Binchoyaki Izakaya Dining

So- we have been hearing about this place and decided to try it.
4:15pm reservation on a Saturday

We arrived and a friendly service staff greeted us outside.

Numerous seating outside with ample misters which are great for hot Sacramento days.

We decided to eat inside since it's our first time.

Binchoyaki is a modern Japanese style barbecue place that serves a mixture of standard barbecue items mixed with a few, shall I say, special items for those who aren't averse to trying new things

Staff was friendly and helpful - willing to explain how things are served

The barbecue items are served in a 6 inch wooden stick cooked in the middle of the restaurant.

They also have traditional Japanese choices.

We ordered the Experienced Set which included: 1 NY strip 1 tanuki 1 nankotsu 1 heart 1 liver 3 sausages. This is the barbecue items we got

Everything was great except for the nankotsu - didn't care for the inedible portions which left not much meat
The sausages were great and the heart was tasty and the NY strip cooked perfectly. Barbecue 8/10

We also ordered Karaage 6/10. We've had better
Next was katsusando - tasty at 8/10
We also got Tantanmen ramen - it
Certainly was different. Didn't taste like any other tqntanmen we've had. Not bad - just not what we expected and was craving for

We didn't have any alcohol but I think we would have enjoyed it more if we had -
Plan is if we come back get the barbecue items and drink

The bill came and gratuity if 20% was already added - kudos that they mentioned it to us before paying but I think too should not be automatic

We normally tip 18% and give more of we feel it's deserved.

I don't like not having that choice

Value for money - I would say 7/10. It's something we haven't tried and plus points for being different

To come back or not - jury is still out

Japanese tapas galore! So many options to choose from---Yakatori (skewers), curry don, onigiri, ramen, crispy rice, etc.!

I highly suggest making a reservation, especially for dinner. You can do this via resy.

Casual yet modern vibes. Great service! Always a great spot to recommend.

Absolutely delicious - on par with my favorite izakaya spots, Gaku Yakitori in San Jose and Momotaro in Chicago. For better details, read Mike L.'s 3/10/2024 review, whose every word I agree with on the food.

I rarely care about service, as I have eaten at places where the servers literally throw the plates on the table, comment on my weight, and insult the dishes I've chosen to order - and still hand over my money and five stars on Yelp.

However, the restaurant logistics here defy logic. For a Thursday night 7PM restaurant reservation, our party of four was on time but sat at 7:20 (totally fine), ordered, received drinks and one dish a few minutes later (great), and then nothing until 8:40PM (now we are starving and hangry, and attack our skewers as politely as possible for a birthday celebration). After the 8:40PM set of skewers arrived, lengthy pauses ensued between dishes, during which we watched other tables that arrived after us finish their meals and leave.

We didn't receive everything we ordered, and the inconsistent timing of the dishes kept us at the table until nearly 10PM, an hour after restaurant closing, even when we cancelled the missing dishes. Our server was very kind, and it wasn't her fault, but she had the house comp our creme caramel desserts.

I would love to return, but I can't wait over an hour between dishes to eat the food, even as amazing as it is.

My friend that has been here a handful of times brought me here for my first time. The place is small with an open kitchen that you can see, watch, smell, etc. the krispy rice is a must! & one of my favorite dishes from the day. Loved the vibes from the music that was playing and will be back to try the other plates as well.

I visited particularly for the duck ramen. It is still as good as I remembered. The broth has numbing spices, which enhances the flavors. The duck was cut up in small pieces and it was flavorful and tender.

The yakitoris are always prepared perfectly as usual. I orders the shishito peppers, duck breast, and the bacon wrapped enokis.

I will visit again in the winter to satisfy my duck ramen cravings.

I came here several years ago and enjoyed my meal. The other week, I finally had an opportunity to return. I was definitely not impressed with the food or atmosphere. I get that this is a small business but there were flies everywhere, it was stuffy, and honestly the service was not great. The food came out staggered and we thought our last dish was forgotten but no, it came out over an hour after we ordered. I'm all about paying for quality food but I feel like things were overpriced. The taste for most dishes was good but not outstanding. We came on a weeknight so the restaurant also wasn't that busy. Unfortunately I was quite disappointed and not sure if I'll be returning.

I'm surprised by so many negative reviews here. Maybe I got lucky but I was blown away by how delicious the food is here. It's a place I recommend to people coming in from out of town because I found it to be that good.

I thought the service was completely fine, but I see others complaining about wait time. I did not experience any issues. Inside was cute with their little preserve jars.

With all due respect to Sacramento and the restaurants that call it home, I never thought I'd be jealous of the food scene here. Don't get me wrong - there absolutely have been places that I wish we had in the Bay Area (Butter & Bacon and Ginger Elizabeth immediately come to mind), but I have to admit those feelings grew even stronger after visiting Binchoyaki. In no small part because there seem to be tons of interesting spots that have opened up over the last five to ten years, but also because, compared to the overly hyped Yakitori Edomasa in SF, I found myself bemoaning the fact that the food there wasn't nearly as good as what we had here!

Now, in fairness, Yakitori Edomasa is a purely yakitori restaurant, whereas Binchoyaki is an izakaya. However, the latter's yakitori offerings, which is the main feature of their menu, smokes the former's (pun intended) and it's not even close. Beyond just tasting better, the range of selections here is really impressive, offering numerous types of proteins, cuts, and preparations. As for the rest of the menu, it's pretty in line with most izakayas out there, but not all of the individual dishes are super traditional. Alongside staples like agedashi tofu, tempura, onigiri, ramen, and udon, you can also find more unique items like Arabiki corn dogs, fried shrimp tacos, curry fries, and Spam musubi. And, of course, they've got a wealth of beers, sake, nigoris, cocktails, and wines to choose from, too.

***Unfortunately, I wasn't able to snag photos of everything we had, but trust me when I say that all of it looked great.

-- ARABIKI SAUSAGE...$7
Ehh...this was just okay. We got this on accident (marked the wrong line), but I was fine trying this. The sausages were juicy and had a nice sweetness to them, but they weren't all that special compared to everything else we had.

-- NY STRIP LOIN (Niman Ranch)...$8.5
This was terrific! Every piece was meaty, had a delicious beefiness and was cooked to a perfect medium rare. Not very unique, but really, really good.

-- SHISHITO PEPPERS...$5.5
Pretty decent, though hardly amazing. The peppers were all fairly large in size and I liked how they had a slightly sweet and smoky flavor to them (akin to a grilled bell pepper).

-- CHICKEN HEART...$5.5
We opted for this over the gizzards and I am so glad we did. The hearts had a nice chew to them (in a good way) and were especially well complemented by the char of the fire.

-- BEEF TONGUE...$9.5
Tongue is a little hit or miss for me and this was right down the middle. The texture wasn't as tender as I would've liked, but the flavors were spot on.

-- GRILLED BEEF RIB - Sweet Sesame Kakuni Style Braised & Grilled Beef Rib...$7
Aside from how difficult this was to eat (certain parts weren't exactly falling off the bone), this was pretty delicious. The rib meat at all dry like how I had feared and the sauce on this packed a nice punch.

-- NEGIMA - Chicken Thigh/Green Onions...$6
Initially, I was a little worried about the chicken, but this was great! Every piece was moist and I liked how well the charred portions of the green onion complemented the chicken. Yum!

-- MOCHI BACON...$6
One of my favorites of the night! Even though I wish the bacon was a little crispier, the mochi had the perfect amount of gooiness to it. I would've been stoked with a second order.

-- HAMACHI (Yellowtail)...$19
If we had known how big the pieces were, we probably wouldn't have added this at the last minute. At the same time, I'm so glad we did because this was one of my favorites of the night! The fish was super moist and oh so tasty!

Despite having tried so many of their skewers, and how much I thoroughly enjoyed the vast majority of them, I really wish we had tried other parts of Binchoyaki's menu. Their ramen would be chief among them, based purely on how many orders we saw pass by us, but also some of their izakaya items as well. In particular, their hamachi or maguro carpaccio would've been perfect to break up the continuous rounds of skewers and I would've loved to try their Onigiri, Buta Kimchi Itame, and their Gindara Misoyaki. Until we do (and we absolutely will), FOUR AND A HALF STARS rounded down for now.

Went here after it was recommended at youtube vlog. The vloggers feel they are one of the best Asian food i.nSacramento, unfortunately their food was just ok in own opinion...meaning their food just didn't pass my palette...for me it didn't even taste like Japanese food. It was also a warm inside. And lastly I think thier food is way over priced and they have a standard 20% gratuity even though we came in with a party of two. But hey try them and see for yourself, this review is just my personal opinion.

The food was amazing! Everything had so much flavor, even the crispy rice (which I usually don't order bc it's so basic) but this one was amazing. The uni ramen was definitely my favorite. Our food took a bit to come out so the waitress sent us a free sashimi - it was really kind and goes to show what kind of service they provide