IZAKAYA 68 — Restaurant in Cockeysville

Izakaya 68 in Hunt Valley offers a unique dining experience, transporting you straight to the nostalgic alleyways of Tokyo's Omoide Yokocho. The decor perfectly captures the intimate and slightly gritty charm of those tiny hacker stalls, creating a vibrant and atmospheric setting. This alone makes it worth a visit.

The menu is extensive, boasting a wide array of Japanese street food favorites. From classic ramen dishes like shoyu and tonkotsu to takoyaki, robata skewers, and a tempting selection of seafood, there's something for everyone. Our lunch for two included tuna and yellowtail maki sushi, a raw saba (mackerel) small plate, beef tenderloin and skirt skewers, littleneck clams steamed in sake, and a calamari skewer.

The real novelty here is the service, or rather, the lack of traditional service. All ordering is done conveniently through a QR code on your phone, and when your food is ready, it's delivered by a friendly robot! This futuristic touch adds a fun element, especially for those dining with children. Our food arrived remarkably fast.

The food itself was a mixed bag. The sushi and steamed clams were definite highlights, fresh and flavorful. However, the calamari robata was unfortunately overcooked and chewy, almost inedible. While most dishes were acceptable, none were particularly outstanding.

The pricing, however, is a point of concern. For lunch for two, our bill came to around $90 after tip, which felt a bit steep considering the portion sizes and overall food quality. While the experience is undeniably unique, the value proposition isn't quite there.

Overall, Izakaya 68 is a great spot for a special occasion, primarily for its captivating atmosphere. The robot delivery system is a fun gimmick, and the menu offers a broad selection. However, be prepared for slightly higher prices and some inconsistencies in food quality. It's definitely worth experiencing at least once, but it might not become a regular dining destination due...

Editing my review based on new visit on 6/8/23. They have a liquor license now so we tried two types of the sake which were great. The rest of the bar menu seems priced way too high (example: we spotted a $17 margarita) but the sake was reasonable. The robot music is now turned off which is so much better, and jazz music was playing overhead (off-brand but ok lol). The scallop nigiri and spicy salmon inari are still favorites, and the karaage chicken has a really light tempura fry that was a great improvement. The staff were super nice but it still feels understaffed - it takes a while for food and while you can order online, for payment you still need to wait for someone to be available. Overall, super excited to come back.

Old review: My partner and I ate here during the soft opening. First of all, the spicy salmon inari we had was extremely delicious and very inexpensive ($7), so we're both pumped to try the rest of the menu. However, there were issues you'd expect from a place that just opened - it took 20+ minutes for our food to come, you're supposed to order online but the payment system isn't fully set up yet, everyone was still getting their feet on the ground, etc. Also, it would be nice if the restaurant had background music.. it was on faintly and would stop every 20 seconds or so, and the booths were so close together that you could just heard literally anything anyone around us said. Also, the robots swoop around playing their music so that you know they're coming around corners - it was cute but also a little annoying, but it makes the "experience" part I guess. Also, they don't have a liquor license yet - we overheard someone saying it would be weeks before that is sorted out, so no beer or sake just yet, but the bar looks really nice. I'm excited to come back in a month or two and get the full experience when the details are ironed out! Looking forward...

Our group of 6 were met by an abundance of cherry blossoms and escorted to to a large booth by the window. It felt very private, cozy and warm. The website had said cocktails were available, but the restaurant doesn't have their liquor license yet-- which is not an issue as one of the best booze stores around is in the same shopping center. Our server gave us printed pictorial menus, offered the QR code for a more comprehensive menu, and was available in case we had questions. You can opt to place the order with the server or directly online.

We ordered multiple appetizers for sharing, and were intrigued to have all food promptly delivered by a cheerful robot. Mostly priced at $4.88 and $6.88 nothing is going to break the bank. Our group enjoyed the variety of small plates: the seaweed salad, the spicy salmon roll, the zuchinni and shiitake mushroom skewers, but the real standouts were the chicken yakitori, spring rolls, and the Tonkotsu Ramen. The noodle soup delivered a filling meal for a bang-up price!

The consensus was that we'd definitely return. The burning question that remains is should one tip for...