink! I’m thoroughly enjoying my meal and my time here

Sushi was very good, pork buns were good, everything else was just okay and the service was pretty slow.

This is my new favorite Japanese restaurant in Brooklyn. I’ve only had lunch time delivery from them so far, but I plan on visiting when/​if the snow clears. The delivery is speedy and the food is great. I love the rice balls and roast pork soup.

The sushi quality and experience of Izakaya is very much like those closer to Bensonhurst/​Bath Beach. Mediocre fish and overly salty soy sauce (that tasted like it comes straight from the bottle). Avoid the yakitori option of roe over grilled chicken. It’s just ugly and dumb to have cold roe over grilled chicken as the roe looks cooked.
Bathroom sink is broken with the ceramic patched up with cement.
Only difference is the prices are higher given the location.
Service was ok though, but we won’t be back.

While they’re a fusion restaurant, this is one of my favorite place to go, and order, sushi from in the neighborhood. It’s never too crowded, and the staff is always friendly, usually remembering us each time we come in. They go out of their way to make sure that you’re enjoying your meal and everything is to your liking. And they’re constantly refilling your water, which sounds minor, but it bothers me when I have to wait and wait for a glass of water at a restaurant. A+ for customer service.
I’m a big fan of the nigiri sushi in general, but we often order their tonkatsu ramen, their yellowtail jalapenso sashimi appetrizer, and the shrimp shumai — all very good, and decent sized portions. The value for you money is good — I typically spend about $ 20 – 25 on a meal which includes an appetizer or salad, a maki roll, and several pieces of sushi. Definitely recommend.

I guess they don’t do delivery well since most of the negative reviews seem to be for seamless but I really enjoyed Izakaya on Smith when I ate in there with family.
It’s not Hagi but it’s damn good and lets you stay local in BK if that’s your borough (and also I didn’t have to wait an hour for a table).
Izakaya on Smith has a nice variety of izakaya offerings from yakitori to ramen to onigiri to curry don, etc. I tried their ramen and liked it. Is it Ippudo, Momofuku, etc. Again no but it was solidly done for what it was. 10 bucks got me some tasty shoyu broth, a plethora of noodles, roast pork, a sizeable portion of fish cakes (it’s all about the fish cakes), menma, pickled ginger and some more goodies.
They also have entrée plates for people not interested in mixing and matching, etc., and the entrees are massive. Most of my family went for the black cod and it looked good.
I would certainly come back. Happy hour is 3 dollar Asahi drafts which isn’t bad imo. Couple that with skewers and ramen or whatever else you fancy and I’d say you’re in for Japanese pub food deliciousness.

Prom buns are aaaamazing extremely tender with a nice fluffy bun! Roman is way good to! Even more so for the price. I had the tan tan

Last summer me and the hubby went shopping on smith street and I saw the décor and fell in love with this place. Everytime I walk by I would just stare. Eventually we decided to try them out and it was pretty good food. So I definitely will return to try out some more food.

super slow service and bad food.
Ordered the brown rice salmon avocado and tuna avocado rolls, fish was ok but the rice was too hard.
my friend had their shumai and very very disappointed with it
Service was super slow, they only had a few tables, but it took a long time for everything to come out
Won’t be back again for sure

I will admit, I only order from these guys on Seamless… but this is the best delivery noodle joint in Brooklyn for sure. Just the right blend of salt and spice with lots of mix-​and-​match broth/​noodle options online.
The chicken udon is my fave… chicken is a little dry and broiled… which works well when it sits in broth for 45 minutes on the way to my house: Perfect texture and flavor.

I’d heard about Izakaya on Smith for a while, but hadn’t had a chance to visit. The reviews have been mixed here and elsewhere, but I thought I’d check it out for myself.
The menu has some interesting options, particularly the marinated pumpkin appetizer and the grilled ebi (shrimp) skewers. Unfortunately, the food is inconsistent. The shrimp skewers were so good I had to order another round. But the okonomiyaki was a profound disappointment — in fact it moves my vote from 3 to 2 stars. Okonomiyaki is usually this delicious stir fried and then grilled pile of noodles, cabbage, eggs, sauce, and meat or seafood. At this place it was a congealed doughy mess with no noodles or cabbage. It only qualified as okonomiyaki I suppose, because it had the correct toppings — dried bonito flakes, Japanese mayo, etc. but the insides were unrecognizable.
They now have a full bar so you can ignore the reviews that say it’s a BYOB place. The sake list is decent, but the shochu list is thin. The only barley shochu is actually triple distilled instead of single distilled (avoid it). Draft Asahi is probably the best drink choice.
All in all I was disappointed. I’m sure if I lived in the neighborhood it’d be a regular haunt for me, but I don’t think I’d travel to visit again unless I had another reason for being nearby.

It’s creative, fresh, the staff is friendly
and professional, and prices are very reasonable. l usually eat there (the place is cute) and tonight we ordered in. It took roughly 25 – 30 minutes. Btw, they do have their liquor license now. Good selection of beers on tap.

Gross.
I got excited when I saw hawaiian recipes on their menu, and thought, why not?
Bad choice. I ordered via seamless and they took an hour to show up. I eagerly opened up my seaweed salad and tuna poke (over rice) and was immediately suspicious. The tuna looked dull, and too dark, in fact, it looked old. The seaweed salad smelled funny. I know, seaweed isn’t exactly a perfume, but still, it was off.
I was so hungry that I scarfed everything down (despite my better judgement). I ended up wanting to barf, pretty badly. Thankfully I didn’t.
Never again. And what a shame to, I really wanted it to pan out!

Bad. I have given these guys several chances, and each time, Fail.
The food is really sub-​par compared to any other NYC Izakayas I can name. Food is the wrong temperature, it is heavy and greasy, it is smothered in mayonnaise, etc etc. Soup is bland, tasteless. They do so many things badly it is hard to zero in. Service is clueless. Although the place is always empty and the staff outnumbers the customers (they must be losing a lot of money) service is slow and perplexed.
One time I was told my sake was coming, over and over and over. «Is coming! Is coming!» It finally arrived at the end of the meal. They didn’t forget about it… they just… I don’t know… had to go buy it down the street? Didn’t have a bottle opener?
I am stunned that the management seems so clueless — the place is empty every night for a good reason. And the mgmt just doesn’t retool, try harder, get it together. I expect them to go out of business any day.
Let me add the one thing they got right, but it works all wrong. The idea in these beer halls is to play a wild assortment of punk, reggae, japanese pop, military marches, etc. When the place is packed full of young people chugging beer and eating bull testicles, it can make the atmosphere raucous and surreal fun. But here, when the place is usually empty except for one or two sad tables, the loud, bizarre music just comes off as annoying.

Came here on a sojourn to my old neighborhood and had a really lovely meal. I think because I know nothing of this particular chain or kind of Japanese restaurant that I didn’t walk in with expectations bound to make me disappointed.
My friend and I ordered some sushi and some other dishes. I have this thing for onigiri, so when I saw it on the menu my dinner plans were set. I loved every bite. My friend enjoyed her meal as well.
It’s sad that the place was so empty. Our waiter was very attentive and gave us good service. Only one other couple walked in while we were there. I guess the people of Cobble Hill are just too fancy for this…
I didn’t experience the terrible music others have mentioned.
Next time i make a trip back to the area to gorge myself at the Chocolate Room I’ll make a stop here as well. Hopefully it’s still around.

Loved using the Unilocal deal of $ 10 off $ 20. It made dinner that much better knowing we get $ 10 off.
Tuesday night — we were practically the only people in the restaurant so service was very good. They let us stay and chat long after the bill came.
I agree with Peter D., sushi should not be the reason you come here. Their yakitori (skewers) menu offers a good selection of things I’ve never tried before. I decided to try:
quail egg wrapped in bacon
scallops wrapped in bacon
pork belly
chicken skin
All of the above was delicious and definitely took 5 years off my life. The bacon was a little too fatty to my liking, but it was still delicious.
We also got the Angry Ocean roll to share — it was good.
On the side I got the salmon onigiri (rice ball).
½ a roll, a rice ball, 4 skewers were more than enough food for me — I couldn’t even finish!

Returned for a full meal with BF in tow. First off, the service is very slow by NY standards. I can’t help but feel that this is the result of a perfectionist Japanese chef a la Big Night (if you haven’t seen Big Night, you need to rent it now). So, go to get the awesome food, but get a couple beers or sake and be prepared to have a leisurely meal.
This is authentic Japanese casual dining. I felt like I was back in Tokyo. We had shrimp shumai (made in-​house, so tender & sweet) and yakitori (chicken skin, shitake, pork belly) to start. For mains, I ordered cold udon with tempura and he ordered okonomiyaki. Their version of okonomiyaki has cheese in it and is more savory rather than cabbage-​y. My tempura was perfectly & lightly battered and the udon broth was delicious. The noodles themselves were very good and probably the best you can get in the area.

It’s a good thing this place opened, because there is definitely a shortage of Asian restaurants on Smith Street.
That’s what they call sarcasm, kids.
Luckily, this is not just another Thai or sushi joint. Well, they do have sushi, but that’s not why you should be coming in here.* You want the yakitori.
They have all kinds of affordable options; even if you’re not down with the chicken gizzard or heart, you should try the chicken skin. There’s no tastier part of the chicken (because it’s pure fat). I haven’t had them yet, but I also want to try the bacon-​wrapped scallops. Because bacon is also fat. I like fat.
If you’re feeling the sushi or the yakitori, the Katsu Curry, as a lunch special, is a nice little meal. For $ 9, you get a juicy and flavorful piece of chicken (or other protein), a few pieces of California roll, a couple of shumai, some white rice and soup or salad. The miso soup is solid, but I’ve been pleasantly surprised by their salad. It’s not that standard chunky ginger dressing that you usually get, it’s a little bit citrusy, and a lot tastier.
Be warned though; the service is probably not going to be the best you’ve ever had. Well, perhaps it’s just at lunchtime that they are training this one girl, but she seemed absolutely terrified of me. And not just my face. I felt so bad for her, because as of right now, she is in no way equipped to wait tables in NYC. Give her a break, people.
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*Their sushi’s decent enough, but there are better options farther up Smith. Although, they do have the good California rolls, with the crab salad rather than just the stick.

I usually don’t go into joints that are newly opened. But, I was dying for something different for dinner in the hood, so my BF and I decided to take a chance.
We were pleasantly surprised! The food was quite good (the yakitori items were the best — we had the scallops in bacon, shiitake mushrooms, and the fried tofu. Noodles were OK but since this was not a ramenya the emphasis was not on the ramen). Though the food took a little while to come out, the staff was very friendly and accommodating the whole time.
On the whole, this is a welcome addition to the neighborhood. I am sure the service will only improve with time, as the wait staff clearly wanted to please. Will definitely be back!