Ippuku

Ippuku is my go-to izakaya in the Bay Area! I've been here multiple times over the past couple of years and they never disappoint. From their tapas dishes to their yakitoris, all of their dishes never miss. I also LOVE the 80s city pop vibes of the restaurant! So cozy, kinda nostalgic/retro and overall just great vibes. ~The Food~I love their Yakitoris! These are some of my go-to's: - Negima (thigh with leeks)- Tsukune (ground chicken)- Mune (chicken breast)- Kawa (crispy chicken skin)A must-try is their Yaki Onigiris! Essentially grilled rice balls, brushed with a sweet soy glaze. They have a nice smokiness and crunch but fluffy sweet rice on the inside. Umami goodness. ~Tips~- Highly recommend getting a resy ahead of time if you can! Otherwise, you can get there right when they open and you may be able to get a table with no wait! - Pricing wise, each dish is pretty small (being a tapas style) so it can add up, but I think it's definitely worth it! - Parking can be a bit of a struggle, but that's just downtown berkeley in general :)

Better than expected. A bit pricey. Paitan Ramen w/ bone marrow 5/5Beef tongue 4/5Beef tendon 1/5Kinmedai 1/5Spider Roll 5/5Black sesame ice cream 4/5

For a yakitori joint they ran out of many items by 7:30pm on a Friday night. Mind you they open at 5pm! Chicken skin, chicken wings, knee cartilage are all out. Items are on the pricy side, but I'll give them a pass on pricing since it is just hard to operate in the SF Bay, also there aren't many yakitori places to choose from.Overall - experience is average. Food: averageAtmosphere: ok - Music loud at timesService: okPrice: $$$Worth the hype: NO

One of the best izakaya/yakitori experiences I've had. They specialize in chicken skewers and I would hands down recommend trying them all. They're simply seasoned but have a big taste. And I don't usually love chicken. My favorites were the chicken skin, chicken thigh oyster, pork belly (we ordered more of these), and sweet potato. The bacon wrapped mochi is interesting, but not as good as the others. One big critique is that they brought out the squid ink fried rice 10 minutes after we finished all the skewers- rice should have been served alongside the proteins, so timing could be improved here. We walked in right at opening since reservations went fast, so definitely grab a res when planning to go. I'm eyeing their floor-level group tables next and definitely want to try more of their menu (eyeing the oden and squid!)

The last time I came was about 10 years ago and my recent visit was amazing. The ambiance really makes it feel like you're in Japan. There are signs that say no phone/pics but I'm not sure if it's truly true. I love all the dishes we tried especially the friend chicken karage. The pancake was also super unique and yummy. Ambiance is amazing, service is great. Food delicious! I don't know what more one could ask for! Parking is a bit hard to find so definitely go early if you're interested in trying this place.

A friend reserved a 7 pm dinner for a group of 5 and we were fully settled and eating by 7:30. Service is good and the restaurant felt pretty traditional with how you're seated! We ordered miscellaneous skewers, sashimi, and appetizers to do family style. None of the skewers really caught my attention- most were pretty lightly seasoned and the sashimi was mediocre.

The ambiance here is really sick. I was totally kidding when I walked in and said "damn do you have to take off your shoes too?" And yes...it is like that hahah. In a good way. Was just funny because when a group of 12 of us did, one of us was like, sorry about the smell (feet); and I said oh glad you took credit because I forsure thought that was me lmaoooo.But I'm not discrediting that, I enjoyed it. You take them off and chill in the table area. Don't be afraid to climb up on thangs because well.. you kinda have to.Food was good too - and I think for the price it is delicious. We were expecting it to be much more expensive than we thought by looking at the atmosphere. Which I do appreciate that it is affordable in context for what they're serving.We liked the squid ink rice. Chicken Skewers (Omakase) Chicken Wing Chicken Breast Chicken Heart Chicken Thigh Chicken Thigh Oyster. Wagyu skewer. We had more skewers but that's all I can think of at the top of my head. And the mackerel was delicious. Reminded me of fried bangus - basically its a fried fish. Just watch out for bones. I think how we did it was good balance of tasting. We kinda treated it like tapas/small plates. And ordered hella skewers with hella sides of ink rice. Not sure if that was the intent of this place but that's how we went about it. The meat was juicy and tasty all around. I think where we did have a slight con is that the service was losing track of our orders. Which is fine but we just had to remind them quite a few amount of times. We had like 1-2 items never came and we just had to double-check that it was accounted for in the receipt. I get big tables could get cray when it comes to orders so we just had to make sure receipt-wise we were good. Overall though the service was nice and attentive. They had quite the selection of sake and beer. They had this like almond beer that tasted like almonds - that one was pretty sick.

Came here with the kids (5 and 8) and while it wasn't our usual date night, it was still delicious food. Taking off one star for a extended lull between our order and an order of the chicken salad and one skewer od their $25 wagyu a5 steak which took over 35 minutes, which when you have kids, is an eternity. Luckily I had my iPad and a movie on, but other than that, the meal was delicious and good. The space is kid friendly and intimate. Kids loved the food and they also brought out mayo that didn't have any spice that looked like Mickey Mouse which was a cute and nice touch I appreciated and my 5 year old really loved. Thank you!

You should reserve in advance if not you'll be waiting around for a booth or table! My partner and I did reserve online before hand and our table was ready within like 5 minutes. They have a great premium malt beer on tap and a bunch of bottles of sake hanging (found it very cool) It is a bit expensive for what it is. It's more of a tapas type of place which I do love because more food to try and share but our bill felt a little high for what we got.Overall our server was very attentive and the restaurant itself is like loungy looking.My partner and I sat in what they call the treehouse which is like a cubicle seating side by side with a beaded curtain.We were sat near the bar entrance and unfortunately someone was smoking outside so we got the strong smell coming in. That's not the restaurants fault though...Good food, good drinks, good service. Try it out!

This is my favorite restaurant. I literally do a happy dance in my seat every time I begin eating here. I don't do this other places, just Ippuku.Ippuku does yakitori right - they use an authentic grill with binchotan charcoal. They source delicious chicken and infuse their yakitori with the smell and taste of the Japanese charcoal. It's so overwhelmingly delicious. My favorite is negima (chicken thigh with green onions) but the mochi wrapped in bacon is a close second.In addition to the yakitori, their other dishes are incredible. I'm obsessed with their starter of cabbage and mayonnaise/miso. So much so that sometimes I now make this into a lunch for myself at home. My absolute favorite dish is their tempura - they will use maitake mushrooms or fiddlehead ferns and coat them in a light and airy batter and give you matcha salt. That matcha salt is gold and I hoard it every time to use with all the other items I order. Their karaage is perfection as well. I love so many of their dishes it's hard to name each one. These are dishes that make me feel like I'm back in Japan. They are flavorful, light, and also beautiful to look at. They also serve their food on beautiful plates and vessels.In addition to the food, the atmosphere is lovely. The restaurant features reused wood throughout their interior, which gives the place such a unique, warm vibe. Some tables are booths and some feature sunken floors for larger groups. All (I think!) have kotatsu heaters underneath to keep you warm on chillier days. I LOVE kotatsus so this is such a nice feature. Also, a random note, the bathrooms are super stylish with beautiful painted tiles showing Japanese folklore stories featuring frogs, foxes, and other traditional Japanese characters.I want to live at this restaurant if I could - eating yakitori all day and enjoying the warm, yet introspective interior. Go to this restaurant if you haven't. It's such a gem of a place. I'm so happy I live in a world where Ippuku exists.