Phuong Luong

Loved my experience here! In the permanent menu, I ordered the curry croquettes and the grilled Angus beef tongue which I highly recommend - the flavor is so deep and smoky and it was perfectly cooked. The deep fried salmon nanban in the daily menu is a bit of a let down because the crispy shell got soggy, but the cod-kale kaganawa style was delightful.

Nicola

This is a place for people who really like cool foods. Interesting foods and busy restaurant culture. The place is small and is a powerhouse. Tight seating (strongly suggest reservations) and no frills. Just good food and service. I'll be back.

+4

Liann Amagan

Hands down one of my favorite Japanese spots in the East bay to go to. You can make a reservation but you have to spend at least $40 a person which isn’t difficult to. Very authentic Japanese style from the vibe and service and the food is so good and fresh with many options from sashimi, nagiri, yakitori, izakaya, and special menu items. You have to try their corn tempura, get some of their fresh sashimi, some izakaya sticks- the beef tongue is so tender, the salmon and tuna, carpaccio, salads, soups, and their uni pasta. If you order sake you get to choose your own sake cup. The food is so good and one of my favorite places to take my friends in town. Parking can get a little difficult when trying to find street parking when it’s busy. You sign up through the Yelp waitlist and they are usually super busy.

+14

My Duong

We came 10 min before opening and got a table for dinner on Saturday. The space is small so seating is a bit cramped. Food: - Tako Wasabi (5/5): good portion, raw and spicy, not for everyone - Beef Wagyu Tataki (3/5): ponzu overpowered any taste of the beef - Mini Kaisen Donburi (5/5): such a treat! It was topped with 3 small pieces of uni and I thought it was worth it for $22. - Garlic edamame (5/5): A MUST!

Anny

Potato Croquette: Perfectly crispy outside, soft and creamy inside -- ultimate comfort bite. Grilled Angus Beef Tongue: Tender with a smoky char, brightened by a squeeze of lemon. Mini Kaisen Don: Fresh, flavorful seafood with just the right rice-to-topping ratio. Sashimi Sampler: Generous cuts, melt-in-your-mouth freshness. Overall, a go-to for authentic Japanese small plates. It has that cozy, intimate izakaya feel with warm lighting, lively but not overwhelming. The staff is friendly, attentive, and great with recommendations; dishes came out at a good pace. Expect about 30 minutes to 1 hour wait time during peak dinner hours.

Sam

I came here for dinner and it's busy if you come at peak time. If you come right at the opening or later in the evening, it is easier to get a table without waiting. The food was good! The standouts were the corn tempura, grilled beef intestines, The roasted premium angus beef tongue would have been better if the truffle oil and salt did not overpower the beef. The karage was a miss, it felt mushy and the flavor was a miss. The rock shrimp tempura was good, but basic. Would definitely return again for certain items, the sake, and try other menu items.

+9

Elsa Zhong

🌟Food: 8.5/10✨Yuba: Homemade Tofu Skin w/ Ikura and Sea Urchin - unique combo, come in 2 spoons, recommend to take in the entire spoon at once 7/10✨Beef Intestine Skewer 🥩🍢 - prefer less fatty 6/10✨Tender Beef Tongue Skewer 🥩🍢 - a bit too soft that it almost tastes like pork belly 9.5/10✨Roasted Premium Beef Tongue 🥩👅 - thick slices with chewy texture 8/10✨Nigiri Botan Ebi 🍣🍤 fresh sweet shrimp 8/10✨Deluxe Chazuke 🫖🍚 - seemingly simple ingredients infuse rich flavors in the warm broth 9/10✨Grapefruit Yogurt Ice Cream 🍨 - super refreshing to end the meal On the pricey side but overall tastes great, would definitely come back to try other items! 🌟Service & Experience: Though we felt rushed as the waiter pushed us to finish and leave, probably due to its popularity and high table turnover rate. Usually there’s a long wait. We arrived early and waited for 15 minutes. There is a minimum spend: in our case💰30 for walk-in, and more for online reservations. Interior is cozy izakaya style🏮quite small and tight space

+6

Service: The oldest waitress was rude. I did not know that outside drink is not allowed. She came to tell us, and then directly reached out to my unfinished drink and wanted to throw it away without asking my permission. NOT OKAY. This just ruined the whole experience. Food: We ordered beef tataki, nigiris, kaisen don, yaba, ankimo mousse, matcha Mont Blanc. 200$ in total. Highly recommend kaisen don.

Y. R.

Surprisingly full on a Tues night. Took me maybe 15-20 mins for a one person table. When I ordered, I was told that I didn’t order enough and that there is a $30 minimum for a walk in. I realized that I actually did order $30 but decided to add one anyway- the smoked unagi because o usually like unagi. But it was inedible. I had to return it after one bite due to way too much smokiness. I was told I was the first one complaining and got charged anyway. With a bill of nearly $50, I don’t feel satisfied at all. I wish I went somewhere else. The rice ball was great though. Uniquely cooked and good flavor.

Lixing Fu

I’m looking for great food. Kiraku is very hard to book, but I think it’s a bit overhyped compared to its price. I’m surprised how many good reviews it got on Google map. The seafood is good, but not worth the value. The otoro is not the creamy texture that its price should be. The salmon roe is too salty. Other food like grilled skewers including unagi skews, pork belly skews are ok but not excellent. Talking about Japanese food, people always have an illusion that it must be good. With very expensive pricing, I do not think it is good in taste as rintaro in SF, and both are overpriced even given the pricing level in the Bay Area nowadays. A mediocre restaurant in Japan can outbeat it. The food level also cannot catch up NYC or some Izakayas in Boston.

+3

Z M

Edit: coming back to say more cuz this honest review got reported 🤐😭😭 Super mediocre food and barely any space to move in the restaurant. The service was decent. Very unfortunately, we tried 10+ dishes including some that are highly recommended by the reviews, but barely half were good. You also can’t really tell from the photos but the portions are very small even for izakaya. We drove down to Berkeley and had only one meal there so I picked Kiraku since a lot of people say this is the best place in the town - very disappointed.

We’ve ordered from this restaurant many times and love the food. This was our first time trying the dessert. It came in a glass jar, and when I opened the lid, the jar suddenly shattered and caused an injury. It seems the glass may have weakened due to packaging or temperature changes during delivery. Very disappointing experience. We ordered on 1/30 and immediately reached out to Doordash about it, but have not received any response from Doordash’s legal/claims team, and we have not been able to obtain a refund for the order. They continue to ignore all our follow-ups. It’s incredibly frustrating to deal with an injury situation and be met with silence.

Jie Huang

The hostess asked us in the beginning if it it our first time to here. She told us the minimum charge per person is $30 after I reply “yes”. It is totally fine for me because I read many good reviews about this restaurant on yelp and little red note. The space is very limited and the hostess required every customer to sit in the table that she managed. It is totally fine for me also. This is my first time to this place. There was no any picture of food on the menu. How did I know which one was popular and how big was the portion? Also, the menu has too many Japanese loanwords as keywords without pictures, it was hard to understand. Then, I figured out that checked the doordash menu and selected the popular dishes because they uploaded all pictures to doordash. I showed my doordash list to the first waitress. She said the menus for dine in and to go were different. She made me totally confused. I said I had no idea on the dine in menu because there were too much japanese. She said not only japanese but english. Come on! Do you mean “Don”and “Hamachi”are English. I said please just order for us. Then, she said she would give us more time and left. If I did not use the hot towels, I would just leave. You can just pointed out the dishes on DoorDash and told us which dish that we selected were unavailable for dine in instead waiting for us. And, when I asked for help” please order for us”, you can just ordered for us based on your waitress experience. Please do not be lazy to use your brain. Please learn from Nippon Curry. Then, I ordered the same dishes with the second young waitress. She just pointed the dishes and confirmed with us. We got the dishes quickly, and the second young lady was the only one person to add water and keep attentive on our area. One more thing, the hostess told us the minimum charge per person was $30, but no one told us the service charge (18%) was mandatory. $110 including mandatory service charge, sales tax, and 4 small portion dishes are ridiculous because the service was poor and the space was limited!!!! I just want to pay the tips to the second young lady. It is very suck to have a dinner in this place!!!!!!!

+1