I arrived in Fukuoka the day before my business trip, and went out for drinks with my local work colleagues. They took me to a yakitori restaurant, where most of the customers were drinking alone or with friends. We ordered a set of 10 skewers for 3,780 yen, which came with vinegar tripe and edamame. The charcoal-grilled meat, marinated in a sweet sauce, was delicious, especially the skin. I had 3 beers, 2 glasses of shochu with water, and 1 glass of rice shochu. The yakitori and shochu fueled our lively conversations. It occurred to me that this was the first time I had gone out for drinks with work colleagues since the pandemic started.

I visited "Sengoku Yakitori Ieyasu Gion Store" in Hakata Gion for the first time. This is a long-established yakitori restaurant with several branches in Fukuoka Prefecture. There are about 10 counter seats surrounding the kitchen, as well as table seats around them. In addition to yakitori, they also serve beef, seafood skewers, appetizers, and grilled onigiri and ochazuke for the finishing touch. They have a wide variety of alcoholic drinks and offer good value for money. It feels like an izakaya where you can casually drink. On this day, I ordered a highball and a selection of 5 yakitori skewers plus a complimentary pork belly skewer. The manager, who was in charge of grilling, skillfully grilled the yakitori, and soon 6 skewers arrived: wiener, pork belly, squid meat, squid legs, tongue skewer, and enoki mushroom-wrapped pork. I also ordered lemon sour and additional pork belly and chicken skin skewers with salt. The pork belly and chicken skin skewers were delicious as always! It's a casual yakitori restaurant that you can easily drop by!

Today was the long-awaited year-end party at the company. Since the group year-end party was postponed, we secretly had a year-end party with close members. We started with a toast with draft beer, and enjoyed edamame, vinegar motsu, yakitori with chicken skin, pork belly, gizzard, beef belly, shiro, green pepper, shiitake, and more. For the finale, we couldn't decide between ochazuke and grilled onigiri, but ended up choosing grilled onigiri. Since this year's year-end party was with a small group, I hope we can have a year-end party with everyone next year.

When it comes to yakitori restaurants in Fukuoka, it's "Ieyasu" for sure. I went there for a year-end party with some work colleagues. We started with a toast with draft beer! The appetizer was "sumotsu" (vinegared tripe). Next, we had various grilled items like chicken skin, pork belly, meatballs, chicken thighs, pig's trotters, bacon-wrapped green peppers, enoki mushrooms wrapped in bacon, beef belly, chicken tail, grilled rice balls, and ochazuke. It was a typical yakitori restaurant experience. We ate a lot, drank a lot, and had a great time chatting at the year-end party.

It is not particularly prominent now, but it is one of the yakitori restaurants that supported the era of high economic growth with its establishment in the 1960s. There are over four groups in the Sengoku Yakitori series, such as Ieyasu, Nobunaga, and Nobuhide. There seems to be no dispute about being the main store or the founding store now. The vinegar-dressed cabbage is said to have been started by Ieyasu (Nobuhide also claims we started it, lol). Like in Tokyo, the staff are mostly foreigners. This is not a problem for me in particular. I went during a slow time, so everything proceeded smoothly without any mistakes. I won't mention it here, but I witnessed some questionable hygiene practices by the grillers, which I think is the responsibility of the supervisor. The grilled scallop shell is fragrant and delicious, reminiscent of a specialty from the Ariake Sea in Kyushu in the old days. The way the skewers are placed lacks beauty. For those seeking advanced service and taste, I recommend high-end restaurants. There are still yakitori restaurants without the names of warlords like "Sengoku Yakitori" scattered in places like Saga City. It was once famous for performing with drums for each customer ===========

Hakata Station was so crowded with people. Every izakaya and ramen shop had long lines even in the middle of the day. I almost gave up, but decided to walk to Gion. That's when I stumbled upon this place. It's called Ieyasu-sama. This was my second visit, and luckily I got a seat at the counter. The sushi pieces were small and the seasoning was a bit sparse. However, being served freshly made sushi and the gratitude for finding a seat quickly made me appreciate the experience more. The shiso pork roll was surprisingly delicious.

On the night of the day when I participated in an academic conference in Fukuoka in January 2022, I invited my friend from Fukuoka to come to the hotel and decided to have a social gathering somewhere. We found a restaurant called "Sengoku Yakitori Ieyasu" a short walk from the hotel towards Hakata Station, with an impressive name, so we decided to go in. It seemed like a chain restaurant, and this was the 18th branch. It was just past 7 pm, so the restaurant was not very crowded. We sat at the counter and enjoyed delicious Fukuoka dishes, including yakitori. The restaurant was not non-smoking, which was a bit of a concern, but it had a retro Showa era vibe. Here's what we had: cabbage, draft beer ¥500, oolong tea ¥250, assorted yakitori set (10 pieces) ¥1600, vinegar motsu (offal) ¥290, edamame ¥290, highball ¥380, pork belly ¥110, chicken skin ¥110, soft bone tsukune (meatball) ¥270, chicken heart ¥110, shochu with water ¥440, gin and soda ¥390, grilled rice ball ¥180, mentaiko (spicy cod roe) ¥450. With 16 items, the total came to ¥5,870 + tax ¥587 = total ¥6,457. We had a fun time drinking at a relatively reasonable price. Thank you for the meal.

When I return to Fukuoka, I sometimes feel like going to Ieyasu. It must be because it was my first experience with Fukuoka's yakitori. There are several chain stores, but this was my first time at the 18th store. I used to see it often from the bus. I visited around 10 pm on a weekday. Ieyasu is often small, but this one had a relatively spacious layout. The number of customers was just right, not too many or too few, which was nice. I planned to have a quick drink, so I ordered a bottle of beer and a few favorite skewers. The pace of grilling was faster than at other places. Maybe it depends on the number of customers? It was convenient for a quick drink. The chicken skin, pork belly, and chicken thigh were familiar flavors from Ieyasu. But the most nostalgic thing was the cabbage... It tastes the same at other Fukuoka restaurants, but Ieyasu feels the most familiar. Thank you for the meal.

Thank you for having me! As usual, I started with the chef's choice of 10 skewers. Cheers with a beer! The skewers were all pretty normal. For my refill drink, I went with a shochu highball. It was strong haha. The gin lime was also intense, I struggled with the sweetness. I also ordered some vegetables like shishito peppers and tomatoes to balance it out. Thank you for the meal!

On a Saturday around 5 PM, my friend from Tokyo said they wanted to eat yakitori, so we decided to drink at "Ieyasu" near the hotel where my friend was staying. The signage outside, like other nearby izakayas, had fewer Japanese characters. Upon entering, we were greeted with a traditional "Welcome! Don (sound of a drum)". Since they opened at 5 PM, there were only a few groups of customers already there. We sat at the counter and ordered a draft beer, edamame for 290 yen (excluding tax), and a yakitori special set of 10 skewers for 1,600 yen (excluding tax). The yakitori special set of 10 skewers seemed like a good deal with a nice variety. We continued to drink with more yakitori and cabbage refills. There was a large amount of shredded cabbage right in front of us at the counter, so when we were running low, the staff would ask, "Do you need more cabbage?" and we ended up eating a lot of cabbage unintentionally. After spending over 2 hours there, the bill came out to around 8,500 yen. I thought it was a bit pricey at first, but considering we had about 10 drinks between the two of us, the food cost wasn't actually that high. *The amount spent is for food and drinks separately.

Having a quick drink by myself at "Yakitori Ieyasu" in front of Hakata Station on September 27, 2018. On my way back from work on a holiday... looking for a place where I can have a light drink without spending too much money, I stopped by the 18th branch of "Sengoku Yakitori Ieyasu" on Oohiru-dori, near Gion. It's an old shop that has been around for a while. When you enter, you are greeted with a big taiko drum, and as soon as you sit down, you get cabbage and homemade sauce. It's the routine of the shop. I ordered a draft beer and a quick 5-piece skewer set. It included chicken skin with wiener, an assortment of items, including tsukune and asparagus wrapped in bacon, and pork belly as a service. The highball was also cheap at 350 yen plus tax, and I spent about 30 minutes having a quick drink. There was no seating charge, and the total bill was 1,760 yen. Well, you can easily stop by and leave without any worries. I don't mind this convenience store-like atmosphere. I do notice that more and more foreign staff are working at various shops, but I might visit the first branch next time.

This place was quite crowded, but please judge based on the score.

I visited for the second time, on a late Sunday, so it was not crowded. The main dish is yakitori and the cost performance is good. It's hard to find this price range in Tokyo. There were also some cuts of meat that are not common in Tokyo, which made it enjoyable. Is this place a chain restaurant? I would like to come back again.

Great value for money

It was delicious. The beer bottle seemed freshly washed, so the coldness of the draft beer was not perfect. Everything else was very good.

The yakitori that gets startled by the sound of drums is decently good, and the all-you-can-drink option costs 1800 yen. It's nice that you can stay for a long time.

I recommend the all-you-can-drink and decent yakitori set for 3000 yen.