Torihei

My favorite yakitori in the South Bay!!! Torihei has an amazing amount of variety. The small plates concept is perfect for small groups (the restaurant is quite small). I came here with a group of 4 and we ordered over 20 dishes!
There are far too many dishes here to review, so here are my absolute favorites:
Jidori chicken: one of the best karaage I have ever had! Salty, crispy, delicious!
Beef tongue yakitori: it comes with lemon and a yuzu sauce. They run out quickly so come early for this!
Grounded chicken on rice: rice bowl with seasoned brown chicken and a quail egg yolk. Super tasty but very filling — definitely share!
Chopped cucumber with sesame oil: the sesame oil dressing is soooo delicious!
I also recently discovered they offer an apple flavored soju that they serve in mini hollowed out apples as shot glasses. This was such a cute and fun idea, and the chilled apple was a very tasty dessert!
They get extremely busy here — I rarely see an empty seat. It helps to make reservations in advance. Because it gets so busy, we often need to actively flag down the servers to order more food. They also impose a 2 hour limit on your table so they can accommodate more reservations.
Overall great place for yakitori! I can’t wait to come back!

Nice place, decent grill. Gizzard was outstanding. In fact all yakitori I had was pretty spot on, not over burn. Monkfish liver was fine, I had better. Wasabi Tako was also tasty but I think they can reduce the portion :-) not often I say that. Over all good grill drinking place but not having the finesse to get to 4 stars in my standard.
Will be back when I am around.

Tried a variety of food here and everything was good, but their dish Xiao Long Bao is absolutely amazing, I had to order seconds. The restaurant itself has a mellow atmosphere and we were seated immediately even though the restaurant was quite full. Will definitely return

All in all, the yakitori here is so-​so, not really that impressive. I liked the meatball and mushroom the best. Everything else was just average or below average. The chicken thigh with onion was smothered in sauce. The beef tongue was not as tender as one would hope. The okra (tough and chewy) was definitely a pass, and the short rib tasted confusingly Korean bbq-​esque. Finally, the garlic came in a vat of fried oil, which I thought was weird for yakitori. I don’t mean to sound super critical but it’s just how I felt.
On the plus side, the egg with ground chicken was soft and fluffy, and I really liked the mushroom salad (could’ve had stronger plum flavor).
Lastly, I had an upset stomach afterward so not sure which food item was the cause. I’d much rather scoot over to Shin Sen Gumi or Hinotori.

Came here for the first time trying out this place.
Food: grilled chicken wings, chicken hearts and livers, yellowtail sashimi, fried chicken and ramen.
Everything was very good especially the ramen. The sign said they only make 20 bowls a day.
Wanted to try their grilled clams but they were out.
Service: they never came to check on our table if we needed to add more food. We had to flag someone down to get napkins, order more food and the check.
Parking: plenty of parking
They do take reservation and I would recommend making one before coming here.
I would return and hopefully the service will be better next time.

I like Torihei a lot. This is one of my favorite yakitori places. And do try their cucumber salad if you are not allergic to cucumbers. I usually don’t like cucumber and I refuse to drink any cucumber flavored drinks, but I like their cucumber salad.
We ordered and tried varies yakitori and small dishes such as cucumber salad, cheese nuggets, etc. Everything was super delicious. The only reason I’m not giving the place 5 stars, though, is the fact that everything is seasoned little on the heavier side, I think. I was very happy while eating, but when I left the restaurant I felt like I drank a shot glass full of salt. Maybe that glass of beer was masking the saltiness of food well.
Service is friendly and parking is usually no problem in that strip mall.

Torihei is essentially Japanese tapas. I came here for a mini UYE gathering not knowing what to expect. I was pretty much blown away by the beautiful flavors and textures exhibited by Torihei.
I’m a fan of tasting menus in general. Tapas is a less formal way to enjoy tasting bites of a variety of dishes without being tied down to one main entrée.
The meatballs were soft, tender, and delicately flavored. The fried chicken was piping hot, and very tasty. I enjoyed the chicken skin, as I love skin of all types. The fatty pork was decent. The sashimi plate was good, as were the chicken skewers. On the sashimi plate, the octopus and squid took me by surprise as being quite good. They were tender and not chewy.
We cooked our own wagyu beef, and it was good. I just seared mine for about twenty seconds on each side and it was ready to go. It was a little more meaty than I expected, but still good. The clams were okay (weakest item), and I enjoyed the beef tongue.
Sofia got a mini bowl of ramen for $ 5; I need to try that next time!
The menu is quite vast. I’m pretty sure we could go back and enjoy an entirely new meal without repeating any of the orders I’ve already tried! It’s something to look forward to. Aside from the clams, pretty much everything was delicious, juicy, and scrumptious.
Fun fact: My pal Carolyn C got ROTD for Torihei a while back, and the staff posted her review in the men’s restroom! Now you know you’ve made it Carolyn, way to go!
It was a pleasure to spend time with an amazing group of fellow Unilocalheads: Steve S, Jennifer N, Sophia V, Alana M, and Joe P. What a fantastic meal! Carolyn joined us afterwards, and oh man, what a party! Haha.
Thank you Steve for putting together this delicious evening. Until next time!

I came here with some Unilocalers at a get together arranged by Steve S. He and I have been to some pretty good places. Torihei is on Carson, just west of Western in Torrance. It is in the same mall as previously reviewed Sushi Nozomi, Matsui & Bistro Beaux. They serve small plates, or izakaya style food.
We ordered meatballs, fried jidori chicken, chicken thigh, fatty pork, sashimi ($ 17.95), ramen ($ 5), wagyu beef, clams ($ 9.95÷3), beef tongue, and chicken skin (sorry I didn’t remember the prices of all the items).
The best items were the jidori chicken, sashimi, wagyu beef, and chicken skin. The jidori chicken was super light & crispy, the sashimi (esp the tako) was really fresh, the beef tender, and the chicken skin was not greasy & full of flavor: All 5 Stars.
On the other hand, the other items were average in my mind. The meatballs were a tad cool, the chicken thigh didn’t have much flavor, the fatty pork was nothing special, the ramen was ramen, and the clams were cold despite being on a grill. I had to add hot pepper on the average yakitori to add flavor: 3 Stars overall.
Regarding the ambiance, it was typical izakaya. Torihei is a small place w/​seats at the counter and a few tables. There were a few decorations on the wall. However, there were no unique items on the menu. In addition, a downside was the lack of ventilation. It was warm in this place!: 3 Stars. In contrast, the service was a bit mixed. The food came out quickly, but the waitress was inattentive. In addition to constantly trying to find her to order more food, we had to constantly ask her for water: 3 Stars.
Mahalo nui loa (thank you very much) Steve for arranging this get together. I would definitely come back here to enjoy the highly rated items, as well as try some new ones. In addition, I’d like to have drinks next time as well. While Torihei was not as good as Izakaya Hachi IMHO, it is better compared to the Honda izakayas in OC (Kappo Honda & Honda Ya), in terms of price and food.

Came here twice already — first time I cam here to celebrate a coworker’s birthday and that’s when i discover the awesome food they served. this time around i took my boyfriend to experience the yumminess.
We ordered:
Beef Tongue Skewers — tasty, and tender
Special heart skewer — only i had this but i love how they added the garlic (which was what made it special)
Chicken meatball — boyfriend had this and said it was only okay
Cheese meatball — i had this and agreed even with the cheese the meatball was just okay
Half Egg topped with fish roe in a light broth — i love this dish! is a must try because the egg was so perfectly cooked and the broth is so light and tasty.
Short Ribs — very tender and juicy, good flavor though maybe a little salty.
Monk Fish Liver — Favorite! they are also super generous! a whole bowl of soft, smooth and tasty liver!
Fried Cartilage — interesting dish but i love the crunchy texture and is only lightly salted.
Fish cake in broth — fish cake had a soft texture, was like nothing i had before. and the broth was also very delicious.
Bacon wrapped Asparagus — two very long stemmed asparagus wrapped in bacon — yum!
All dishes were super yummy and I definitely recommend this place for some tasty yakitori and Japanese tapas.
The service was good and the wait wasn’t too bad — about 25 minutes but it did get pretty busy after we were seated — around 7:30ish. Though I felt like the food came out a bit slow because every time i thought we were done, something else would come out… so about 7 – 15 minutes between dishes — some came out faster but i didn’t understand that because some that came out late were more simple dishes.
I don’t drink but they have a very interesting Soju — like the apple one that is actually served with a «apple shot glass» — they take a mini apple, cut a hole out in the middle and use it to serve their apple soju. i thought that was pretty cool.
Our bill came out to be about $ 25 per person — which was pretty average and we did have a lot of food.

My 900^th Review! Woo Hoo!
It deserves a good place and I found one.
Torihei is an izakaya. It’s small with a counter area (on the left) where you can see the kitchen in action grilling your grub and tables and chairs hugging the right side of the wall. The second I come in, I could smell all the great aroma of the grill. Smoky goodness!
Torihei has an extensive array of food choices, from the Yakitori, Sushi /​Sashimi, Ramens and regular Japanese food. Once you’re seated, you get a list of each. Just put down the quantities in the space provided, hand your order to the waiter and wait for the food to come to your table.
Here’s the rundown:
*Gingko Nuts — Think big peanuts with a complex taste. Sweet with a bitter finish.
*Meatball — Wow, That was good.
*Chicken Thigh — It was a little under seasoned, a little dash of salt cured that issue. Yum.
*Fried Jidori Chicken — Wow Wow Wow! So SO Good! Think big piece of chicken nuggets, but 100% better. Lightly crispy outside and super tasty and tender inside. Get this one.
*Fatty Pork — a bit chewy (in a good way) porkalicious!
*Assorted Sashimi Platter — Tuna, Yellowtail, Squid and Octopus. The BEST octopus I’ve ever had. They cut it thick and it was still super tender. Everything else was good as well.
*Wagyu Beef — Awesome! You get to cook this yourself and decide how you want it cooked. I seared my piece about 20 seconds on each side and it was super tender and tasty. DELICIOUS!
*Clams — This comes out on a Shichirin (portable Japanese Grill) The clams I got were on the chewy side. User error, I had it in there too long. Eat it as it comes to your table, don’t wait.
*Beef Tongue — Another winner. It has that nice texture and the flavor was just really tasty.
*Chicken Skin — We saved the best for last. YUM! I’m a chicken skin fan to begin with and this just took it to another level. Crispy! Yum Yum Yum!
Service was good. We did have to ask for extra napkins and water refills, but all in all they were Johnny on the spot with our food request through out the night.
Price: Very reasonable.
Tip: Get a reservation! It will make your evening go smoother, no waiting!
Tip: Place your order, keeping in mind that it does take some time to grill your food. So stagger your order accordingly.
Bring people with you when you dine here. I shared this food adventure with some of my Unilocal buddies and we had a blast. We got to try a lot of dishes and in between the wait for our food to come out, the conversations flowed and made the wait seemed shorter. Good Times!
Great food and great company, a recipe for a fabulous evening! #ThatsWhyIYelp
2015 Review #128

Domo Arigato
Mister Robata
in Torrance.
From my trips to Japan, torihei is a low key Robata or kushiyaki place. I like that Torihei (tori in Japanese is bird) is quiet, unlike the other Robata place in Gardena where the staff is constantly shouting.
So Robata/​Kushiyaki is chicken that is put on small skewers and cooked over charcoal. Every piece of the bird is used from the tail to the gizzards and you can order crispy skin to breast with plum paste. But Torihei isn’t all about the birds, since you can order veggies like bacon wrapped asparagus. The Japanese have a love affair with Asparagus, which was lampooned in a South Park Episode. Even if you don’t like asparagus, wrapping it with bacon makes it awesome and is something you gotta eat before you start taking cholesterol medicine.
I would even call Torihei an itzakaya since kushiyaki is all small plates and that they server beer, sake, and shochu.
Most items are between $ 5 to $ 9 and with drinking Sapporo Draft beer or sake, in the matter of an hour and half you can do a lot of damage. That night we ordered: chicken skin, chicken livers, chicken meatballs, chicken breast with plum paste, chicken livers again, beef tongue (tasted great but sorta chewy for wagyu), pregnant smelt (shishamo), and wait for it bacon wrapped asparagus. I forgot to mention we started with the cucumber tomato salad with sesame dressing. I forgot to mention that everything is timed so there is a constant delivery of warm food rather than having everything dropped off at once to get cold and clog up the table.
By they way, you don’t automatically get miso soup and a bowl of rice.
Quality is pretty high judging by the number of Japanese speaking people who frequent the joint.
On weekends this place is booked with reservations but you might be able to get in after an hour or two wait.
four and half stars since this place is a little too earthy and can do with at good remodel or steam clean.

Great yakitori for great prices. All of their chicken is cooked just right, with a great charcoal flavor. Their ramen was solid as well — good yakitori joints tend to have great chicken broth, and that showed in their ramen. I really really liked the yakionigiri (grilled rice ball) here — always one of my must-​order dishes, but the one here was especially crispy on the outside. Yummm…
My only complaint is that this is the only yakitori place I’ve ever gone to in my life where they did not have any uzura (quail egg) on the menu. Sad. that’s another one of my favorites!

I went to this restaurant few month ago.
I wasn’t impressed. Actually I disappointed.
Yakitori is NOT good. It’s very very normal.
I ate Negima and Chicken Brest with Wasabi.
It’s very very normal. Not so special.
Sinsengumi is so much better.
Why people like this restaurant???
Ochazuke (soup with rice and beef) is great.
Soup Dumping is good.
Cucumber with sesame oil is good.
(but it’s easy to make it at home.)
BUT WHY YAKITORI IS NOT GOOD???
Please try without Yakitori.
If you’d like to try Yakitori, go to the others! There’re many better Yakitori restaurants in Torrance.

I LOOOOOOVE TORIHEI!!! this is the place to get quality yakitori. I’m a sucker for yakitoris that’s why i’m really glad i was able to try this one. My boyfriend and I went here and it was a busy night (as usual), so had to wait 30mins. But it was worth it. Food was superb, service was quick and prices was reasonable enough.
The only thing is, if you come in really late (past 7 or 8pm), chances are, some of the choices are no longer available.
Suggestion, order the chicken thigh with cheese, pork belly and their cabbage salad. whatever that salad is, it was good. i would skip the beef tongue cause it was tough and a bit rubbery when i tried it.
I would definitely come back and bring friends here, good place to dine and unwind after a long day.

We were a walk-​in at 5:45pm on a Friday, and the first thing the waitress said was, «I’m so sorry, but there is a reservation for these counter chairs at 7pm.» So I assured her that we would be out by then. As the time went on, savvy customers who had made reservations came rolling in. By 7pm Torihei was pretty much packed.
Torihei has an L-​shaped counter & various tables & feels like a combination of downhome & rural with the use of dark woods & folk art objets d’art such as the Japanese Maneki Neko, a seated cat w/​one paw raised in a welcoming salute to incoming customers. Dassai Sake (sah keh) banners of red & blue are hanging from the ceiling. Their store mascot is the burning red Tengu w/​a long phallic nose who are Yo-​kai or supernatural beings & often protect forests and do other such good works, but they can also do mischievious acts. Originally, Tengu were malevolent & thought to be in the shape of birds of prey. They were slowly anthropomorphized into having a more benign human form, but the beak became transformed into a long nose. You can purchase a Torihei Tengu shirt for $ 10.
There are two wooden boxes with a cover that has a small slot & a protruding stick. Open up each box & there will be Ichimi To-​garashi/​ground red pepper, and Sansho no Mi/​ground Japanese pepper which has a most wonderful acidic, woody, peppery scent. However, be careful using Sansho no Mi since it has a slight tongue numbing quality. Use one, either, or both to enliven the skewers of meats that is often covered in Tare/​thickened sauces.
Order from 3 different sheets by using the pencil provided for you to tick off & write the number of orders of each item is to be ordered.
1) Gin’nan/ginko nut roasted in salt for me is the ideal appetizer & is rare to find it in most Japanese restaurants. The shell looks like a pistachio nut, but the nut meat looks like a shiny faded Edamame soy bean. The texture is chewy yet soft w/​a light bitter, sweet green herbalness. It pairs well with a good premium Daiginjo– Sake (sah keh), or good Japanese beer.
2) Sasami/​chicken breast comes out looking a pale, virginal white topped with a purée of Umeboshi/​pickled plum & red Akashiso/​Japanese basil leaf. The salty fruitiness of the Umeboshi & chiffonade of Aoshiso/​green Japanese basil adds a flavor enhancing freshness & fermented aroma to the soft, moist, tender delicate, subtle Sasami.
3) Tsukune/​chicken meatball seems mixed with a bit of green onions & smoky tasting herbs/​spices & salted flavourfully. The texture is soft & light. There is a sweet & salty Sho-​yu/​soy sauce Tare, but I found that this Tsukune can better stand on its own without using the thickened Tare.
4) Negima: chicken thigh meat & green onions. The dark meat is soft, meaty, chewy and accentuated well by the earthy, sulfur funkiness of the green onions. Again the ubiquitous Sho-​yu Tare is used.
5) Bul Kalbi is the rib meat with the bone included. A more thickened Sho-​yu Tare is poured on top. The meat is extra chewy & sinewy. It is a more Japanified version of the Korean Bul Kalbi. Extra topping of chopped green onions is a refreshing, earthy touch.
6) Kimo/​liver is richly basted in Sho-​yu Tare that gives the chicken liver a red/​brown lacquered shininess. Soft yet slightly grainy with an initial chaw, the strong liver taste is countered by the heavier flavours of this version of the Tare.
7) Asparagus wrapped in pork belly: Good flavor combination w/​the pork infusing a nice porky meatiness to the asparagus. The Orange piping seems to be mayonnaise infused w/​curry powder. The taste of the orange sauce is fine, but I suspect the «raw» curry powder was just mixed w/​the mayonnaise so that the uncooked curry powder tasted grainy, bitter, rough, unmellowed by not simmering for a long time.
8) Yaki Musubi: It’s a triangular rice «ball» that is roasted over the Bincho– Sumi/​special Japanese hardwood charcoal for a long time. It takes about 30 minutes so order at once. The typical Yaki Musubi has white rice that is basted occasionally with a semi sweet Sho-​yu Tare, but Torihei also adds the same Tare to the rice so the entire rice tastes of Sho-​yu. I had anticipated the rice inside being white as a cleaner tasting counter to the flavoured meats I was eating, and so I was surprised when the rice was flavoured too which would not provide the flavor contrast.
Torihei has other dishes than just Robata Yaki/​charcoal grilling which I will have to try at some other time. I do like the high energy, AYCE palate cleansing cabbage salad, & more nuanced flavours of better organized Shinsengumi Yakitori~ya better, but Torihei does hold its own, especially if you like strong tasting sauces used here. 4– Unilocal stars.

It started out great… very cold beer, very cold sake and they brought over an ice bucket to keep the bottle cold, Not every place will do that and I always appreciate it when they do.
Most of the food was a one… here’s why I gave it two stars…
The servers were all very nice. The food came out pretty fast. The yellowtail collar was pretty good. And I really like the ice bucket for the sake.
Then it all turned lousy. From crappy bacon wrapped on super-​tough asparagus… to beef tongue on skewers that were also super tough… to meatballs with cheese that had us spitting chunks of hard stuff/​cartilage out. (Though maybe that’s how it was supposed to be because cartilage was actually elsewhere on the menu.)
The garlic served in the little boat of oil… hard to screw that up but just this FOIL BOAT OF OIL with submerged cloves of garlic was just this big oily mess. Seriously, am I missing something? A handful of garlic cloves in about a half-​pint of cooking oil.
And, yes, I’ve weighed whether it was just a style of food that didn’t appeal to me… cultural differences or an interesting take on izakaya and yakitori. But I’m no stranger to izakaya, robata and yakitori… this was just, well, way off.
The tempura shrimp roll barely edible.
The Jidori Chicken was also bad. They were just plain ol’ using not the best parts of a chicken. If the intention is to have stringy, veiny parts of the chicken then maybe I’m just not on the same culinary page.
The table itself was relatively clean but the tray of condiments of the side of the table with pepper and siracha, etc… grimy and just layers of greasiness from thousands of food-​laden fingers picking them up.
Bleh.
BUT…in the same parking lot is a new-​ish Asian bakery… 85 Degrees… knock your socks off good.

Interestingly enough, I heard about Torihei from one of the chefs at Wolvesmouth (an «underground» supper club,
). According to this chef, Torihei has the best yakitori … and way better than Shin-​Sen-​Gumi Yakitori in his opinion. As a yakitori fan, I just had to give this place a try.
Walk-​in is welcome here, but this is one of the few yakitori restaurants I would highly recommend making a reservation ahead of time. Our group came around 7 PM and I wrote my name on the clipboard. After about 15 minutes later, one of the staff first asked us whether our group had a reservation and followed by whether we are okay to limit our stay until 9 PM (basically 1.5 hours to eat). Since there wasn’t any other options, our group accepted the dining condition and finally got a table.
Few special notes: Tori-​Shio Ramen limit to 20 bowls a day (first come, first serve). This is a tiny restaurant, so I wouldn’t bring more than a party of four to this restaurant.
***
MUST GET (5-​Star)
* Fried «Jidori» chicken ($ 7.50): I don’t know where Torihei found these chicken … I don’t know how Torihei fried these chicken … look I still don’t know a lot of stuffs, but these were hands down the BEST chicken karaage I’ve had.
* Beef tongue ($ 2.50) — Absolutely a must get … SUPER-​thick, chewy, and juicy beef tongue with a slight wasabi kick. these tongues were nothing like beef tongues at AYCE Korean BBQ restaurants. Don’t gross out, just do it (like Nike’s slogan).
DECENT (4-​Star)
* Chicken skin ($ 2.50) — Flavorless, but amazing texture.
* Fatty pork ($ 2.50) — Slightly salty, but flavorful fatty pork.
* Asparagus w/​pork (2 pieces, $ 4.50) — Oh it wasn’t the typical asparagus wrapped with bacon … it had extra layers of cheddar cheese!
* Sausages (2 pieces, $ 2.50): Your typical Kurobuta (aka Berkshire Pork) sausages. Juiciest Kurobuta sausages I’ve had (not necessary mean the most flavorful).
WHATEVER (3-​Star)
* Chicken wings ($ 2.50) — Not as good as I thought. Too many bones.
* Beef short ribs (4 pieces, $ 6.00) — Interesting sauce, but the combination of short ribs + sauce didn’t work out as well as I thought.
* Shiitake mushroom ($ 2.00) — Juicy, but flavorless mushroom with bonito flakes.
NOT SO GREAT (2-​Star)
* Combination sashimi (albacore, octopus, tuna, ika [squid], yellow tail, albacore — $ 15.95): Didn’t taste super fresh … not your melt-​in-​your-​mouth quality sashimi.
* Xiao Long Bao (Kyoto Style «Oden» Stew, $ 2.80): More like wonton soup. Soup was a somewhat salty.
***
I think Robata JINYA still has the best yakitori (poor selections, but high quality) in the SoCal, but some dishes at Torihei (e.g. fried «Jidori» chicken and beef tongue) made this a worthwhile visit. You will most likely get more hits than misses at Torihei.
P. S. — Get apple shochu, I heard it’s REALLY, REALLY good.

Chose this place to eat because it opens till late, 7 days a week, from 5:30pm to 10:30pm. It’s awesome a Japanese yakitori robata dining restaurant that is so close to me, I love izakaya and yakitori!
Liked how traditional Japanese this place is, we sat at the bar, the menus are so easy to order, just write them down! And they have everything right in front of you, soy sauce, chili powers, spoons, hot sauce, even toothpicks, just how so convenient! Ordered our favorite small kikusui cold sake, hubby had a Sapporo draft too.
The tapas we shared:
Yellowtail and albacore sashimi: fresh in generous portions, we liked it a lot!
Housemade pickles with dry fish flakes on top: I love pickles! They weren’t too sour or salty but very flavorful, so good!
Kobe beef tataki: very tender and yummy, hubby loved it.
Beef tongue and chicken liver yakitori: I can never understand why hubby eats those… Yuk, but he liked it a lot.
Housemade stew with seaweed: so comforting and delicious!
Smelt fish yakitori: it was amazing, one of the best I have ever had! I will definitely have two more orders next time!
Grilled rice ball with pickled veggies: it’s hubby’s favorite, I am not into rice balls, too filling for me.
We didn’t eat that much cause we weren’t so hungry, but everything was fantastic! Too bad they didn’t have grilled clams that night, so we have to go back this week! I am determined to try as many items as possible, the portions are small, so it’s even easier to order a lot more, and I’d LOVE that!

It was my first time here with Caroline V. If I’m craving Yakitori, I usually go to this one restaruant but we decided to try a new place. The resturant is small and not so spacious. It’s also a little smokey inside and the smell was strong. We waited for a while to get seated since it was a busy night.
:Drinks:
We got the Regurlar (large available) Apple Soju which tasted more like apple juice with a very little alcohol. I loved the presentation though. The soju comes in a small glass container, two frozen apples in a glass bowl. The apples were hallow in the center so we could use it as cups to drink the soju … Cheers!
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:Food:
I liked everything that we ordered. First one is the Chicken Skin, it was so crunchy. Then we got the Chicken Wings which was tender, hot, and also had crispy skin. These wings are come in two small pieces. The Asparagus with pork tasted like asparagus with curry; this was just «ok» for me. Last one was the Beef Short Ribs which comes in four pieces. It’s basically one short ribs but cut into four parts. We wanted to order the Kobe Beef Tataki but they ran out. Oh, try the Beef Short Ribs with lemon, the tangy flavor went well with it. I’m use to dipping Yakitori into some kind of sauce but here they only had soy sauce with chili powder. I liked the food that we ordered. If I come back, I would get the things we ordered again but not the Asparagus with Pork.
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:Customer Service:
Not very attentive. They didn’t really check on us. We had to get their attention if we needed something.
:Highlight:
The soju frozen apple cups!
:“Meh” Moment:
Our food took so long, very long.
:Tip:
Expext to wait. Write your name on the clipboard that is hanging by the entrance and wait for them to call your name
:M’s Notes:
~Parking lot
~Indoor seating

My usual yakitori fix is typically taken care of by Kappo Honda, which is only miles away from me. However, my friend convinced our group to check out Torihei and it was a solid effort in my book.
I tried a plethora of items on this menu (see photos) but what stood out to me were definitely the:
— beef tongue — these were good cuts, fatty almost, and loved the little green citrus topping (think what they put on good cuts of sushi)
— ramen — yeah, it was a bit on the plain jane side for my friend but I thought it was a steal for only 5 bucks… and that egg in it… yum!
— chicken skin — pretty good here!
— fried cartilage — the perfect snack food to go with your beer
Those were probably the highlights of my meal of the 9 – 10 other items that I tried that night. Super sad they didn’t have the clams available that night so be prepared to be disappointed (my friend is ⁰⁄₂ in being able to order this).
We made a reservation and it was good for up to 2 hours.
At the end of the day, I can probably get my yakitori fix a lot closer to home but this didn’t disappoint.