Yatai Japanese Grill & Pub

Really loved this place as a super close alternative to Ichiza or other izakayas in Chinatown. Their sushi rolls were actually the highlight and the price is unbeatable. We tried the sweet heart roll and the big eye roll. We also had the bacon wrapped scallops, cheese corn, Korean spicy ramen, tuna jalapeño poppers, and tempura green beans. The only thing I wouldn’t recommend is the ramen. It’s actually even advertised in a picture as a ramen packet and the noodles are obviously from a ramen packet. The jalapeño poppers could have used some cream cheese just because I think everyone is expecting it but very spicy and good. Everything we had plus sake was only $ 40 and we were stuffed (two people). Definitely beats all you can eat sushi. So glad there’s an izakaya nearby and I hope it stays! Seems like they do a lot of takeout but it’s definitely worth it to come in and experience it. They spread the timing of the plates out well and the waitress was very nice.

I wish I could select «zero“stars but I’m forced to chose at least one… Thursday afternoon, 4:40 PM… Place is empty… Me, My wife and my daughter. My daughter does not enjoy Japanese food so, we brought her own subway meal. When I told the female server is just going to be two eating, she gave me a disgusting face, and star moving her head saying not here… I said, she can eat this here right? Pointing to her meal… And she just move her from left to right, giving us a disgusting face again and pulling the menus away from us… We turn around and left. I guess they prefer an empty restaurant than receive revenue from two customers. I really like to support small business but this attitude really kills it. My daughter felt bad as she couldn’t enjoy a meal with us, eating what she liked. Way to go!!!

My friend and I just now ate here, and I must say, it was the most delightful experience ever! We came very late, and stayed after closing (it was the only time we could come), and we still received excellent service from Grace. She was very polite and very quick to cater to our every need. Now the food… The food was. PHENOMENAL!!! Every thing we ordered had such great taste, it was beyond our beliefs. It felt as if we were dreaming!
I ordered tempura zucchini, shrimp tempura roll, and beef bowl.
My friend ordered potato croquettes, miso ramen, and strawberry mochi ice cream.
I definitely recommend this place for any person, for the food and the service!!!
Thank you Yatai!
***UPDATE***
I now go to Yatai regularly
It is a big favorite for my friends and me
Every time, the food AND the service is so amazing!
The taste always fulfills my tastebuds and the people there are always so friendly and polite!

today I visit this place with my japanese friend.
I ordered that dynamite, tuna poke, many kind of skewers like these: chicken breast w green onion, black pork sausage, chicken tight meat, chivken gizzard and sp karage, Roll.
I and my friend really like this place’s food. many food is very very delicious ~^^also chef and server are very kind and pay attention our table.
they was written on the Las vegas magazine ~wow
we are falling in love this place ~

I took my wife here and she is a picky eater but since she enjoyed the food like I did then it’s obvious that this little caddyshack gets full ratings from me.

We were craving some gyoza for dinner and we decided to give this place a try since it was nearby our home.
It’s like a hole in the wall place. My husband said it the restaurant setting reminds him of when he was stationed in Okinawa, Japan and IKEA. Lol…
The food was good and the server was friendly and quick. We ordered gyoza, some rolls, yakisoba and other dishes. There was only one person cooking in the back so our orders didn’t come out at the same time but our meal was still enjoyable.

Came here with some
friends absolutely love this place, and with this being a decent Izakaya in central Vegas, and having the BEST fried gyoza, This deserves a 5 star for the gyoza alone. I generally don’t like fried gyoza at all and this was the best gyoza. The Udon was pretty great too!

Robata on the East side?! Surprised to find this spot, as the rest of the ‘hood is mostly Mexican food. Interior is clean and modern like most Japanese places, menu has robata (grilled) dishes, hot/​cold apps, and sushi.
The ika yaki was nicely done and served with a citrusy spicy mayo sauce for dipping. Menu also has classic vegetable and meat skewers, but don’t think you’re going to get a discount Raku experience. Food is decent but not great.
The sushi appears to be a new addition to the menu. Rolls are fairly typical, but I was disappointed that mine were falling apart. The Tropicana (coconut shrimp, cream cheese, salmon?) was a unique offering but was not to my liking (too sweet, too much cheese).
Service during visit was polite and attentive. They have a TV over the bar showing KPOP music videos, which I always enjoy. Location is a bit hard to find. It’s behind the gas station at the Tropicana/​Pecos intersection, close to the Dunkin Donuts. Drove by several times without noticing it!

Our dining experience proved to be less than stellar. An order of kimchi proved to be pretty ordinary — read disappointing while (2) orders of coconut shrimp were very good. The karage (deep fried chicken) looked pasty though at least chewable while the garlic calamari was tougher than shoe leather and eventually removed from our bill. Twin orders of bacon wrapped scallops were good as were orders of grilled asparagus, but the twin slices of grilled sweet potato were beyond blah. The chef came by our table most like expecting compliments, but ended up with a critique he probably did not truly appreciate.

Amazing food and amazing staff, they are always on top of things, even the chef came out to ask how the food was. This is a hidden gem on the east side of vegas! I recommend everyone to check this place out !

so many options! The only thing to caution anyone if they have never eaten here is to ask the waitress how many pieces you are getting with each order. We ended up with way more food than we wanted, but overall the food wasn’t bad. The top dish I liked was the agedashi tofu.

Really like this place. Great assortment of well-​priced, great-​tasting food. I love variety, and this place definitely delivers. Very nice décor. Very friendly, very polite staff. Definitely coming back, and bringing friends :)

The food is okay. Tried a little bit of everything on the menu. The price is right, some item is cheap and some item is OK price. I don’t see anything expensive.
I can see going back to get maybe lunch takeout.
Other than lunch takeout, for someone that love eating Japanese food like myself, i don’t think i will be back.

We went to Yatai last night for dinner and came away very happy. Oddly enough, we were the only people in the entire restaurant. I think the location may be a sticking point for Yatai but I would definitely encourage people to stop by and give them a try.
The steak skewers were yummy, the bacon wrapped scallops were very good, the chicken hearts were overcooked and chewy, the calamari was great, bacon wrapped mushrooms were good and the shrimp tempura was good as well.
The customer service was excellent. Our waitress was very polite, prompt and we were even brought a free mango drink to try, which was really yummy.

We came here because of the awesome reviews on Unilocal and I have not been disappointed before… until tonight. The only reason why I gave 3 stars is that the food is not bad enough for 2 stars. We probably should have expected this experience when it was 8pm and 0 customers at this place.
We got the grilled yellowtail collar and it was undercooked and pink in the center. I told the server I wanted to cancel the order. She says hold on, goes to kitchen and asks, comes out to tell me ok and took the fish back. When the check comes out it still had the order on the check. We didn’t say anything, left a generous tip and left. As for the other food it was mediocre at best for the price.
Edit: the owner apologized very sincerely about the fish and explained that it was my mistake about reading the receipt wrong. I have changed my rating to 4 stars because of his straight forwardness and I want to own up to my mistake.

Place is new clean and relaxed.
Came in at 6pm was empty and wasn’t sure if to go in or not.
Decided to take the chance and I am so happy we did.
The food is great, prices are even better and service with a smile.
Can’t ask for more :)
Decided to take over the menu and try a lot of things.
As you will be able to see in some of the pictures.
I think this is a great place to come in have a few drinks with friends and quick bite to eat.
If you are looking for full course meal you can get it but finger food that is great and drinks that come quick.
Come inside take the chance it is definitely worth it :)

I came here recently after buying their coupon on Unilocal.This was my first time I ate at this type of restaurant and I am glad I cam here.
All of the different grilled meats and vegetables I got were so delicious. Some of my highlights were the beef tounge, chicken thigh with green onion, grilled bacon wrapped scallop, and sweet potato.
All of the non-​grilled items I tried were excellent as well. It was the first time I tried yellowtail collar and it was so buttery and moist.
It wasn’t crowded and the service was good. Slightly annoying k/​j-​pop playing in the background, but nothing too bad. I will definitely buy more coupons here and return. Even if they stop selling coupons, I will keep coming.

We dropped by on a Friday night around 7pm. There were only three other occupied tables there, so we were seated quickly.
The décor is plain, but not in a bad way. The service was very attentive and friendly.
We ordered the yellowtail carpaccio, a cucumber salad, a variety of skewers, agadashi tofu and a grilled mackerel. Some dishes were much better than others. Our favorite were the chicken hearts. They were DELICIOUS.
Overall a very interesting place to eat some good izakaya food so far. We will probably be back to try some more of their grilled foods.

Great little place on the east side of town. Food was great. It’s not Raku, but the food was good. Pretty new, so not busy at all. Reasonably priced and service was good.

What is not to like about Yatai?
The location is a bit unusual simply because the east side is not really known for this type of food. However, I can see that this location may appeal to the east side or even the Henderson residents. This is definitely a positive for me!
Tucked in the back of the shopping mall, you can easily miss it if you don’t slow down. Upon arrival on a Saturday around 7:30 p.m., we were the only one there. Not a problem to us — this means better service!
After being seated right away, our drink order was taken. As a November special, $ 1 for a small hot sake or $ 2.50 for a large hot sake. What a deal!!! The large hot sake was delicious. We also ordered a pint size of the Sapporo on draft and some hot green tea. (The green tea was from a tea bag and didn’t taste like green tea at all. Order the matcha if that may be an issue for you.)
Our server explained the menu and the ordering sheet and left us to decide while she gets the drinks. We had the chicken hearts, chicken gizzards, chicken thigh meat, beef tongue, calamari rings, grilled squid, mixed vegetable tempura, and wasabi tako. I think that was it. There was absolutely nothing to complain about any of the food we ordered. The grilled items were delicious; it was not too «char-​y» or burnt like some places do it. All the deep fried items were perfect; the oil was very obviously fresh. The batter on the fried foods was perfect; not too chunky not too light. And the wasabi tako was fresh as it should be. Lastly, the grilled squid was very tasty because you can really tell the squid flavor (in a good way) and not burnt. Some places grilled the squid so much at such a high temperature that it becomes burnt and dry — not here at Yatai!
And again, the service was fantastic. Albeit we were the only table there, the server and chefs seem very eager to perform their jobs. The chef actually came out and asked how everything was; I thought that was a nice touch.
We bought the $ 10 for $ 20 deal, so our bill came out to $ 53 plus the $ 10, so $ 63 before gratuity. We had 3 hot sake and a couple beer and we reordered a couple of the grilled items, too. So this is a very good price for this kind of service and quality of food.
We are definitely coming back and recommend this restaurant!!!