Ippuku - Berkeley

Yakitori grilled food that is so superb. Mind the menu… the bubbles/circles surrounding the number indicates the price of the item. Zero is not represented in a bubble/circle and the price can easily be mistaken as a single-digit number.

Wow. I thought I had a one-off experience at Ippuku but based on recent reviews, service has been rough as of recent. My partner and I have been coming to Ippuku for years. Despite mistakes and slow service being common as of late, we still keep coming back because we enjoy the food. We came on a Sunday a little after opening, the restaurant was full and a few groups were ahead of us. The hostess Sierra/Ciara told us that the wait would be approximately an hour, which was fine, the food is worth the wait! To be courteous, we didn’t want to take up space sitting in front of the restaurant for those wanting to take advantage of the bar. As the wait time was supposedly an hour, we walked around downtown Berkeley and came back less than 30 mins later to check our position, only to be told by Sierra in an annoyed voice that she called our names over 20 mins ago and we weren’t around. I understand that wait times aren’t accurate, but 10 vs 60 mins is a far off estimation. From past experiences, the owner would take down our name and phone number, perhaps even jot down the time we arrived to join the “wait list”. However only our names were taken down this time, and if you weren’t in front of the restaurant by the time your name was called, you were crossed off the list. As it was a special occasion, my boyfriend kindly asked if she put us back at the top of the list since we weren’t given a grace period to return. He was told by Sierra with emphasis, that we would be put back at the bottom and was rudely shooed away. After witnessing how he was poorly spoken to, I returned to speak to Sierra to express how disappointed I am with her service and attitude, only to be gaslit and belittled. Although the food is good, this experience has probably deter me coming back in the future. Staff appears to be elitist and expect you to kiss their feet to dine here, umm no thanks.

Excellent. The slightly blanched fresh chicken cubes in a white soup ramen is a must if you’re looking for filling food. Perhaps the only one in the Bqy Area butchered chicken in situ. I’d like to see that, but.

Best yakitori in the Bay. Non-yakitori dishes were superb as well.

Undoubtedly, it is the most authentic izakaya in California.