Oh Taisho

During our first trip to NY, our friends introduced us to this place. I was impressed at how quickly we got seated, especially since they were so busy! The place was small, and we had a stroller with us, which we had to fold up, but it was fine.
We ordered the Negi Ramen, a few yakitori (chicken skin, intestines, quail egg, quail egg wrapped in bacon, squid), and gyoza. Everything was delicious! I loved how the negi ramen was spicy and flavorful, and the noodles were cooked al dente! My husband isn’t a big ramen fan, but he loved it! My favorite of the skewers was the chicken skin and the squid. My daughter loved the gyoza! We ended up coming here the next night to have dinner as well!
If we ever come back to NY, we’ll definitely be eating here again!

This place is one of the most consistent places to eat at St. Mark’s. Since it’s an izakaya, it’s also going to be open much later than some of the other restaurants in the area.
Never had to wait more than 10~15 minutes even when it’s busy since I usually prefer bar/​counter seating. However, if you have a large group, you should plan to be here earlier to account for the wait.
In terms of food selection, they have the usual izakaya offerings. Takoyaki, okonomiyaki, yakisoba are all solid. I’m usually not too impressed with the skewers. Tried different sets and individual skewers multiple times. They tend to run a bit dry and bland.
They also have some ramen choices, but considering the other ramen/​soba houses in the area that focus specifically on noodles, I tend to pass on those choices here.
Overall, focus on the more traditional izakaya type items and stay away from the fancier offerings for a good authentic experience.

This is my 3^rd time coming to Oh Taisho
Pros
— Food is cheap & tastes great! I love grabbing beer with their ramen, yakitori and okonomiyaki. Depite ordering 3 – 4 dishes, I don’t think I paid more than $ 80.
— Great for group despite the small space. (I personally think the small space gives me a better ambience)
Con
— They are EXTREMELY busy and they do not take reservations… expect to wait AT LEAST 30 minutes unless you arrive as soon as they open
— The service is a total hit or miss. They forgot about us once, and didn’t really check up on us until we called the waiter over. I think this was because it was just the two of us. However, when I went with 7 people… the waiter kept on asking us «check?» «you need check now?» which got on my nerves a little especially because we weren’t even there for an hour. (ended up staying longer, just for the heck of it)
— If you are claustrophobic, might not be the best place to be. I am tall and its definitely uncomfortable sitting on the chairs by some tables.
Overall, a good ambience to have a quick drink with your friends despite some cons.

There are many places to pick on the block for good izakaya and Oh Taisho does not disappoint. My fiancé and I came here on a Friday around 9 past… we only had to a few minutes for a wait and sat by the busiest part of the bar. That was good because we got to see how everything went down — the only bad thing was seriously thinking a plate could have dropped on my head. we were sitting between the expo and the waiter…
Anyway, we had eaten a bit before so we just had two of the: enoki bacon yakitori (very strong on bacon, not enoki), the tender beef meatball (delicious in a good sauce that was a bit sweet), chicken chunks (very good charred chicken — think dark meat? — which was sauced and well done, the shishito peppers which were too hot for hubs. I liked it. We had two skewers each and I thought these were filling and big.
We shared a starter of shimp shumai– good and standard, and this grilled squid thing stuffed with rice which I did not care of. Don’t like the mayo that comes atop those things; it was grilled squad with a ginger flavored rice inside.
We also each had a drink; he the Kirin light, and I the oolong vodka which was not sweet and surprisingly strong. The service is not great (we asked fr water freefils a bunch, got empty satrea). but prices are so cheap, and menu is extensive, you can’t complain. Itwas $ 44 for four skewers, two appls and two drinks. Not too bad,

Came here on a weekday after work with a couple of my friends. The place does not have that many seating, but there was no wait when we entered. All my friends have already been here so they were the one ordering most of the stuffs. We ordered so many dishes that I lost count. Haha. Everything so really good though! On top of my head, I remember we had the wasbi octopus, potato wedges, salmon salad, sushi, steak, and noodles I believe. Everything was decent! I would come back here to try out their skewers though (I know, I know… I didn’t try the skewers the first time I was here, haha)

Was in the mood for spicy ramen, and let me tell you, no complaints here! Noodles had a nice chewy texture with just the right amount of spicy-​ness. And if you’re a bacon AND enoki lover like myself, do yourself a favor and order the bacon wrapped enoki skewers! Tofu was yum in my tum too! Ordered one, devoured it, ordered another one. Service was good, and the atmosphere alike.

Nooooo! Why has the ratings gone down so much? This is one of my favorite places to stop by in St. Marks when I am in Newyork. I have never been to Japan, but this is the environment and atmosphere I would assume it would be like. I have been a customer of taisho since high school. I love the bar seating, the grilling in the middle, two small bathrooms and then a small area in the back where everyone is cramped into. It’s like my 2^nd home with all the screaming Japanese.
I have always been obsessed with their french fries and special dip with masago roe! I love their salmon bowl with the raw egg. I am a huge fan of their yakitori, not just the chicken but the scallop with bacon, enoki mushrooms and the pork belly!
Their takoyaki/​octopus balls are a little soggy and okonomiyaki isn’t the best but it’s okay. Order yourself a slushie sake and enjoy the night catching up with a friend!
This is my 100^th review!

I’ve been coming here for years. The prices have increased a bit but the food quality has stayed the same! It’s my go to place in the neighborhood for a low key night with some great Japanese comfort food.
The service is hit or miss. My go to items are
1) Mentai potato with cod roe sauce — fries are standard but that sauce beats ketchup any day. Great starter.
2) Unagi Don — hearty bowl with a ton of unagi swimming in a sweet, eggy tofu concoction. Mix it up and clean it up! They have a unagi&tofu skillet if you don’t want the rice.
3) spicy tuna bowl — it’s a good portion and fresh
4) salmon cream yakisoba — this may be my favorite dish that they offer. It’s so creamy, the noodles are cooked perfectly and the plate is chock full of salmon bits.
Their Okonomiyaki is not my favorite and the takoyaki is on the smaller side but I do order it from time to time.
When I used to eat meat, I went crazy for the chicken skin, extra crispy. A sin worth committing.
My latest visit was yesterday. Everything was satisfying.
Oh, we ordered the Japanese vodka w/​fresh grapefruit. This was nice and refreshing but they meant it – be prepared to put in #work. A juicer is provided along with 3 halves of grapefruit for the XL.

We have been here multiple times over the years, I don’t know why I do not have a review. So here goes…
On our most recent visit, we came on a very cold weekday for dinner, and were lucky to get a table for two right away. We ordered skewers combo, dumplings and kim chee yakiudon. Service was good and quick and food was good. We really enjoy yakitori and always come to this area for it.
I have to say food and service has always been consistent because we are always coming back! They take credit card here.

I love this place because the food is really good and the prices are really reasonable in Manhattan, but I hate the wait. Every time I’ve been here it’s at least a 45 minute wait that usually ends up being about an hour. That being said, I always end up waiting because I don’t want to go anywhere else. The food is just addicting like that.
If you’ve got a big party, I do not recommend this place – it’s really small so seating a party of 3 – 4 is perfect, but any more than that and you’ll probably all end up sitting separately.

One of the few restaurants on the street that opens before 6pm. Stopped by for a quick bite before dinner. Place had an $ 8 minimum per person — though we didn’t see it mentioned on the menu (could had easily missed it). We ordered one of the sets (think it was Set A) and added one more skewer (beef tongue).
The set came with 2 each — chicken, meatball (not sure if it was pork of beef), chicken skin, pork belly and chicken gizzards.
Pros:
Chicken — flavorful and moist
Gizzards — seasoned decent
Average:
Meatballs — nothing special
Pork belly — slightly bland
Con:
Beef Tongue — tough as leather
Chicken skin — nothing worse than soft oily skin
Overall, just A-​okay.

#I like Oh! Taisho more than Yakitori Taisho, because it’s less crowded.
#I like going with the #Mentai Potatoes (french fries with the salmon roe/​mayo sauce), especially when it’s my cheat day.
#I also like going with #liver skewers, but I shouldn’t because I have gout. So I’ll go with #shishito peppers, #garlic and #scallion skewers for now.
#Always go for alcohol. Screw #gout.

One of the best cheap authentic Japanese joint in NY. Whenever I visit the city, I always try to make the pilgrimage here. They open til 4am on weekends. Now lets start with must haves:
1. Salmon Yakisoba: spaghetti with cream sauce and salmon
2. Saikoro steak: cubed beef with green onions
3. Takoyaki: fried squid balls with mayo
4. Yaki onigiri: grilled rice ball (can be stuffed with kombu, salmon, plum)
5. Eel tofu
6. They are known for their yakitori (grilled skewers)! — the beef tongue and kawa (chicken skin), is The BOMB!
One star out because of the tight seating and elbow space, last time my party was seated right next to the storage room and the workers were in and out (it wasnt their fault). Restrooms can be icky sometime. Dont wear your bulky coat to eat here, they have hooks to hang your jacket, but it can get in the way if your sitting in front of it.

Great place to meet up, drink and eat. They have a lot of different types of food on the menu. Ive really enjoyed all of the ones we tried and plan on going back to try different kinds next time.
Only downside is that my phone had no signal and my carrier is at&t. My friend had verizon and she did have signal.
Overall fantastic.

I think if I was super drunk I’d love this place, but seeing as I came sober it was alright.
Go easy on the chicken skin skewers. I’m all for eating grilled fatty pieces of skin, but the ones we got weren’t very crispy and could possibly be undercooked.

Came here by accident. Was literally targeting Yakitori Taisho next door but thought this place was it and rushed in. It was pretty meh. We ordered a bunch of stuff, including the set A yakitori (chicken skin, chicken, chicken gizzards, and beef meatballs), takoyaki (octopus balls), okonomiyaki (mystery pancake thing-​still haven’t figured out what was inside), mushroom skewers, the negi ramen, and a grilled mackerel. Only about half of the dishes were edible. The takoyaki and okonimyaki kind of stood out as disastrous, unfortunately. Both were coated with a thick, extremely salty as well as nastily sweet sauce and mayo. There was literally only one tidbit of octopus inside the octopus ball-​the rest was some sort of untasty goo. The chicken skin was also sickly sweet and had a horrible texture.
On the other hand, the grilled fish was really good (the side that was salted, at least-​seemed like they forgot about seasoning the other side of the fish…), the ramen was super on par, and the mushroom skewers were delicious. Also points added for generally being pretty darn cheap.
If you’re going to try this place, avoid the bad items that I mentioned. It really is a hit or miss experience, so just beware!

3 – 3.5. I think half the food is a hit while the other half is a complete miss. The service is alright. The food came out relatively quickly, but it was hard to catch the waiter’s attention otherwise. I do really like the environment! It felt like one of those late night cheap restaurants in an alley in Tokyo (maybe if I came here for late night drunk food, things would have tasted better?). Best part is food is very cheap.
Yakitori set A — all the skewers were sweeter than I expected but not flavorful enough. Out of the various types of skewers, only the chicken gizzard really satisfied my palette.
Mushroom skewer — if you like mushrooms, get this! Best skewer of the night.
Negi ramen — tasted like a more high quality version of the packaged shin ramens.
Takoyaki — meh, not the best Takoyaki I’ve had. Too much dough, too little octopus, too much sauce, so bad ratio all around.
Okonomiyaki — WORSE Okonomiyaki I’ve ever had. This thing was about 3 inches thick with nothing but dough. The top was greased with too much sauce. I couldn’t taste anything but the sauce. My friends and I tried to break the pancake apart to see what the inside was made of, and aside from dough, we found about 3 pieces of shrimp. Save your stomach, don’t order this.
Grilled mackerel — one side was very well seasoned, thus very yummy but the other side was quite bland, so about 50% delicious. Did the chef just completely forget to flip the fish while cooking?

Sat at the bar in the front where the grilling takes place. The good is seeing the chef in action and smelling the wonderful aroma. The bad is feeling the grease and smelling like food afterward.
We started with the wasabi tako, always a favorite. Miso soup was good. The skewers were all good: shishito peppers, pork belly, chicken heart/​gizzard/​liver, beef tongue, chicken wings, octopus legs, and chicken. The beef tongue was our favorite. The grilled ika was also very good — great snack to go with beer. Great that they have both Kirin & Sapporo drafts.
We also added the tofu w/​unagi, very delicious and a grilled onigiri with spicy fish roe.

Not sure what their relationship is with Yakitori Taisho… but they taste pretty similar. Their skewers look the same, too. (I didn’t like Yakitori Taisho) It is a littleee less crowded but just as busy and hectic. The servers are running all over the place and service isn’t very attentive since they’re so busy.
Salmon Cream Yakisoba: I expected this to be mindblowing, but it was just OK. Creamy but doesn’t have much demnsion. It was also quite small.
Ramen: Wow do NOT get ramen here. It literally tastes like a lot of salt with a LOT of sesame oil (weird? I’ve never had sesame oil in my ramen). No good.
Takoyaki: Was not bad. Quite small and not a lot of octopus, but the flavor and texture was good.
I don’t recommend this place or Yakitori Taisho next door. Try Hagi, Yakitori Totto, or Soba Totto instead.

I definitely needed my yakitori pro friends to navigate me through the food here. We got our drink on with a delicious unfiltered sake and then started ordering. You can’t go wrong with the fried baby octopus. so good.and the seared steak pieces.yummm. The option we chose. I think it was B. was a little on the small side for three people but definitely tasty.
The place is super packed, just like the other place two doors down, service was fine, people watching was amusing. As many have stated before, this place is a good choice for late night drunken eats!