Izakaya Donbei

We were excited to get the parking spot for our dinner reservation. They assigned a table very closed to its entry doorway while the whole restaurant has so many opening tables. Rushing to order. Rush to check out. We don’t see the waiting lineup anywhere 😰 One thing is good is the young lady ( must be the owner’s daughter or so) was nice to help out change the seating for us. English is good 👍 too.

If you’re looking for a great izakaya look no further. Nonbei has become our “go to” spot for delicious food, cold beers and sake, and great service. Be sure to order one of the fresh sashimi sets to start, then some nigiri sushi followed by anything on the menu. It’s all good and depends what you’re in the mood for. The kakuni, chicken, butterfish, fried flounder, beef tongue, agedashi tofu, chawanmushi, tempura, sautéed mushrooms and eggplant, and gyoza are just some of our favorites. If you have room for dessert, the yuzu sorbet is a must, as is the kinako warabi. Plenty of free parking in front of the restaurant or in the private overflow lot a little up the street. Enjoy! 🤙🏼🤙🏼🤙🏼

First visit here after their renovation. We ordered many dish but none of them really stood out except sashimi which was fresh and generous portion. All other dishes serving portion was surprisingly very small... even smaller portion than Izakaya in Tokyo... Ordered “use” Chazuke towards the end. I tasted very bland as the stock didn’t taste like it had enough dashi taste. I would have enjoyed it with the “tea” poured into it especially this ochazuke was like rice with hot water, plum and wasabi. Chazuke normally accompanied with few pieces of pickles... but not this place. When you order pickles set, you get big plate full of mixed Japanese pickles. This was bizarre because it had so much pickles that even 4 people couldn’t finish. Kinpira was disappointing as it taste like they just used the premixed sauce to stir fry the burdock. Serving was surprisingly small. We were all surprised. Lastly it is a noisy place - very hard to hear each other. It is up to you to call it lively or noisy... I don’t recommend this place for a quiet people. Maybe it was a good place before..?? Maybe the kitchen staff changed after the renovation .. who knows. I didn’t get to understand the good reviews. Anyway, it was casual and home style which is good. Not sure if I chose to go back but it was just good experience to try a new place.

Exceptionally tasty food. We had the soft shell roll, mushroom eggplant dish and fish (not pictured). Some service people very attentive although it varied. We ate at the bar as the tables for 2 were so close they would not allow for conversion. Was surprised when one waitress commented half way through our meal she thought our chairs were not placed close enough to the bar for her liking.