Shoya

Rating: Not great
Meal: Dinner for 2
Price: 3334 yen
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes: Fried rice, oden, yakitori, deep fried tuna, sake, coke
English Menu:Yes
Smoking: Yes (there is a smoking section but not very effective)

For some reason I've been taking my son out on Thursday nights to Izakayas lately.  Mainly because we usually get there early enough that there aren't many people (and therefore smokers) yet, and because they usually have fried rice.  Also I'm running out of new restaurants to review, so I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel.  The last couple of places have been surprisingly decent, but Shoya, a well known chain whose blue sign is recognizable in virtually every town, has broken the trend.

Deep fried tuna

I will say that the service was good, though the food's arrival was a bit slow.  Could have something to do with it being Golden Week too...  And even though the smoke leaked a little from the sections where it is allowed, it wasn't as bad as it might have been.  Apparently it was late enough for some serious drinking parties to have gotten started, as my adventurous trip to the bathroom revealed.  I recommended Rowan wait until we get home to use it for himself.

Shibuya style oden

The biggest disappointment was the quality of the food.  The oden was...unpleasant, the deep fried tuna dry, the chicken skin yakitori was cold.  So yeah...definitely unimpressive.

Fried rice

Yakitori

Room temp sake in a little pot