Yakitori Totto

Not sure how I haven’t reviewed Yakitori Totto before, but it’s really become a required stop every time I’m visiting NYC. It’s tiny and feels like it is straight out of a side street in Tokyo but the food is amazing - flavorful and cooked perfectly. Book ahead of time and try to eat right when they open so you have room to breathe. Service can be a bit rushed at times when they are busy but they are quick to serve you and provide drink refills. You have to be able to walk up a pretty steep flight of stairs from street level to get in.

From good reviews online, I decided to come here for an anniversary dinner a few days ago. My partner and I decided to start off with takoyaki, which wasn't too badly priced, at $10 for 6 pieces, along with a bowl of miso soup. The takoyaki was a pleasant surprise - crispy on the outside and very soft on the inside, with good flavor. However, the miso soup was extremely salty, definitely overpowering. I got used to the saltiness after a few sips. We also ordered a calpico drink mixed with soda, which tasted great. The ratios of both made for a perfect blend. I was a little surprised by the taste of the miso soup, but nothing too standout yet. Soon, we got our yakitori skewers: wagyu beef, enoki bacon, kawa, and negi pon. The texture of the wagyu was disappointing, but acceptable. The enoki bacon texture was amazing; nothing remarkable about the kawa and negi pon textures. Texture is important, but so is flavor, which is what all of these yakitori skewers were lacking. The flavor for all the skewers were extremely underwhelming, and my partner and I had to drown all them in salt, pepper, and soy sauce to give it an okay~ flavor. Next, we ordered one totto udon bowl to share. The servers provided each of us an individual bowl & soup spoon. I don't have much to say on this dish - it was just average udon. No complaints but no particular compliments either. To finish off the night, we ordered a green tea affogato, and needless to say, this was the highlight of the dinner. The green tea blended perfectly with the vanilla ice cream to produce a sweet matcha-like flavor. My partner ate all the red bean so I can't comment on that, but the mochi balls that came with it were relatively flavorless, but it had a nice chewiness so I won't complain about it. The total cost of all this came out to about $80~, and we tipped about 20% since our waiter was extremely kind and accommodating, great service!

I dream about their food. What else needs to be said.

Sublime eel as part of a terrific combo with shrimp and scallop or straight unagi. Loved the chicken dango, the crispy pork skin and the octopus balls. Hot and fresh and lovely folks running a smooth experience.

The food is always good here but service today by lady was really bad. I feel like serving her and it was bad. They should really train the people first.

Dined in on a weekend night after a concert at Carnegie hall. Didn’t make a reservation but got seated within five minutes. We ordered a few basic yakitori, tacowasa (loved it) and appreciated how they had the Japanese spices (shichimi and sansho). I didn’t appreciate how the staff were stacking up dirty places and glasses right behind our table before bringing it back to the kitchen. Wish that was happening behind the scenes but the restaurant is pretty narrow and tight. They also forgot one of my orders but everyone was friendly. Recommend to get the table in the flexed room

Cute little Japanese place for yakittori! The servers were super sweet, food was delicious, and very well priced!