Takemotoya

Rating: OK
Meal:  Dinner for 2
Price:  4960 yen
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes:  5 types of offal, extra chicken hearts, duck skin, bibimbap, cold sake, coke, 3 types of namul
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: Yes

My son and I were out looking for dinner the other night and came across a spot I've long meant to go to, but hadn't had the chance yet.  It's a Yakiniku restaurant specializing in horumon (offal) cuts.  Who knew there were so many different kinds of intestines!

They are a cut above in that they use actual charcoal instead of gas, and of course the selection is pretty unique.  They have an English menu, digital and analogue, and they weren't freaked out by gaijin coming in.

Namul

My son is not so adventurous, so he got a bibimbap, but he did try the hearts and duck skin I ordered and quite liked those.  Not knowing much about offal (even in English), I went for the 5 types selection, along with extra hearts and duck skin.  I was surprised by a couple of the meats (pork small intestine and abomasum - the 4th cow stomach) which were deliciously soft and fatty, while some of the others were what I've come to expect:  chewy as all get out.  The hearts were delicious, as was the duck skin.

5 types of offal

Overall, it made for a nice change of yakiniku pace, and honestly I wouldn't mind returning to try out some of the other interesting things on the menu.  Also, the price wasn't bad at all for yakiniku.  Still, I just don't enjoy the process of sitting there cooking my own food, so I can't give it much beyond an Ok.  And the chances of getting to come back are slim as no on else in my family is likely to appreciate it.

Bibimbap and duck skin

Shin Yakiniku

Rating: OK
Meal:  Dinner for 2
Price:  5842 yen
Payment:  Credit cards accepted
Dishes:  3 chicken thigh plates, 1 higher quality beef plate, coke, small bottle of sake, 2 rice and soup sets
English Menu: No
Smoking: Not sure...but there will be smoke from the fire

Last night my son and I tackled a legendary spot that has refused me entrance at least twice in the past.  It's down a small alley way with a big red sign.  Shin Yakiniku is a it intimidating inside, but this time they let us come in after asking if we were ok with the all Japanese menu.

We figured things out and ordered some chicken and beef. The firepit contained real coals, which is a plus.  The food was ok, but I'm still not a huge fan of yakiniku.

Ryoubi

Rating: Not great
Meal: Dinner for 2
Price: 10,200 yen (!)
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes: Meats, soup, some drinks
English Menu: No
Smoking: Not sure

My son and I went looking for a new spot to eat in Yokosuka.  Had to walk around for quite some time.  Ryoubi is a yakiniku restaurant that replaced something called "Daddy's Kitchen" that I had never gotten around to reviewing.  We decided to try it.

The people were friendly enough, though the menu is all in Japanese.  I ordered for us mostly.  Got some beef dishes, some pork, two soups.  I had a couple of drinks, he had a coke.  I think I ordered a couple more meat dishes later.  It was all pretty normal for yakiniku, nothing special.

We went up to pay and I expected something like 40 or 50 thousand yen.  Instead it was 10,200!  I was a bit taken aback, and there was no itemized bill.  Not wanting to make a stink I paid, but I think I may have had my one and only (so far) instance of being taken advantage of.  I'm not 100% sure, but as I think back on what we ordered it's really hard for me to believe it added up to $90+.  Oh well, definitely drops this place from an Ok to a Not Great rating in my mind at least.

Amiyakitei

Forgot to take a picture, but this is from Yokosuka Food Corner

Rating: OK
Meal: Lunch for 2
Price: 5391 yen
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes:  Yakiniku set, stewed intestines, kimchi set, bibimbap, salad bar
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No

My wife and I finally ate at a yakiniku restaurant along 16 that we've driven by countless times.  It's got a handy parking lot, which makes it attractive if you're looking for something to eat while driving.  I hear it's pretty popular with the gaijin crowd, and they did seem quite prepared with an English menu and everything.  This place is a chain, and it's obviously been around a while as it's a bit dingy inside.

Stewed intestines and kimchi set

My wife wasn't feeling the meat, so she ordered a bibimbap and salad bar.  I was, so I ordered a more expensive than usual platter of meat that ended up being quite a bit.  Could have shared that for sure and I was quite full by the time we were done.  I also wanted some kimchi and I do love me some stewed intestines!

Salad from the bar

Overall it was just ok, though quite a bit easier to order at than some yakiniku restaurants.  Still, I think we've had better in town, so I gave it an Ok.

Soup and bibimbap

Most of the meat (there was more)

Fuzankan

Rating: Not great
Meal: Dinner
Price: 2500 yen
Payment: Cash only
Dishes: Kimchi, some small vegetable dishes, small rice, some beef, sake
English Menu: No
Smoking: Yes

Fuzankan is a small, very local yakiniku restaurant near the Kenritsudaigaku station.  When I arrived, I was alone and I asked for whatever the proprietor (an older woman) wanted to serve me.  She gave me some tasty kimchi and side vegetable dishes and a small rice, and eventually some beef to cook up.  I was going to stick around and eat more, but a large family arrived and began ordering so much that the proprietor was running around quite a bit, so I wrapped things up early.

kimchi

I will probably steer clear of this spot in the future.

Misc veg

Raw meat

Cooked meat

BBQ House Anan

Rating: Very good
Meal: Lunch for 2
Price:  3000 yen
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes: Two lunch all you can eat specials
English Menu:Yes (electronic)
Smoking: Yes (not certain, but usually permitted at this sort of establishment)

Electronic touch menu

My wife and I have been on a low-carb kick lately so we were looking for a reasonably priced meal to eat out on Saturday.  It's tough to eat out and do low carb in Japan (rice anyone?) but at least there are some things you can count on being ubiquitous:  yakiniku being one of them.  We sauntered over to a spot nearby that I've been avoiding since I don't usually love yakiniku.

Lunch special

It was lunch time, the best time to do yakiniku as they usually have quite affordable lunch specials.  BBQ House Anan happened to have a lunch all you can eat special that was quite cheap at about 1500 yen per person, so we opted for that.  They flipped a switch and our electronic touch screen ordering system displayed only the free options available to us so we could order with abandon.

Real charcoal

The experience overall was more positive than our usual yakiniku trials, but even so afterwards both of us felt like it was more of an ordeal full of stress (don't burn the meat!  put out the fires!) than a relaxing lunch.  Also, we realized afterwards we should have asked for all of our meat to be sauceless as everything comes smothered in either sweet, spicy or salty marinade, all of which are full of sugar and goodness knows what.  Not the greatest thing when you're trying to only eat whole foods.  Even the veg came with a (delicious) dressing or was kimchi-fied (also delicious, but probably not on the diet).

Raw meat

We ended up eating a ton and were too full for dinner that night.  Still, despite the drawbacks one of the better yakiniku experiences and since it's so close to us we might be persuaded to go back again someday.

Cooking meat

Chadol House

Rating: Very good
Meal: Dinner for 3
Price:  96000 won
Payment: Credit cards accepted
Dishes: 1 thinly sliced beef platter, 1 korean beef sirloin cut up, 1 korean beef sirloin large portion, spicy cold noodles, hot miso soup with beef
English Menu: Yes
Smoking: No

After our less than satisfying recent yakiniku experience in Japan (a common trend) we decided to have our last meal in Seoul at a nearby Korean BBQ (yakiniku) restaurant called Chadol House.  It is literally the closest BBQ spot to the base while walking towards Itaewon, and very easy to get to.  It had pretty high reviews online and seemed a good place to try the "real thing".

Real charcoal grill

It was quite nice, sort of "date spot" feeling if you will.  The area is super trendy with lots of fancy bars and restaurants going up everywhere...a little too hip for us typically.  But the restaurant was welcoming, and the menu nice and simple.  There were about 5 different meat choices, all beef, and we opted for some thinly sliced beef, and two cuts of thick Korean beef sirloin.  It was our last meal and we had cash to burn, so we ordered more expensively and extensively than we typically would.  I had to try some of the soups too, so I got a cold and hot option.  At one point I contemplated getting us some rice too, but the waiter suggested we wait and see what with all the soups coming.  I did order one rice for my son though.

Thin sliced beef and banchan

The thin sliced beef was my son's favorite, and it came frozen in little curled up tubes so you could set it easily on the charcoal grill pot and then it would naturally unfreeze and lay down flat.  Of course we didn't realize this exactly at first and by the time we did the rest had all started to thaw and they were a pain to cook after that.  But being thin, they cook fast, and if you want some extra crisp you can leave it on a little longer.

Thick cut beef, banchan and hot soup

The sirloin cuts were deliciously fatty.  The precut versions were our favorite, because if you get the uncut bigger version you have to use some scissors to cut it up before or after and that's kind of a pain.

But the meat was really just part of the show...the main event was everything else in my opinion.  There were 3 or four different banchan dishes, several types of kimchi, some bean sprouts, lettuce leaves, etc... and when we finished one of the kimchi dishes they immediately refilled it and kept topping everything up.  The soups were both very tasty, with the noodle dish being that very thin, long noodle type that some people choke on, so they cut it up using scissors before we ate it, which I was grateful for.  It was pretty spicy, but not overly so.  The hot soup was delicious as well.

Overall we were all in agreement that it was a night and day difference in comparison to yakiniku in Japan.  Korea does it best, hands down!