Hakata Tonton

Came here around 7pm during dinner time. We wait about 20 minutes and we got the table. This place is tiny. Didn’t know they can have reservation online. We order Hakata Tonton hot pot. It’s so tasty. They should open one in LA!

Pros: hot pot on cheap side, clean, great small dishes, authentic Japanese
Cons: boring hot pots (not enough variety), charges after rice/​noodle, expensive small dishes and appetizers
I really like their appetizer and small dishes. Very authentic and unique to Hakata style. The hotpot though… it was whatever. It wasn’t bad, just very boring. Something you can make at home. I also didn’t like the fact they charged $ 5 for the ojiya after finishing our pots. Never been to a place where they charge the after rice anywhere in Japan or NYC. In addition, the meat they use for shabu shabu was definitely not for shabushabu, I’ve had much better.
The kanpachi sashimi and jumbo shrimp sushi was very delicious. Great place to go with family or friends on a cold night but don’t expect it to blow your mind or anything.

Ahh this place is so good especially for a cold winter night. The Hakata Ton Ton hot pot is really flavorful without being overly salty. We had udon at the end of the meal and even though we were stuffed none of us could help but inhale it anyway.
Also had the okonomiyaki, which was delicious, and the black pork pâté with chili oil — out of this world.
The wait was long but service was super cordial, and it’s so worth it. Also, I loved how honest the waitress was. We inquired about a dish and she pretty directly said «yeah don’t get that one.» Respect.

Came here without a reservation on a Friday night. We waited about 40 min outside before getting seated. We ordered the Hakata TonTon with Bibimbap at the end and it was the perfect way to melt our frozen toes in the snowy weather. We also ordered the garlic fried rice which was so delicious! Can’t wait to come back and try their other items on the menu.

Hakata Tonton does not disappoint. It is Japanese comfort food at its best.
–monkfish liver: so good I ordered two
–gyoza: very well done, fried but not greasy
–tonsoku: pigs feet and delicious collagen
–pork belly buns: legit pork belly, better than most places
–foie gras sushi: only dish I didn’t like. There was too much rice and the sauce was overpowering. It took away from the foie gras taste.
The hot pots were good as well but I prefer the Chinese version more. That said, they’re still delicious and great for cold winter nights.

How is Napa cabbage served in a pork broth so good?!
I DON’T EVEN KNOW.
But it is.
Queuing or waiting for a table here sucks (just wait outside, no list as far as I could tell for walk-​ins, though they do take reservations).
But the food is great. The star of the show is their hot pot broth, which is loaded with veggies and pork, and the broth itself is quite delicious.
In terms of appetizers I loved the potato salad — the Japanese just do potato salad right — and the pork cheek.
I had the tofu desert.
Everything above strongly recommended.

Food was pretty decent. The wait is usually pretty long — we probably waited 30 minutes before we were seated. They opened a new seating area behind the restaurant so there are more tables now.
The food is really great. We tried their potato salad (which was surprisingly yummy), their pork cheeks, pork feet and their Hakata Tonton hot pot. Everything was really good. Prices are a bit steep though — we paid about 45 dollars each including tip and tax.
For dessert with had the green tea tofu and it was SO good. It wasn’t too sweet which I like!

There’s no better time to eat hotpot than now! The weather is cold but bearable, even if you do have to stand in line out in the cold to wait for a table. Yes, there literally is a sign outside the restaurant that says «the line starts here.» The plus side is they recently added a new dining area to the restaurant with the entrance on the other side of the street with a couple more tables.
The tonton hotpot was very good, but takes around 20 minutes to cook, so I definitely suggest ordering appetizers while you wait. Make sure to also order the noodle or rice bibimbap that can be added to the hotpot after you’re done eat the soup, it’s almost a like delicious third course. We took Unilocal’s advice and ordered the foie gras inari and gyoza, both were delicious. There’s a lot variety on the menu and I can’t wait to come back to try more!

Really nice small Japanese restaurant! Great food! I was wondered the flavor of the food there was so tasty and kind different from traditional Japanese food. The chef told me he was once cook of Chinese cuisine in Tokyo then he combined both jap and chi taste when he opened this restaurant in NYC. Really like the pig foot hot pot.
We walked in on New Year’s Eve which was my birthday as well. Had a really good time celebrating the new year with the staff and they brought me my Macha tofu with a candle on it and even turn off the light for me. Really nice and warm.
Love HAKATA Tonton. Hope you’ll have a great time there as well.

So first time here, it’s a small small small (yes I mean it) place. We got rudely introduced to the «hostess» where she said to go outside to wait for a table. We did just so we can try the place.
Ordered:
Garlic fried rice — simple but very good.
Okonomi-​yaki pancake — alot of sauce. Not really memorable
Hakata tonton hotpot — good spice, love the veggies but pretty lackluster. When they said for two or three or whatever. Expect the ingredients to literally be for that number. Had 2 dumplings and 2 Tofu and everything else was basically veggies. The pig feet in it was basically inedible so not someone I would order again.
Dessert saved the meal for me after all the hiccups above. The strawberry ice cream and crème brule was phenomenal! The green tea Tofu was good but a lil bitter.
Overall, might try the place again but not going to go out of my way to do so.

3.5 stars.
I was a little disappointed with Hakata Tonton during my last visit– blasphemous, I know, but I mean it.
First, the service was just a bit off– the restaurant is very small/​not all the tables were filled, yet it took quite a while for a server to come and take our order (and another 10 minutes to get water…) There were no water refills until I asked. And somehow it felt like they were only focused on a few of the tables within the restaurant? very strange!
The tasting menu was still amazing but the pigs feet were not as good as last time :/​
Hoping it was just a bad night!

I’ve been to Hakata Tonton twice, both times with my boyfriend. We got their classic Hakata Tonton hotpot each time, but during our most recent visit we also got a few appetizers. Ordinarily my boyfriend and I would’ve gotten sushi, but since we’d had that the night before we decided to get cooked items instead. One order of the Tonton gyoza and one order of the grilled Tonton pork belly. My boyfriend also ordered a muscat cider.
We were first brought the pork belly, which tasted nice initially, but by the third or fourth piece was too fatty. I at least managed to finish my portion, but my boyfriend (who’s a lean meat kind of guy) couldn’t. I wish the sauce had been spicy or sour, would’ve made it more pleasant for consumption. The gyoza came out next. I was excited for these as they were not only advertised as «famous» but they also arrived on a visually stunning hot plate. They were popping and sizzling and just begging to be eaten, but unfortunately they were disappointing. The shells were dry and burnt, and the filling was dry and flavorless. Even with soy sauce we couldn’t eat them and wound up leaving more than half untouched.
Whilst we’d been eating our appetizers the waitress had quietly brought our hotpot to our table and turned it on. At first it was a bright and beautiful mound of fresh vegetables and herbs, but by the time we’d finished eating our gyoza and pork belly it had been reduced to a stew.
Usually with hotpot I’m used to doing everything myself, but at Hakata Tonton the waitresses will add to, stir, and serve the dish. Leaving you only with the task of consuming it. Our first few bowls were mostly vegetables and flavorful soup, but as we reached the bottom we began to get into the fun stuff; dumplings, tofu, pork belly, and pigs feet. Pigs feet is something neither my boyfriend and I had had before, but we were both open to it. We asked our waitress to find two of them and hand them over to us. They didn’t resemble any sort of foot (which was probably for the best) and seemed to be mostly skin. I happened to like the pigs foot, but my boyfriend wasn’t a fan. I think it’s because it had a very fatty texture, which as I’ve mentioned, he isn’t a fan of.
We spent a total of 2 hours at Hakata and left extremely full. While it isn’t the kind of place I’d go to on a weekly basis (99 Favor Taste is the place for that), I would definitely recommend Hakata for a date night. For two people hotpot and a few drinks would be perfect. Don’t go for any appetizers unless you’re SUPER hungry.

Came here with a reservation at 6pm and sat down on time. I would suggest to come here either before 6pm or make a reservation ahead of time otherwise be prepared to wait a long time. A lot of people seem to take time and eat ~2 hrs here and this place is really small. We actually tried to come before and was told that we would need to stay outside to wait for a table as we came without a reservation so we gave up and make a reservation for today.
We got monkfish liver, potato salad, hakata hotpot for 2 and green tea tofu for dessert.
The steamed monkfish liver is much denser than the ones I have had at a few of the highly rated Japanese restaurants in the Bay Area.
Potato salad is quite fancy here as it has spicy caviar. Quite interesting tasting.
After finishing the cold appetizers on a hot day, the hotpot is served. Never had this kind of soup before and it was quite tasty. It has pork feet, pork belly, dumplings, cabbage and lots of green onions. The onions actually tastes pretty good as I normally don’t like eating them but I liked how it tasted here. The soup was also good.
Green tea tofu was worth the hype. We enjoyed the almond flavor in the tofu. The green tea sauce you pour on actually doesn’t have much flavor. 9 dollars for this dessert was quite steep imho.
Overall i feel it was worth 70 for this meal for 2. They don’t take tips which kinda helped justify the high price.

A tiny little place that seems to be always packed and fully booked in advance — make sure to either make a reservation before you come or do a takeaway of one of the dessert options.
When we came we got the Kampachi Sashimi which came with a delicious ponzu sauce. It was consumed and wolfed down immediately by us.
The garlic fried rice with pork belly was pretty good but not exceptional.
The collagen soup gyoza wasn’t on the menu, but they made it on special request for me. It was unfortunately super duper salty — to the point where we couldn’t finish it.
The crowning achievement of this restaurant though, imo, are the desserts.
The Soba Crème Brulee was simply superb. It had the taste of soba, cream, and egg with the perfect texture. The included black sesame ice cream was also excellent. It had an intense black sesame flavor that paired well with the soba crème brûlée
But the highlight for me was the Green Tea tofu. This was the softest, creamiest tofu I’ve ever had. Once the green tea sauce was poured over, it became one of the most memorable dishes I had ever had.
Next time I’m in the area, I’m just gonna swing by and get the green tea tofu dessert to go and skip the line. :)

My friend and I went last night. We got a reservation on open table the earliest was 10. It was find since we didn’t have to wait long once we got there. The place is pretty small but enough room to move around. Staff is really nice and patient even if it was cramped they would make room for you to squeeze by the bathroom.
We ordered the gyoza on a sizzling plate their Himi’s Famous Homemade Gyoza. Really nice and crispy. Then ordered two appetizers I think too much between my friend and I. We ate it all eventually. Fried chicken and the grilled pork belly on spicy garlic sauce!
Hakata Tonton Hot Pot a specialty of hakata, japan, collagen broth, tofu, dumplings, vegetables, berkshire pork belly and tonsoku. min. 2 persons We were pretty full and didn’t add much more to it. Next time we will. We finished it off with Udon noodles which they reheat the left over and I think somewhere they added some sesame seeds which turned out pretty good.
I think I will have to revisit and try some of their other stuff. If you can get a reservation i’d say its pretty good yesterday was a tuesday so not that crowded and it was really cold out.
Check out some of my pictures that I posted.

Location: Yo, Hakata Tonton is located at west village. Yeah, It is a pretty small place with no clue to know it preserve some of the best dish in west village. I found when I first had big gay ice cream, and I saw the Hakata Tonton and thought, what the F is this? I Unilocaled, and saw the almost perfect star and Japanese hotpot on the menu. I knew that I should be here sometimes. This place is pretty tough to get if you are not here before 5:30. Normally, you can reserve table on opentable to make sure you have a spot to eat. But more normally, it will take several months to have a spot to eat. So get in line before 5:30, and you are pretty much gonna have a good chance of getting a table to enjoy some delicious food.
Food: we had the following:
avocado tofu — rich, and moistured. Well balanced and silk tofu with my fav avocado. A bomb
Grilled Pork Tonsoku, with spicy garlic sauce: it is the first time i had this, pretty good
Egg Omlette: a little bit disappointed cuz it’s not that good but the spicy caviar is the savor for this dish
Hakata Tonton Hot Pot (Min. 2 orders) — the only thing you must have everytime you are here. Very delicious on a cold, windy day
Grilled Tonton Pork pretty declines with some sauce on top of it
Service:
They said they did not want tips (from Unilocal) but do end up asking for tips. But average is only 30 and we ate a lot of delicious food. The service is welcoming and warm, and fast and motivated.
One thing to be mentioned is their bathroom. I know it is weird but I love their toilet, which is special. I will let you explore and not destroy the amaze
Overall: 4.5 stars. WHY NOT 5? Cuz … cuz, IDK. But it’s a place worth your time and money on a friday night

Don’t be alarmed if one of the wait staff chases after you after you leave the restaurant. It isn’t because you forgot to tip (unless you did), it’s because they just want to give you some candy from a Pez container. As I was waiting outside, watching the startled reactions of the recently finished diners provides for some nice entertainment.
This place is surprisingly busy. I came on a Monday night and called earlier in the day if I could make a reservation for the same day. They said they were all booked and it would be walk in only. Wow, I didn’t expect that for a Monday night. OpenTable showed that they were booked one week out. I arrive at the restaurant at 7:10pm for a party of 3 and wasn’t seated until 7:30pm. We were told it’d be a 5 – 10 min wait…
There is a sign outside that tells you where to form the line but there needs to be a better way for people to register themselves with a hostess or even a sheet of paper.
When we were finally seated we ordered a boatload. Here is my opinion on them with accompanying pictures:
Foie gras Inari sushi — Sauced so much it tasted more like eel than foie gras
Today’s Sashimi Platter — WOW I have to say I did not expect this quality of sashimi from here. The salmon roe was sweet, the scallop was so soft and the rest of the dish was phenomenal! I would highly recommend this!
Pork tongue — Looks great, started out nice with the sear and sizzle but the meats got too tough on subsequent chews
Soft shell crab — Always delicious and this one did not disappoint
«White hot pot» (Can’t remember the proper name but it was $ 22/​pp) — We had a guest with us who didn’t eat pork or beef making it really tough for us to order but we settled in this chicken broth hot pot with the beef intestines cooked secondary. It was very flavorful even though it began with just vegetables in the base. Add some noodles to it in the end and that makes for a great end to the meal. The waitresses help you cook everything too so you won’t have to worry about any undercooking or overcooking foods.
Dessert tasting sampler — Comes with crème brûlée, cheese mousse, and sesame ice cream which we substituted for green tea ice cream. They didn’t allow any other subsequent substitutions. Sweet way to end dinner but for $ 15 you can assess whether you want to stop by big gay next door or not.
The overall concept of the restaurant is great. I’d recommend anyone on the fence to give it a try. Just plan for it one week ahead and bring enough cash if you want to save 5% off your bill.

4 – 4.5 stars. Mmm. Had such a good time here with two other friends. Everything we ordered was DELICIOUS!!! There are so many interesting-​looking things on the menu that we just ordered a smattering: cod, tuna carpaccio, gyoza, foie gras sushi, dry ramen-​style noodle dish, tofu with green tea dessert, and of course the famous tonton itself. I really loved the cod: the texture was melt-​in-​your perfect and it was perfectly seasoned. The ramen-​style noodle dish was also good. Gyoza was a tiny bit on the bland side but still very tasty! The foie gras sushi was super interesting in a good way, as was the tofu with green tea. I’m not sure if I would order the latter for dessert again, but I definitely thought it was one of the most unique concoctions I’ve ever tried. The tofu is very soft and tea-​infused. It’s a very light finish to dinner. The hot pot itself was very good. You have to order a minimum of 2 portions, which was plenty along with all of the other food we got. There was a mixture of veggies, tofu, chicken, and pig feet in the mix. I’ve never really had hotpot that came with all of the ingredients all piled in, so it was particularly fun watching all of the items slowly cook and sink into the pot.
In the end, the waitress recommended that we add noodles to our remaining broth, which created an entire other round of eating. The noodles were the thick, udon-​style kind and were the perfect end to the main course.
Service was efficient and they are very good about honoring reservations/​giving reminders. I can definitely see why this place is so popular. Make sure to book ahead!

This place is packed tight! I joke not when I say you need to walk sideways to manuveur your way past other tables to get out of the restaurant. And it gets quite loud too, or maybe it was just because there was one group that was blaringly loud when I went. My wait for two people on a Wednesday night was about half an hour.
The popular dish here is the Hakata Tonton hot pot. It consists of tofu, pork belly, tonsoku (pig feet), cabbage and chives in a soup broth. As others have mentioned, it comes out looking huge but once it all finishes cooking about 15 minutes later, you realize it’s mostly just a lot of veggies. A little disappointing if you were expecting more meat but I still enjoyed it.
We also enjoyed an order of their homemade gyoza while the hot pot was cooking. It arrives on a sizzling cast iron platter. Crispy on the outside and filled with juicy pork. These were good but nothing amazing.
On the way out, they gave us a pez to leave with and told us that it’s customary to do so. Overall this is a good place for some hearty hot pot. I’ll probably be back once it gets colder but only if there’s no line!

Great place to dine on a cold night, but not so great if you get here and have to wait outside. Hakata Tonton is not a big restaurant and seating is a bit limited with roughly 40 or so seats for the entire place. I am ballparking that count from my memory so don’t quote me on the exact number of seats. That being said, if it’s full, you’ll need to wait outside the restaurant for a table to open up.
The food was splendid and exactly what you expect for a place that has a line of people waiting outside on a cold night. The Hakata Hotpot is filled with assorted veggies, like cabbage and chives, along with slices of pork, pig’s feet and tofu. A savory pork broth, not oily but very condensed flavor in every spoonful. The standard red soup hotpot comes spicy, but you can ask them to tone it down (they just call it «less» on the receipt) or just leave out the chilly peppers and spice altogether.
While the hotpot comes to a boil, which takes around 20 – 30 minutes, to properly simmer down to be eaten, you should consider some appetizers to curb the hunger. Their avocado tofu is lite and simple. The tofu, having little flavor in itself, is covered with a large dollop of mashed and mixed avocado and chives. Their homemade gyoza comes on a sizzling hot plate, this caused the oil on the dish to jump everywhere. Be aware that a speck of hot oil could splatter off the plate and land on your unsuspecting arm or clothing. Besides the simmering oil, the gyoza was filled with tasty marinated pork and cooked with a good amount of grease. A bit on the heavy side because of that oily coating, but because it’s such a small dish and not too overwhelming in quantity, it balanced out with the rest of the meal. The skin of the gyoza was nice and crunchy and not burnt or over cooked.
This would’ve been a five star establishment, especially with the nice and friendly staff. However, because of the small seating area, although they are nicely decorated with lots of pig themes, lacks in the ability to serve larger parties well or overall quantity of people at one time. One can argue it makes for an intimate dining experience, but not having more seats makes it hard to have Hakata Tonton as a frequent option without making reservations in advance. Good food, good staff and overall a good experience. I’ll be back when the cold season kicks off.

c’était moyenne ce restaurant jap. Le fondu n’est pas mal. Le reste est bof bof. Le service est un peu mou. Mais leur saké sont bons.

Super resto japonais en plein Greenwich village. Un conseil réservez à l’avance c’est tout le temps plein!
La spécialité du lieu: le cochon (rassurez vous il y a aussi des sushis) Cuisiné sous toutes ses formes, en fondue, avec des pates, en salade, avec de la soupe.
c’est vraiment délicieux.
les assiettes sont copieuses, ce qui n’empêche pas de recommander à volonté histoire de goûter toute la carte.