Banzai

Super izakaya! I say this as the portions of food seem a little bit larger than the normal izakaya, the quality of the food is excellent, and on top of this is the presentation.
Normally I am not a fan of the sitting fee, but I think that it is justified here. When we sat down they brought us a dish of pan fried bonito with sauce on it, it was really tasty. Next we tried the fried octopus, egg plant salad with tofu skin, fried chicken, pickled goya, stir fried udon, carpaccio and fried tofu. Everything came out fresh and delicious… normally we would not order so much, but as the plates came out they were excellent, one after another. Normally I would try to pick a highlight dish or two and recommend that dish, but here at Banzai all of the dishes were highlights. The hard part for when we go back is not order all of the same dishes again but to try something we did not try this time. Caveman style here are my thoughts on each dish I listed above:
Fried octopus: freshly fried, tender.
Egg plant salad with tofu curd: fresh greens, raw eggplant was very tasty.
Fried chicken: not the run of the mill, very tasty, large portion and great presentation.
Pickled goya: Refreshing, and I love the bitterness of goya… first time I have had this or recall seeing it on a menu.
Stir fried udon: This took at least ten minutes, we were advised of this when we ordered… it was worth the wait. Very flavorful and a large portion.
Carpaccio: Yellow tail in olive oil. The presentation was awesome, the little flying fish eggs added texture to the great flavor.
Fried tofu: Large portion and very delicious.
Another thing to note is the ambiance of the restaurant. One of the coolest things about Japan is how there are all these little side streets with hidden restaurants down them, this is one of them. Once you enter into Banzai you are in a brick walled room, with wooden beams and second floor made out of wood. The restaurant plays jazz and blues in the back ground.
Finally, I give them points for having Sapporo and Yebisu on draft. While Sapporo is main stream through out Japan I do not see it an awful lot on draft in Yokosuka. Even more rare is Yebisu Amber on draft and yet Banzai has it, they are actually the only izakaya I currently know that has this.