The place to go for karaoke in Chinatown. If you're lucky, even though you can't sing, you'll have so much swagger and so much fun with your friends that a Japanese opera star will tap you on the shoulder and thank you for your performance. If not, enjoy the good times with your pals. read more

The interior looks more upscale and classy. Very dim lights and there are booths as well as single seating as well. The food here is pretty well priced and good quality. The okonomiyaki is a must have! Absolutely well done and delicious. Lightly fried to perfection and the flavors just melts away in your mouth with no effort. It had the right amount of mayo and okonomiyaki sauce. Each piece broke away easily and my friend who isn't a big fan of seafood loved it as well. It was so good that they dug in before I could even capture it. The Yaki Hama was well done. Great flavors and a faint hint of sweetness declaring the freshness of the product. The chicken liver was good. Nicely cooked and seasoned. The bacon and quail eggs was pretty disappointing. The bacon wasn't crispy in fact it was soft and a little soggy. The quail egg was way too over cooked which ruins the delicate flavor of a quail egg. Overall the customer service was great. The servers were nice, respectful, and attentive. The food overall was great and I would defiantly recommend. Well, all but the bacon and quail egg. Also, they do a very good job at presentation of the food as well. This is a great establishment to go eat and catch up with friends or for a date. Would defiantly come back to try some of their other Yakitori options and defiantly come back for more of their okonomiyaki. read more

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We decided to check out Yakitori Boy after hearing about it several times. We made a reservation for two but ended up having two extra people join us and they easily accommodated us, so that was nice. I really liked the ambience of this place. It's very dark inside with some mood lighting, so if you have a hard time seeing in the dark, this might not be the place for you. It honestly kind of gave me a club kind of feel, it definitely caters to the younger crowd in my opinion. The drinks were delicious, I got the Berry Blossom because I can't not get a drink with Red Berry Ciroc in it. My boyfriend and his friends all got Sapporo which you can never go wrong with. As for the food, the highlight for me was the toro tacos. The fish was so fresh and the balance of flavors was fantastic. As for the yakitori, it was so good and the price is awesome. This is the kind of place where you can get a lot of food without spending an arm and a leg. I would love to return to Yakitori boy in the future, especially because I did not get a chance to experience the karaoke bar upstairs. read more

Food was, ehh, blah, below mid... It used to be very good, but not sure what happened. A bit overpriced. Service was okay. Overall very bland experience. The space needs some updating too. read more

Fantastic food selection ! Fantastic prices!! Fantastic setting!!! To start off, this is a Japanese restaurant on the bottom and a tip notch karaoke spot on the second floor. This review pertains to the bottom section as I only came here to eat. What a fabulous venue. I booked a last minute reservation as I had a serious craving for sushi and decided to try a new spot. The interior of the dining area is superbly decorated. It is a place to celebrate an birthday and be very loud (as was the party behind me) and equally appropriate for small and large groups or even duos (dates and such) or singles (there is bar section that is first come). Whatever the occasion, it will fit in at this place. The noise level is moderate and was not hard to have a good conversation with another. The decor is very classy and was lit to a level was enough to relax in but not so dark as to be intimate and make the menu hard to read. There are smaller tables booths to be sat in as well. On to the food selections -- there is A LOT to choose from. I was not prepared to see such a diverse menu of sushi types, a la carte skewers, and other dishes. The menu is easily 10 pages for the food itself and a very large drink menu as well. The drinks on offer are several types of sake, cocktails, and beers. If you like alcohol, then you will definitely love this place. My first order was two appetizers: kaki fry (breaded fried oysters) and the ika rings (deep fried breaded squid rings). These fried gems were done right. I particularly liked how large the oyster pieces were. For my entree, I started off with "he roll" sushi roll. This beauty of a roll is composed of cram cucumber, avocado topped with torch scallops, salmon, eel sauce, spicy may, and tobiko. It was quite large. In fact, it was much larger than I expected, but appropriately sized for something that is priced at $15. I gobbled this right up. I was still hungry and decided to order another entree. The lamb chops looked amazing on the menu and completely wowed my date and I when they came out. The presentation of the dish was absolutely remarkable. I've been to some pricey restaurants before and this dish was straight out of that realm. Besides the triangle structure that was made with the ribs, the char on each rib was done perfectly. Damn.....the chef decided to impress with this one. They are 3 total ribs and were quite the delicacy to finish of with. All of this was washed down with some sake. I don't remember exactly what I bought but it was cold and delish. Desert was mochi ice cream. 4 mochis -- strawberry, mango, matcha, and some purple one. Tasty. This is now on my list of Chinatown favorites. I suggest you add this venue on your "places to try" list. I will certainly be coming back here on the regular. read more

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I've been to Yakitori Boy a few times both for in-dining and ordering to-go. My experience with Yakitori Boy is that once you take away the wrappings and glitter/glam. The food really does have much to be desired. In terms of an izakaya-style eatery, Yakitori Boy is only okay. +PARKING: Basically non-existent. Street parking only. Which is typical for the Chinatown area. +INTERIOR: Great bar-like atmosphere to hang out with friends (pre-covid). The lighting is very ambient and the interior is dark and intimate. Great for small parties or even couples looking for a late-night dinner. But that's the appeal of Yakitori Boy I guess. Not many places in Chinatown have this lounge/pub-type of feel and a lot of younger people like to frequent Yakitori Boy. +FOOD: The main attraction to Yakitori Boy is their variety of discounted happy hour skewers. The best ones I would say would be the CHICKEN skewers and BACON QUAIL EGG skewers. Skip on the ribeye skewers because the meat it too overcooked and tough. I would say stick to their fried foods and yakitori because the quality of sushi here is not worth it. I've tried both their Chef Roll (a crab, caviar [masago], avocado, and cucumber) and Volcano Roll (spicy tuna, caviar [masago], avocado). The rolls are miniscule and easily half the size of a standard 8-piece roll. I really don't think the sushi here is anything to write home about. I will say they have a huge menu with a wide-variety of offerings. So there's definitely something for everyone. +PRICE: No way would I pay full price for Yakitori Boy's offerings. Their happy hour prices are a much better deal. Paying full price for their fare would be a rip-off. The skewers go for $1 on Tuesdays and their drinks are usually around $3-$6 during happy hour. Overall: Yakitori Boy is not the place to go if you're looking for good food. Good atmosphere to have a good time. But, I've experienced better food at other izakaya bars before. I think ordering to-go has helped me peel back the glamour of their atmosphere and see that their food is sub-par and ok at best. Can't comment on their karaoke. read more

I came here on Friday, June 17 at 11:00 PM and was seated right away. Friend and I got seated at a booth and everything was clean and organized. The sushi roll, shrimp tempura ($7), tastes great. It came with 8 pieces. The yellowtail sashimi was to die for! We ordered 10 pieces. It was so refreshing and tasted so rich. 10/10 would get it again. We ordered three glasses of Pinto Grigio. You can never go wrong with wine and sushi. It was extremely light and went perfectly well with our meal. We also ordered 2 cherry bomb shots ($8 each). It was 3 olives cherry vodka and red bull energy drink. The American Dream Roll ($12) was great. I would say it was definitely a good meal with good company and conversations. The staff were very friendly, cheerful, and energetic. Parking was around the corner and it was good walking distance. Great place for a fun night. read more

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Very eclectic mix of food and atmosphere - you have your sushi, ramen, meat skewers, Japanese comfort food, paired with a restaurant that looks half intimate, with the super dim lighting, and then paired with a bar and 2 plasma screen TVs. And paired with American pop music and a karaoke lounge upstairs. Food was decently tasty and well-priced overall; would come back! Atmosphere: In one word, it was eclectic. Definitely more on the casual side, but one side of the restaurant looked like it could've been more classy - super dim lighting. Servers were very nice - Jenna did a great job explaining everything on the menu, and was very attentive! I personally wouldn't go on a super nice date here, given the bar feel at the other side of the restaurant, but maybe would come back for a fun night with friends. Wait time: As a caveat, we did come in on the earlier side (~5:30), so there were less people in the restaurant, but some dishes came out as quickly as 5-10 minutes. Food: I don't think the meat skewers were particularly special - we tried the lamb skewers and bacon-wrapped shishito peppers, but they were pretty cheap - bacon shishito was $2.50. I would go back for their sushi and udon, but not the skewers. Recommendations: My favorites were the seafood pancakes - a mix of squid, cabbage, potato, shrimp, paired with Japanese barbecue sauces - and the He Sushi. And ask about their dessert - they don't have a menu for this! I've never had a creme brulee cake before, but it's essentially creme brulee pie, with chocolate glaze. Overall: - some food options were tasty, some were average, but it decently overall priced - would come back with a bigger group and check out their karaoke lounge! read more

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visited for sips and had the most EXCELLENT service. it was extremely quick, staff was super nice, and the food and drinks were so good! i will definitely be coming back for dinner & karaoke soon!! (p.s. they were playing only bangers from the 2010s... fantastic choice) read more

The food was just ok for me. It had no real flavor to it which was disappointing. I don't eat sushi so I didn't have that experience. The ambiance could have been better since it was downtown. The drinks were tasty but no buzz, just a migraine the next day. read more

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Just your friendly neighborhood karaoke dealer. Yakitori Boy's private karaoke rooms are among the best in Philadelphia, decked with flatscreens and cushy furniture. A lively upstairs lounge has a fog machine and laser lights which accent their dark woods. Their Tuesday night drink specials are especially popular, but no matter the night, it's always a packed house, with a fun, supportive crowd, festive singers armed with liquid courage. Bartender Jose delivers, pouring us sake bombs and shots - even introducing me to Vincent Van Gogh's Double Espresso caffeine liquor. Go to Yakitori Boy for happy hour, or a bite - try the pork sausage skewers! read more

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If there is any other place better and more authentic, affordable than this, please show me, because thus far this is the closest thing that reminds me of Japan. The atmosphere is inviting, dark, easy to chat about private things without other people listening because the way things are spaced and the ambient background chattering The Tuesday special is dollar skewers and 3 dollar sapporos, Wednesday is half off rolls. I don't often come any other time other than if I am renting a room for karaoke. I love the private room and friendly services. People are very understanding, say when the TV monitor broke or mic didn't work, they would fix it and add an hour to the time lost for no extra charge. By the end of the night if you are there pass 11pm, room charge pretty much doesn't exist. It's free cause you ordered enough food to cover. I love this place and is my go to for karaoke and food. read more

I have been here a few times before. The food is a miss or hit, but I always enjoy the bacon quail eggs and the pork belly skewers. The drinks used to be good, but I don't know what happened to our drinks on Friday nights. 4 cocktails we ordered were so bad, some have no taste of alcohol, and some taste just awful. The last time I went here was last month, and I really enjoyed my drinks made by the male bartender. This place is good for happy hour, but I would not spend $15 for watery cocktails next time. read more

Yakitori Boy - Smoking mango- it tastes like mango juice, very weak alcohol - Japanese Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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We sat at the bar. Food was okay. Lemon drop shots was good. We didn't do the karaoke.

My employees and I visited this place last night for a team outing. I arrived later than the rest of the group, so when I walked in there was no one there to greet me, so decided to head up the elevator. Once the elevator came down, a woman ushered me back to the desk to check my bag and gave me a number. Once I got to the second floor, there was a large bar area where karaoke was playing and people were at the bar. Smaller, private rooms down a hallway where I found my party. The room was very hot and stuffy when I entered. Once we ordered food and drinks, the server turned on the air for us. The sushi was good; California Rolls, salmon, dragon rolls, and spicy tuna. We also indulged in shrimp and veggie tempura. The Saki-Tini was great!!! (A lil sweet, but good non the less) I would go to this place again read more

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One of the better Japanese speciality cuisine in Chinatown. The food is generally good. They are known for their skewer dishes but they might not be filling to someone who is extra hungry. Try to go during a Happy hour when some of the food prices is less. I ordered the bacon quail eggs with okonomi Yaki and the egg skewers were bomb as usual. It has an eggy taste and a meat savory compliment. The Okonomi Yaki is not true to the name where you order what you want. It's house made and it kinda taste like takoyaki. The drinks specials are a must if you want to not blow your pay check like some peeps. (TT)=_=. They also have karaoke rooms upstairs which are reasonably priced if you have a good amount of people. read more

Yakitori Boy - Bacon Quail Eggs & Okonomi Yaki - Japanese Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Nice rooms but need better song selections. Hours are ok but food choices could be better

Certainly lived up to its hype. Tried the ribeye, lamb, pork belly, and quail bacon yakitori. All flavorful except the quail bacon. Tried the guava agua Fresca. It was too sweet. Service was exceptional. Thankful to front staff who accommodated my ever changing schedule. read more

Yakitori Boy - Takoyaki and yakitori - Japanese Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Had a nice dinner last night. Service was great, super friendly and knowledgeable about the menu and the inside dining was nicely done. Was a little bummed we could not sit outside, they have the outdoor area set up but all the tables were closed for some reason. Sushi was nice and fresh. Cocktails were strong. Would go back and check out karaoke too! read more

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Nice place. I would recommend it, food is good and place has a good atmosphere. Drinks are good. Sushi is good, and the ramen is good. read more

Amazing food! Sashimis' fresh! Fat tuna is masterpiece! Appetizers are super delicious! read more

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Food is utterly disgusting, tastes like everything was in the freezer and reheated. No love in any of the dishes. If this was the last restaurant on earth I still wouldn't eat here. Just truly horrible. read more

THIS IS TERRIBLE. I ordered from here and received the worst quality food. Here is a shrimp tempura roll I ordered. Absolutely poor quality and would not recommend. NEVER ORDER !!! If I can give a 0 then I would. I also ordered truffle fries and my fries are burnt. Terrible food read more

Yakitori Boy - Shrimp Tempura and California Rol - Japanese Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

1 star is for the karaoke place upstair. This is probably the only place where your over spending doesn't cover the room charge! Means when you spend over $300 on the food, and the bill will also add around $100+ for room fee when you're at the place for around 3hours. Anyway, if you're doing karaoke in Chinatown, go anywhere but here. you're welcome. read more

I'm having a hard time remembering when I was last here, but I think it may have been a Yelp party. That experience was really fun, but my return here for just a regular sit-down dinner was just "Eh." I will start by saying that it felt entirely too dark to read the menu in the dining area. I appreciated the decor in the room, but the lighting was not great at all. It also was somewhat warm out and the restaurant felt like it was not running its A/C on high. I adjusted to both the temperature and lack of light, but it made for a warm, dark dining experience. The food, though, for me at least, was great. I had the katsu and it was terrific. The chicken was moist, the rice was sticky, and I thought it was a great portion and price for $10. Karaoke wasn't as great. What made it fun was my friends. I have been to 2 karaoke bars in Chinatown now and the systems seem to always be too complex. This one had a system error that popped up every so often, and it was hard to figure out the simplest things, like going to the next song! The room was cheap ($15 for an hr), but it was tight inside and there was a funky odor that slipped in the room when the attendant came in and then left. The smell didn't linger, but it was bizarre. Add to that, the karaoke songs were mostly the videos themselves with the singers singing on the tracks! If I wanted to do something like that, I would sing along to Youtube. I have a cordless mic at home that would work just fine for the same purpose. I was just not impressed. read more

Came here for karaoke. They didn't open till 5 pm and all other places were booked so we made a reservation the day of on Saturday. The room for 8 people was $30/hour. They told us over the phone if we start singing between 6-8 pm if you spend over $50 then the room is free, but then when we got there they only honored it for the first hour...We did order food, and it was okay, kinda salty. I'd be okay just singing for that rate and get dinner elsewhere next time. It's helpful to ask the staff for the brief tutorial in the beginning for selecting songs so you don't waste time trying to navigate the system (I always seem to forget the quickest way to find an artist or song title). What I didn't like was that for some songs the audio and lyrics were out of sync...when we'd enable the original singer's voice it would be fine. Kinda defeats the purpose of karaoke. At least it was cleaner and didn't smell like smoke like other places though... read more

Yakitori Boy delivered a memorable meal in what is an over saturated sushi market. Fresh fish, amazing grill, solid app. 5/5 overall. Will definitely be back again soon. read more

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This is an amazing Japanese restaurant in philly. Such a great environment, on the upscale side. Very good service with an extensive menu. Would definitely come back here. read more

Yakitori Boy - Yakitori and broccoli - Japanese Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

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Staff was attentive and friendly. The sushi rolls were surprisingly good. The value was fair. The karaoke machine was horrible. Very difficult to use and had small selection of just typical karaoke songs with wildly varying quality. Had a great time anyway! read more

karaoke room that we came for was nice, but food service was iffy... we asked for a few dishes and they came out with no utensils or chopsticks/ no way to eat. rude service when provided. i love karaoke and a soundproof room but let's be nice to our customers read more

Wow what a great time I just had at Yakitori Boy. I never experienced Philly night life but it definitely compares to New York. While the music choices were a tad tame, I had an amazing time at Yakitori Boy. I ate, AND sang my heart out to Drake. Life is definitely good. I ordered a few drinks, they were STRONG. I definitely recommend the yuzu bomb shot to start the night. As for food, I recommend raw oysters and the carpaccio, the sauce for oysters and flavor for the carpaccio were EXQUISITE. I want to thank the managers Jimmy, Carlos, and Chris for being so kind and welcoming. I didn't get my servers name but she's the petite asian with glasses! I can't wait to come back because I really came out of my shell by singing in public with people watching. read more

Yakitori Boy - They food is super tasty. - Japanese Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

I was there when Yakitori Boy first opened up in Chinatown. My first experience was with Karaoke; we booked a room for 8 people and spent over $200 on alcohol and food (mostly drinks). We were on the couch dancing and one of the server ladies made us put on these slippers. LOL. Of course drunken guys danced at our door. But it was amazing! Yakitori was THE IT place for my friends and me when it comes to Karaoke. Other places were shady or not known to us at the time. Since then, the place changed a lot in terms of their rules and regulations for Karaoke rooms and all. They became stricter and you have to register with your credit card to ensure that you do no harm to their room or equipment. The food at Yakitori Boy, most are good. I always order the skewers as a snack. I love the quail eggs wrapped with bacon. AMAZING! The drinks are good too. I recently ordered a Lychee-Tini when I was there for a birthday party out in the lounge. I recommend Yakitori Boy for karaoke definitely; just make sure you book in advance. And 21+, they do check ID and will stamp you :) read more

Yakitori Boy - Lychee Tini - Japanese Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Decent but just your casual option. Food is not bad, options are abundant but really not a huge wow factor. I recommend the soft shell crab tempura and the skewers. The skewers were definitely really good!! I recommend the gizzard, the quail wrapped bacon and the steak options! The other options are your dons and udon. Maybe the sushi is better, does look delicious! I am willing to give this place a try, the inner decor is nice and the service was great. read more

I'm surprised that I've never been here before, but here am first time for a friend's birthday party. We got a private room that was a 20 person room and the awesome part about these rooms is that if you spend a certain amount of money, the room is free. In this case for the large room, it was $70 an hour, which we easily hit with large orders of food and alcohol. Tuesday is also dollar skewer night so we got at least 3 or 4 of each of the skewers as well as a couple orders of beer and sushi. Cause who can sing with an audience without a little bit of liquid courage? If you're Asian or otherwise, you'll appreciate the selection on the karaoke machine. I don't think I've sang this much in a long time, with all the mandopop, cantopop and 90s throwback songs. The service here was really quick and they were really nice with it being a birthday and storing our cake in the fridge and putting sparklers in our cake. All in all it was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed the overall experience of the food, karaoke, and friends. read more

Yakitori Boy - Japanese Near Me - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

I'll preface this by saying that we only went here for the food. I'm torn between giving this place 3 or 4 stars. However, it seems like I should come back here for drinks and karaoke. The service was excellent and our waiter was super patient (we had questions lol). It was beautiful inside but it may need an update. The food menu itself is intimidating and had way too many options. It also seemed to be out of order so I wish they would cut it down and organize the menu so it's easier to navigate. We of course had to get...yakitori which ended up being the best part of our meal. Everything was cooked perfectly and had good flavor. Definitely a preference thing in terms of what to order but my favorite was the quail eggs wrapped in bacon. We also ordered the takoyaki which was good. My issue with the sushi is that there was too much rice in the rolls. They were already packed with fish and other things so I didnt understand the need to have so much rice. Additionally, one of our rolls did not have fresh fish in it. Neither of us got sick so it was fine to serve but it was super fishy tasting. Other than those issues, the flavor combos were unique and worked well together. The rice just unfortunately overpowered the taste. Seems like a great place to go with a group! I'll need some drinks before I karaoke though ;) read more

My two friends and I went to Yakitori Boy last night for the open karaoke bar. We paid 10 dollar cover to get in. When we arrived upstairs, we were the only guests there. There was reserved tables sectioned off and we were told to stand at the bar which had no seats out. My one friend who was visiting from out of the country uses mobility aids to get around because of a chronic disability and she cannot stand for very long. She kindly asked the staff if she can have a chair and said she was willing to sit at the very end corner of the bar to allow room for later guests. The staff refused to accommodate her and said the policy is standing room only. Again there was no one else at the bar or seated area since it was still early and there was about 6 staff people standing around. I asked to speak to the manager named Oscar. He also refused any accommodation , stated that we should have been told the policy downstairs and said that the chairs are stored in the basement (which is accessible by elevator by the way). He was not interested in serving any of us and was told we can get our money back and leave . Very disappointing experience and I feel as though a violation of ADA law may have occurred. Btw my friend who has traveled to many countries around the world and has lived with a disability her whole life stated this was the first time she ever experienced anything like this at a restaurant/establishment read more

I came here after midnight so you can expect what kind of night I was having. Thankfully, these folks close late and it was still very lively-- strong mood, fellas! Top drinks program (a bit pricey for sake, but we're fine, it's fine) and very yummy drunchies, like yakitori -- go for chicken heart and beef tongue -- and sushi. Happy hour is a great time I hear because of the $1 skewers, but otherwise expect to walk away with your wallet just a bit thinner than you expected the next morning. Just a warning, if you're getting grilled mackerel, either have on-point chopstick skills or bring tweezers-- you're getting the head and bones and all. *Brushing my shoulder* my friends and I were fine, but a less lucid group of people might be frustrated that they have to literally work for their meal. read more

It can be fun karaokeing with friends at Yakitori Boy, but the private rooms are really small and it can feel like you are crammed in there. The songs selection is on par with other karaoke joints, and the food is okay. Be sure to make reservations ahead of time for a private room, there may not be availability for last minute walk ins. read more

This is the only place that the locals will direct you to when you ask for Karaoke, and it is NOT your traditional American Karaoke bar. They charge a cover, then they charge for tickets to obtain the mic. Then they charge for drinks, then they rope off the seating, so you have to stand. This is karaoke for people for whom karaoke is a novelty. It is not a relaxing enjoyable night out. Did I forget to mention that they will charge you to rent a room to have a separate karaoke party? This is certainly on top of the cover and drinks. Overpriced dog and pony show. read more

Has a nice ambience about the place. The sushi was good and I tried the ramen but the broth definitely needs an update in flavor. I tried it and needed to spice it up with sriracha and chili oil. After that it was good! read more