Bar Izakaya - NORTH HAMILTON

I treated myself to this establishment and found the food excellent but pricy. My impression of a Isakaya bar is somewhere to hang out after work, have a Sapporo and a few things to nibble on. unfortunately the nibbles are priced like entrees and one would be hard pressed to make it a couple-time-a-week haunt. More like an occasion...but still fine quality.

My wife and I stopped in to Bar Izakaya one night during a snow storm and sat at the bar for a hot Sake and ordered the Chef's Board (I think that's what they call it.) The food came and was great - Japanese fusion dishes, all with a cool twist or and interesting presentation. It was just the two owners (one is the Chef and one is the front end guy) and ourselves. We stayed for more Sake and a couple of cocktails and walked out two hours after we had walked in. We've been back a couple times and had similar experiences.

Trying to investigate different places dining near to my neighborhood. As knowing I am the big favor in Japanese stuffs, I cannot resist any chance to look for the Japanese food. This is a place really trying to introduce more authentic Japanese food from others in Hamilton, food is not that bad. Not a lot variety to choose from, this time I mainly try their ramen. Taste is a bit light, maybe not having a strong msg, however, it remains its real taste. I like there. I think next time I will come again to try the dinner with family.

The enoki salad and Karagee chicken (pictured) were amazing (10/10.) The edamame were a generous portion and delicious (but slightly oily.) And the chicken ramen was so flavourful and a large portion (but quite salty.) Overall great service and amazing food.

This is our new favourite restaurant in Hamilton. We love it. The food is delicious and unique, the service is friendly and attentive, and they have neat cocktails to try. Prices are very reasonable. It is a small restaurant but the atmosphere is warm, hip and sunny. We have been for dinner twice in the past couple of months, and the second time the staff remembered us and greeted us warmly. The menu is good for sharing tapas style. We loved everything we tried. My son was even fighting me for the salads and veggies, which under other circumstances he would fight me to skip. I can't single out any 1 dish, we tried 3 or 4 each time and all delicious and interesting. Probably the only thing that is a little less great on the menu is the dessert which were nothing special so perhaps go somewhere else for dessert, but everything else we had really was special.