Minori Craft Japanese Tavern

ono food and our server James was a awesome server--

Stopped here on a whim because of traffic lol. Excellent service, excellent food and fantastic atmosphere! There is a salad bar that's locally grown from Ho Farms. They have a happy hour from 5-6pm and 9-11pm with a full bar and lots of sake. It's a large space with an upstairs area that's perfect for parties or a large group. Parking is a bit tight so plan to be there when they first open or you may have to park a block away. I will definitely be back multiple times. They have good pricing as well.

We had the limited time, this week only, Christmas special hot pot and it was good but a miscommunication of the menu led to slight frustration - the limited time menu was changed slightly from the flyer we got: the choice of ramen was taken away; we could have rice, & it was free, but it didn't come with the hot pot so we had to ask for it seperately plus there was no option to just buy a portion of ramen even though we were willing to pay extra for it; the all-you-can-eat vegetable option was taken away on the menu but we ended up being able to have the all-you-can-eat veggie bar so that was confusing - All the server said of the changes was that they must have altered the original advertisement) but ultimately the whole experience was good! :) Only downside: The all-you-can-eat vegetable bar is advertised by the server as where you get your veggies for the hot pot but it's literally just a salad bar, not a raw bar of veggies to cook in the hot pot, so that was a little bit disappointing. The salad was good though, just not what I was expecting. There is a Vegetable Set option (that we didn't get) so that must have been where the veggies for the hot pot were but the server didn't explain the difference very well, even though he was very nice and attentive. Experience might have been a little less complicated if the server had been better versed on the menu & options (he said he normally works lunch shift and the menu choices are different from lunch to dinner). What we had: Drinks: Lemon Minori Sour, Pineapple Minori Sour, Berry Mojito (last 2 were complementary due to the mixup with the ramen in the hot pot) Appetizers: Homemade Cold Tofu & Broke Da Mouth Chicken - definitely recommend the cold tofu, it's a MUST HAVE! Share: Chicken Nanban - my favorite Entree: Tofu Nabe Hot Pot (I had the Tomato Nabe with Pork Belly but I forgot to take a picture of it before eating, sorry) Dessert: None, we were too full! LOL I usually go to Minori for lunch, which is a totally different experience, so I wanted to try out dinner and it was very different but the food and service was still great! All the servers, not just our server, checked on us throughout the meal to make sure we were completely satisfied. Everyone was very attentive :) Parking is the only slight issue. We didn't run into problems because we came right when dinner started (5pm) but when we left the small parking lot in the front was completely full. So you need to either come early or take an Uber because it's VERY full by 7pm. I definitely recommend this restaurant! 😁 ** I inquired about the upper Mezzanine area and it's for bigger parties of 15-30 people & must be reserved in advance depending on the occasion/reason for coming in. I might have to try that out one day. I tried to ask if the menu was different up there but I didnt quite get a clear answer from the server about that so I'll ask when I make the reservation for it next time. 😁

love this Izakaya spot! after a great meal the first time around, I was excited to return to try new things and Minori did not disappoint! the grilled skirt steak was tender & juicy, the pepper beef rice was flavorful & was mixed tableside in a stone hot pot, and the red snapper carpaccio was super fresh w a bright and yummy sauce. we ate family style and shared almost everything. but I ended up getting the tsukemen (dipping ramen) for myself too 😛. my only other recommendation is getting there early. it's less crowded so you can snag a parking spot in their small lot & you can take advantage of their happy hour menu prices. will definitely be back again!!

We had the one choice lunch specials the Minori Chicken Kanban and Sashimi both were very good with lots of sides. We also tried the Midori Sour Pineapple flavor which was great for the hot day. Minori does have a parking lot and while I recommended an edit to the map you may have to loop around to reach the actual parking. They have different lunch and dinner menus but everything we had for lunch was excellent.

Good food. Service was a little slow but ok.