Best thing to finish off a week? BEER! No, wait… CHICKEN! Yeah! The type you eat off a stick… YAKITORI!
TORIZO [SAKAE, NAGOYA] https://maps.app.goo.gl/o7grQrT7gCcnxDN29
The place we checked out this time was Torizo in Sakae. To be fair, we did get absolutely lost on the way there, but this was probably the fault of those pre-yakitori drinky-poos in the park. (hic!)
Oh wait. No. WE WENT INTO THE WRONG RESTAURANT!
Thing is, at this location there are three or four restaurants squished together, and they all look pretty terrific! Accidentally wobbling to the right had us almost ordering chicken balls at a… YAKINIKU!? NO!!!
We don’t have anything against yakiniku, but when you have meat on a stick in your mind, a DIY barbeque style isn’t quite what we needed… Saying that… maaan, the service at the place next door was very good. Definitely somewhere to consider if you want to eat yakiniku. Yarrr! Maybe another time… Yarrrr! 🦜
Anyway, heading into Torizo was very… Let’s say, interesting. Not interesting in the way of, “Ohhh, these guys mean BUSINESS!” More like, “Oh! It’s a FAMILY BUSINESS!” In all the best ways!
Elderly mother keeping everything together? Check! The son on the grill, making sure everything is running like a well-oiled-machine? CHECKEROO!
If you want a place that gets things right in ways you can’t learn at school, this place has it in spades!
You’re greeted with a tasty stick (Umaibo… Means tasty stick… Translated… Honest!)- and a set of chopsticks… Let’s go!
The menu is pretty standard fare. Not bad at all. I mean, there’s no QR-code electronic doodah to wrestle with, so you can just order your shizzle like a normal human being.
One thing you need to remember about this place: it’s family run. That means they need all the help they can get! In other words, the minimum order is five food items per person.
For one person, five sticks of chicken shouldn’t be an issue, especially with drinks. But yeah, we ordered five of their recommended sticks (lolz), then pointed at other random items to add to the mayhem.
Quail eggs. Jim Beam highball…
GO, GO, GO!
THE IMPORTANT BIT: FOOD AND DRINKS
Drinks? On point. Tasted great. Not overpriced.
Food? On point. Tasted great. Not overpriced.
What more do you want? A marching band? A complimentary pony? A small framed photograph of Jeff looking confused?
The bill came to around ¥5,500 for a couple of idiots. Two drinks each and around 12 sticks of chickeny knick-knacks.
Honestly, I’m not entirely sure where I’m going with this review… But we had a good time, this is…Yeah.
Nice.
Sometimes you don’t need a grand culinary adventure or some bloke in a fancy apron explaining the emotional journey of a chicken thigh. Sometimes you just want good yakitori, decent drinks and a family-run place where you feel like someone’s looking after you.
And Torizo seems to have that covered.
THE VERDICT
TASTE: 5/5 – Family yakitori place. What’s not to like?
VALUE: 4.5/5 – Around ¥5,500 for two idiots, two drinks each and a dozen or so sticks of chickeny goodness. Sounds pretty reasonable to me.
BAD DECISION: 1/5 – It felt like they’d look after you!
BDJ RATING: 4.5/5 – Would definitely go again.
One final thing, though: don’t do anything NSFW in there, ya hear?
MAMA IS WATCHING! 👀
-By Jeff… And uh, here are some more photos
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