Mokutanya — Restaurant in Burlingame

Mokutanya nails it in so many different ways and we were blown away by the thoughtfulness and the quality of the food that we were surprised to have only discovered this joint only now.

Let's take this in a few angles.

The ambience screams date night. This isn't a family, bring your kids type of place. This is a quiet and dark joint for impressing your date and having a conversation. So what does one worry to take your date to a yakitori place? Smoke and the scent bearing on your flashy clothes. Not at Mokutanya. They grill it behind the glass in a kitchen and the fumes are barely noticeable. Furthermore, each seat has a glass separation so that you can actually have a quiet conversation even with the bustle of the crowd.

The food is amazing. From the appetizers like the croquette and hamchi carpaccio, to the various skewers you'll order, every one of them had fresh ingredients and was tastefully marinated. Many times, yakitori places suffer from each and every skewer tasting exactly the same with just different meat texture. Not at Moku. Every skewer has its own statement to make. Prepare to order around 10+ between 2 adults as the portions could be a bit small.

Some the side dishes are mindblowing. Try the cold ramen or the chicken skewer donburi with kimchee. They could easily be a dish on its own. And despite being side fares, we were really happy about the quantity and the quality.

And yes, plenty of choics of various sake - and we were very appreciative of making available cheaper varieties as well. And yes, there are extremely expensive junmai daiginjos if you choose to go there as well. Healthy selection of beer and cocktail and you really cannot ask for more.

My only ask would be to upgrade their menus from simple text to also carry some images or a picture book. If you don't know what to order or how much, it is very difficult to feel like you are making smart choices or ordering enough. It really makes you think. But most likely, anything you do order will be great so there's some comfort in that.

Mokutanya is the star of Burlingame downtown. Make sure to reserve ahead as even a week or two earlier as seats run out quick. Absolutely phenomenal experience and would love to return frequently.

Yes, yes. It is not cheap. It's going to cost around $100 per person including tip. But again, you are getting an experience that is difficult to match in...

Our waitress was very personable and had good insight to the food, I would go back just because of her attitude alone.

Atmosphere was nice, I guess if you have a group of 4 or more, you're usually put in your own area, separated by glass, you can hear other people, so it isn't secluded, but enough that you wouldn't notice if you weren't looking around. You also shed your shoes before entering the area, so make sure your feet aren't smelly. The table is depressed into the floor, so you can sit Western style if you wish. The wait staff comes in and kneels to take order or serve.

We went because of the exotic skewers special, tried peacock, swan, iguana, kangaroo and waygu (I know that's not exotic, but it's not common either) I liked most of the skewers except for iguana, it has a good amount of bones in it, and I always get turned off of food when I bite down on a bone unexpectedly. They aren't cheap, but wouldn't you be very suspicious of cheap exotic meats haha.

We also had ramen because the skewers weren't going to fill us up. Ramen was alright, did it's job by filling our stomachs up. I got miso ramen, next time I'll do the spicy beef ramen, my friends dish had a kick to it that I like.

Desserts were awesome, but about $12 bucks a pop. My boyfriend really enjoyed his green tea cheesecake, I'm always a sucker for creme brulee and it was done perfectly and my friend was pleasantly surprised with her key lime mousse cake.

My friends and I agree we would definitely come back, and it's a decent bill if you aren't going for exotic meats or...

Honestly would have given this a 1 star. I came by for a dinner since I was in the area. Made an order for a couple of yakitoris and waited for them to come out. The ones that came out tasted great, but we had to wait for the remaining order. Almost no one came to check up on us throughout the night. We had to make an effort to try and get the workers to help us check on our order, in which they said they'd go check. Minutes later a different server would come to tell us they reordered our items. Ok? Did the kitchen only send half our order out and then throw away the rest of the list? After about an hour and a half of being at the restaurant, someone else comes to ask how we're doing again. I had to tell a 3rd person we're still missing items. Then another person comes to tell us that the items we originally ordered ran out in the kitchen.

So we had to ask for service instead of someone come check on us, they didn't bother to check if what we wanted was even available, and in the end we waited over an hour just to be told we waited for nothing. The kitchen should have a way to let their servers know what's available. They compensated us with a dessert, which is why I gave an extra star. When I paid the bill and left, I found all of the servers in the front desk just talking with each other. It was completely ridiculous to me.

Maybe you'll have a better time than my girlfriend and I did. The food was fine, but I will not be returning knowing there are more professional yakitoris out there for a...