Gaku Yakitori

Skewers were a hit or miss. I'm not usually a huge fan of just salted skewers (I feel like the special sauces ones give a yakitori place a chance to shine by setting themselves apart from your basic charcoal grill flavor), but for Gaku, the salt skewers were my favorite, especially the pork belly. The beef with the radish and green onions was a total miss... the radish made it so watery and the beef ended up sitting in a soggy pool of liquid. The chicken cartilage is typically one of my favorite skewers, but not here. It was too much meat that looked slightly on the pink-er side, but it's all preference. Their ramen was actually pretty good (usually, when I get ramen at skewer restaurants, the ramen is really bad). I liked the broth flavor and although I'm not a thin noodle fan, I liked Gaku's thin ramen noodles! Lots of chew, good portion size. The tuna carpaccio really threw me off--it was seared, sitting on a bed of raw onion, served with raw garlic slices, green onions, and crispy fried onion bits and watermelon radish. I genuinely thought I was only getting a few slices of fully raw tuna because there was no description (none of the items on the special menu had descriptions). I guess I should have asked, but I do feel like it'd be nice to know how it came. I would have ordered the chutoro instead... oh well, maybe next time. Dessert was great! Matcha crème brûlée and lychee sorbet made a great combo! The crème brûlée was really thick and rich, while the lychee sorbet was light and crisp. Sat at the bar right by the service window, which wasn't awful, but if you're annoyed by frequent traffic, definitely avoid sitting there. Loved the service--servers are all friendly and kind~

My partner and I have just returned home, and we are still taken aback by the supreme quality that Gaku delivered. We ordered the following: chicken liver with sauce, knee cartilage, gizzard, heart, bluefin toro karaage, kalbi with miso, pork belly, tecchan, ankimo, and rare honey cheesecake. Here's the following order by phenomenal tasting: Tecchan, chicken liver, bluefin toro karaage, knee cartilage, and ankimo. James, our server, was extremely kind, humorous, and knowledgeable with the menu. Thank you so much, James! We also ordered the Kinka bottle, which was chef's kiss along with the plates that stood out to me. My partner also loves the above plates--man it was worth the one hour wait. And that cheesecake? My, my, my. Until next time. :)

I love this place I love this place I love this place I can't say it enough. Great food, great service. Authentic and approachable.

Came here last weekend with my friends since one of our friends came back from New York to visit. Upon arrival, I couldn't tell if the restaurant was open because it was pretty dark when looking from the outside. We joined the waitlist and waited about 15-20 minutes to be seated for a party of 6 people. The wait is understandable because the store is small inside. The interior definitely gives off a Japanese vibe when you're being seated and looking around. The servers here are quick with ordering, bringing out food and bringing out drinks. We enjoyed mostly everything we ordered and had an enjoyable experience here. Would recommend and come back for yakitori.

I love this place. It's where we go to splurge and we order a ton of food. We enjoy it. Then I am thoroughly surprised when the bill comes. I always expect it to be MORE! I went with my wife and adult daughter. We had fried tofu, hamachi collar, onigiri, fried chicken skin, chicken tatsuta, fried gobo, bacon steak, shrimp kaarage. There was more than enough food and took three to go boxes. Stand outs for me were the fried gobo and the shrimp. The chicken tatsuta is off the charts! It's crunchy and juicy. The tea was delicious. The service can seem a bit slow and cold but they run their butts off. Total bill before tip was $103. I have paid a lot more for meals that weren't any where near as satisfying.