Let me begin by saying that I am not a yakitori kind of person. And i am not much of an izakaya person either because of the know long wait times. However, i was willing to give Zakkushi a try since the reviews have been pretty good - under one condition. I was not willing to line up... so reservations were a must.
We made reservations for 5:30pm. We arrived around 5:15...do we had to wait around outside until they opened their doors. Do not bother arriving early because they will not let you inside the waiting area. So if it is a cold day... waiting outside might not be the greateat idea.
We ordered about 11 dishes - the premium set which included wagyu beef and bef tongue, sweet shrimp sashimi, the nwgi p-toro don, and scallops to name a few. Our food came pretty quickly and consistently one dish after another. Everything seemed to have been prefectly timed. The shrimp sashimi however did not seem fresh as the meat was a little mushy but the flavour was fine. The rice was a bit heavy and filling but the pork pieces were absolutely delicious!
To finish off our meal, we ordered two desserts - kinako mochi ice cream and the dorayaki matcha ice cream. I didnt really like the pancakes part if the dorayaki as they were a bit crumbly. It wasnt the texture i was expecting. But the mochi ice cream was interesting as the mochis seemed to have a fried texture to them.
Overall, the service was great and the food was delicious! ...aside from the pancakes.
When it came to paying... we did our usual precentage for gratuities... however, when the transaction went thru, it seemed like the tip amount was not included. Our server was ballsy enough to tell us the amount on the bill did not include "service fee". We were quite comfused as we did include a tip amount but was not picked up by the machine. Good thing our server brought it to our attention! Ballsy but necessary! Gratuity was well deserved for such wonderful service and tastey foods! So we tipped in cash.