Kaminariya Yakitori Dining

My first time here and I am definitely coming back. Everything we ordered was delicious. We got all the skewers they had and they were all so yummy. The person who brought out our food was super nice and helpful.

Yum! Kaminariya is a Japanese izakaya serving a variety of small dishes. There’s not much seating inside, but we still got seated pretty fast on a Saturday night.
The menu is pretty confusing and hard to read. I recommend the Buta no Kaku Ni, and Mochi and Cheese wrapped in Bacon. Both are fatty (also high in Calories) but they are so soft, juicy, and flavorful! I wouldn’t really recommend the Chicken and Potato Croquette or Tonkatsu Roll, for some reason it didn’t really meet my expectations. If you want to order the chicken skewers, go for the Thigh & Green Onion Chicken!
Overall, it’s an okay Izakaya, but I think Honda-​ya is much much better, as they offer a lot more on their menu and it hasn’t disappointed me and my expectations yet. A lot of the things on the menu here were a hit and miss.

We came to this area for another Japanese restaurant (not going to say which one) but the wait was 1:45 for one and 30 for the other. Not gonna happen. But a quick search led us to this gem. Come quick before everyone else learns of this place and the wait turns from nothing into hours. And make sure to ask for Ariela, the recommendations she made were a little out of my comfort zone but ended up making the meal unforgettable. And she is without a doubt top 5 best waitress I have ever had. Now gonna go into food coma. Night night.

I had a good time here and I want to come back for Happy Hour. They have some cheap skewers and drinks for HH. I had just missed it. They do HH everyday, not just weekdays!
They have a good variety of food and the food comes out as it is ready. You can find yourself eating for awhile as your different dishes come out one by one. Not only can you get Yakitori here, but you can also get ramen and other entrees as well.
It’s good to check what they have on special and then try some of the unique yakitori items. I thought taste was good and food came out timely. We drank plenty of house sake that evening and enjoyed ourselves.

Kaminariya gets a 5 star because they did everything they were suppose to do.
* Food was great!
*Yakitori is reasonably priced!
* Service was great!
* No lines like Shin-​Sen-​Gumi (although SSG food is really yummy)
Pretty much if I didn’t want to wait for Yakitori at SSG, I would come here to satisfy that craving.
They also offer other food items such as udon and ramen, as well as some sushi.
Will definitely come back!

Came on a weekend and surprisingly they still had happy hour specials — not like other places which only have this sort of thing during the week. :) Went a bit wild since I don’t get to eat at these types of places as often as I like…
smashed cucumber — nice salty cucumber appetizer to start the meal. nothing to wow me over but with all the meat coming my way, I figured I needed some kind of vegetable.
(FREE) cabbage with miso dipping sauce — if i knew this was coming, i wouldn’t have ordered the cucumber. that miso dipping sauce was really good!
fried chicken (karaage) — I’m a sucker for fried chicken and this wasn’t very good. It had the traditional look of homemade karaage but lacked any flavor punch to suggest it was marinated beforehand. I’ll keep this off the order next time.
Sausage — oh those japanese sausages. Natsukashii! But damn too expensive. what was I thinking?
chicken skin — this was my favorite yakitori of all that I ordered. squeaky salty bits of skin on a stick. mmmm
chicken skin w/​garlic — same as above but with garlic. the garlic just got in the way. skip.
hearts — flattened hearts? that kind of ruined it for me. They were chewy, salty and good but flattened?
liver — not a fan but the wife likes these.
white meat w/​cod roe — overcooked and mentaiko didn’t add much
white meat w/​wasabi — overcooked and wasabi didn’t do much
white meat w/​yuzu — overcooked and yuzu didn’t do much
oba wrapped with pork belly — this was interesting. The oba and saltiness of the pork belly was a great combo
avocado roll — custom for the kid. she loved it.
Service was great that night and all the servers were helpful and on hand. The whole restaurant was really clean as well. I’ll be back to try some of the other stuff.

Note to self. Go for the Yakitori. The names says Yakitori dining.
BF and I wanted good spicy noodle soup. Being close to home we decided to stop in this relatively newer establishment. We still have not mastered the art of Japanese dining so it has become one adventure after another. Let’s just say I had to Google Yakitori before ordering…
We both enjoyed the Pork Belly as well as the bacon wrapped shrimp and scallops. Extremely good in flavor and freshness. What was an original desire for spicy Udon became a Miso Ramen soup. Personally I enjoyed it. I like Miso and this did not disappoint. Hints of fresh ginger enlightened this smokey flavor. The Pork belly is fantastic. BF was disappointed in that it had no spice what so ever. When asking if they had anything to give it some heat he was given Sriracha sauce. Admititly it is hard to complain when you are blindly ordering your meal.
Service was awesome with very attentive and pleasant staff. We will definately return. Only for the Yakitori next time.

Great service!
Got tired of waiting so long to eat at Honda-​ya so decided to dine here and loved it.
Pork belly is on point and their sushi is also good.
Fried rice takes long to make so make sure to order it first.
Great food.

Hidden gem and one of the better Yakitori place I have been to. I came here on a Sunday night for an early dinner. This location is nestled in a small strip mall. I almost missed it driving there, but thank to Google maps, I was able to find it. There is plenty of parking right outside of the restaurant. The restaurant was very small and the waitress was very prompt about taking the drink and food order. I decided to try the following items:
1. Chicken Thigh — YUM! The chicken was so juicy and delicious. It was cooked just right. We decided to order more after eating because it was very delicious.
2. White meat — This was just OK. I thought it tasted good, but not anything spectacular.
3. Chicken Meatball — I actually was a little disappointed by the chicken meatball. This is my normal go to dish for yakitori, but it tasted a little bland. In addition, there were some tough parts to the meatballs, which made it really hard for me eat.
4. Bacon wrapped asparagus — Uhhh… Bacon wrapped veggies??? I am sold! Lol. This was probably one of my favorite because who doesn’t love bacon wrapped anything?
5. Bacon wrapped mushroom — See above! I did enjoy the asparagus a little more than I did the mushroom. But, this was still tasty.
Overall, for a Sunday night dinner, I was pretty satisfied. Our waitress was very good about refilling our drinks and taking additional orders. I will definitely come back here when my craving for yakitori hits.

I came in on Halloween night and it was not busy at all, with maybe 2 other groups that left shortly after we came. The menu focuses more on yakitori instead of sushi, hence the name of the restaurant. I got the 6-​piece mixed yakitori and my friend got a California roll & fried shrimp roll. The rolls are big compared to California rolls at other restaurants. My friend enjoyed both her rolls; they were very filling. The yakitori was amazing! So delicious! I forgot which was which, but I savored each one, well half of each since I saved the other half for my friend and she enjoyed them as well. I have to come back for the yakitori and to try some of their other dishes.
The restaurant was empty by the time we finished our meal. The workers offered more water, which I declined since I was ready to go. They never asked if we wanted or needed anything else, possibly because they didn’t want to interrupt our conversation. After waiting 10 – 15 minutes, I went to the counter to ask for the check. They were very friendly. Great food (yakitori!) and great service.

For $ 6 – 7 bucks during lunch, you get a side salad, rice, soup and 2 of your fave yakitori sticks. I had tail meat, wing, meatball, heart, liver and gizzard. They were tender and seasoned well. Service is friendly and surprisingly fast for grilled stuff. Closed on tuesdays but definitely satisfies a yakitori craving :)
My go to yakitori sticks are chicken tail aka chicken butt, pork belly, chicken wing and meatball.

Came here for a friends birthday today and it was a pretty decent size party and also it was for his birthday. So we sit down and we begin to order. The way you order the yakitori is on a separate piece of paper and simply give it to the server. The food is great and honestly seasoned deliciously. Sadly the reason why I’m giving it two star isn’t because the food but the way the service was. Good food can be ruined by bad service.
We order lots of skewers assuming around 6 – 8 per person and the way they give it or to us is on a plate and everyone has to remember their order. It’s not my problem to remember my order; isn’t that why we pay for the restaurant experience? So imagine a bunch of skewers scattered everyone and people just going nuts trying to figure out what the Ate… Terrible.
Second we had orders for the chef choice skewers which is a special for 22.00 and when asked how do we know which one they will be, the server simply said oh just grab them after everyone else. I’m not trying to eat my food cold. He tried to recover by saying they’ll make new ones. AFTER everyone ate. Ok that was the last straw for me which basically ruined not only the birthday but the whole dining experience. Not sure what kind of restaurant you’re running but please reorganize the way you serve the delicious food.
They did end up taking some things off we didn’t order and gave us free dessert. Nice gesture but it didn’t change the facts that got us to this point.
Not sure if I will come in next time since I was so disappointed in the service. Hopefully you guys can make this right in the future.

Surprisingly reasonably priced for a yakitori place. I’m used to walking out $ 25−30/person, this place was more like $ 15 – 20. We tried a whole bunch of skewers. Favorites were pork belly, chicken thigh with green onion, chicken with wasabi, and shitake mushrooms. Had a nice smokey taste, meats were juicy.
The skirt steak was pretty dry and dull. Had an assortment of bacon wrapped veggies, which were OK. Onigiri with salmon was solid, would pass on the roe.
They have happy hour where they rotate offering some skewers for a special price. Overall, thought it was A-​OK, although service was great. Will need to continue my search for a yakitori place in the OC!

Came here with my dad for dinner on a Friday night around 6:45pmish and there was maybe a 5 minute wait but the place was filled which is good for business. Noticed that there was happy hour until 7:00pm so I wanted to take advantage of it.
So the first thing I noticed is that the draft beer is $ 1.50 off menu price making it $ 3.00 for a pint of beer. You must ask the server what 3 skewers are available for happy hour. Our option that day was chicken gizzard, chicken with wasabi, and another chicken yakitori (I think it was marinated) and there was a happy hour list of appetizers on the menu. Decided to get the sausages thinking it would be cooked like yakitori but came out more like American sausages just heated up… there wasn’t any smokey flavor… came with 4 pieces, side of ketchup and mustard… wasn’t a fan of it.
We ordered also ordered a miso ramen. Dad stated that he liked the yakitori better than Honda Ya, but each yakitori comes at a higher price here at Kaminariya Yakitori.
The agadashi tofu was pretty good, except when I got the bill, realized it was a whopping $ 7.50 for 4 pieces… I couldn’t find it on the menu so I asked the waitress if they had agadashi tofu. Oh another thing, the menu seems very confusing on the layout. Things just seem all over the place and not organized or clear. See if the menu confuses you if you do decide to visit this place. Also the place doesn’t have an area where you see the chefs/​cooks grilling the yakitori… it’s all done in the back kitchen.
Overall, it’s not a bad new place to try… slightly more expensive than Honda Ya, however there’s no ridiculous long wait.

Two visits within their first couple months after opening. A third visit with a friend a few weeks later. All three visits were ACE!
As you can tell by the photos, we ordered A LOT, and most of it was meat. =) This is an izakaya style restaurant (meat on sticks, small plates, lots of salt and oil and beer). I was happy. Very happy. Finally, a PROPER izakaya joint in Tustin without the madness of the other super hyped restaurants (Shin Sen Gumi).
Meat quality and cuts are very good and tender. Every order came to our table as it was ready, not sat on a plate while the rest of our orders were cooking. Favorites include the gizzard, skirt steak, tongue, and chicken thigh, but everything was good. Even the stuff I didn’t particularly like (mochi cheese and bacon wrapped quail egg) were still good.
Ramen is a pond of MSG. Tasted like Asia. haha. Wouldn’t order it again since I’m really not a fan of that metallic MSG feeling, but some people love it so, hey, go to town!
Karaage were soggy and kinda ungood. Too bad too since I love karaaga. Maybe if they fried it a bit longer???
Kimchee fried rice was also loaded with MSG, almost to the point of being inedible… but I ate it because I’m fat like that.
Croquettes were really not good. Frozen to start and over fried to finish. I make better at home. This was probably the only thing that was disappointing.
Service is good, and not exactly fast, but that’s a good thing. People complain about slow service but if you stop to think about it, do you really want your cooked dishes to come out in less than 5 minutes? Also, if you’re in a hurry, why are you at an izakaya place which is meant for drinking and conversation?
At any rate, I have been wanting to come back again and hopefully will be dragging a few people with me. One gal from the office has already come after seeing my check in and she said it was really good. Hooray!
See you soon, Kaminariya!

Came by for dinner the other night and it was a fantastic experience! This yakitori is on par with Honda-​Ya without the crowds!
Upon arrival, the door was wide open with a banner indicating that it was their grand opening… seemed like a non-​Japanese-​owned restaurant at first. After quickly consulting the menu, this place is legit!
Happy Hour is 5 — 7 pm daily. Ordered the 4 piece Chicken Karaage, 5 piece Gyoza, and 2 skewers of Jidori Thigh, all of which were excellent! Chicken Karaage was very fresh, perfectly flavored, and fried. Gyoza was good, although I’m not sure if it was freshly made. The jidori thigh was also very nicely grilled on the robata grill and flavored.
Moved on to the Pork Belly Kakuni which was solid. Pork belly was tender and well flavored.
The miso ramen was also surprisingly on point. The soup base was flavorful, the noodles were al-​dente. The ramen also consisted with a couple small pieces of pork belly and half of a runny egg.
The beef cubes with special sauce was also excellent. The sauce was very unique without being over-​powering and the grilled beef pieces were tender and flavorful.
Service was excellent by the staff.
~$ 20/​person after tax and tip for dinner.
They’re closed on Tuesdays.

Kamaniriya is the latest restaurant that I cannot pronounce or spell. It was inevitable that I came here. It was close to the office on Newport Avenue, a couple of doors down from Tan Hoang Huong Sandwiches and Coffee. I had eyeballed them for the past six months when they first put the sign up announcing their arrival. I have been here a couple of times for lunch, and once with the family for dinner.
The times I have been there for lunch, I did what I do best. Yakitori is in their name, so, I ordered their Tsukemen. Soon after ordering they brought out a bowl of cold noodles, and a bowl of dipping sauce. They dipping sauce was brown, with meat, mushrooms and other stuff in it. As a 1^st timer for Tsukemen, I wasn’t quite sure what to do. But, they were prepared for people like me. They had instructions. It said not to dip too much of your noodles into the sauce as it may be too salty. Their instructions were spot on because the sauce was so salty, it made the noodles inedible if you dipped it too much. With the right amount of sauce, it made for a good lunch. After finishing the noodles, they added soup the sauce. Unfortunately, the soupy sauce was way too salty to drink.
I went back with the family to give them another chance for dinner. Dinner was not too much better. The daughter liked that they had udon. The wife thought their ramen was okay. We also ordered a couple of their Yakitori items. My wife did not like their chicken. It was reddish pink on the inside. The bacon cheese mochi was pretty good. My daughter didn’t want to share it.
Service, every time I have been there have been pretty good. The servers are nice and helpful.
I wish I could give them more stars. However, the raw chicken and salty food does not make for even a three star experience. I may give them another chance in a couple of months.

Hubby and I stopped in again, also after doing some house hunting. It had just opened but this time we waited a while for someone to acknowledge us. Hubby ended up walking up to the kitchen to let someone know we were here.
Lunch menu is relatively limited, compared to the dinner menu. We have yet to make it for dinner (last attempt on a Saturday night was unsuccessful as the earliest reservation was 9pm). On our last visit, we were told that the ramen had been switched from tonkotsu to shoyu. On this visit, they made the switch permanent. Your only options for ramen at lunch are shoyo or tsukemen.
I ended up ordering a dry noodle dish called abura soba. Don’t let the word «soba» fool you — it’s still the regular ramen noodles with a half cooked egg on top that you stir in with some sauce. It smelled divine and tasted pretty good.
Hubby went with the char siu tsukemen. Definitely a hit — the char siu was very tender and the sauce was full of umami flavor.
We also got more skewers… favorites were chicken skin, heart and pork belly. Blew me away!
New server today who you could tell was new. She knew enough to describe the abura soba to me but at other points, you see her just wandering the back area, not knowing what to do. Meanwhile, it took us way too long to get our check and to-​go box (had to ask for that twice). Service definitely needs improvement!
Hubby and I decided we officially like this place and hope to come back every once in a while.

Pretty good if you’re looking for a simple, casual place for yakitori and other Japanese goodies. It’s right down the street from Honda Ya so it’s a nice alternative if you don’t want to deal with Honda Ya’s insane wait. Kaminariya’s menu is not as extensive but the prices are comparable (if not cheaper) and the food is tasty.
We got a variety of yakitori ($ 2-​$ 2.80 per skewer). Keep in mind, these skewers are tiny, with at most 2 – 3 pieces. You can’t go wrong with anything wrapped in bacon (we had the enoki and the asparagus). We also got the mochi cheese (really unique), chicken heart (chewy texture but expected), chicken skin (tasty but oily), pork belly, meatball (dry, I’ll pass next time), steak (flavorless), and sukiyaki (tasty and comes with a poached egg). Some of the yakitori are paired with specific sauces, but others aren’t which is too bad since some were in need of some sauce/​flavor. We also ordered the seared salmon sushi roll ($ 7.50), which tasted good, but was forgettable as well as the japanese flan ($ 6) for dessert. Unfortunately I found the flan to be extremely overpriced for what you get. That kind of dessert should cost no more than $ 3 – 4.
Food-​wise, I’d give Kaminariya 3.5 stars, but I give the service 4 stars. Granted, it wasn’t very busy, but the service was great and we didn’t feel rushed to leave at all. They even gave us green tea to end our meal which was a nice touch.
Located next to THH (the banh mi place). Plenty of parking in the plaza.

I go to THH a lot and have seen this new place quite a few times so finally decided to come and try. We came on a Friday night, luckily right before the crowd and snagged a seat at the bar facing into the kitchen. It’s not a big place and they have «reserved» placards on many of the tables so if you didn’t have one I can see the wait getting a bit long.
We ordered the tonkatsu ramen and yakitoris to share. The ramen was milky and the broth flavorful but temperature only lukewarm. I hate lukewarm soup. So I basically inhaled the ramen right away because I didn’t want to eat it any colder than it already was.
The yakis are as follows.
Skirt steak — good but just average. I think it needed more seasoning like salt.
Chicken skin — not cooked enough. Chicken skin needs to have that nice crisp texture or else you’re just eating soggy greasy skin.
Gizzard — This one was one of my favs. It wasn’t over cooked, so just enough chew without being like rubber.
Meatball — tastes like something I can buy in a bag at the market. It wasn’t bad, but I couldn’t taste anything special with it.
Liver — Undercooked like the chicken skin, this one was hard to eat as they do give decent chunks of it on the skewer but it needed more time on the grill.
Pork Belly — The only other one that I liked, good flavor, but again, could have been on the grill a bit longer.
Basically everything was average so I probably wouldn’t come back. I think they rush the food out too fast and it shows. Also some other ones I can’t remember but I do remember the teriyaki sauce it was drenched in. I do wish I liked it better as it’s a much more affordable than say Hondaya but it just wasn’t comparable.