. . "0"^^ . "I really, really, really, really like Kintaro on Church St!! My girlfriends and I came here at 5PM for dinner without reservation and the place was relatively empty (later filled up to ~30%) and we were all absolutely blown away by the food!!! Omg the FLAVORS and textures here are creative, detail-oriented, and overall phenomenal... Truly a gastropub. I would highly recommend all of their seafood dishes (perfect blend of umami and sometimes other surprising flavors subtle upon first bite). \n\nBeautiful traditional japanese interior and seating. This izakaya is also much QUIETER than other izakayas, which tend to be loud and kind of rowdy. The music here tonight was western and medium-low volume, the staff didn't often shout greetings, and the other customers spoke at normal volumes. I could hear my friend, who spoke softly at times, perfectly from across the table.\n\nFood portions here are on the smaller end since Kintaro is tapas style, I would recommend coming here with a group of people and ordering many dishes to share. Pescatarians and vegetarians have no fear... They have a lot of seafood or veggie only options that are just as delicious or even more so than the beef and pork selections :) The server recommended many dishes and we ordered them all lol:\n\nApps:\nSalmon and avocado salad 3.5/5 - Super fresh salmon sashimi A+. Avocado, cucumbers, and cherry tomatoes were so refreshing given how protein heavy the rest of the meal was. But as we got the other dishes, this one became less impressive and unique by comparison.\nEbi Mayo 6/5 - One of our favorite dishes tonight! The shrimp were jumbo and coated with tempura (deep-fried), but it was the mayo sauce that tasted so perfect. First bite in, all 3 of us were melting :P\nOkonomiyaki 4/5 - We ordered a seafood one. It was smaller than other ones I've ordered elsewhere in the past, but was thick, heavy, and had wonderful tasting toppings and sauce. the dough part was a bit slimy, which I wasn't a fan of, but great flavor.\n\nSkewers: We decided not to order the sets since 2 of us doesn't eat red meat and you can't customize your own sets\n\nScallop 3/5 - Scallops were too small\nEbi 1/5 - Only giving it a 1 since my standards for this place has gotten so high XD The shrimp were tiny and flavors nonexistent. Nothing special, you can replicate this at home.\nIka teriyaki 5/5 - My personal favorite skewer since I love squid. It wasn't on a stick like the other skewers, but was grilled, which gave the squid excellent texture and flavor. The teriyaki sauce on top was sweet, enhanced the squid's nature flavor, and not overbearing. \nEringi 3/5 - I like king mushrooms, but that was really all that it tasted like. Didn't have any sauce to enhance the flavor, but was cooked with butter (mandatory to not burn on the grill). Dunno what I was expecting.\nYaki mochi 6/5 - Really liked this one! Big mochi balls, also not on a stick. Subtle honey sweetness on the outside, crispy outer covering, chewy umami center (mochi). Sweet + umami = killer combo\n\nPaid ~$30 per person not including tip. Wonderful experience here tonight and will definitely keep coming back."^^ . . "0"^^ . "2017-01-09T00:00:00"^^ . "5"^^ . "3"^^ .