Izakaya Ginji — Restaurant in San Mateo

This restaurant has been gracing downtown San Mateo for a good few years now. It always draws me back. Everyday dining or special occasions, this place delivers. You can get skewers of authentic and delectable chicken parts grilled over wood. So authentic that even the wood they use in the grill is imported from Japan.

Look at the menu: besides authentic fare, there are creative takes on old favorites such as Buta Kimchee Carbonara - a rich, creamy and addictive pasta dish, or the Age Mochi Oroshi, chewy little rice cakes fried with a crispy coating resting in a savory dashi broth. Yum.

Here's the thing; where other restaurants that have been around for a few years tend to wilt, while the specialties lose their spark, chefs and/or owners persona non grata, etc. --- this wonderful Izakaya just seems to get better and more innovative every time I visit!! The two brothers (one in the back, the other in the front) are still completely hands on, bustling between tables, providing recommendations and making sure everyone is having a great time. Yeah. The service here is great.

They have an impressive list of sake and shochu, and are always willing to provide help if the list is too intimidating. They have recently added a selection of shochu cocktails for those who are not so wild about the taste of sake or straight shochu.

Also new (at least since my last visit) is an expanded selection of fish dishes. Last night's meal featured the best Toro sashimi I have ever eaten. I also must mention the lollipop chicken. --Best fried chicken in the bay area IMO, and I've tried a lot of fried chicken.

I could reccomend just about everything on skewers grilled over Japanese hardwood. That is what an izakaya is truly about, yes? Though I never leave without ordering the thighs, skin (better than bacon!), quail eggs, okra, shitake mushrooms and the delightful onigiri (rice balls) scented so nicely by the wood smoke and perfectly crunchy on the outside.

Many people may go to a fancy white tablecloth place for a special occasion, but Izakaya Ginji has been my birthday restaurant of choice for at least the last 4 to 5 (?) years, and will continue to be in the forseeable future.

In closing, this is one of my 5 favorite restaurants in the bay area. And no, I'm not exaggerating. Just do yourself a favor and make a reservation before going. This place is popular and can collect a large crowd...

This place is expensive, but we thoroughly enjoyed every single dish we ordered. Came here with 4 adults on a Wednesday night, and we had to wait for a table since we didn't have a reservation. Wait wasn't too bad, especially since we started listing our orders while waiting to be seated. Since we listed everything on the piece of paper they gave us beforehand, ordering was as fast and easy. They brought each dish as it was made instead of waiting for all dishes to be ready. This ensured everything came to the table hot and fresh. We ordered grilled chicken thighs, chicken skin, chicken liver, wagyu beef sausages, beef ribs, scallops au gratin, sashimi, rainbow roll, unagi don, agedashi tofu, ebi tempura, and spicy chicken karaage. We also tried the grilled rice balls, which had good flavor and texture. Be prepared to wait longer for the grilled rice balls though. Ours came towards the tail end of our meal, which was not ideal, but we still thoroughly enjoyed every bite. The dragon roll we ordered came last, even after the rice balls. We expected it to come first, but I guess the kitchen was busy. Overall, a...

I had been here before years ago (pre-COVID), when they used to have physical menus with more selections. I remembered the yakitori being great here so I put in a reservation for 4. That was easy. My partner and I came earlier than our reservation (by about 30mins) but they had our table ready already so we were able to sit down and get away from the winter cold. Shortly after we ordered, our food came. The yakitori was still just as good as I remembered— except the ones I ordered to be seasoned with salt (there weren’t many you could order with the tare (tah-reh) sauce) were PARTICULARLY salty. I felt they were over salted so I had to scrape off what I could (hence the one less star on my review).

Overall, everyone enjoyed their food and we had a great time. They even gave us holiday “gift (scratcher) cards” for a free item that you could redeem from the scratcher card if you came back within the next couple months. We’ll likely come back though, not just to use up the...