Yakitori Totto - Review

Intro
Yakitori Totto - Highly Recommended
251 W. 55th St., New York, NY 10019
nr. Broadway
Phone: 212-245-4555

There are some food experiences that make you say "ahhh, so that's what real (insert food item) is supposed to taste like." For me, pasta and gelato in Rome did this. Sushi Yasuda did this as well. And, now Yakitori Totto has taken this distinction. I've had some yakitori (grilled chicken) before and I generally liked it a lot. Skewered meats in a bar environment for cheap - what's not to like. However, I never knew how good yakitori could be until coming to Yakitori Totto. Now, I know the key to great yakitori is intense chicken flavor, juicy meat, and the aroma of good charcoal. Overall, I give the restaurant an 88/100.

My Menu
Porthos ordered all the food for our dude's night out, so I'm not 100% sure what we ordered but this is what I think we had...

1) Nonkutsu (soft bone) - Recommended
2) Shishito (peppers) - Recommended
3) Seseri (chicken neck) - Highly Recommended
4) Teba (chicken wing) - Highly Recommended
5) Jidori Karaage (fried chicken) - Highly Recommended
6) Momo (chicken thigh) - Highly Recommended
7) Kinoko (eringi mushroom) - Highly Recommended
8) Kobe Beef Gyutan (beef tongue) - Highly Recommended (best of the night)
9) Kawa (chicken skin) - Highly Recommended
10) Tsukune (chicken meat ball with raw quail egg) - Highly Recommended
11) Tokusen Toridon (chicken, egg, onion, rice) - Highly Recommended
12) Negi Tori Don (chicken, scallion, raw egg, rice) - Highly Recommended

Dish Comments

1) First time every eating chicken bones. Bones are a little crunchy almost like popcorn, but tasting like chicken. Very good stuff.
2) Great roasted pepper flavor and a nice sauce, but a little spicy.
3-6, 9, 10) All the chicken dishes have a great texture, a real intense chicken flavor, super juicy meat, and a great charcoal aroma. It really makes a difference using organic chicken and cooking it properly. The chicken neck and skin stands out the most.
7) Never had this mushroom before, but it could almost make me become a vegetarian...almost. The mushroom has a very intense flavor, great meaty texture, and somehow is really juicy. Maybe my second favorite of the night.
8) Beef tongue is very tender, great flavor, and great texture. Definitely my favorite of the night.
11,12) Both rice dishes were incredible. It's so satisfying having great chicken and perfectly cooked eggs with white rice.

Overall Restaurant Experience (88/100)

• Food 9.0/10 - The food is high quality and also extremely satisfying like good home cooking, a very rare combo.
  
• Service 8.4/10 - Japanese place. See my other comments...nuff said.
• Atmosphere 9.0/10 - Looks like this could be in Japan. Small place with lots of wood paneling. Crowd is mainly Japanese. Great feel to the place for groups. The waits are insane though, but it maybe worth it. I went 3x previously around 7pm and the wait was at least 1 1/2 hours. Last night, we went at 10pm and the place was still busy - no wait however.
• Price 9.5/10 - For the quality of the food, the price is phenomenal. It came out to $60 including tip per person - Porthos obviously ordered for 10 - even though we were 4 :) And we ordered good sake as well.
  

Closing Comments
After going to Yakitori Taisho, I thought I understood what good yakitori was. Not any more. Taisho does not have the organic meat and the charcoal, which definitely affects the flavor and texture. They cover it by adding a sweet sauce, which is tasty; however, the stuff at T0tto is ethereal. Like Sushi Yasuda before, this experience at Yakitori Totto may have ruined me since I will expect more from any future Yakitori joint.