Yakitori Edomasa

Yakitori Edomasa in Japantown, San Francisco, offers high-quality skewers at an incredibly reasonable price ($4-10). Be sure to ask about the specials or check the board - we almost missed them! The menu has a great variety, with something for everyone. Who doesn't love meat on a stick? The grilled flavors are fantastic! We started with Garlic Chili Edamame, Liver Pâté, and Deep-Fried Shishito Peppers - all delicious. The standout skewers were the Tataki (Chicken Meatball), Sake (Salmon), Harami (Beef Skirt), and Buta (Miso Pork Belly). Amazing food, great value, and a must-visit spot!

My wife and I visited Yakitori Edomasa after we were turned away from Sobakatsu down the street since they had sold out of soba for the evening. At around 6:45 p.m. on a Friday, there wasn't a line outside and we actually managed to snag a seat at a table inside without a wait. However, when we finished our meal around 7:45 p.m., a considerable sized line had formed outside. Definitely plan on a wait if you happen to come when its busy.Moving on to the food itself, Yakitori Edomasa delivers high quality skewers at a very reasonable price. We shared the yakitori set -- which includes 5 of their Edomasa's classics, a vegetable dish of the day, chicken broth soup, and a bowl of mixed rice, a scallop skewer, a skewer of beef tongue (daily special), liver pate, and Edomasa chicken wings. This ended up being the perfect amount of food, and there was honestly not a single dish, or skewer, that I wouldn't happily order again. The milky white bowl of chicken broth that started our meal was fantastic. Great depth of flavor and wonderfully light compared to a tonkotsu broth.Of the appetizers that we ordered, I especially enjoyed the liver pate. The pate is rich, smooth, savory, and the flavor of the liver is quite mild. Of the skewers, I really enjoyed the beef tongue, scallops, and the chicken meatball. The chicken meatball was incredibly tender and carried a wonderful grilled flavor.The bill came out to be around $110 for the two of us -- with one alcohol drink per person, which I consider to be pretty good value for yakitori in the Bay Area. Service is top-notch as well. Definitely would recommend stopping by if you're in Japantown.

Amazing food that has a great grilled flavor! They had many options but it doesn't seem like it looking at the menu. All the food tasted great except for one of the mushrooms sticks it wasn't cooked enough. Service was excellent, super welcoming and friendly! I loved sitting in the booth. I will happily recommend this spot! Its a must try forsure. 4.5/5 stars!

Ordered one of the lunch set menus and it was very filling despite initial looks! It was my first time trying paitan soup which is a chicken broth made in house that reminded me of Korean gom tang. Service was super fast and very helpful. They were proactive and attentive helping quickly when the baby spilled her water cup and providing additional veggies when she spilled her kids meal veggie bowl. I really appreciated the help and kindness. The yakitori were really delicious and I especially liked the beef yakitori as it was surprisingly tender for the cut and the marinade was really good. Ambiance is a bit dark great for first dates or intimate chats I would say. Not a big spot by any stretch but they seem to move tables and chef counter pretty quickly. Would recommend if you are shopping around the center

I'm a huge fan of meat on a stick. I'm glad that Edomasa opened in Japantown and my friend and I came here for dinner on a Sunday. They offer a set menu for $30 and we each had one and added all of the seafood skewers plus one of their specials that evening (beef tongue) and the Tori Karaage. The set menu came with their classic chicken skewers (heart stamina, momo, negima and nakamoto), a chicken meatball, the vegetable dish of the day, paitan soup and their takikomi gohan (seasoned rice). On this set, the skewers were all good and the nakamoto (chicken wing) was my favorite. The salt levels on the other dishes were a little off for me. The meatball was under-seasoned. The vegetable dish was too salty. The paitan was good but not as creamy as what you can get from ramen places that specialize in Paitan. Lastly, the gohan probably needed a little more dashi. For $30 and for people who haven't been here before, it's still worth ordering. The seafood skewers were the place where Edomasa shines. All of them (cod, salmon, shrimp, scalloped and eel) were just perfect. The cod was definitely the standout of the evening. I had to try one of their specials that night and the beef tongue was good but a little overcooked (not as tender as I'd like). The tori Karaage is another Japanese restaurant staple and this version was not greasy but needed some more salt. Hot tea was the perfect beverage pairing for the evening for us. Service was good and fast. They are located where Izumiya used to be and I love how they've redecorated with the dark wood colors. There's a nice bar where you can see them grilling the skewers but we opted to sit at a table. With tax and tip, this was about $75 a person, which is great for the amount of food we got. You can easily be full with something under $50. I'll definitely come back and probably head straight to the bar and order some appetizers and the skewers I want. This place is worth a visit.

Cool to have a yakitori spot here. Skewers are always fun to eat and you get to try a lot of different bites.Out of all the items we tried, I would say I enjoyed the miso salmon and cod the most. The chicken meatball and okra were also very tasty.Good service and this is a nice little shop that reminds me of Japan.

Oh, I didn't know Izumiya closed. Color me unsurprised, but it was like the only place in J-Town I could get okonomiyaki. Oh well. The new replacement spot didn't disappoint me though. It was an accidental find for me because I wasn't really looking for something to eat. I had already bought a ticket at the Kabuki to see "Nickel Boys" and only had forty minutes before seeing that weird Nicole Kidman AMC ad.So I asked the young hostess if lunch within that timeframe was even possible. She said yep and sat me at the concrete counter. The menu was quick to peruse with their lunch selection highlighted by yakitori teishoku sets. I immediately went for the $21 Kushiyaki Teishoku Set that came with a trio of meaty, flavorful skewers - Yakitori Negima, Beef, and Miso-Glazed Pork Belly.A fourth skewer - Grilled Eel (Unagi) - arrived as an appetizer at my discretion along with a salad, Paitan soup, and Takikomi Gohan (photo: https://yelp.to/q07Tn-EArT). There was mention of potato salad, but I didn't see it. I really didn't miss it because all the components were satisfying enough. Had I more time, I would've gone for one of their sake cocktails. OK, maybe two. But I had a movie to catch, and it was worth it because it was good.FOOD - 4.5 stars...genuinely tasty yakitori skewers with the fixingsAMBIANCE - 4.5 stars...nice renovation job from the tired-looking IzumiyaSERVICE - 5 stars...they happily accommodated my self-inflicted time clockTOTAL - 5 stars...happy to add this to my J-Town rotation...now where can I find okonomiyaki?RELATED - Exploring Japantown? Here's my collection of places I've tried and reviewed: https://bit.ly/2C8Z4mZ

We've been wanting to try here for a while and usually there's a wait, but today we got lucky! We went at about 1pm and it was full, but the wait was minimal. We ordered and the food came right away. Our server was super friendly and helpful. He explained all the sticks to us. The food was very tasty. We'll be back!

Wow! Yakitori in Japantown! When you walk in, you can see the chefs hard at work on the skewers and it both smells, and is cramped enough that you are reminded of skewer spots in Tokyo. Not much seating so don't come with a large group. Best to come solo or with a date.I went for lunch and was stoked to see they have bento boxes to go. Perfect for a quick bite or a picnic in the park and I would have to go back for the bentos specifically.Portions aren't large, so grab a few skewers and keep ordering until you are full. I went with the lunch set with a salmon special and a eringi. All of which was great. All the meats were cooked well: juicy with a nice char from the grill though some I wished I had more seasoning, but salt was readily available. Authentic, at least based on the handful of times I ate yakitori in Tokyo.The staff is friendly. I got a bar seat and watched the chefs work their magic which was a fun show.I'll grab the bento next time.

Overall, a good place for yakitori! I've had amazing yakitori in Japan and this place is worth trying if you like this style of food. We made a reservation for a Thursday evening and the restaurant was full, but service was attentive. Our food came out quickly. The meats had solid flavor and were cooked just right.We ordered quite a few things but enjoyed these the most:- chicken gizzard- chicken heart- chicken oyster - nankotsu (cartilage, surprisingly my favorite of the night)- beef tongue- chicken meatballWe thought getting the edomasa would be good value, but we ended up enjoying those skewers the least and preferred ordering other skewers. The rice was quite terrible - we barely could eat it. The soup was rich and had a deep taste, but I wish it was served hotter. Overall, good yakitori and I would come back! The yuzu drink is delicious too.