Yopparai

Love this place. Been there 3 or 4 times. Consistent and delicious. Definitely get the pickle plate. The Kakuni is pretty great too!

I love how cozy and hidden away this place is! The tuna sashimi assortment was unreal, the miso yaki onigiri was great and the isobe yaki mochi was amazinggggggg ahh still dreaming about this meal. We also ordered the simmered eel dish (anago yanagawa) which was okay — not my favourite, could have had more flavour/​texture. Overall, loved the atmosphere and would definitely come back here again!

I love it! Everything is fresh and delicious. One of the best Japanese restaurant in NYC, glad I came to check this place out. I rarely eat sashimi, the blue fin tuna just melts in your mouth. Fatty pork belly is a must get, for dessert sake Brulee and almond tofu are amazing

Wonderful place and great attention to details: from the friendly staff, to wooden leaf menu pages to the gold leaf décor on desserts.
We ordered assortment of itzakaya food: it’s authentic, and top notched compared to similar places in NYC. But also means that it won’t exactly be mind blowing.
The main reason that I’m writing the review, however, is to note that we were hoping to try the green tea crème brûlée having seen the photo on its Unilocal page (on the top of the page, nonetheless), but sadly, their menu no longer had it. We ended up getting sake pudding instead. Not a fault of anyone, just reference for future patrons.

This place is like a hug from a baby’s bottom on a cold winter day. Everything is comforting, intimate, and delightfully umami. The seared Washu beef with ponzu sauce was amazing (like the most tender beef sashimi). The kakuni was equally stunning – tender meat that had clearly been boiled for hours blended seamlessly with the softest egg.
We had some other stuff which was fine but those two dishes will remain in my foodmemories forever.

This place is a gem! The food taste so fresh and the wait staff is so nice and on point. I could not be more happy with this experience.

I have to blame myself that why I got to try this wonderful place so late. Why did I spend so much time and money before at those so called authentic izakaya in New York with long wait and food that just so so? Yopparai brought me back to Tokyo. Just like the izakaya I went to in Japan, Yopparai has great food, tasty sake and warm service. From sake to dessert, everything is so good. Definitely recommend and will be back. Recommend the Oden and yaki rice ball.

One of the better Japanese meals I’ve had in NYC. I tried the barbecue pork belly, shrimp and cod cake, homemade tofu, smoked duck breast, miso onigiri, and karaage (fried chicken) — all of it was absolutely delicious! I can’t wait to go back.

I definitely recommend this restaurant if you’re looking for a quiet and cozy environment. They have a variety of «authentic» Japanese food you can order. The staffs were very friendly and attentive. The assorted Oden was amazing and also the duck. They provide a little hot plate to cook it and it’s delicious. I would make a reservation because the restaurant has a limited number of seating.

Love the atmosphere. The Berkshire pork belly was very delicious. The gyutan was a bit a salty but tender. Definitely try their desert

Yopparai is a cozy high end japanese tapas restaurant tucked in Lower East Side. I came here with a friend on a Tuesday night with a 7pm reservation. Right when I first walked in, I was treated really well right away. Everyone was so friendly and they store our coats in a cabinet below our seats. Our server was extremely attentive — she took the time to walk through the restaurant’s more popular dishes and always made sure our waters were refilled.
The food is great quality. Portions are small, but the flavors and attention to detail were impressive. We ordered the Beef tongue, Salmon roe and flake over brown rice, oden’s assortment of 3 items, and Kakumi. Each dish is presented on a different type of pottery or dishware. The plating was fun to look at and I felt like I was experiencing amazing Japanese delicacies. The setting is intimate with most of the tables for a party of two. We sat at the bar, which was fun to see the staff preparing the dishes.

We started with the seasonal special sanma sashimi and 4 kinds of sashimi (yellow tail, fluke, amber jack and tuna) with uni. Everything was fresh, but my favorite was the 2.5 giant pieces of Santa Barbara uni. It was so flavorful and the best uni i had for a long time. For yakitori, we tried the signature chicken meatball with quail egg, chicken liver, and beef tongue. The beef tongue that we thought was supposed to be the best was chewy. All yakitori seems to be using the same sauce and it was a bit salty for me. Lastly, we had chicken with soft scrambled egg, very tender and delicious, and the chef selection of 3 oden (tofu skin with rice cake, yam and egg). The tofu skin with rice cake was really good! The tofu skin absorbed the flavor of the sauce and the rice cake just melted in your mouth!
The waitress was very helpful — she gave good recommendations on the special (sanma) and guided us to the right amount of food to order. Overall, I liked everything except maybe I would order less yakitori. It’s a 4.5 star restaurant to me and I like to come back to try their other dishes. Our total costs with a sake and draft beer was $ 185 including tax and tip.

Great in the hole spot, literally bumped into it last night after drinks at the Delancey. Great sake selections, tried the Mans Mountain. Very inexpensive small plates which I love and portion sizes are fit to the price. Service was lacking and English was a major issue but the authenticity was great. Will def come back!

It’s very funny, but people wrote in past reviews that you can leave still hungry, yet spend over $ 200 – 300. We definitely were not full when we left, and our bill was over $ 300 and we were 2 adults and 2 kids. My husband and I ordered two 12oz sakes, each $ 36, easily finished and could have ordered another. My daughter had 2 orders of the uni, which was fantastic, but at $ 18 each, that’s already $ 36 and as anyone knows, uni is not filling but addictive! She also had the hotate scallops, which were good, but small compared to the version made at Torishin. Although it’s cheaper than Torishin, we had to order another because it’s small. The Oden are amazing and it’s worth just eating those with the chicken with egg dish for a great meal (but small again). The duck was ok, but got tough when cooked on the skillet as compared to the Washu steak.
So, the one thing that may help future customers is a guesstimate on how much you would eat so you can see if this value of this place is better than say Yakitori Totto, which is def cheaper and good enough with decent variety; or Torishin, which is more expensive but maybe more filling. A 185−200lb guy would probably need 1 Jidori Tamago Toji with rice ($ 14); 2 orders of some meat like the Washu or duck ($ 14 each = $ 28); maybe 1 sashimi say the chutoro since it’s the middle of the road cost on the menu ($ 25), and 1 bottle of sake ($ 36) = $ 103 w/​o tax or tip. Yup, it’s about $ 100 per person here. And… you can still eat more when you leave… hm…

Loved this little place! This place is small and cozy, a great place to take your date, but I wouldn’t recommend any party over 3 or 4 people max. The food is authentic (nori toasted over charcoal is a particularly nice touch) and they have a great sake selection. We were disappointed that there was no Uni available that day, but was very satisfied with the food and service. Would definitely come again when we’re in town.

Yopparai is literally my favorite restaurant in NYC. It’s a very intimate space, great for dates and escaping the hustle and bustle of the city. I believe the restaurant is in a converted apartment space, which is why you have to ring a bell to come in. I’ve never waited more than 20 seconds to be buzzed in.
Personal faves are: Kurobuta Tamago Toji, Hotate Butter, assorted sashimi and my friend loves the Ikura (salmon roe).
The last time we went though there was a late night menu. I believe they serve this after like 10pm or 11pm. I will say I was initially bummed because I was craving the Hotate Butter. However, I found that I loved the cold ramen, pork belly skewers with special wasabi, and the beef stew over rice. The beef stew was exceptional! Definitely a new favorite.
Still haven’t had dessert here because I’m always so stuffed, but who knows maybe next time?

After waiting ages to try this place, I was seriously disappointed. Save your money, go to Sakagura.
Maybe it was the bad tuna that turned the whole meal sour, regardless I think the place is a little overpriced. We started things off with a sashimi platter, with a grate your own wasabi root and paddle. The fish was fine until we got to the tuna, which had lost its structural integrity and was soggy. I don’t know what led to this, but it seems like freezer burn could be the issue. The chef slicing the fish should have noticed how terrible the quality was and any self respecting restaurant would not have served it to anyone.
The rest of the meal turned into an uphill battle as we had become critical of the place. The salted squid in guts was fine, the agedashi tofu had some good mushrooms on top, and the grilled pork belly skewer was decent enough. The grilled beef tongue though, was sad and chewy. Some of the pieces on the plate were so thin and were obviously scraps that should not been served in this manner. The redeeming item of the meal was the toasted rice cake with miso on top. It was an excellent end to a lackluster meal. Definitely not coming back.

I badly wanted to give this place a 5 star review considering how this restaurant was filled with amazing expectations and awesome feedback.
My friend found this place and got me super excited as I looked at the delicious pictures. We picked out what we were goign to eat and started our adventurous meal.
Sadly, I was bitterly disappointed by my experience here. While it had the setup and the atmosphere and the décor/​feel of a legitimate Japanese sake bar, I find the quality of this place was lacking… The presentation was misleading indeed.
I came into the restaurant and was surprised by how hard it was to enter the place (you have to buzz in). While the service was good (they switched plates and gave you warm towels and showed you how to eat, made sure you were comfortable. let you ground your own wasabi)…I think thats the only good thing I can say about this place. (I only had the food here/​I did not drink the sake so I can’t comment on that).
We started with the sashimi appetizer. Things were going well until the tuna (it definitely tasted like it was frozen and not thawed properly and I also saw pink fluid left over on my plate from it…) This is NOT a good sign. This means that the fish was frozen too long (or frozen/​refrozen and the meat disintegrated). I was thinkign in my head WTF.
I also did not taste the uni flavor in the uni itself (which is weird because of all the times that I have had it from cheaper to most expensive restaurants, I could taste the uni taste). My friend said this was probably the best part of our meal… but I felt relaly iffy about it. It’s weird that it didn’t taste like uni. I ‘m not going to lie I was starting to have major doubts about this place.
We then had the simmered tofu dish with mushrooms. This was good, but not extremely great… moving on. We ordered the beef tongue which was very hard in consistency and not cut thinly enough to be considered very good… I also don’t think it was cooked or spiced very properly. Then came the pork belly, which was very rough and chewy (the taste was fine but the consistency was definitely off for the pork belly to taste any good)…disappointing izakaya at best.
We got squid guts, which was normal and had offal kind of taste that I expected. We didn’t drink so maybe it wouldve been better with sake.
The only redeeming dish was probably the miso rice cake, which was pan fried deliciously and filling… other than the nice prsentation, service and this miso rice cake… I was really going ot give this place a 1 star review.
I can’t call myself an expert on izakaya, but I would much rather have dishes and spend my money at Ootoya or Sakagura where the pricing is comparable and the quality guaranteed to be much better.

Food: ⁵⁄₅
Drinks: ⁵⁄₅
Ambiance: ⁵⁄₅ (good date spot)
Service: ⁵⁄₅
Cat recommends: Pork Belly in Dashi
Cat suggests: Good place to try authentic (I think) Japanese dishes. Definitely pair with sake.
I came here on a Tuesday night with reservations, so we had no trouble getting seating for two. They have a neat storage area under each seat, so our heavy winter coats were out of the way. I have to start by mentioning that I read Joshua V’s review before I came here and took a lot of his suggestions, as well as picking a few things on the menu that interested me personally.
We tried the warm special sake (don’t remember the name) and it was really really nice. They let you select what size cup you want for the warm sake, so we both selected the medium size. Next, we tried the ‘Sophisticated Woman’ and really enjoyed that. Neither my boyfriend nor I are sake aficionados, but this was probably the best sake we’ve had, and complemented the food we got perfectly. This was our dinner/​sake date, so we ordered quite a few dishes:
Ika no Uni Ae (Uni + Squid): briney yet sweet and delicious! I will warn that if you’re not a fan of raw squid, this dish might be overpowering. This was the lightest, sweetest uni I’ve had, however, and I LOVE uni. We made short work of this dish.
Kakuni (Pork Belly + Dashi): Absolutely delicious, melted in my mouth. The meat was tender and fell apart at my chopsticks, and the fat was the stuff of dreams. Would happily have devoured 10 of these, but alas, my thin wallet and eagerness to try different dishes won out.
Chawanmushi (Steamed egg custard + seafood): Once again, amazing. The egg was smooth and light, and the (miso?) broth was rich and flavorful, yet not overpowering.
Washugyu Tataki: I’ll start by saying I’m not actually much of a beef person (I know next to nothing about cuts of beef, I leave that all to my SO), but I recognize excellence when I taste it. The texture was like none other, and the seasoning and garnish paired the meat perfectly.
Hotate Butter (Scallops in butter): This dish probably had the best presentation, but was my least favorite. I didn’t like the texture of the scallops, and I found the sauce a bit much.
Yaki Onigiri (spicy cod roe + uni): I’m bad with spicy food (even though I love it), so given a choice I’d much rather have the uni. Both were delicious and the salty/​spicy flavors paired well with the perfectly grilled rice cakes.
Homemade Natto (fermented soy beans): I guess I can count myself among the few non-​Japanese diners who actually… kind of… enjoyed…this dish. I tried it by itself, then drenched in soy sauce – my SO took it farther by trying it with dashi, then with wasabi, then in the hotate butter sauce. I actually quite like it with the soy sauce, but it has a very… strong aftertaste. Good with sake though.
Not gonna lie, I was afraid this wouldn’t be enough food to fill us up, since all the portions were pretty much smaller than the palm of my hand, but surprisingly we left content in body and in mind. They took my OpenTable voucher of $ 50 with no issues, but without the voucher, it would have come out to around $ 65 pp (for a party of 2). Space is pretty tiny, however, so I would definitely recommend reservations. They’re currently offering 1000 pt reservation on OpenTable, so… no better time than now: D

Yopparai (adj.) — definition: drunk… in the Japanese.
First off, this is not an izakaya. To be more apt, this is a sake bar at its most spatially inefficient… the land of the rising sun would be quite proud. And if it was any indication, my Japanese compadre in attendance that night was quite pleased with this joint (as was the group of young Nihon-​jin femmes, celebrating a birthday of one of their own, at the table adjacent to ours). I should mention that my party was one of the only two to actually get a table with a party of four (the birthday onna no hito was the only other one with such an honor).
On a Friday night, it takes a good bit of luck… or a reservation… to score a table. Fortunately, my party had a bit of luck on our side. We were even more lucky to have such an impressive sake selection at our disposal, and a native Japanese lady in our party to guide us in our endeavor to ultimately become «yopparai» (see what I did there?!?).
Sake comes in two sizes: the six, or the 12. No special deals on getting the bigger one… twice as big, so twice as much… makes sense. Per the guidance of sake expert, we went with three of the 12s. First one we sampled was Kikusui, it was clear and light with some floral notes… good booze. Second one we tried, the Shiragiku Nigori, was one of the more cloudy «unfiltered» sake… good booze too, but good-​er booze then the first??? I guess it depends on who you ask. But, we all agreed that the last one we got, the «Sophisticated Woman», was the bestest of all of them. It was as light and clear as the first, but hit as hard as the second… or maybe the accumulation of booze was starting to get me soused??? After all, we hadn’t eaten that much…
Which prompted us to think about food options at this place! To reiterate the sentiments of the first paragraph, this place is a sake bar, and not an izakaya in the traditional sense (though the latter term is oft thrown around in America).. The nuances are far more apparent than the subtleties of, let’s say, a gastropub and a sports bar. One such nuance (and the only one that matters)… no beer here! Game, set, match for me. I will say this though, the food offerings here aren’t an afterthought, they are done with a great amount of authenticity, care, and precision that are worthy of what could go into a very upscale izakaya (…with beer! Though «upscale» defeats the purpose of an izakaya if you ask me). But enough about the izakaya vs. sake bar talk… the food here is worthy for either, though a subsection of the menu specializes in such standards that «pair well with sake,» as was advised by our waitress. One such item is salted squid in squid guts, that is the legit description… interesting, but we opted for less daring fare in the form of steamed edamame, gyutan, braised pork belly, and steamed eggs with crab meat and shrimp.
It’s really tough to screw up edamame, and this place did just fine with theirs. It was presented in a sexy little wooden box that Josh V., circa his college days, may have gone clepto over such a thing. The pork belly was extremely tasty and so tender that it fell apart at the touch, really good stuff. The gyutan, or cow tongue in English vernacular, was super moist, tender, and cooked a perfect rare… tasty as hell. And the steamed egg was super hot, and cooked the way a steamed egg should be… the tasty (seafood?) broth brought a rich flavor to the eggs, and the seafood in the eggs just elevated the lowly egg into a level of decadence that would be akin to putting the Queen of England’s jewels onto a hooker… it’s a very good compliment.
Food here is a bit pricey for the quantity, but this isn’t the sort of restaurant to stuff yourself (and again, it’s more a sake bar than anything else… even more so than a restaurant). If anything, as per our Japanese guest and sake connoisseur, this is the kind of place to «seal the deal,» so you wouldn’t wanna be slowing yourself down with too much food anyway huh? But feel free get a little tipsy on sake in a quiet, exclusive feeling (not a lot of seats and you need to ring a doorbell to get in), cozy (tight seating arrangements… two-​seater stools at the bar area if you don’t get a table), and dimly lit establishment such as this pre-​session… this is quite the appropriate place to get the «deal» going.