Torigoya

IF this was just about food — five stars all the way. But to be honest, the service and wait time is so hit and miss, it cost them a star.
This is reboot of the former chicken yakatori spot Kokekoko, and like that place, things take some time.
If you have an hour to spare, bring a small group to grab some skewers. My faves are the Chicken Hearts, Chicken Thighs, Meatballs, Livers, Breasts. I hate the gizzards.
Also, the bowls are delicious especially if you add a little vinegar to them.
I always order beer and just relax and wait for the chicken goodness to arrive — sometimes it takes a loooong time so be ready!

Sheesh. First off, being Japanese, I know a lot of sushi places and yakitori places change up or serve you different items depending on who you are but this place made it so blatantly obvious it was offensive. I know Kokekokko used to have the same business practice but I was hoping when they re-​opened with the different name, it would have changed a bit. Guess not.
First off, the 2 stars is only for 3 things. The older gentleman who I assume was the manager, the guy inside the counter lining up the yakitori orders on a plate for the head chef/​owner to grill, and the chicken gizzards. The 2 guys were awesome. Friendly guys.
Everything was okay except the duck and chicken salad appetizer we had which were both dry. The gizzards and the one neck we got was good. The menu is rather small and limited but it also comes with a picture of a chicken with highlighted parts such as neck, tail, cartilage, etc which are available if you know them but they aren’t actually listed on the menu. Seeing that they had them and watching the guy take them out of the fridge, I asked the waiter if we can order some. He goes back to the kitchen, asks the owner/​chef. The owner glances at us and shakes his head as he mumbles something to the waiter. Waiter comes back and says they never serve those items before as I watch the guy behind the counter pull out more cartilage, okra, and tail from the fridge. Frustrated, I asked the guy behind the counter directly and his answer was, «we do but I can’t really sell these to newcomers and you guys. I’ll sneak in one neck for you though». We were all shocked but thanked the guy for his kindness.
Seriously. Favoring your regulars and good customers… I get it. Just don’t do it so obviously and in a condescending/​cocky manner. Will never be going back.

They do validate for parking at Wellers court, for one hour if you spend $ 25. But they are slow and it took us sbout 3 hour to finish our dinner, it didnt matter, i have to pay $ 8.50 (max).do try street parkung. It is on 2^nd floor of the plaza. Since we are earl dont need to wait, still it takes time to get all our skewers. I initially expected to enjoy the yakitori but they in general are undercooked and not tasty. Need a bit more spice. Since there is rule that one person has to order at least 5 skewers, we ordered 2, one course and rest different skewers. We definitely didn’t enjoy chicken skin skewers in one course. Wings came last after 2.5 hour from the time we seated. We thought we are done. Noodle. Nothing special about it. Chicken rice is good. Pickles side order different taste, not that sour, but fresh. No refill on green tea.
Each of us paid $ 25, but could have picked another place for more enjoyable meal or yummy yakitori. Not going to go back there again.

Delicious food, nice atmosphere for a leisurely meal. Don’t come here expecting to get in and out quickly, this is not a fast food restaurant. The skewers are meant to be enjoyed over good sake, good conversation, and good company. I have been a loyal customer for some time since Kokkekoko, and I continue to come here. Food quality has not changed, still superb.
My favorite skewers in order:
1) Spicy wing
2) gizzard
3) soft bone
4) chicken tail
5) medium rare chicken breast
6) quail eggs
7) neck
I have heard the ramen and chicken soup here is also amazing.

been wanting to try this spot as the reincarnation of kokekokko. same set up, same furnitures, and same delicious chicken parts.
came in on a Monday and the bar was full, but the tables were open. ordered the «full order», $ 30 bucks. always think this is not enough, but it did fill us up.
also ordered duck, danburi, and extra wings. 2 large sapporros.
will come back again.

Average cost per skewer $ 3
Minimum order of 5 skewers per person.
Offer parking validation for Weller Court.
I’m torn as the food was tasty, and the quality of the meat felt top notch, the service was unfortunately all over the place. Walked in around 8:15pm on a Friday night, place is busy but not crazily so. Seated fairly promptly by the courteous staff, who gave us a fair warning that the skewers were taking a little longer than usual. No biggie, we think, as there are multiple large groups so it’s understandable. We order 11 skewers (there is a minimum order of 5 skewers per person, btw) from the wide range of chicken parts available. First skewers (quail eggs) arrive within 10 minutes, followed by gizzards and liver. Loving everything so far! We get the chicken breast a few minutes later, then someone must have hit the pause button on our orders as we waited 45 minutes for the rest of the skewers to arrive.
For the first 15 minutes we kinda assume that this is the norm, but after another 15 of complete radio silence from the waitstaff we had to start asking for order updates. I can see the waitstaff busily buzzing around the restaurant, so I can’t say the staff are completely out of it. We also hear the murmurings of order delays/​wrong items from the tables around us, so we chalk it up to what is hopefully just one bad night. It’s about 9:50pm when we finally get the last of our order (chicken wings and meatballs), and we respectfully pay the bill and leave. While I’m not a fan of causing a stink at the restaurant, I am totally ok with sharing this experience to help fellow Unilocalers decide on where to best fill their bellies.
Having been to Kokkekoko a few years back, and experienced the great food and service there, I’m hoping the crew at Torigoya can pull through these rough nights and cement themselves as a destination for quality yakitori.

Came here for the special chicken ramen! This place is certainly fancy, even gave you a warm wet towel! The service was great, but sadly the selection for food besides yakitori wasn’t. The ramen was a nice portion, only wish there was a bit more chicken rather than the 2 small pieces floating around. Besides that it wasn’t that bad, only wish it had a greater flavor to really remember it by. My friend also had the small chicken bowl, which was the cutest thing ever. He liked it, but still wasn’t super impressed.

I don’t care about how anyone brags about this place. If dining in a torture chamber for more than two hours at a time is your idea of fun, this place is for you. I can handle food coming out one morsel at a time, but I can’t handle it while I’m sitting on a hard, tall wood stool that’s giving me carpel tunnel. I’ve been icing my elbow and back all day and I am still having pain. No food is worth becoming disabled over. This place makes me detest Japanese food and culture.

Huge disappointment from start to finish. To be fair though, the Chicken meatballs and liver skewers were delicious.
I was a huge fan of Kokkekoko and had been a loyal customer for many years. Last week a good friend from SF visited and shared that Torigoya was the reincarnated Kokkekoko and «the best Yakitori I’ve ever had in the US” – strong praise coming from a native Japanese guy.
I wanted to introduce another friend to Yakitori since he’d never tried it, so we came in on a Friday night. There was quite a long wait and we were so informed, so we decided to head elsewhere to grab sushi and then come back for Yakitori. When we returned, we were told by the manager that he couldn’t find us but that we should wait nearby and they would prepare our table. I told him we’d wait outside, which he acknowledged but we ended up watching party after party get seated ahead of us. It got to the point where there were empty tables and no one ahead of us, so I popped back in to ask about our table. Upon seeing us, the manager readily acknowledged that he «forgot about you», despite the fact that we were directly outside and visible the entire time! Strike one.
We ended up being seated at the counter, and ordered promptly with our waitress. A few minutes later we were told that they were out of breast meat, with apologies. Another while later we were told there’d be a long wait for our food, with more apologies. Fortunately I was in good company and enjoying beer and conversation, and thankfully already full with sushi. Another while passed and the waitress came back to inform us that there was a minimum skewer order requirement that no one had told us about – strike two, especially when you consider that they were the ones out of what we initially wanted to order! No matter, we added to our order, and waited and waited and waited. Meanwhile, the party next to us which arrived/​ordered later received many of the items WE ORDERED first. Someone then came by to tell us it was «last order», which was funny because we had ordered long ago without receiving any of our food. Finally, some orders arrived: liver (delicious), chicken meatballs (my friend enjoyed), chicken thighs. We ordered qual eggs which never came/​were eaten by our neighboring guests. Since last order had passed and they clearly forgot about us again, we just asked for the check. It shouldn’t have taken over two hours to get 8 of 10 skewers!!! Of course they charged us for food we never received, and after confirming with the robota guy that our order was misdirected/​never remade – strike three, and another apology.
It would be seem like the better way to run a business is to avoid having to apologize in the first place! Forgetting customers, forgetting their orders, serving their food to someone else who came later, requiring a minimum order amount while running out of many items we initially wanted, then charging for food not received! Not once did we complain, or ask for anything, but a competent manager who acknowledged service shortcomings could surely have made a simple gesture to comp a beer, some skewers, ANYTHING. Zero stars for service, one star only because some of what we received was actually tasty.
Final point, when we received the bill we were given two amounts: one if we used a credit card and another «discounted» price if we paid with cash. We pointed out to the manager that this was inappropriate and that we’d be happy to pay the discounted price with credit card. As much as I wanted to like this place, it’s probably a one visit and done establishment given the horrible service experience we encountered.

I love Japanese food especially yakitori. This place was a huge disappointment. Management and staff were kind but they were way understaffed. We were served room temp/​cold skewers. Service was almost nonexistent and that is extremely rare for a Japanese establishment. Took over 10 mins just to flag down someone to get another beer.

Went on a Tuesday night and it is still the best chicken yakotori spot I’ve tried. Menu is still the same as when it was kokekoko. The décor was a bit more traditional; however, still an improvement in my opinion. I was told by one of the employees that they are thinking about opening for lunch and would love to stop by if that ever does happen.

I was shocked when Unilocaler report Kokekko no longer in business. They change the name to Torigoya. They still serve all my favorite, off the menu.

Great spot for Yakitori. Same crew and food as Kokekoko so i’m a happy man.

Yakitori (grilled chicken — Japanese style) sounds easy but in fact, most of the places in LA miss the mark. Torigoya hits it several times over.
They have carried on some traditions /​style from previously Yakitori-​ya in Los Angeles with many menu items not available elsewhere and/​or at this quality level. Their new management team and chefs seem to know what they’re doing.
This previous location was home to Koshiji for many years, although this is very different in style and quality. Koshiji was sort of depressed while there is a very lively, energized atmosphere here now.
Yakitori is normally served either with «shio» flavor which is basically lightly salted (sea salt) or with Tare (sauce), which is where we get the word Tare-​yaki (teriyaki) from.
Suggest:
1. Breast (shio — salt)
2. Thigh (tare — sauce)
3. Uzura no Tamago — grilled egg, it’s amazing!
4. Special Heart — I know… heart…but also amazing
5. Wing (shio)
6. Tsukune /​Dango — chicken meatball, super delicious
7. Liver — absolutely no aftertaste or metallic flavor like some liver. I don’t normally it this but it’s amazing at Torigoya.
Apps: Gyoza and Smoked Chicken Salad are perfect
Sake: try Hakkaisan if you can! Budget choice is Kikumasamune taru.
Expect a Japanese experience so not a bad idea to bow when you walk in and learn a little Japanese etiquette.
Open dinner only now, but will be open at lunch soon, as they have said.