Shin-Sen-Gumi Chanko

Mister Chao really likes the Chako. Since Mister Chao went for a birthday and was part of a large group, he was able to try quite a few different styles and Mister Chao was quite impressed with not only the variety of foods available, but also the soup itself. Mister Chao says go.

I love japanese food and nabe of course.
I like shinsengumi ramen, shabushabu (& nabe from shabu place) and yakitori, but this place.
Visited here twice.
Nabes they offer tastes not so special, i also tried pork shabu shabu with tonkotsu dipping and felt like it was over priced. Although it was not so pricey ($ 15 1order), still, what you get isn’t really worth the price.
3 star for servers being nice, food is not terrible, and good alter way to avoid long waiting of yakitori.
I was one of big fan of shinsengumi chain, and this spot is the only disappointment :(

First off, ramen isn’t served at this location, but don’t let that stop you from visiting this particular Shinsengumi. Yakitori is always delightful and fun… and this spot encapsulates that well!
—-The Food — -
Fried Soft Shell Crab ($ 4.50) — Salted, battered, and fried deliciously. I could probably finish four of these plates on my own.
Ikayaki ($ 8.00) — Grilled marinated squid with a zesty, spicy dipping sauce. I normally hate squid, but I enjoyed this. The squid is fresh and had a smoky taste to it.
Yakitori Thigh with Green Onion ($ 3.75) — Juicy, savory, salty. Get this. Each plate comes with about 4 Skewers.
Yakitori Chicken Heart ($ 3.75) — Very gamey in taste, something I didn’t like too much.
Yakitori Chicken Skin ($ 3.00) — Akin to how pork rinds taste but more smoky and meaty in texture.
Skewered Quail Eggs wrapped in Bacon ($ 3.50) — MUST GET. SO GEERD.
Skewered Tomatoes Wrapped in Bacon ($ 3.50) — Burst of goodness with every bite. Just be careful because the tomato juice is hot.
Yakitori Cartilage ($ 3.50) — Dislike. Too chewy for me.
Cheese Tsusumiage ($ 4.25) — GET THIS. Fried pasta filled with gooey cheese.
Karaage ($ 6.50) — Fried chicken that wasn’t as juicy as advertised, but seasoned well.
Takowasa ($ 5.00) — Raw Octopus with wasabi. The description and even appearance of this dish made me squeamish, but WOW! it’s refreshing and delectable. Love the taste and even texture.
Green Tea Cheesecake ($ 4.00) — Delectable with strong tastes of green tea. Just wish slices were bigger
—-
Conclusion: Although most of the dishes are tasty, DON’T come here on an empty stomach. Shinsengumi typically offers small, affordable appetizer-​like dishes that are meant to be eaten in stride while you drink and talk with friends. The restaurant is cozy with bar seating to see all the cooking action. Tables on the side are close enough for you to sit elbow-​to-​elbow with strangers. One room for a bigger party is available.
Extra Notes:
–Accepts credit card
–Great, friendly service
–Wait can be long
–Fun, loud environment with Japanese décor
–Parking isn’t a problem
–Restrooms could be cleaner

Been coming here for a couple of years for lunch. Very authentic yakitori, but everything on the menu tastes great! The spinach with black sesame sauce is a fave side dish. Service is awesome. The servers even help me carry my orders to the car whenever Ive placed to-​go orders!

All the plates we ordered were amazing, particularly their tuna and beef. The atmosphere is great, with all the cooks and waiters celebrating your entrance, cheering you and your party’s first drink, and so on. My family and I came right after we spent the whole day traveling so we were a bit too tired to really get into the atmosphere. If you want to enjoy the entire experience, come when you’re looking to celebrate with friends. Services are decent, there were times that they forgot a few of the plates we added to our order throughout the night, but it was a quick fix.
If I could, I really give 4.5 stars!

I went here a while ago and this place is awesome! I had the AYCE shabu shabu and they kept bringing the good stuff every time my plate was empty. They didn’t do that thing they do at kbbq where after the first 2 plates, they start bring the fatty, rubbery meat. The staff is attentive and cool and made sure we were being treated well. It was $ 19 a person so its not something I can afford to splurge on every weekend but I definitely will be back again!

Great food, excellent Service, great price. You can come here for yakitori as well with more comfortable environment (if you think yakitori side is too loud). Suggest dishes: Kobe Gyu tataki, matsukasa — age, hotate-​age daikon masago-​nose. I will definitely come back here for sure!

Came here on a Saturday evening without reservations, albeit a little early (around 6). Nobody else was here so we were seated promptly. Although this is the chanko half of the restaurant, it is possible to also order yakitori dishes from the conjoining yakitori half as well.
Ordered a variety of starters, including the steamed clams, the renkon-​shrimp dish, some skewers of nankotsu from the yakitori menu, and a simple mixed mushroom salad, along with one of the chanko choices.
I would say all of the dishes here were standard/​good; nothing was mindblowing and nothing was disgusting. Service — very good, attentive, drinks refilled timely. While the chanko was standard, I felt like for some broth, cabbage + carrots + 2 shiitake and some chicken meatballs, followed by harusame, it wasn’t worth $ 20 per head. Still, it might be worth that for a nice evening out and the atmosphere is much quieter than the yakitori side of the restaurant.
The only thing that seemed unreasonably expensive (in this area anyway) was the $ 6 Sapporo draft beers. That type of pricing really is not in line with this area’s standard Japanese restaurant, and more in line with fancier establishments, or at least bottled beer.

The food isn’t bad here. General izakaya (Japanese tapas), but good Lord is it LOUD as heck in here. The guys manning the grill + sushi bar + the busser and servers all scream at the top of their lungs when EACH guest arrives. At first it was kinda festive and fun, but damn it gets annoying when you’re trying to have a normal conversation with some friends. You literally have to scream at each other from across the 2 ft table. Not fun. I felt like i was leaving a club after my meal… ears were kinda ringing.
Besides that, the food was good. Different kinds of Yakitori and happy hour beers on Wednesdays (i think). I like their complimentary salad that they give out. Decently priced meal… About $ 20 per person (we had a party of 3) for 6 dishes and a pitcher of beer.

For such a small restaurant the servers are really vocal! But I guess that is all part of the shin sen gumi experience. The food is amazing! The chicken yakitori is bomb. I will definitely be coming back here soon. extremely busy and you must arrive early to avoid waiting 30mins-​1hr. definitely worth the wait though. i suggest the asparagus wrapped with pork!

The food is ok. The service also ok. The prices are cheap though. Average. But I probably will not come back. This place has a fun vibe though.

This is one of the most unusual dining experiences we have had in a while. We were actually on a ramen quest. When we show up, there is a note on the door saying if you are looking for the ramen place, you need to go to their other location. Well, we were hungry and didn’t want to drive any more, so we stayed. Some of the reviews indicated it was loud inside. When we walk in, all the waiters and cooks yelled out to us in Japanese. We weren’t sure what they said, but figured it was welcome or something.
We sat down, they have both counter sitting and tables, plus another separate larger dining area through some curtains. The main food is various types of Yakitori, which both my girlfriend and I love. If you picture a Sushi Bar with various foods on Sticks rather than fish wrapped in seaweed or rice, you get the picture. The menu describes the food then you write down what you want. They have some other things on the menu that come in bowl forms or on plates, but the Yakitori is where it’s at!!! Prices are very reasonable. The best part is most of the foods come in units of one, so you can experiment with more unique foods.
We tried a variety of things, they are big into pork belly (basically bacon) wrapped things. Almost everything was great, although the bacon wrapped quails egg wasn’t my cup of tea.
I do however highly recommend the Plum Wine, it’s FANTASTIC!!!
One thing to keep in mind, they do not rush you at all, and you may wait a while for the check, but heck, it’s nice to relax after a nice meal!!!

Came here with the bf and all his judo buddies after a practice and lets just say Shin Sen Gumi’s — no matter which one I’ve been to — have always made me a happy eater. I was amazed also at our bill. There were 8 of us and the bill only came to $ 200. I don’t know about everyone else but for me and my friends just 4 people could easily rack up a bill more than that D= Everyone was comfortably full and the food was good too. A good place to go if you just want a bunch of small grilled food to share with everyone and the waitstaff was friendly but could’ve been just a tad bit more attentive. To give them a break though my party was the only party on this side while everyone else was sitting on the other Shin Sen Gumi and that side sounded busy busy.

. I haven’t eaten here. But every time I call to ask a question about the ramen. They hang up on me, just before answering with «no» or «I don’t know». So even tho they may get great reviews about the food. Their customer service is awful. Advice to the employees… Be respectful, you never know is on the other side of phone. I’m tired of the rude employees

Finally came with my mom for the chanko after a decade of practically living next door at the yakitori side of the restaurant. A calm, peaceful dining experience — perfect for a serious conversation while sharing a common hot pot of steamy deliciousness (with lots of veggies!). Quite the opposite of the high energy, boisterous but absolutely entertaining and just as delicious yakitori. Plus, the tatami rooms are dug out (no need to sit on your feet), and they give you back supports. Nice!

I eat like a Sumo! If you do, then eat here too!
A Sumo. Yup, sure do. Kudos to Maggie C. for telling me about this place. A unique experience to say the least. I have to say I was a bit surprised. When I got here, I went into SSG Yakitori thinking it was the same. It is the same except this is the other side. It has its own address and entrance.
Sit on the floor and let the grub begin!
This is your own private room. They knock before entering and treat you like you are a king.
Hot Chicken Broth, Chicken, Veggies, Ramen.Good. No, Great! The broth was fantastic.
TIP.Order a coke or beer. Either goes great with this meal.
Take you time. No hurries and no worries. They leave you to be. A nice break from the distresses of everyday LA living.

This restaurant has 2 sides. The right side is a great spot for yakitory, they have all the favorites! Its a great spot for a casual lunch. VERY DELICIOUS. I love the bacon wrapped quail eggs, that is my favoirte!
The Chanko (sumo wrestler food) is basically a very large hot pot place in the center of the table, with all sorts of meats of your choosing put in the pot. There are 2 Chanko rooms suitible for large parties, I believe for dinner only. You must reserve a room and order you broth at least 24 hours in advance and it is sooooo worth it. The broth is extremely tastey, packed with UMAMI! You can also order yakitory from the other side to go with your Chanko experience.
SUMO UP!!!

Eating at Chanko was an experience!
I had no idea what we’re going to have at Chanko. My daughter told me she got this deal from Shinsengumi which was next to Chanko, for $ 14 instead $ 20 per person meal at Chanko. She even ordered and paid the food on the phone before. Anyway when we arrived at Chanko it was about 6pm. We had to wait outside for a bit, then we could sit in a cozy tatami room. On the table there’re a few different kinds of small dishes and chop sticks.
A very nice waitress brought boiling pot and put on the table stove.
She said we could start the broth, then add vegetables to the pot.
I was pretty busy adding veges and serving chicken soup to everybody.
Chicken inside the soup was real good. It didn’t taste like regular chicken we buy in market. Vegetables were mainly chopped cabbages, tofu, green onions, carrots, glass noodles, large mushrooms.
While we’re eating I had to keep adding veges to the soup. In the end we almost finished the big pot! Unbelievable amount we ate, I think.
Overall it was fun. Hot food gives us a cozy feeling.
I felt like I was doing fondu for my family.
It would be good for a long winter night in New England. or

I always wanted to try Chanko Nabe and I finally went to Shin Sen Gumi Chanko because they advertised Chanko Nabe fair. We made a reservation for 8:30 pm and they asked us to order over the phone. It’s either shoyu (soy sauce) or mizutaki (chicken) based broth and we picked the second one.
We got there early and it’s so different with their yakitori next door. Next door you just write your name on the waiting list and wait to be seated. There was no waiting list for Chanko Nabe and nobody greeted us and we had to go inside and try to get their attention. The waitress told us to wait outside because they are still cleaning the rooms so we waited for about 20 minutes outside.
We got the tatami room because of our reservation. What a waste… the whole room just for the two of us. We got to control the temperature of the room and as you know that you can close your tatami door so you have your own privacy with tatami room *wink* The waiters knock on the door before they enter your room and you can ring a bell to get their attention. Other people shared rooms with a lot of people so I felt kinda special ;)
The broth smelled so good but wait a minute… how come the plate is mostly filled with cabbage??? Where is the meat? The chicken was already cooked in the hot pot broth and we had to cook the rest of the ingredients (cabbage, mushroom, tofu and chicken meatball). We also ordered ramen because we were still hungry. We cooked the ramen and it was actually pretty good. Then they give you a choice of either vanilla or macha ice cream for dessert (included in $ 13 per person deal).
That’s the promotion price though. it’s usually $ 20 per person. You can add other ingredients such as shrimps, scallops, salty pork, udon, extra chicken meatball, king crab legs for additional $$. I think it’s $ 6.50 for 2 shrimps and about $ 11 for 2 king crab legs.
It gets a little expensive after you add all those. I love the experience and the food but seriously they need to add more meat. I did love the broth so much that I could eat the plain ramen with the broth. I went back for shoyu chanko and the broth was not as good as mizutaki, but I got more meat (salty pork, chicken ball, seafood ball and some kind of thin sliced fishcake). This time I didn’t get ramen because I was so full after eating all those.
4 stars!
Chanko Nabe is yummylicious!

This place is right next door to the Shin Sen Gumi yakitori place. However, it is where you get the giant Japanese hot pot instead of grilled foods on skewers.
The nabe here was decent but pricey. I prefer to eat next door at the yakitori place.