Ittoku

The most authentic izakaya in the greater Boston area. The Japanese owners run several successful restaurants individually but came together on this venture. Ittoku proves to be their very best in taste, service, and ambiance for an izakaya! There are currently three other izakaya-​Chinese restaurants between Boston and Medford. However, for the cost and more importantly, the quality of the food, I wouldn’t consider any other place.

Authentic Japanese and so affordable! One of the Unilocal descriptors is «small plates/​tapas» but their entrees are generous. We ordered the omusoba, okonomiyaki, broiled squid, and some yakitori and it can to a total of only $ 36 dollars and was way too much food for two people. Most of the Japanese places in Boston just do sushi and a handful of cooked dishes. If you want cooked authentic Japanese come here. Drinks are priced well also. You can get a pitcher of Sapporo for $ 16.

I’ve been here several times. The food was always delicious and the servers were polite and friendly. However, I was very disappointed at the counter’s attitude this week.
We’re in a group of six, and we went to Ittoku this Tuesday night (Jan 25, 2016 at about 8:20pm). The counter asked us to wait for 30 – 45 minutes, but we saw there was an empty table for four seats, so we asked whether we could sit there and add two more chairs.
To my surprise, he said «we don’t have chairs», which was RIDICULOUS because I saw four chairs untaken in front of us. I think the counter was just too lazy to help! This attitude was far from acceptable especially Japanese restaurants are famous for its service!
Luckily, a waiter at the bar (he has pink hair) saw us and was willing to help us get seated. Thanks to him, we didn’t need to wait so much time.
I will still come again because the food was authentic. My advice is be aware of the counter (a young male).

Was excited to try a izakawa style restaurant in Boston and decided for Ittoku based upon fellow Unilocaler’s reviews. First impressions and meal was consistent with what I was expecting — nice selection of authentic, ala carte items on the menu from skewers to sashimi, ramen, and of course, drinks. A bit on the pricey side, but not a bad trade-​off for the ala carte options and relaxed atmosphere. I liked the «teishoku» option for a number of the meals, but you need to make that clear to the server when you order otherwise no dice. We enjoyed the yakitori omakase, yakisoba, grilled salmon belly the most. Worth a try and we’ll be going back for another visit for sure.

I was so excited to try this place and then I got there and was very underwhelmed. Service was slow. People seemed to be getting their dishes must faster than us.
Everything was fine, not bad, I just hoped for better.
Fatty Tuna Scallion roll– very fishy tasting
Fried Chicken — probably the best thing we got
Broiled Ika– Good, wish it came with more sauce besides a glob of mayo
Raw octopus — weird
Yakitori — tried a few they were all fine. Nothing to write home about.
Spent $ 65 for a meh meal. Wish I went somewhere else.

I love this place. I will say that almost every single dish I’ve tried has not disappointed.
For those who don’t know, an Izakaya is a sort of Japanese tavern/​pub where they serve smaller yet delicious, much like a tapas bar. I HIGHLY recommend staying away from the generic Japanese food (ramen, katsu, etc.), until you’ve tried a couple of their other, more unique offerings
Some dishes I enjoy (I’ll try to choose some that people haven’t covered). Warning: some of these dishes might be a little more adventurous for most people in terms of taste/​texture.
Fried Potato Mochi (special item — may not be on main menu): A mochi made with potato and cheese. The texture is very close to regular mochi but has a slight crisp to it. Scrum-​diddly-​umptious.
Bonjiri (Chicken Tail): If you love the taste of fat, chicken tail is for you. It’s really just pure, delightful, fat, no bones or meat.
Aburi Shime Saba No Oshizushi (Charred Saba Nigiri): A wonderful balance between taste, texture and presentation (the nigiri are pressed into a rectangular shape). There are a few other different varieties of Oshizushi if you don’t like Saba (very fishy).
Kabore Sushi (Sea urchin, salmon roe and snow crab nigiri): If you like sea urchin, salmon roe and snow crab, this is a great option. Nothing really fancy, just a good deal. However, make sure sea urchin is in season. I ordered it once in the summer, and it was not good.
Kinoko Butter Itame (Pan-​fried mushrooms with butter): These sauteed mushrooms pair nicely with the butter. Smooth texture, rich flavor.
My general advice is: be a little adventurous. Stay away from something that you’d clearly not enjoy, but try something new and you will, more often than not, be pleasantly surprised.

For those of you looking for a really solid, authentic Japanese dining experience in Boston, I heartily recommend Ittoku. I usually don’t venture too far on the Green line for food, but Ittoku’s become an exception. I had my first Ittoku experience after my fiancée urged me to audition it for dinner. First thing I was struck by was the friendly welcoming party — if you’ve been here you’ll know the friendly cheer once a patron walks in.
First up was the Octopus balls which were just right. We also had the spicy pork stomach, shumai and a few other items for appetizers — all of which were top-​notch. A nice plate of assorted sashimi followed. It was good, not quite exemplary. For entrees we had Ramen and Yakisoba, both pretty good.
The food here is quite good but I think where the restaurant shines are in its atmosphere and professionalism. Our waitress was awesome and super-​attentive. I can’t think of any other time where an owner personally greeted me AND opened the door and sent me off from an establishment. If I had one gripe, there might be too many tv screens for my liking. Sure that’s great for catching a game over a meal, but a tad distracting if you’re looking for a quiet place for dinner.
Overall, I’m a big fan of Ittoku and if I could anoint a place as my go-​to for Japanese fare, chances are it’s this place.

I thought this place was fairly mediocre. $ 5 valet service is convenient because parking can be tough. The yakitori was good but the sushi was not that fresh. The kaki fry had too much breading. The green tea ice cream was actually my favorite!

It was a club meeting in the final of the semester. There was valet parking outside (unexpected). There were some Japanese server, and Korean one.
We ordered a Yakitori combo, with 10 pieces, 5 of them were chicken. The Yakionigiri, recommended by my friend, was certainly special and delicious. I got the kakisoba in an omelet was decent.
Pro: pretty Japanese style food
Con: the valet charge $ 5, but i checked before and they said it was complementary.
You probably need to wait if you don’t come early before dinner time

Delicious food, friendly staff and speedy service! We had an assortment of small and large dishes.
For two people, we ordered 6 dishes and were stuffed with a bit of leftovers to boot!
Octopus balls — crunchy exterior with a savory creamy filling inside and a single piece of corpus in each ball. They came out piping hot with delicious qpee sauce and fresh green onion.
Egg omelette and noodles — soft egg omelette encasing egg noodles in a thick, slightly sweet brown sauce mixed with bean sprouts and a few thin slices of pork
Grilled meat skewers — chef specialty, 5 sticks with an assortment of chicken and beef parts. Each has a light brushing of soy sauce. Make sure to squeeze the lemon on the meat. It makes a big difference in bringing out the flavors.
Fatty tuna roll — 6 pieces, fairly standard but tasty. Good ratio of protein and rice.
Passes for me:
Pancake — similar batter to the octopus balls with a fair amount of finally diced cabbage and bonito fish flakes on top. I wasn’t a fan of the mushy interior texture and thought it was too similar to the grilled octopus balls.
Seated albacore tuna — good flavors but I was taken aback by the cold temp of the tuna… basically ice cold.

Ok I’m still obsessed with this place. I came back with some friends and I probably love it even more. We pretty much ordered the same things that I got last time (see my previous review). Here’s what we got: takoyaki balls, fries, crispy squid legs, Kobore sushi, omusoba, and yakitori (bacon and enoki, chicken meatballs, chicken skin, and green peppers).
All delicious!!! Everything tasted just like how I had it the first time. And we were definitely super full even though it felt like not a lot of food. The food came out quick (we came to eat around 6pm on a weekday) even though the place was packed! We got to sit on the restaurant side this time (not the bar side like where I sat the first time). Definitely a lot more comfortable and maybe even more «Japanese»?
Of course… Definitely willing to come back here over and over again! Please don’t change anything! :)

Wonder why it took us so long to try this place. At 6pm, the place was already packed. We put our names/​telephone # down and found two seats at the bar to kickstart.
The bartender was quick to greet and take our drink orders. We ordered a few skewers and the fried baby octopus to start. Halfway through the appetizers, our cell rang — table was ready.
The server informed us the sushi items will take about 40 minutes. We decided to order some anyways, along with a whole bunch of other items. We have a tendency of wanting to try everything on the menu.
We ordered:
Skewers — assorted — all were well seasoned and cooked just right
Salmon and yellowtail sashimi — fresh and decent cuts
Fried chicken gizzards — nice crunchy pop texture
Grilled beef tongue — tender and nicely seasoned
Fried octopus balls — enough filling with good chunks of octopus
Salmon avocado salad fresh spring rolls — healthy and light
Fried oysters — pleasantly plump, battered and fried — served with a chive aioli
Seaweed salad — just cause we needed some greens on the table. The dressing was light and refreshing
Pork ramen
The lowlights:
Eel rolls — big blocks of rice with a thin slice of eel
Seared scallops — a little bit saltier and brinier than we’d like
Service was prompt. Servers worked cohesively as a team — helping each other out.
Can’t find parking — they offer valet parking @ $ 5.

Had a fun experience here getting a bunch of Japanese small plates to share — most of the food was pretty good but not amazing. The menu is very extensive and while it’s nice they have pictures it’s also kind of hard to read and not very organized. Some of my favorite dishes were:
— Agedashi tofu
— Tori karaage (crispy fried chicken)
— Omusoba (noodles in omelet)
— Grilled eel
We got the chef’s choice 10 piece yakitori combo which was just average; it might be better to just choose the pieces next time. Overall I think this is a nice place to go as a group, though I’d go more for the experience than the food.

4.4 444 444 444 Stars
I have to say that when the wait without a reservation is 1 – 2 hours it’s not hidden but it’s still a gem. Moral of the story boy and girls is go right at 5pm when they open or make a reservation two weeks before. We have employed the former to great success, but we did show up sans reservation and it was 1.5 hrs. You have been warned.
The menu is extensive and they have a specials menu you should not overlook.
Fried: Pork, squid, octopus, chicken, french fries, smelt, assorted fish: ⁴⁄₅.
Sushi: ranges between ³⁄₅ — 4/​5, prefer the sashimi and specials.
Ramen: same range as above, some days better sometimes…
Broiled: beef, squid*, fish (mackerel*) 4.5÷5.
Yakitori: a solid 4.5÷5 beef, veggies, meatballs, various parts of chicken, pork belly, bacon wrapped anything (quail egg esp or enoki), you can go too far with these order judiciously.
Takoyaki: devine, ⁵⁄₅
Others: Okonomiyaki, Katsu Don, Omusoba, tofu dishes, pickles
* parking, vale only, most of the area is resident parking, park closer to harvard street and walk.
* take a look at the special before ordering.
* consider 3 – 6 people if you want variety, but twosies get seated quicker w/​o reservation.
* bar area is a nice place to eat can reserve tables there.
* Sapporo Draft! Excellent cold sake list, domestic and imports, decent prices.
* Sake Cocktails.

This place is a hidden gem!
food
+ BLUE FIN TUNA NIGIRI: Since blue fin is pretty rare these days (watch the documentary about it!) I was so happy that they had this on their sushi menu!
+ FATTY TUNA SCALLION ROLL: I would order this every time. The fatty tuna is a great ratio against the rice, wrapped in seaweed and topped with a lot of scallions. My favorite roll!
+ TAKOYAKI: The breading was not overpowering, and you could taste the octopus. There was plenty of scallions on this dish, too.
+ CHEF’S COMBO IZAKAYA: You cannot choose which meats you want as part of your 5 piece combo, but we got the sunagimo (gizzard), 2 tsukune (chicken meatballs), butabara (pork belly), and gyutan (beef tongue). All were seasoned well, some had a lot of pepper, but overall great meats for only $ 7.50!
+ OMUSOBA: This is an egg omelet wrapped over yakisoba noodles. I’m not sure how I haven’t tried this before, but it’s really good. If you’re going to eat this, make sure you’re hungry. It’s a big portion!
~ KATSU DON: The bed of rice was covered in egg and katsu, but the katsu was almost broiled because of the egg on top. I wish the katsu was crispier.
— WAFU STEAK: The steak was very hard to chew (the very reason I don’t like steak), so I choked on the meat a lot — not very enjoyable.
Since I live so close by, I will definitely be returning often. It’s reasonably priced and really good!

I really didn’t want to write this review because I wanted to keep Ittoku on the DL… But it’s just too amazing! I can’t stop talking about it.
I’ll dive right into the food. The menu is beyond overwhelming. There are a bajillion options and everything sounds so good, but for people who are limited by the depth of their stomachs and the thickness of their wallets, the following are my top 3 «MUST TRY» items:
+ sashimi carpaccio ~$ 9.50−10
The freshest sashimi I’ve had in Boston thus far for this price range. Really plump (?) slices. Absolutely no skimpy slices of sashimi that are so thin that they’re transparent (ugh, the worst). The soy sauce isn’t too overpowering, which was surprising, and it had a slight touch of wasabi in it. This was the first time I ate the radish that usually comes with sashimi plates (aka the garnish), but the radish slices looked so fresh and it added a nice crunch factor.
+ motsu miso (beef stomach and intestines with miso flavored sauce) ~$ 8 – 9
DON’T get turned off by the description!!! This is HEAVENLY! Trust me on this one. Just ignore the fact that you’re eating intestine and your taste buds will thank you. I got a side of rice (sm 1.50/large 1.75) to eat with this dish and I would highly recommend that you do the same. What is dinner without rice!!!
+ bon jiri (chicken tail) ~$ 1.75
If you like fatty foods, you will thoroughly enjoy this. I could eat 5 of these skewers on my own with a beer in hand and my life would be complete.
+ CAN PASS ON THE waffles a la mode ($ 8) for dessert: weird combination of things, but twas a good way to end our dinner. Don’t think I’ll order it again — it was a bit pricey for dessert and the waffles were too dry.
Random tidbits of information: Ittoku is T accessible (valet for $ 5 if you want to drive. I don’t recommend it), they have great service and their plates are so darn cute.
Still not convinced that Ittoku is amazing? a pitcher of either sapporo or kirin is only $ 17 – 18! *heart eyes emoji* If this essay doesn’t make you want to come, that’s totally fine! I would love not having to wait for a table at my new go-​to spot, thank you very much.

You will never go wrong with any order at Ittoku. The most authentic Japanese Bar (Izakaya) that I have visited in the U.S. so far. My roommate and I are Japanese foodies. It is so glad that we found one and live just few blocks away. It is perfect for 2 to 3 girls to share the tapas.
(My fav) Top three must-​order tapas are: Takoyaki, Broiled Mackerel, and Gyoza. I ordered these three every time I go. Others like Nagaimo, Yakisoba, assorted grilled meat, and Gyoza are also recommend to order when you go with a gang.
Recently I just tried out the avocado salad, which blended with diced crab and fly fish roe, and serves with the baby lettuces. It is perfectly matched and irresistible!

Ittoku normally offers valet parking, but that was on hiatus during the excessively snowy winter of 2015. Parking was tough, but we ended up with a nice walk after dinner to help with the digestion.
They wouldn’t seat us till a certain majority of our party had arrived, but we ended up with a nice table in the relatively quieter bar area of the restaurant.
From among the yakitori menu, I found that I did not care for the gizzard nor chicken tail. We had ordered the 10 piece Chef’s choice Yakitori Combo $ 14.50, and a plate of slaw accompanied the skewers.
Nagaimo Fuwafuwa Yaki (grated Japanese yam, couldn’t read the rest) $ 8.50 was like nothing I imagined. It came in a neat little cast iron pan. The portion was light as the pan was short. It was an eggy dish with an okay flavor but was babyfood in texture. Once and done.
The Kinoko Butter Itame (Assorted mushrooms pan-​fried with butter) $ 9.00 was a small dish, but big on buttery good flavor.
A number of dishes we ordered were good enough for a future repeat performance:
. Geso Karaage (Fried Squid Legs) $ 7.00
. Okonomiyaki (Japanese-​style pancake with pork and seafood) $ 8.50
. Omusoba (Yakisoba noodles wrapped in an egg omelet) $ 9.00
. Yuzu Subuta (Pan-​fried pork with Japanese citrus flavor vinegar) $ 9
. Hire-​Katsu Don (Pork Filet Cutlet in Egg Omelette) $ 9.50
The Big Yaki Onigiri (Giant grilled rice ball with soy sauce) $ 3.50/pc was rather simple, but reminiscent of the browned crisp rice from Chinese bo zai fan or Korean dolsot bibimbap.
As for dessert, we tried both the Ittoku! Yaki Imo Brûlée (Homemade a rich koimo potato custard base topped with a contrasting layer of hard caramel) $ 5.75 and the Waffles a la mode (Homemade Belgian waffles with flan and ice cream) $ 8.00. I didn’t realize the crème brûlée was an out of the norm variation when we placed our order. But it was rather obvious when it arrived an off color. It was also a rougher texture than the usual smooth and creamy. I didn’t care for it.
The Belgian waffles were chocolate and Belgian in but shape alone. The flan and ice cream however were fine.
An acceptable meal A terrific evening.

I’ve found it very difficult to find good, authentic Japanese food in the Boston area, but thankfully there is Ittoku! I was so excited when I moved into my new apartment off Comm Ave and discovered this place literally 2 doors down from where I now live. I come here at least once a week and the menu is so diverse that I never get bored with what they offer.
They have a huge selection of sake and also offer pitchers of all of the main japanese beers. And the fooooood. It’s the only place I know if in Boston where you can order some of the more traditional items like yakitori, yakisoba, omusoba, and okonomiyaki. YES. I think their yakitori selection is one of the best things they offer and it tastes so, so good after a few shots of sake and a beer or three. They also of course have various sushi dishes and offer ramen specials but it’s great to try something new because they do it all very well here.
Street parking is available in the area but can be kinda tough sometimes so they also offer $ 1 valet parking. I would definitely take advantage if I didn’t live next door!

I came here with my cousin who was visiting from the UK since he mentioned wanting Japanese food. It had good Unilocal reviews and is just down the street from my apartment.
When we arrived (around 7 on a Sunday) it wasn’t very crowded, but it took forever to get a server to take our order. We had to basically shout at her (sorry, but tried to make eye contact and hand gestures) to get her attention.
We ordered the maki combo, the fried baby octopus special, the fried chicken, a chicken thigh yakitori, the shrimp tempura nigiri (I think it’s called nigiri, the one that is served on top of rice), and the shoyu ramen.
The maki was delicious. Fresh, good quality fish so we gobbled this down pretty quickly. The fried octopus was pretty tasty, but too rubbery. The fried chicken had a nice batter, but was bland. Ramen was also pretty bland, but nice anyway on such a cold night. The shrimp tempura was delicious, it’s a shame they don’t offer a tempura appetizer or something as we would have definitely ordered it. The chicken thigh yakitori was delicious, but came out cold.
So, despite the bad service and the hit-​or-​miss dishes, I think I would come here again to try some of their other offerings. I’ve had friends rave about this place, so perhaps I need to find out what they’re ordering…