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This is not your typical karaoke place - all the ones I'd been to previously have been private rooms for parties with the adorable yet cheesy disco lights and tambourines. Yakitori had private rooms too but the whole place was very swanky and club-like. They had the cheesy disco lights except that they were lasers casting designs throughout the place rather than a disco ball - mesmerizing!
The first floor appeared to be a more mellow restaurant but the second floor was where all the action was. The entire bar/lounge area was one big public karaoke room where anyone could put in a request for a minimal fee and belt it in front of strangers. It certainly put a new spin on "live" entertainment - you could sing along to any song you knew without looking crazy and you could also be wowed or shocked by the talent or tone-deafness of your fellow patrons.
Basically it was a karaoke place that catered to the trendy and socially uninhibited.
The beer is expensive, there's no weekend drink specials, the smoke machine makes it smell like a high school play, karaoke song slips cost $4 if you're not in a private room, and if you don't spend $30 per hour at your table they ask you to leave.
tl;dr: T,his place sucks. Avoid it.
Wanted Asian food and this sounded nice and was right down the street from our hotel. The place had a cool vibe and the food and drinks were perfectly acceptable, just nothing out of the ordinary.
I ordered the shrimp teriyaki box which came with shrimp and veggie tempura, miso soup, rice, California roll sushi, seaweed salad, and regular salad. It was a good value at $17 and I was pleasantly full when done. Stand outs here were the shrimp and salad dressing. Everything else again was good but nothing different than what I would get elsewhere.
My friend who is not a sushi fan had some avocado rolls and she couldn't stop talking about them so guess these did those good! The drinks were reasonably priced and quite smooth. They had some creative mixes which is always nice to see. Service was a bit sketchy. Either they were hovering or ignoring us. I would have been happier with something in the middle.
Overall I enjoyed my experience and would recommend it.
Like most Koreans, I'm obsessed with Karaoke. I go to Yakitori Boy quite often for birthdays (where we usually end up getting the private room) and just to hang out (where we stay in the common area). Few things that are awesome about this place:
1. The crowd: they will cheer you on and really get into the songs.
2. The food: Few "izakaya"-like establishments in Philly and also a few place where you can get japanese ramen.
3. The song selections: Not only do they have all the classics, but they had adjusted the keys of some ridiculous Journey and Bon Jovi songs to a singable key (E~F)
4. No stage: I don't like going "up" the stage to sing karaoke. This place, you can stay in your booth and sing...makes it more communal and fun, IMO.
Few things to be mindful:
1. On the weekends, when the bar area is full, the songs from each table gets rotated (it's not first-come-first-served) so it'll take a while for you to sing your songs.
2. You have to wave off sketchy drunks who will try to hit on your wife/gf (if you bring one) with no shame.
3. Every now and then there are these angry karaoke singers who will try to put f-bombs in front of every word. Some people might like it, but it's not exactly my cup of tea.
For food, I get miso ramen, yakitori (chicken heart and pork belly)...and a lot of sake bombs.
I was in Philly visiting a friend for the weekend and she brought us here on a Saturday night for dinner.
The rolls all seemed to be half the normal amount (3 -4 pieces instead of the usual 6 or so). I ordered a tuna roll which was just your everyday run of the mill tuna roll. Good, but nothing spectacular. I also go a Ranger Roll. This thing was massive...massively delicious. Tuna, salmon, seaweed salad (yes, SEAWEED SALAD IN A ROLL) avocado and roe.
As for the yakitori, some was good, some was just ok. I tasted the mushroom yakitori (definitely the best of the bunch), eggplant yakitori and the short rib. The short rib was too thin and didn't have enough meat to really be satisfying. Others ordered the chicken yakitori which also seemed to skimp on the meat. If i came back. I'd just stick with the mushroom yakitori, whatever they marinated those mushrooms in was pure tastiness.
On to dessert...We ordered the green tea tempura ice cream. One word. BLEH! It was maybe the worst fried ice cream I've had. The tempura coating was thick and chewy. Not right at all. It should have been a nice crunchy coating thin enough to break through easily to get to the ice cream, instead I had to go searching for my ice cream through the breading only to find ice cream that was too frozen to get my spoon through. I don't want to work that hard to eat dessert.
My friend goes for karaoke all the time here and says it's wonderful so I've got to take her word for it. It seems like they have some great drink specials which they only offer sunday-thursday. If i lived in Philly I would probably come back here as they offer some solid Japanese food.
Skewers? Check... Sushi? Check... Mic? Check... People laughing at me while I sing? Check!
Yaki is my favorite place to go for Karaoke and make a fool out of myself. They have a large list of songs to choose from.
Their food and drink prices aren't bad either, especially during their specials on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. On Tuesdays, they have $1 Skewers and $2 Coors I believe and on Wednesdays they have 1/2 off sushi and a beer special but I forget...
Their decor is impressive and their service is speedy and friendly. The only problem I have with Yaki is their sushi, I wouldn't choose to go here if I haven't had sushi in awhile and was craving for some.
Also, if you haven't tried the Japanese beers (Kirin Ichiban and Sapporo), definitely give it a try.
We went on a Tues night - Karoke!!! After my first Pho experience at Vietname Palace, literally accross the street we headed here for some good ole Karoke!!!
Awesome, awesome, awesome, I will you why... Usually for Karoke you have to stand infront of the entire bar/crowd and sing a song you prob dont know all the words too. Oh no not here, they literally bring you two mics to where you are sitting and you get to sing from there, the words are on the 2 giant plasma tv's hung above the bar. I sang ma azz off!! Pour Some Sugar on Me, Living on a Prayer (dedicated to my bf), and I forgot what else. Sake Bombs were ofcourse delish and I think we had some chicken on a stick, that was okay too.
Apps were on sale for like $1 I think
Rolled up in the Yakitori boy on a Saturday night a few weeks back with a crowd of 13 and a serious need to get our Karaoke on. With the private, padded Karaoke parlor, bottle service and enormous Japanese beers the only impediment to our sing-a-long was the oblique UI on the Karaoke program.
This review strictly pertains to the Karaoke Experience and not the sushi.
Pros
-Vibes- you enter through the downstairs restaurant, and take an elevator up to a private-feeling club, with a central karaoke stage for folks who want to test their flow in public. We had one of several private karaoke salons, scattered around the halls and this was a great, relaxing place for folks without the balls for public showcase.
-Tunes- lots of great tracks to choose from, some with cheezy karaoke video accompaniment, some with the actual high-production MTV videos.
-Service- our waitress was energetic to say the least, she worked the room and was present in seconds when the call button was pushed (on purpose or accidentally).
Cons
-Karaoke Program UI - an upgrade here would really kick the whole experience up another notch. From the remote control, to the UI itself, this was confusing and hard to use. Half the time we ended up dead-ended on a screen of hanjis (or kanjis) and a list of Asian pop stars I can't recognize by face alone. So we felt lucky to stumble across songs we actually wanted to sing. The result was a play list of only partial satisfaction interspersed with moments of unintended brilliance, culminating in a triple-shot of 'Michael Row Your Boat Ashore' that brought the house down.
-Pricey- we did the bottle service thing (which was affordable compared to NYC, about $175/bottle), but the room rental and such made the whole thing about $50/person.
This is quite possibly the worst karaoke bar I have ever been to. I can't figure out all the glowing reviews.
We went for a private room only. Our first complaint? Our private room was literally right next to the open bar singing area. The hostess promised that it would be fine once we started singing. But we had to CRANK the volume up super loud to even remotely drown out the sound of the drunken bar area. It was really annoying. They need to work on their room soundproofing or not have rooms so close to the main area.
Second complaint...There were no song books. The song selection had to be done on a computer with a remote and the browsing was awful. if you knew a song you wanted to look for, it was ok. But the selection of choices was pretty lame so even when I thought of something I wanted to sing, it was unlikely they had that song. So we had to resort to awkward browsing. And, because there was only one computer to browse through, everyone had to take turns searching for songs to sing. We couldn't all be looking through books at the same time. This delayed our singing and we didn't get to do many songs because we were constantly trying to hunt for the next song to sing instead of just having a bunch of great things queued up.
The music was also pretty crappy... casio sounding and mostly not real song versions. At one point, we plugging in "Sweet Dreams" and it was the real MTV video (which was cool)... but with no words? I mean, we knew all the words, but isn't karaoke about HAVING THE WORDS?
Also... the contracts? Insanity. I have been to dozens of karaoke bars and have never had to sign my life away to use a room. Initial here and here and here in about 10 places. What?
FINALLY... we had booked the room for an hour right before closing (closing 2 am, we were due out at 1:45). At around 1:40, a staff member came in to tell us our time was almost up and give us our bill. Fine. He said, "One more song." Which we had already planned on doing just one more since we knew our time was almost up. At 1:44 we're mid song and he comes back in and says, "Time is up." And we're like, "Right. We're out when we're done this song. Also, we still have a minute." and he RUDELY says, "No. TIme is up NOW." And then shuts the machine off? What the heck? I have NEVER in my life been shut down mid-song when we're being compleltely polite and not at all unruly (this was three totally sober nice young ladies in the room). And seriously, staff should not come in with the bill mid-singing. The bill should be taken care of at the register when the room is departed.
I'll stick to the awesome karaoke places in NYC from now on I guess. They aren't militant about one minute of time (or heck, just charge you per minute if you go over) and have way better song selections. Maybe this is the best Philly has to offer though? In which case, I understand the karaoke addiction and you gotta do what you gotta do sometimes for the love of karaoke!
Besides the rude staff and crazy contracts and bad song selection and weird computer thing... the room was really nice with new equipment and the food downstairs was good and nice to have on hand. So there were some perks at least. But really, this was the worst karaoke experience I've had in my life. Really really awful time.
When you think of sushi and Japanese food, Philly does not come to mind. But if you're stuck here, like I am, then you got to get your fix somewhere. Located near the edge of Chinatown is Yakitori Boy. I have been here several times purely for the karaoke, but I recently had the chance to try some of their food and was pleasantly surprised.
For those who have never been, the top floor is a karaoke bar with some private rooms in the back. It resembles a bar/lounge and is usually pretty deserted on Monday nights (in case you want some cheap $1 karaoke at the bar). It even comes equipped with lasers and mist! The private rooms are rather pricey with the cheapest rooms running $20 an hour, but the equipment as all modern. The waitresses upstairs are all super hot white girls, which seems a little out of place considering the location and type of venue... No one complains =).
The ground floor is the restaurant and sushi bar. The ambience is nothing to write home about, but it is nice enough for a date place or a group of friends to hang out and have a good time. The wait-staff is conspicuously a lot more Asian than the upstairs staff. Couldn't really say why. I thought it was really cool when the white waiter responded to our orders with "hai!" and a nod. I need to get me one of those red headbands that they all wear.
The food is why I give this place 4 stars. I ordered an Una-Don and my friends tried various sushi dishes. The sushi menu is a bit limited, but what little they have, they do pretty well. My unagi came out well-cooked and was possibly the best I have had in my life. It was much fattier than what I expected and I savored every tender, oh so gently charred morsel. There was a perfect amount of rice and sauce. I still have dreams about it and my future kids are going to hear the stories, too. My only complaint is that it is not big enough (maybe I'll order two next time!).
I didn't try any of the sushi, but the slices appeared thick and large. The color also indicated a good amount of freshness. We also split a number of yakitori skewers around the table and all of them were quite delectable. I really wanted to try quail egg with bacon, but was too full after trying everything else out. I was also quite happy to discover they serve takoyaki and okonomiyaki here! We split one of those amongst the table (a first for most of my friends) and we all thought it was really good.
Overall, the food was on par with what I would expect from a mid-range restaurant. The prices are a tad higher than what they should be, but the service and good company made it all worth it. Though the sushi menu is a little limited, there is a lot of other food to hold your attention. Keep in mind that this place is called Yakitori Boy and not Sushi Boy. So do your table a favor and order a couple of skewers to complement your beer, sake and main course. Everything we ate was delicious and I would definitely come back again if the unagi itch needs a scratch.
-C
Love this place.
Atmosphere and food are both great. The skewers are delicious - chicken meatball is a must-try. The wasabi shumai is also amazing, it'll light your mouth on fire in a very pleasant way. I tear up every time.
There's an open karaoke bar upstairs ($1/song last time I checked) as well as private karaoke rooms for groups. The crowd is usually fun and a little rowdy, but not annoying and with minimum drama.
They have dope specials - $1 skewers on Tuesdays and $2.50 sushi rolls (or is it half-off?) on Wednesdays, with beer specials too. I went on a Wednesday and we seriously had 12 orders of sushi, which amounts to 72 pieces. Craziness.
It's also open til 2AM every night - that includes Sundays, for those of us who party harder than the rest.
Karaoke at its finest? Probably not, but in the magical part of the city that is known as Chinatown, this is a guaranteed fun time. We arrived early for our private room, just me and my lady friend and waited in the bar area. Ahh, the bar area, I remember it well. If you have the mic, you're the lead, if you don't have the mic, you're backup and the lesser heard lead. I would recommend going to the bar area between 8 and 9 and warming up the chops. It is very chill at this time and a good time to start getting the Japas, Japanese tapas (really), because karaoke and chewing don't mix....EVER! It is also a good time to get that first ounce of whiskey which is vital in taking on a Linda Ronstadt ballad.
Then to the private room. It is nothing like the bar area and I don't mean that in a good way. The menu interface for the karaoke songs, the actual songs themselves, the words, and the equipment were all a thumbs down. Yes, all horrible, and to a karaoke connoisseur I'm sure they would a refund and go pratice for American Idol. But for me and my lady, IT WAS AWESOME!!! We were just "belting" to our hearts content. From Styx to Pet Shop Boys to Chili Peppers to The Fugees.
The food is good, the drinks ok, no Gentleman Jack but tasty Makers Mark, and my date's Cosmo was slammin'. Our night was $134 with a one hour private room, 8 - 10 Japas, and 4 drinks.
Tips:
1. Order Japas and eat before singing, it wastes time.
2. Think about song selection ahead of time and add them all to the machine before singing.
3. Make sure all the equipment works before your time starts.
4. Watch out for feedback.
5. Keep the staff there to make sure you can add a song. (Small language barrier)
6. Drink just enough alcohol to read and add a song from the Osmonds.
7. If you're getting a room, go early and spend some time in the bar area.
freaking LOVE this place!!! had a birthday here one year and managed to cram 50 people into the private room. we didn't eat, just drank a whole lot and sang even more. seriously - best.birthday.e.v.e.r all thanks to yakitori boy =] the waiter was so nice and threw in some free drinks. i super duper approve.
skewers: good. Specials: great. Sushi: okay...Waiter: okay... He gave us our check without even asking if we were done, which i find slightly strange. I did like the atmosphere and the special were great. I really want to try some of their soups and more of the skewers. Great place to go on a week night to have a drink and some food. Next time i go i hope to watch people sing and to try more skewers and ramen!
More like Yuckitori! Yakitori Boy has that cheesy club atmosphere that I tend to try and avoid and food that tastes like it's going bad or was stored in the freezer for too long.
Perhaps it was my expectations (which were high from the excited chatter of my friends who were bringing me there the other night), but I was completely disappointed with the food that arrived at our table. I went with three friends and we ordered a lot. I was famished and by the looks of the pictures displayed on the menu my excitement for sushi and meat skewers were ever increasing.
That is, until the I tasted it. The sushi was way too chewy and had that strong fishy taste; the flavor of fish when it starts to go bad. The meatball skewers had a fatty taste that made me feeling slightly nauseas afterward, and the agedashi tofu was essentially tasteless mushy fried batter.
I was so put off by dinner, there was no way I was going to spend even more money on karaoke, which the restaurant/bar seems to pride itself on. Maybe if the food was half the price and I spent the first half of the night singing and getting wasted, I wouldn't be complaining about the food. But the whole atmosphere tries hard to chic without much luck, and the food is a hair above edible. Trust me, not worth the time, money, or calories.
I came here twice. February 16, 2008 & today.
After finding out about this place, I begged my aunt to take me here even though my mom just gave birth to my brother on feb 15th, 2008. For the 2 of us, I thought $50 was way too expensive.. but we did order a lot and the service was nice.
Today I went again but this time with my boyfriend only because Tasty Place was closed and we did not want to walk for food. We were seated at the counter and it was nice, my boyfriend really loved the atmosphere he kept squealing about how cool the place was and the awesome sushi. He totally disliked the takoyaki which I love but whatever, we each have our own love-hate relationships with foods. The waiters/waitresses were really attentive, but when I was done with the takoyaki I set it aside for them except they kept taking everything else but the takoyaki.. maybe because I left 2 half eaten.. Oh & when we first ordered, I called for chicken skin & pork belly. The pork belly came right away, and I thought they didn't hear me call for the chicken skin so I didn't care much.. but then just before I got my check the chicken skin came.
Daily Specials are awesome! Today was tuesday so it was $1 skewers and we had plenty of those ;)
I didn't give 5 stars because of some of the little things above kind of bothered me, and also.. I wish the karaoke rooms upstairs were serviceable to people my age(18+) but I guess with the alcohol and what not they decide not to.
not worth the money
the spider roll which included 4 pieces was $10...making each piece $2.50...ridiculous
I am not big into karaoke, but if any place does it right and with some originality (especially for Philadelphia, USA), it's Yakitori Boy, and for that I have to give it 4 stars. I have been there a few times, once for dinner downstairs and the other times for private room parties.
Yakitori Boy's downstairs is sort of an upscale izakaya. No one is shouting to the kitchen, but the waitstaff (that I saw) is Japanese or at least Asian. You order tapas style off of an izakaya menu (individual servings of various bbq and grilled items). They also have the usual izakaya favorites of takoyaki and okonomiayaki (both are very good here). If you don't want that, there's always the sushi bar. They are a Japanese bar, so they're beverage of choice is sake. They have a fairly big sake list along with Japanese beers and cocktails. Although a bit pricey, everything there was pretty good.
Upstairs is a totally different venue. There is a main area with a bar that has open karaoke. Just like any other bar, you look through the book and then sign up to sing your song. The real draw here is the private rooms, however. There are different sized rooms at varying cost per hour. But each one is equipped with a semi-circular couch, a sound system and tv, and a button to call your waiter. Now you don't have to worry about embarrassing yourself in front of strangers, waiting your turn, or waiting at the bar for a drink.
People like Aaron O. may find it odd to have private rooms, but they do have a public area if you are an exhibitionist. Anyone who knows anything about Japanese culture will completely understand the private rooms and the draw of karaoke in general (and it's not to make a drunken ass out of yourself). The karaoke program itself can be a bit confusing since it is an actual Japanese program. It takes a few minutes to learn the controls, but once you do, you will be singing in no time. They may not have all of your favorite pop songs because again, this is what is popular in JAPAN. This is hands down the most authentic (and only that I know of) Japanese-style bar or izakaya in the city. I have never been to Yakitori Boy and not seen it completely packed--90% of which are Asians, so they must be doing something right.
It is a tad pricey, and since it's crowded I recommend reserving a private room ahead of time if you want one. it is definitely worth a visit if for nothing more than a Japanese karaoke experience.
This was one of the most regrettable dining experiences I've had all summer; I've been regretting every penny I spent here since I signed the check approximately 10 hours ago. What upsets me the most, though, is that people seem to really think this is one of the best things Chintatown has to offer. I am utterly baffled by any review giving this more than 3 stars.
First off, the atmosphere is totally pretentious. Yuckitori Boy attempts to pay homage to the chic sushi dens of lower east side Manhattan, yet embarrasses itself by delivering neither quality nor charm.
The edamame had clearly been defrosted moments before arriving at our table, and I'd be surprised if the agedashi tofu, which was soggy, spongy and borderline flavorless, wasn't microwaved. I'm pretty sure that the 'Chef's Choice' Yakitori platter ($15.00!) contained less than a single chicken breast's-worth of meat, and the sushi, well, reminded me that it was the end of the week. I've had better Shumai from this hip little place I know about called Trader Joe's. I think theirs are frozen too.
I'm praying that on my way to work I'll find a twenty on the ground so I can pretend that my visit to Yuckitori Boy never happened and can stop feeling like I made the worst decision of my life last night.
I am an avid sushi/japanese foodie.... and maybe spoiled too much living so close to NYC. but the food at this place was just aweful.
but being in philly for a show my girlfriend and i were drawn into the $2.50 sushi special on weds.
not only was the the quality of the fish poor but they couldn't even get the sushi rice right. It was all mush. the shrimp tempura roll that we had for kicks tasted like the tempura was made the day before. I have to say that i am not a fan of supermarket sushi.... but i would choose that sushi over yakitori boy susho any day.
the $15 yakitori platter was 10 skewers that was not flavorfull at all. The owners really should take a trip to Japan to see what real Japanese food tastes like.... heck they could just drive a couple hours to NYC and eat on St. Marks and find out what real yakitori tastes like.
but on a good note our waiter was really nice.
This place is too much fun.
Been for dinner twice, karaoke upstairs once. Both times the dinner was A-MAZING! The beer is a little steeply priced ($6 for a Sapporo), but the food is very reasonably priced. It's really fun to go in a group and order a lot of small plates for the table.
I recommend: vegetable tempura, edamame, lotus root, the Royal Roll (all kinds of fish with a delicious sauce), and the vegetable dumplings. They have an extensive sake menu as well.
Karaoke is really fun here, if you're into that sort of thing. You can either pay $5 to sing five songs at the bar, or pay $30 for a private room to sing karaoke for an hour. If you go on a weekend, you'll have to wait a long time to get to your songs at the bar. Great for parties and groups.
At first, I was a little concerned about a sushi place that has karaoke - I thought the food might be mediocre or something, but I was wrong. The quality of the food at Yahitori Boy is amazingly high! In addition, having your own private karaoke room (and a lot of sake) is pretty fun - as long as your friends are into singing (off key)!
I've postponed writing this review, so I could try and be as objective as possible, so here it is.
Went here at the end of May for my best friend's bachelorette party. Booked a private room. Showed up, was informed (on the spot, and not beforehand) that they would authorize my credit card for $200 just in case we damaged anything. (We are not a destructive bunch). Problem here is, I don't have a credit card. So I used my debit card. Thus, even though they were only "authorizing" and not charging my card, that $200 disappeared.
We ordered some sushi, some drinks, sang for 2 hours. It was enjoyable. Most importantly, my best friend had a good time. But what ruined my experience here was having to nearly stalk the manager to get him to take the charge off my card after we left the room in the same condition as when we had arrived.
Note to the management of Yakitori Boy: Your policies need to be a bit more transparent, so people like myself, who don't have a credit card can prepare in advance or make other plans.
Following the suggestions of my fellow yelpers, I stopped in here on a Tuesday night. Tuesdays are $1 skewer nights. Over all it wasn't anything great. I won't really judge the food here based on the skewers, but I will judge the skewers. Maybe it's just me, but really if I were offering these up, I would want them to be wonderful. I can't say they were. Simple things were wrong. I had a Bacon and Quail egg skewer that was just COVERED in black pepper. In fact there was so much pepper that I couldn't really taste the egg. They also had asparagus skewer on the menu, which was just a single piece of asparagus...I paid $1 for a single stock of asparagus.
I will be sure to go back and actually order off of the regular menu.
I will say the place looks great and was pretty packed.
I'll be back soon to try it out for real.
This place is so good that there was a period of time when we would go this restaurant at least 3 times a week.
We love the concept of Japanese tapas, small portion so you can try a variety of different things. They have good sushi and sashimi there, but their specialty is the hot items. The tako yaki is a must try. They are round cake filled with octopus. Everyone I took there was always raving about the tako yaki. The yakitori skewers is another must try. My husband loves the karubi (short rib), he can probably eat 10 of them in one sitting. My personal favorites are the squid legs and the bacon with quail eggs.
For the rice bowl, their yakitori don is a must try. I would say this is the best grilled chicken bowl in the city.
All in all, my experience with yakitori boy has always been great. For those of you who like to torment your friends with your voice, you can go straight up to the second floor for some karaoke session.
Aaron...silly man do not go here for karaoke...just come for the food especially on half price wednesday!
The well drinks are insanely cheap and the rolls are half price. Ive been twice and both times in groups of five...We all leave tipsy and full for under 25 a person. Where in the city can you eat sushi and drink so cheaply?
This place rocks!
Updated before, but this is a good, solid sushi joint. I don't mean the rolls. If you want reviews of good rolls, find another review.. honestly, rolls aren't what sushi is about.
If you want the good stuff, you should either ask the wait staff for the days' specials or ask the head sushi chef himself... most of the great daily stuff (imo) aren't even on the menu.
Besides the time that we had live uni here, we've also had live orange surf clam and live abalone. Last week we were also able to have horagai (conch), needlefish sashimi, and.. namako! That would be seaslug.
Yes, all of the above are sashimi-style. And really good and fresh.
They upped the beer prices and that's bleh but the food is what keeps us coming back.
I haven't been upstairs to karaoke in a while but last I heard from kenji-san and akio-san the machines were back from being updated, so maybe there's more of a variety now.
To be honest, I'd give this place 5 stars if I were only comparing the joints in America and not places I go to in Japan.
I was here just yesterday again and again I left quite happy. For the most part I just stick to the… Read more »
Yakitori Boy is great for two reasons. First, it has a very nice, clean set of karaoke rooms. The rooms feature songs in English, Mandarin, Japanese, Korean, and Spanish, if you hang with an International crowd. They even have that goofy Numa Numa song, which happens to be in Romanian. On non-peak nights, the rooms are half-off.
The second reason why it is great is because it is attached to a Japanese restaurant which serves Japanese tapas. The little dishes are reasonably priced, and on Wednesdays, rolls are half-off. Another Wednesday night special is $2 for a light beer. While they have the typical complement of sushi dishes, they also have tasty soups (udon, soba, miso, etc.), yakitori (shishkabobs), and special Japanese snacks like takoyaki (fried octopus balls) and okonomiyaki (a crepe). It's all very tasty and reasonably priced. The servings are small, so you can try many things. I feel that Yakitori Boy has a better selection of non-sushi items than most places in Philadelphia.
3.5 stars rating.
i went here during the opening week a year or so back. it was still trying out that whole Japas (tapas but japanese style..). it was OK at best, a bit long of a wait for the food, but if you're looking for that talking and dining experience, this is it.
i went to Japas (upstairs) a few times on different nights. Tues ($1 beer and skewers night), fridays, and saturdays. all nights were enjoyable. the crowd is mixed, which i love because philadelphia can be a bit segregated. i do have one major complaint, which is the bar area. since the tables get filled quickly, the bar is the next stop for people, which they hog and its a bit difficult ordering a drink. but the way to get over that, just ask one of the many servers next to the bar. its probably faster IMO.
also, the other week, i had one "problem" with the bill. i opened a tab and when closed it, the price was substantially different from my records (i ordered about $24 worth of stuff) but it came out to be $38. this wasn't a big deal since i was at a table with a friend that also had a tab open. we ordered rounds/food for eachother. my guess is that our server just split our sake bombs and put it on my tab (which is totally understandable). i didn't complain or anything, just want people to be aware that it can happen.
i haven't tried a karaoke room yet, so no real review of that.
If you like to sing as much as I do lets go to Yakatori Boy. They have a very current menu of Asian pop music as well as a friendly staff. We can get a private room or just sign up to sing at the main bar. Its up to you! We also get to take an elevator, a very nice touch. Well Done Yakatori Boy.
Chinatown at night is a seedy and wonderful place usually visited in the twilight of judgement.
It always feels wet.
There's something about a place that always feels wet....
That's not the whole cake though... there's something else, something that can't really fit in it's flesh... the dirty neon windows, the steam, the sense of misgivings coming from every direction....
Its all oddly attractive.
Either way, error-to-error, Yakitori boy is definitely the biggest shame-spray disaster of a drunken frenzy to be found amidst the filth that Chinatown offers in its open hands.
You jonesin' to hear six-figures Japanese business men spitting out the best of George Thorogood and the Destroyers until your ears vomit?
Interested in eating a suspicious melody of skewered chicken organs for a dollar a stick?
Think its a well idea to serenade your soon to be lover in a private room with a wretchingly-passionate tribute to George Micheal featuring your personal rendition of Father Figure as the closer?
Done. Done. More than Done.
Much more than Done.
I came here for a happy hour. The food was really good (I would probably give it a 3.5) but it is not my ideal atmosphere. The karaoke was loud and the random puffs from the smoke machine were disconcerting.
I love this restaurant, it's one of my favorites so far! I always get the Yakitori-don when I come here, and it's always delicious. The food is very fresh, and everything is so beautifully arranged on the plate! The service is very prompt and friendly, and everything that I could hope for. Price is moderate but the food more than makes up for it.
Yakitori Boy has a very modern feel to it, but serves some of my old favorites. Nothing I've ordered so far off their menu has disappointed and I always leave with a full stomach and feeling delighted! Haven't used the karaoke bar or regular bar yet, so I have no comments about those. Amazing place to go for a night out.
I'm usually incredibly generous with my stars, which speaks a lot of my experience at Yakitori Boy. We went here for my friend's birthday, and we were all pretty amazingly disappointed with the experience. This review is actually more a knock on their service then on the food (which would probably warrant 3 stars). I ordered the eel bowl, but they messed up my order and I had to wait an hour after my friends had already received their dinners. On top of that the waitress was incredibly rude. We should have known better but we decided to go to the Karaoke part afterward and the experience did not get better. This waitress was one of the rudest people of all time, even though we were ordering a lot. At the end of the night, we told the manager what a bad experience we had, and to appease us he gave us a gift card for an hour free of karaoke on a weekday (really??? a weekday???). If you're looking for a terrible time you know where to go...
P.S. That was weird writing a one star review but the truth must be told!
The lights are awesome! Sure the sushi is good and karaoke is fun, but I really enjoyed the mutli-colored lights that sweep across the upstairs bar are and mix with the mist to create some really cool effects. A couple times I got lost looking at them and totally zoned out of the conversation.
In all seriousness though, this place is great. I've had one of the private karaokes room with a group which is tons of fun, and I recently was there on a thurs night for a young alum happy hour. $3 hoegardens... karaoke projected on screens above the bar for all to sing along to (and for those with the mike to sing most loudly)... good space for mingling.
I stayed for dinner and sampled the sushi - awesome. Miso soup, shrimp tempura, green river roll, and dragon roll were all fresh and yummy.
Yakitori Boy might not like me for my rendition of Mariah Carey, but I like it.
If you are hungry, don't go here. The menu and the mini 1$ skewers of meat will rape you and your wallet, unless you are not paying for it, then go right ahead. They charge 8$ for a kirin??? woooah babaaaay.
If you want to go cheap, go to pho cali and drink up and eat up before you go do their appetizer sized bites and over priced mini list of beers.
Unless if you want okay sushi, then its a safe point, I guess...(go in wednesday for half off rolls)
It's a good place to go with you and your friends and go bonkers with the karaoke during the weekdays if you and your friends have time.... If you can figure out the karaoke machine. Or just rent the room and watch a really drunk friend figure out the machine. (if you ever do that, invite me!!!)
Not the best karaoke setup but it definitely is worth a try if you don't have anything else to compare with.
Wow, where have I been that I've never heard of this place till recently. So this review is based only on the first floor dining... we tried to check out the lounge upstairs, but it was pretty busy already around 10pm on a Saturday night that we had already waited 20 min but couldn't get in without reservations.
Anyway, I liked the decor, modern with asian accents, the dark wood, and darkly lit environment. I really liked the colorful menu, real nice touch for those new to Japanese cuisine. So I had the Pom Lychee cocktail - one of those dangerous drinks because it tastes sooo good, you'd have no idea how much alcohol was in it. Because the style of the restaurant is similar to tapas, I had the chance to order a variety of dishes including miso soup, pork dumplings, chicken yakitori, 2 sushi rolls (that came in 3's) and a tuna nigiri. And they served edamame at every table. Everything was really quite good, and especially the Mexican roll, which I think is just a spicy tuna roll + that chili sauce... delicious.
4 stars for the dining aspect. Updated review will include the karaoke lounge...
Maybe more of a 4 star place PLUS one big extra star for all the fun I've had here. It's really a pretty nice, hip looking place. I haven't eaten downstairs but have been with friends twice in the private karaoke rooms upstairs. They have some nice specialty drinks. I prefer the Asahi liter "Godzilla" can. Excellent! Oh, and the sake bombs are a must... I haven't had food but some friends said it was good. The service is excellent. You can push a button on the wall to call for a waiter or waitress and they've always been quick and efficient and friendly. Except for the one waitress who wasn't keen on me trying to get her to sing... It always ends up being pricey somehow. But, like I said, loads of fun. And if you go on weeknights the private rooms are 1/2 off. Not bad!
Great private Karaoke rooms! Rent during the week and get half price rooms, making for a very memorable night with the friends for very little money.
Great sushi and food. Small beer variety.
The main room is a little overwhelming with it's strobe lights and disco balls, but is great for people watching. The streaming videos are the best part - 1980's beach scenes!
This place just suffers from a case of "great concept, very average execution." My party of seven was very excited to enter our private karaoke room upstairs. However, I was incredibly nervous about authorizing my credit card for $200 in case of damage. It seemed a little ridiculous. None of us are destructive types, and would ensure that we would get our money back....but the whole ordeal definitely put a damper on the evening.
Furthermore, before we could even get started, an attendant came in and started checking the room for previous damage and then we had to sign off on every individual piece in the room's condition and dollar amounts were next to each item for cost of replacement. It obliterated my "woo fun karaoke and 1$ skewer night" and replaced it with "omg I just want to make it out of here with my money this sucks, NOBODY EVEN TOUCH ANYTHING I DON'T THINK WE SHOULD EVEN SIT ON THE SEATS BECAUSE ANY INDENTATION MIGHT CAUSE US TO LOSE MY MONEY."
The song choices are average - the place we used to go in Elkins Park had a far greater selection. The drink selection is decent. The $1 skewers were enticing. I enjoyed both of mine- the eggplant was qutie good, and the ginko nuts were unusual and exciting. My friends that ordered some of the meat ones were a little disappointed. Also, the weeknight half price discount on the private karaoke room was great...but I doubt that I will bring another group there.
If you go...have fun - but don't have too much fun that you touch anything. :P
Neighborhood: Rittenhouse Square
Category: Japanese
Neighborhood: Rittenhouse Square
Category: Japanese
Neighborhood: Rittenhouse Square
Category: Japanese
Neighborhood: Olney
Category: Karaoke
Neighborhood: Market East
Category: Japanese
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