Takashi - New York

Tucked away in a little corner of the West Village is Takashi, an intimate dining establishment that specializes in the Japanese version of Korean barbecue known as yakiniku.  Beef or rather all manner of cow is the focus here as the restaurant engages in the practice of horumon which lets no part get wasted. This means a selection of various offal meats are offered on the menu alongside more traditional cuts like kalbi short ribs or kobe steak. The appetizers are also imaginatively meaty with one that features sea urchin atop a piece of raw chuck flap steak meant to be enveloped in seaweed and a single shiso leaf, dipped in soy sauce wasabi and consumed in a single bite. Rice and veggie accompaniments can be ordered as extras but it's really all about the meat here, the quality of which was quite excellent.

Takashi, located in the West Village, is a Yakiniku restaurant, essentially meaning they serve “grilled meats.” The experience and environment is both intimate and fun. Everything from the appetizers to the main grilling course is DIY, requiring you to compose or cook it yourself and/or it’s served with piping hot oils and sauces that cook the dish in front of your eyes. Though the food served up is both excellent and fun, the price tag on your meal for the amount you get is just a little too pricey. I found myself satisfied with taste, but hungry and wanting more.

Great service, great food, great experience!. This cozy restaurant is a fantastic place to experience great food and excellent service! We were visiting NYC for our anniversary and we wanted to go there because we saw it on an Anthony Bourdain episode of Layovers. And now I know why it was featured. <br/ <br/ Last night we walked into a wall of glorious smells that made our mouth water. We were greeted very kindly by the hostess (I am sorry I didn 't ask her name , and she seated us as soon as she could. <br/ <br/ Our server Lisa was so welcoming that she made us feel like old friends that she was entertaining in her home. <br/ <br/ The food was amazing! We started with bean sprouts, cabbage in a house ginger dressing, and the kimchee, which was all very good and flavorful. I used them a lot to cleanse my palate so I could fully enjoy the next taste. Then came the niku-uni. Wow. It was an amazing myriad of flavors! The testicargot was admittedly, a novelty selection, but we really enjoyed it. Because we came to NYC to 'eat our way through the city, ' we chose the Horumon-Moriawase (chef’s selection , and Lisa was there to guide us on how to prepare it. Her cooking time suggestions were spot on because everything turned out perfectly! After eating that, we were still hungry so we asked Lisa for her suggestions, and knew she wouldn 't steer us wrong. She suggested the Asian-Cajun Andouillette (which Lisa cooked just right and the Beef Belly. It was fabulous! Pairing the Sake that was also suggested by Lisa (we asked because we don 't normally drink it and needed help brought out more of the flavors. I can 't say enough except that I am getting hungry while typing this : We finished off with dessert (I suggest 'The Works ' because you get a combination of lots of flavors . <br/ <br/ Hats off to the chefs behind the counter who took so much care in preparing our plates. Cooking most of the food ourselves was really fun. <br/ <br/ Lisa 's service and the amazing food will bring us back the next time we are in NYC! Thank you!

Awesome, awesome, awesome.. After a lot of very carefully chosen dining, this was the star of my trip to NYC. Came late on a Monday and seated immediately, though the waitress (Mimi, who I highly recommend if she's there-attentive, friendly, and all around awesome) said there'd been a two hour wait the day before. The menu is a combination of creative stuff from the kitchen and meats and offal for the table grill. Is it cheap? Not how we did it, but the service was impeccable. The food was fresh, delicious, and we kept it coming. When we asked what was sweet in the neighborhood for a dessert (as we hadn't seen a dessert menu and had already paid), we had ice creams with salted caramel topping brought to us for free. This isn't the place to be thrifty. If you're looking for huge servings of cheap beef, go elsewhere. But you're paying for novelty and freshness here. Where else are you going to get testicle escargot (delicious and surprisingly not chewy) and calf brains in tubes (I broke a nail trying to get the rest out of the tube)? Sweetbreads and heart and aorta? Will definitely be going back. As often as the wallet allows.

Incredible. Visited on a Thursday night. Stopped in around 7:45 and there was an hour wait, so we went across the street to the cash only bar and had some drinks before we came back. We had the option of sitting at the bar or at a table (if we chose the table we only had an hour to eat) due to another party coming in. We chose the table anyways-we cooked ourselves. Everything we ordered was delicious! We had the tartare with a a quail egg to start. This was a huge portion about a little more than the size of my fist which they server mixes together at the table. We also ordered the testicargot, chef's selection of meats (1st, 2nd, and 3rd stomach along with heart and sweetbreads) and also our servers recommendation the beef belly, which literally just melted in your mouth! Everything was so good! Can't wait to come back on our next visit to NYC.