Mahakara

Outstanding food. Super friendly staff. Great little place that is tons of fun. Go here if you can get here. Cheap beer and very affordable, utterly delicious food. One thing to note — the name is Mahakala (according to all their signage and menu) so ignore the misspelling in the Unilocal profile.

This small pub/​restaurant was shown on Anthony Bourdain’s Parts Unknown: Tokyo, as a favorite local spot of famous sushi chef Naomichi Yasuda. Though they didn’t name the place on the show, but it wasn’t hard for me to track down.
They serve inexpensive small dishes popular in Osaka izakayas (pubs). Delicious food, reasonable prices and friendly service make this a good spot to hit up for a good meal.
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Value: Fair prices for good quality food and drinks. A meal for a group of 3 with a couple drinks ran about US$ 30 each. We were full and had several different dishes.
Menu/​selection: Focusing on small dishes, in particular fried skewers (kushi katsu), the menu may seem somewhat limited, but there are several non-​skewer dishes, mostly focusing on seafood. They are also famous for their pudding, which I’m sure would make a great dessert. Beer and usual cocktail standards are available.
Quality: seems everything was prepared by hand per order and tasted great. They have a somewhat stricter «No double dipping» sauce policy of «No dipping, rather scoop» sauce for their skewers compared to other kushikatsu places and standards, which marks it a notch above those I’d like to think. (***Double dipping your food after taking a bite in the communal sauce pot is usually frowned upon in general. Not as obvious as many would think)
Service/​Staff: friendly and talkative staff, as one would expect of the usual Osaka people is definitely present here. None of that cold, standoffish vibe. Although I spoke Japanese to the staff, they also made efforts to use English with my friends.
Ambiance: Though it may be small, the energy of the people eating here and working here make for a lively place to enjoy a nice meal and drinks. I highly recommend this place. I will be back. And as it is located on the road along Nakameguro river, it makes for a pleasant area in general to dine in.