Yuyake DanDan Izakaya — Restaurant in Pleasanton

Tucked away in a not so busy mall on weekdays is a gem of a Japanese restaurant!!! They have many tapas or appetizer sized meals and even yakitori bbq for around $4-9 a piece. Some of the yakitori like the rib eye is $4 each so it can get expensive quick. I suggest you take one of those and pair it up with their signature paitan ramen that has a beef bone base! If you pay extra you can also have the beef bone as well. Although on this occasion I think that was a little too filling so I didn't order it. It looks to be that most of the staff and maybe even the owner are all Chinese speaking Mandarin but some at the sushi bardou speak fluent Japanese and even strike conversations up first with you in that language! Speaking of which, the sushi bar attendants were really nice and almost gave traditional bar service and conversation, just with sushi instead of beer which you can order as a pint or a whole sharable pitcher serving sapporo. If you're sitting at the sushi bar you get to peer into the kitchen where they're making the yakitori and other food they prepare for the diners in a really nice setting that blends western design and Japanese street fair vibes together! The only gripe is that there is no physical menu. Instead, you only can view the menu through a QR code which can be turn off for some people who may not be technologically inclined, at least the menu has a list generator so you can just have a list to give to the waiter when they're ready or you're ready... The servers or even the sushi bar attendants can take your order relatively fast and if there are any suggestions or recommendations they may have such as their Japan imported fish that is around $30. Like I mentioned before, I ordered the paitan ramen and It was really good and had a lot of flavor to it being a beef bone broth base! It had a little bit of peppery flavor and it was sweet in the end! I also had a ribeye yakitori that was really amazing with a nice peppery flavor and how well its cooked medium rare! I also had a newer thing on their menu which combined a fish paste with a little bit of shrimp inside and that was also incredible too! It's not like tempura flakes but even more fine and really easy to eat paired with wasabi and the lemon for both of my non ramen dishes! Overall, I really enjoyed my dinner here and then would definitely want to come back to try more of their...

Yuyake DanDan Izakaya was FANTASTIC -- the food, the service, the atmosphere, all of it! It's hard to pinpoint an exact "best dish" because they were all amazing. We came in for a late lunch around 2 pm on a Saturday and were seated immediately; both of the servers were very helpful and informed.

From the otsumami (tapas) menu, we ordered the: chili tofu; and fresh oysters.

From the okazu (hot dishes) menu, we ordered the: karaage; takoyaki; and tonkatsu.

From the seasonal specials, we ordered the: kamasu (an entire Japanese barracuda!! So delicious!!); black cod miso (so tender; so juicy; so flavorful); and Hokkaido Bafun Uni color mix.

From the temaki(hand roll) menu, we ordered the: yellowtail; and the unagi.

From the nigiri menu, we ordered the: umi masu (ocean trout); kurodai (blackhead sea bream); kanpachi (great amberjack); o-toro (blue fin tuna belly), and hira-suzuki.

We then wrapped it up with a bowl of their bone marrow ramen, in the traditional paitan broth, with black garlic oil and roasted beef fillet and oyster mushrooms and and onsen egg (and, of course, the BONE MARROW!). Thank goodness we split the bowl between the three of us, but it was SO GOOD; rich and creamy and garlicky and so smooth and just excellent.

I could keep raving about the food, and the service was equally excellent; we were frequently checked in with, and both of our servers gave excellent recommendations of what to try next. We ordered our food in different waves, so we could try as many dishes as possible but also still make sure we didn't over-order (and end up wasting food).

We ate EVERY BITE. It was FANTASTIC, and we will definitely be...

I went to the restaurant with nanny, my 14m and 2 year old kid. My daughter is very picky and she doesn’t like the food in the restaurant. So I bought the pancake on her way for her and prepared some baby food for my baby. After we sanitized high chairs, tables and everything. Get kids’s food ready and looking at the menu about to order. A dyed hair waitress told me they are not allow outside food. This is the first time I heard restaurant who take young kids don’t allow outside food for them.

I asked her ‘These are their food (babies), they don’t eat the food here. We adults will order food, isn’t that ok?’ She response with no sympathy said’ this is our policy’ so we had to pack and leave.

It took forever to set up for young kids and also take a while to pack. My baby was so hungry and started to cry when we were leaving. I told the restaurant if they don’t take young kids and force us to order something for them I’m gonna share this information to other mom. They started to try to explain the ‘policy’ and want us to stay. But it’s too late. I’ll never...