Izakaya Bincho

The Unilocal reviews got us really excited but perhaps set up our expectations too high. We didn’t really mind the wait, which was long; it took 90 minutes before our last three dishes arrived. We found the place friendly enough; I don’t know what else you would expect from a single proprietor, hole-​in-​the-​wall type of place.
The best dish was the agedashi tofu. It’s just done x10 better than any other place where the dish tends to be a throwaway appetizer. I also enjoyed the garlic as a dish and tokyo green onions, just not as much as the agedashi tofu.
The worst dishes. The fried chicken didn’t taste fresh, and this applied to the yakitori chicken as well. I assume it’s the same batch of chicken. The yaki onigiri were just okay, both miso and soy paste.
They had run out of simmered pork belly and chicken cartilage, so I can’t comment on those.
Wouldn’t mind eating there again, but probably not going to go out of my way for it. Also, not going to order chicken. Incidentally, the restaurant is at Redondo at the Pier itself. (We walked outside the pier looking for it for about 15 minutes.)

Avoid this place! Sat for more than 40 min at the bar while neighbors got several skewers. I’m patient but they could have alternated serving people their food especially since there were only 5 patrons in the restaurant or at least communicate! The kitchen could use a good deep cleaning as well.

Kyoto size Izakaya on the Redondo Beach Pier. I’ve tried for nearly two years to get into this place when they’re #1 open and #2 before I eat somewhere else out of desperation.
The place is nothing short of amazing. The agedadhi tofu is out of this world. The pork meatballs and spicy chicken wings are heavenly.
I do recommend that if you eat here that you plan to sit for 2 hours or more. I went on a day when they weren’t busy (2 customers at the bar) and had to wait nearly 45 minutes for my first dish.

** Restaurant Closed! Owner packed up and went back to Japan. **
No sign. They’re never open. Call for reservation and the owner will tell you that they’re closed. Is there a password to get in? Unfortunately, no. — but persistence is key. Like getting into a club with a fake ID, we walked in one night, waved at the owner, got the nod and quietly sat down.
The owner Tomo is the Yakitori Nazi. — and rightfully so. The best Yakitori ever. It’s better than sex. You must try the agedashi tofu and the daikon salad before you die. The chicken liver comes bloody. (The way it should be) Even the French fries are good.

Bincho is the Holy Grail of yakitori in Los Angeles. And for all the negative Unilocal reviews… NO YAKITORI FOR YOU!

If you have read the other reviews, it is true that the restaurant does not usually open or close on time like its listed hours. Simply because this is a tiny one chef restaurant, and sometimes when there is no waiter helping him out, he becomes the waiter as well. As you can imagine, there is only so much that one person can handle for both cooking and serving simultaneously. And sometimes, if there is a large group reserved ahead, he will turn people away, even though the restaurant may look empty at the time.
The chef may seem a bit moody at times, but he is actually a pretty nice guy, not to mention that he is very dedicated and definitely one of the best Yakitori /​Izayaka chefs in LA /​OC. Some of my favorite dishes include Agedashi Tofu, Braised Pork Belly, Fried Chicken, Meatballs, Chicken Zoushi (rice soup)…etc. Make sure you grab some beers to go along with these foods. If you treat a glass of beer to the chef, it’ll energize him up quite a bit.
Also, as mentioned earlier, this is a one chef restaurant. Some of his dishes are actually made from scratch freshly instead of preparing ahead, like the Chicken Rice Soup, so don’t expect the dishes will come out quickly especially when he is busy.
Anyway, I would recommend you to call ahead first and make a reservation.

So here’s the deal. I’ve been here several times and a couple times it wasn’t open, but the food is so delicious that my husband and I are willing to put up with the inconsistencies in their hours. (It’s also just a 5 minute drive from my house and we always have a back-​up plan.) Each time we come back, the food reminds us why we keep coming. Just call ahead and make sure they’re open before heading over. It wasn’t always like this, but hopefully things will get back to normal.
There’s just one guy doing all the cooking the food, so depending on what you order it can take awhile to come out. But just order some sake or beer and relax because it’s worth the wait. Plan on being there at least 90 minutes if you order a bunch of dishes like we do.
They have the best agedashi tofu in town. Even if you don’t like tofu just get it. And how the spicy chicken wings stay so ridiculously crispy even with the coating of delicious sauce they’re tossed in I’ll never know. The standard yakitori are also very good – chicken leg with green onion and the chicken meatballs with sauce are a given.
While you’ll probably skim right over the «grilled rice ball» (known as yaki onigiri in Japanese) on the menu, do yourself a favor and order one for each person in your party. They’re masterful – deceptively simple, but hard to execute well because it takes time and attention. No one does it like this place. It’s the perfect marriage of rice, soy sauce, and smokiness from the grill. It’s crazy how perfectly crispy/​crunchy and it is all over. If the chef had a cart on the street and just sold these, I’d be the first one in line. It’s the most enjoyable way to soak up all the sake and/​or beer you’ve been drinking up until then.
The waitress is really sweet and always has a smile which is more than I can say for most restaurants these days. So while the hours can be sketchy, my husband and I are fans we’re going to keep rooting for Bincho!

rude, not even open till posted time which was stated 10pm, we showed up at 9pm. he had roughly 6 customers, and all he did was shake his head and said closed. Wow.

So I must admit I’m a Kappo Honda loyalist, that being said I wish I could give 4.5 stars. The agendashi tofu and braised pork belly are a must and probably the best I’ve ever had anywhere, period.
I also like the short menu — they stick to what is good and I respect that.
My only complaint is that it takes a while to get the dishes. It took about 2 hours to get everything we ordered. If we lived nearby and could beer it up, it probably wouldn’t be so bad.
Highly recommend; just be prepared for a long meal.

Went there Last Night (5÷12÷13)
and there is a sign on the door that says it will be closed for a while due to a family emergency in Japan.
If you are planning on going soon, I would probably call first to save the drive!
Just thought I’d post that here since it isn’t written on their website!
They’ve got great food though… I can’t wait to go back once I find out that they are back in town.

This place sure is quirky. I had the same experience that a few other reviewers have mentioned. Showed up at 5:15 on a Saturday afternoon. The hours on the website and on Unilocal say 5pm-​11pm. Of course there’s no sign, but it’s easy to spot: look for the red velvet-​y curtain (looks kinda like the entrance to a magic show). A sign inside said «Closed»; there’s no door or anything to separate the establishment from the pier so we walked in. The man behind the bar — I assume the owner — stared coldly at us. We asked if it was open and he said «No». We asked what time it did open and he said «No.». Finally we asked are you open later and he replied rather brusquely «Not open today». Hmmm, OK.
After we ate someplace else we strolled by to see if that was just said to us. There were two Japanese women standing half-​inside half-​outside (as I said there’s no door to prevent you from entering the «Closed» restaurant). We watched them for a few minutes: they stood there for a while looking confused, as apparently the owner wasn’t even behind the bar at this time. We left them standing there, looking even more confused after a few minutes of doing that.
Definitely quirky. Don’t want to give a restaurant a poor rating without actually trying the food, and maybe something came up that the restaurant couldn’t open; that’s always possible of course. So I’ll just give it an average three star rating, and advise people to call ahead.

It’s Friday night, my friend and I decide to come check this place out and after reading some of the reviews and looking at pictures I decided it was worth the 1.5 hour drive in traffic. We get to the pier and my friend forks out $ 4.50 for 3 hours of parking thinking we’d be able to sit down, try whatever we can fit in both of our stomach and have a nice dinner.
We get there, we see 2 customers at the bar drinking and eating, it is 8pm but there is a sign that said closed ( Unilocal says it closes at 10:30pm). Thinking that they might have left the sign like that by accident, we ask the person behind the bar if they were open. He looks at us and just answers «no» and that’s it. Not the most professional and friendly way to talk to customers and we weren’t rude or anything.
I’ve been to a few other Izakaya places in Torrance that are very good and I don’t think I’ll come back to this place. All it took was for 1 person (the guy behind the bar) to completely change the perception of 2 people for this restaurant in less than 5 seconds. He could have been nicer about it and we would have been back.
Lesson of the day, don’t be jerk.

Went over with a friend on a Friday night at 8:30. I had been looking forward to visiting this place for a long time as I love Izakaya. We parked the car and forked over $ 4.50 for 3 hours and began the search for this hard to find spot. We walked around for awhile and after maybe 15 minutes we finally found it tucked away near the pier.
There were two people inside eating and drinking at the bar and the sign inside said closed. Thinking maybe someone forgot to turn the sign we asked the man behind the bar if they were open, and all we got was a stern «no» and he quickly looked away. That’s it… so we were a little bummed. Do you really need to act like we are annoying you because we want to give you business? Strange because Japanese are usually friendly and considerate to customers… oh well. We ended up back in Torrance where we came from.
If you’re interested in trying food like this there are many places in Torrance that are great! Look up «Izakaya» on Unilocal and you’ll see lot’s of options. I won’t be giving this place another chance but if you must, please call before you go and make sure they are open despite what the business hours say on their website.
…fail

Last night (Friday) I had such a great time here!
I went with 3 people who travel routinely to Japan & know their way around Japanese food (I don’t).
It was the first visit to Bincho for 2 of these 3, and for me, so I was interested to see how they’d rate the food.
They loved it.
As did I.
I had really good miso soup. Fried chicken was amazing, so moist. Yeah, I ordered fried chicken cuz I’m a Midwest girl.
We had at least 15 – 20 different dishes, maybe more… I lost count. I did not eat gizzards, did try a rice ball, also tried the pork belly & chicken skewers. Just say yes to the meatballs! And I loved the onion skewers! Long story short, we cleaned every plate.
I had a few of the «small» mugs of Sapporo beer. The large-​size mug is big enough to take a bath in. Finally we got a pitcher. OK a couple. Also sake.
People sitting at the bar came to our table & people wandered in from the boardwalk just outside the restaurant… it turned into a party.
There was live bluegrass music coming out of some bar next to Bincho so I did do my hillbilly chicken dance out on the boardwalk for all to see…
Can’t remember when I’ve laughed so much. We were there for more than 4 hours!
Remarkably, only one of us got drunk (*cough*john*cough*) & no he wasn’t driving.
There was a beautiful light fog at Redondo Pier, just enough to make the yellow street lamps glow like golden harvest moons. No wind.
Perfection.
Service at Bincho amounted to 5-​star hospitality: warm, friendly, efficient, wonderful… helping to create an evening to remember, and to be sure to repeat.
This Thanksgiving weekend, I am thankful… for unexpected sweet surprises, for incredible family & friends, for the opportunity to discover this local treasure of a tiny restaurant.
Holy crap what a party.

Their chicken skewer varieties are delicious, however I do not like how they are sometimes open and sometimes closed. And the wait for the food is a bit long.

on Redondo Beach pier area, next to international ice cream
hard to find, no sign outside
blink & you miss it
small: seats about 24, including at bar
friend made reservations earlier in week for sat. pm dinner; reservations got lost (the guy answering the phone doesn’t speak much english), but we still got a table
daikon salad
agadashi tofu
black cod
cuttlefish & guts – nice sauce
braised pork belly
rice
fish tai over vegetables
fried chicken
spicy chicken wings – not spicy, a bit too salty
agadashi mochi
kimchee pork
otherwise, all very good
bottle of soju – strong stuff, we didn’t finish, dliuted with ice & later sprite, gave the rest to 2 young japanese guys who came in
4 of us, bill with tax came out to $ 26 each!
we got to linger, stayed for 3+ hours
tiny unisex restroom, airplane bathroom size

We came here on the Friday of July 4^th weekend, and had a great experience. It was definitely moderately loud, which felt totally appropriate. We were one of only 2 non-​Japanese parties in the place. Some people said it was really dead, but I was happy we reserved a table, because when we showed up, our reserved table was the only one left, and all the parties, who showed up before us, stayed until after we left. Some people complained about service here, but to us it was simply Japanese. When we asked for service we received it, and that was what we expected.
We ordered a pitcher of Sapporo but received four pints instead. This was OK but I wanted the pitcher so it’d be cheaper, oh well. For food, we ordered: wontons; edamame; miso soup; shrimp dumplings; fried soft shell crab; onigiri with salmon; bulgogi, 2 skewers of tomatoes wrapped in bacon, and we tried to order a croquette but they didn’t hear us and by then we didn’t have room for it.
Since one person is making all of the food, it takes a long time, but it comes out at a nice pace of one dish every few minutes so you have time to digest in between, and you can actually concentrate on one dish at a time.
The wontons were much too fishy for me, but a couple others in our group liked them. The soft shell crab was good and crispy. Friends of ours really liked their miso soup and their bulgogi. The tomatoes wrapped in bacon were great and had lovely crispy bacon with molten tomato insides. The dumplings were very good and the shrimp had a good fresh flavor, but as we had just gone to Lao Wang, they didn’t quite compare. If I hadn’t just had potsticker perfection, though, I wouldn’t have been blinded by the recent experience, and I would have really enjoyed them. The onigiri, though, was gigantic! Twice as big as normal onigiri, was freshly made, with mild nori, (important for me), VERY fresh fish inside, and best of all, a delightfully salty exterior. Mmmmmm!
I’m really happy we went there, and it’s definitely an experience I’ll remember. It’s also nice being right next to the ocean, and the fact that you’re in a garage just adds a certain something.

After lunch at Quality Seafood, we decided to eat at Izakaya Bincho for dinner since we read so many good reviews. We got there at 5pm, but chef was just prepping and couldn’t service us yet, so we had to wait longer. But, once ready, chef gave us fried shrimp mayo on the house. It was very nice of chef, but wasn’t my thing.
Here are the stuff we ordered:
–agedeshi tofu (was so good, that i took a picture, and had a second order)
–pork belly (sure melts in your mouth, but wasn’t as flavorful as I would like it. My bf likes it very much though!)
–free range chicken w/​yuzu sauce (good)
–spicy chicken wings (it was a bit salty…)
–4 different sakes sampler (I enjoyed them all… and I don’t drink)
When I do go back to Redondo, I will order myself 3 bowls of agedeshi tofu!

Brought to Izakaya Bincho by a friend who lived in the area and wanted some Japanese food. Izakaya is Japanese drinking establishment that also serves food; basically, Japanese tapas.
We parked in the structure and took the long way to get to the restaurant (we went all the way around the pier to the boardwalk)… This is definitely a hole in the wall type restaurant and we would have walked on right past it if it weren’t the only place still open at 8pm! There were no signs, but due to a lack of a door we could see people inside.
We were immediately greeted by the waiter/​chef/​owner (Chef Tomo — who was setting out a small heater because it was a cold, windy night), told to sit anywhere (a choice of 4 tiny tables or the bar), brought menus and some edamame. Don’t be fooled! This is a tiny, tiny place, but there are lots to choose from on the menu!
My friend and I went nuts with our orders and picked anything that caught our fancy…
Black Swine Rolls: sadly they were out, but we were intrigued and wanted to know what «black swine» tasted like, so we ordered the Black Swine Sausages (4 small links per order). Doubly sad, we found out black swine sausages tasted like any ‘ol pork sausage with ketchup (and wasabi-​mustard) — salty with a snap every time you bite into it.
Agedashi Tofu (Deep Fried Tofu in Soup): We ordered this dish due to others’ suggestions. There were 4 pieces of tofu sitting in a bowl of soup with radish shavings atop. The tofu was crispy on the outside and tender and soft on the inside. The soup made the tofu lightly salty; however, don’t be fooled, the soup base was rich and flavorful.
Eggplant Sandwich: I was a little bit disappointed in that I seriously thought it was eggplant sandwiched between pieces of carb-​goodness. I was misled, as what was presented were 4 pieces of grilled ground pork sandwiched between slices of eggplant with not even a whisper of carbs anywhere! (Ahh, well…) The dish tasted like something my mom would make, except the redeeming quality was that it was a slightly spicy dish. The extra little kick at the end gave this dish some character (…think spicy eggplant stirfry).
Stuffed Shiitake Mushrooms with Ponzu Sauce: This was definitely a reminder of something my mom makes for dinner regularly. It was pretty simple… the bottoms of the shiitake mushrooms were stuffed with the same ground pork that was used in the eggplant sandwich and grilled in a ponzu sauce. Quite simple. Well seasoned, just kind of plain Jane to me… (2 pieces per order)
Fresh Tuna Salad with Sesame Oil Dressing: This was superb!!! It was a simple dish, but absolutely delicious! There were a lot of tuna pieces tossed with romaine lettuce, cucumbers, fresh seaweed, green onions, sesame oil and topped with dried seaweed. Ooooooh YUM!!! We couldn’t stop going back to this dish throughout the meal!
Salmon Roe on Fresh Radish Shavings: I was sort of afraid to try this as I know salmon roe can be very salty and very fishy; however, the combination of the roe and the fresh radish was beeeeeauuuutiful! The fresh, crisp radish cut through the saltiness of the roe and the heat from the wasabi balanced the coolness of the radish and roe; no soy sauce needed! This dish please both the eyes and the tongue!
Deep Fried Garlic: This is definitely not a dish for those who do not love, love, love garlic! This is a simple, simple dish in that fresh garlic cloves were deep fried; there is a caramel skin on the cloves. There were two types of pastes/​sauces for dipping (one hoisin-​based and a salty anchovy-​based). YUMMY!
Cuttlefish and Guts: This dish takes about 20 minutes to prepare… We weren’t really «wowed» by it. The cuttlefish was wrapped in foil with its marinade sauce and baked. We couldn’t find the «guts» we were promised… The cuttle fish was tender and the marinade was flavorful enough, but it wasn’t anything too special.
We both had a mug of Sapporo with our dinner as suggested by the Chef. I was sad when I later found out there was a sampling of sake offered — next time!
The Chef was very friendly and very nice. With presenting every dish he thanked us for waiting. He offered us hot tea or water after we had finished our meals. When we left he bowed.
The atmosphere was very relaxed and casual. The tiny space made it also very intimate.
There was a large selection of food and amount of care that the Chef took to prepare each dish for such a tiny restaurant. This was a great place to eat, affordable, and I will definitely visit again!

«Hole in the Wall» Izakaya. The first thing for me to do when I came back from this restaurant to write how cool/​good it is.
— This restaurant has almost no sign from outside, only insiders would come here or those adventurous people who bypass the restaurant yet its still full.
— They only open for dinner, and they are exactly how izakaya should be in Japan. Very informal, friendly atmosphere. Everyone is very laid back there.
— The food price is very reasonable and the taste is superb.
— The customers were all Japanese, age varied from young to old. That tells you this place is catering to true Japanese food lovers.
Now the Food:
I noticed his frying skill is like one of the best.
I highly recommend:
1) Fried Chicken Nuggets, Japanese Style
2) Fried Spicy Chicken Wings
3) Agedashi Tofu
4) Meatball Hot Pot
5) Chicken Zousui
6) Stewed Pork Belly
The food is a bit towards salty side so if you don’t like the salty stuff, its not for you.
This place has more meat dishes than seafood dishes. If u want seafood, the Seafood market place next door is a good alternative.
I can’t wait to return to that place!

We came here on a whim and I was pleasantly impressed with the quality and service of this little place. It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but it is the real deal. After speaking with Tomo, the chef/​owner, for a little bit we got to find out he actually trained under a bonafied izakaya master (or whatever you call them).
Everything is made to order and great care is taken into preparation. Adding some variety to the usual izakaya items such as tomato bacon or croquettes, he also has his own creations like black swine rolls w/​green beans and cheese inside or stuffed shitake mushrooms (see photos). Tomo was also kind enough to let us sample a couple dishes on the house, but we weren’t as hungry as we were thirsty (o_​O). Our bottle of Ginza no Suzume shochu was so smooth, it was dangerous. But it was the perfect way to take in and enjoy what was left of the warm SoCal summer.