Oh Taisho
“The most disappointing point of the evening was exiting onto St. Marks and not the streets of Shinjuku.”
“The okonomiyaki is fantastic as is the yakitori – I recommend the chicken meatballs, chicken skin, pork shoulder especially.”
“The Salmon Cream Yakisoba is a must if u love salmon and love noodles..”
Oh Taisho
Take-out: Yes
Accepts Credit Cards: Yes
Bike Parking: Yes
Good for Groups: Yes
Waiter Service: Yes
PokéStop Nearby: Yes
Price range.
$$ Price range $11-30
8 reviews
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Nooooo! Why has the ratings gone down so much? This is one of my favorite places to stop by in St. Marks when I am in Newyork. I have never been to Japan, but this is the environment and atmosphere I would assume it would be like. I have been a customer of taisho since high school. I love the bar seating, the grilling in the middle, two small bathrooms and then a small area in the back where everyone is cramped into. It's like my 2nd home with all the screaming Japanese.
I have always been obsessed with their french fries and special dip with masago roe! I love their salmon bowl with the raw egg. I am a huge fan of their yakitori, not just the chicken but the scallop with bacon, enoki mushrooms and the pork belly!
Their takoyaki/octopus balls are a little soggy and okonomiyaki isn't the best but it's okay. Order yourself a slushie sake and enjoy the night catching up with a friend!
This is my 100th review!
This place is one of the most consistent places to eat at St. Mark's. Since it's an izakaya, it's also going to be open much later than some of the other restaurants in the area.
Never had to wait more than 10~15 minutes even when it's busy since I usually prefer bar/counter seating. However, if you have a large group, you should plan to be here earlier to account for the wait.
In terms of food selection, they have the usual izakaya offerings. Takoyaki, okonomiyaki, yakisoba are all solid. I'm usually not too impressed with the skewers. Tried different sets and individual skewers multiple times. They tend to run a bit dry and bland.
They also have some ramen choices, but considering the other ramen/soba houses in the area that focus specifically on noodles, I tend to pass on those choices here.
Overall, focus on the more traditional izakaya type items and stay away from the fancier offerings for a good authentic experience.
I came by with a friend around 10 pm on a Saturday night and the place was pretty full. We grabbed a seat at the bar, which I highly recommend doing.
Mentai potatoes: solid portion size, addictive mentaiko mayo. Definitely benefits from the squeeze of lemon and is a solid carb for the meal.
Umeshu: nice balance of sweet and tart, served with ice as an apertif. Not very alcoholic fyi.
Yakitori: We had chicken heart, liver, skin, wing, bacon wrapped enoki, and beef tongue.
-chicken heart: great flavor, great texture
-liver: grilled well, not overcooked. Decent liver, and that's coming from a not liver fan
-skin: crisp on the edges but chewy for the most part. Could have been grilled further. Decent flavor though
-wing: coated with shimichi togarashi and salt on the outside. Only a single wing. Good flavor on the outside but nothing to write home about
-bacon wrapped enoki: THIS WAS THE BEST. I would order this again instead of the majority of the other skewers
-beef tongue: good flavor but somewhat tough
Saba shio: grilled mackerel – took them about 15 minutes to grill. Watch out for the bones. Pretty tasty, although was tough in some parts. The grated daikon wasn't that good of a condiment
Yuzu cheesecake: not worth it, would not recommend.
Food: 8/10
Atmosphere: 9/10
Value: 7/10
I'd like to come back
I've been coming here for years. The prices have increased a bit but the food quality has stayed the same! It's my go to place in the neighborhood for a low key night with some great Japanese comfort food.
The service is hit or miss. My go to items are
1) Mentai potato with cod roe sauce — fries are standard but that sauce beats ketchup any day. Great starter.
2) Unagi Don — hearty bowl with a ton of unagi swimming in a sweet, eggy tofu concoction. Mix it up and clean it up! They have a unagi&tofu skillet if you don't want the rice.
3) spicy tuna bowl — it's a good portion and fresh
4) salmon cream yakisoba — this may be my favorite dish that they offer. It's so creamy, the noodles are cooked perfectly and the plate is chock full of salmon bits.
Their Okonomiyaki is not my favorite and the takoyaki is on the smaller side but I do order it from time to time.
When I used to eat meat, I went crazy for the chicken skin, extra crispy. A sin worth committing.
My latest visit was yesterday. Everything was satisfying.
Oh, we ordered the Japanese vodka w/ fresh grapefruit. This was nice and refreshing but they meant it — be prepared to put in #work. A juicer is provided along with 3 halves of grapefruit for the XL.
We have been here multiple times over the years, I don't know why I do not have a review. So here goes…
On our most recent visit, we came on a very cold weekday for dinner, and were lucky to get a table for two right away. We ordered skewers combo, dumplings and kim chee yakiudon. Service was good and quick and food was good. We really enjoy yakitori and always come to this area for it.
I have to say food and service has always been consistent because we are always coming back! They take credit card here.
Came here on a weekday after work with a couple of my friends. The place does not have that many seating, but there was no wait when we entered. All my friends have already been here so they were the one ordering most of the stuffs. We ordered so many dishes that I lost count. Haha. Everything so really good though! On top of my head, I remember we had the wasbi octopus, potato wedges, salmon salad, sushi, steak, and noodles I believe. Everything was decent! I would come back here to try out their skewers though (I know, I know… I didn't try the skewers the first time I was here, haha)
There are many places to pick on the block for good izakaya and Oh Taisho does not disappoint. My fiance and I came here on a Friday around 9 past… we only had to a few minutes for a wait and sat by the busiest part of the bar. That was good because we got to see how everything went down – the only bad thing was seriously thinking a plate could have dropped on my head.. we were sitting between the expo and the waiter…
Anyway, we had eaten a bit before so we just had two of the: enoki bacon yakitori (very strong on bacon, not enoki), the tender beef meatball ( delicious in a good sauce that was a bit sweet), chicken chunks (very good charred chicken – think dark meat? – which was sauced and well done, the shishito peppers which were too hot for hubs.. I liked it. We had two skewers each and I thought these were filling and big.
We shared a starter of shimp shumai- good and standard, and this grilled squid thing stuffed with rice which I did not care of. Don't like the mayo that comes atop those things; it was grilled squad with a ginger flavored rice inside.
We also each had a drink; he the Kirin light, and I the oolong vodka which was not sweet and surprisingly strong. The service is not great (we asked fr water freefils a bunch, got empty satrea). but prices are so cheap, and menu is extensive,you can't complain. Itwas $44 for four skewers, two appls and two drinks. Not too bad,
This place is great everytime I go!
We got:
Salmon yakisoba—the creamiest pasta with super flavorful roe
Kimchi Yakiudon–a much bigger portion than expected, good udon texture. the meat stir fried in it tasted grilled and had really good flavor.
Pork belly skewers–good flavor but not the most tender pork belly i have ever had
balsamic duck–really tender pieces of duck that are not too fatty. loved the tangy sauce as well
This dinner ended up being 40 dollars with tax and tip for two people, which is a decent price for the amount of food we got (ordered a bit too much).