This is a restaurant that is always bustling. I like the pot kalbi and pot harami! It's a place where salarymen gather, not really suitable for a date. Food & Taste: Good, pot kalbi and harami are delicious. The loin was a bit dry. Service: Average, sometimes there are no staff on the second floor, so you can't place orders. Atmosphere: Feels like a casual yakiniku place. Cost Performance: Average, prices are reasonable. Alcohol: Average, prices are standard.

While exploring a yakiniku restaurant in Kanda East Exit for a work meeting, I was reminded of Manager Ito from Yakiniku Ito and decided to visit. The ice-cold beer was fantastic. The kalbi and harami were also very satisfying. It had been a while since I had yakiniku grilled on a shichirin, and it was delicious.

This is a small yakiniku restaurant operated by the "Tsubo Hachi" group with an impressive shop name. Located under the guardrails near JR Kanda Station, the rattling sound adds a touch of melancholy. Upon entering the compact interior, I took a seat at the counter where only two people can sit. From the lunch menu offering six rice bowl options and five set meals, I ordered the "Beef Harami Rice Bowl / 1,200 yen". The Harami rice bowl and seaweed soup were handed directly from the kitchen in front of me. The nicely cooked Harami consisted of about six slices. The color was nice, and they were all fragrant, tender, and delicious. It seemed to be marinated well, with a rich flavor that makes the rice go down easily. However, the rice itself was plentiful but sticky and clumpy in some parts, which was disappointing. With hardly any sauce, it was tough to finish eating. Generally, having unappetizing rice in a rice bowl dish is a fatal flaw. The only side dishes included were a small amount of namul and kimchi sharing the plate with the Harami. Considering the price of 1,200 yen, it felt lacking without a side dish like Chorogi salad. But maybe this is the norm nowadays? The interior of the restaurant is quite narrow, and even sitting at the counter, one must be careful not to bump into other customers or staff without pushing the chair back. The service was... well. Overall, it's hard to say anything other than it's a bit underwhelming.

After work meal series #72. I met up with former colleagues after work to go for drinks at a place reserved by one of them, called Ito Section Chief. The restaurant is located near Kanda Station, with indoor and outdoor seating as well as a second floor. There is only one restroom which was a bit inconvenient. We arrived around 7pm and the place was almost fully booked with reservations. The kitchen was run by a Japanese male manager, and the waitstaff consisted of two foreign women and one man. We ordered Chief's Hormone Platter, Beef Harami, Pork Belly, Negi Shio Tongue, Chinese Cabbage Kimchi, Hoppy beer, two medium beers, three sweet potato shochu on the rocks, and three oolong highballs. The charcoal-grilled meats were all delicious, and we had a great time chatting about work with my colleague whom I hadn't seen in a while. I was a bit surprised when the staff changed the grill net with bare hands, so I asked if it wasn't hot, and they just laughed and said "sometimes" with a smile.

Yesterday's lunch was at a yakiniku chain restaurant called "Ito Section Chief" near Kanda Station (photo 1). It was my first visit to both this restaurant and the "Ito Section Chief" chain itself. The menu in front of the restaurant is shown in photo 2. I arrived a little after 2 pm and was told to go upstairs. There was no one on the first floor, and I was the only one on the second floor. I ordered the cheapest lunch option, the "Kalbi set meal (¥900)" with extra rice. It was prepared in about 3-4 minutes (photo 3). As seen in the photo, it seems to be a charcoal grill style. The meat had too much fat, and when I grilled it, the oil dripped onto the charcoal and flames rose. The namul and kimchi were lukewarm and not very appetizing. Overall, I felt like the performance did not match the price. The restaurant had a greasy atmosphere, which may be expected at a yakiniku place, but I wished I had visited when the restaurant was newer and more popular.

The benefit of working in Kanda is definitely the wide variety of lunch options available, along with the added bonus of discounts with Goto. It may seem like a small pleasure, but it's important. On this particular day, we set our sights on this restaurant. The menu is generally around 1,000 yen, which is a bit pricey for lunch, but thanks to the Goto magic, it's all good! I had the pork belly set meal, while my junior had the kalbi set meal, and we were able to share. The dishes arrived with a generous portion of soup, salad, rice, kimchi, and the meat was of good quality (not frozen). We also got garlic and gochujang to enjoy with our meal. The sauce was a bit too sweet for my liking, but overall, the quality for a lunch meal was good. I would recommend the pork belly over the kalbi. It's also convenient that they serve lunch until 2:30 pm and accept PayPay. Using Goto to get a hearty power lunch for only 500 yen feels like a great deal. It's a shame that my annoying boss has the same name as this place, otherwise I wouldn't come here. Next time, I might try the chief kalbi and chairman kalbi for dinner. Thank you for the meal.

I have used this restaurant before with Assistant Manager Ito, and the impression was not bad, so I decided to visit again after a few years for a meat feast with the GoTo campaign. We ordered the Manager Ito Special for 2980 yen, a few beers, and about three types of hormone dishes and vegetables. The hormone dishes were frozen, but I thought it was okay. The meat was not particularly memorable, just average. However, when we received the bill, it was close to 9000 yen for two people. We were not even fully satisfied, so I felt it was quite expensive. I thought we could have stayed longer at Meat Bountiful and enjoyed it more for this price. The restaurant is called "Manager," but the prices are more like a "Director." The cost performance was not great, so I would rate it as -0.2.

In reality, Japanese company organizations are supported by management positions, which are the most difficult. I'd like to think that way, haha. Just like surfers riding the wave, they break free for lunchtime, saying "I'm hungry. Help me, Manager Ito!" It felt like a izakaya, but turned out to be a yakiniku restaurant? When feeling tired, the equation in my head is meat equals energy, haha. When feeling bloated and needing to use the restroom, I ordered a yakiniku lunch set. When I came out of the restroom, the staff was waiting. What? Is there something special about the yakiniku lunch set? So, I'll have the Harami lunch set for 1,200 yen (tax included). It's nice to have the tax included displayed. I wish it was just a standard practice. Salad: It's dressed with a soy sauce-like dressing, and it's a good coleslaw salad. Hmm, not bad. Kimchi: Typical delicious yakiniku restaurant kimchi. I want more of this. Soup: It's in a small cup, but there's plenty of it. Maybe a slightly larger cup would be better. The taste is standard. Rice: It doesn't seem to be a branded rice, haha. The portion is decent, and refills are available. Harami: It doesn't look great in color, but it tastes delicious. The yakiniku sauce is a tasty blend of soy sauce and something else. It's grilled on a charcoal grill with moderate heat. It's funny that despite having a duct above, it's not placed directly underneath (laughs). There are a few things to nitpick, but I had a well-balanced stamina meal. I'd like to visit again for drinks next time. Thank you for the meal.

The world is under a state of emergency declaration, and many restaurants are either closed or sparsely populated. I had to come to work occasionally, and after finishing work early, I felt hungry. So, a colleague and I decided to quickly grab a bite to eat and head home. We found a place a little walk away from Kanda Station East Exit, called Ito Section Chief. The restaurant seemed to specialize in horumon (offal). We ordered harami (skirt steak), shachou kalbi (boss's ribs), uwamino (upper stomach), korikori (crispy), and kopuchan (small intestine). The prices were reasonable and the quality of the meat was good. The name of the restaurant was quite impactful, which caught our attention.

I had lunch at Ito Section Chief, a yakiniku restaurant along Kanda Fureai Street. The name of the restaurant comes from "stomach and intestines," and was decided by a project team consisting mainly of young employees through an internal contest. The Yoyogi Station Front Store, opened in 2010, is the first store. In addition to yakiniku sets, our restaurant offers yakiniku bowls for lunch. I tried the yakiniku bowl this time at the Asakusa Station Building Store. There was a soup corner where it said that a bowl costs 80 yen. The bowl arrived in about 23 minutes. It would have been faster if I cooked it myself. The bowl had yakiniku and kimchi on top. A little bit of white sesame was sprinkled on top. Under the meat and on top of the rice, there was a small piece of seaweed. I enjoyed the sweet and savory yakiniku sauce-coated meat. The meat was moderately tender.

Today, I had lunch alone in Kanda again. I headed to the area under the JR elevated tracks, just across the central street from the east exit of Kanda Station. This area is known as "Kanda Ichibangai". The concentration of shops in this area varies depending on the location (generally becoming less dense as you move away from Kanda Station). Towards Akihabara, it continues endlessly up to the "Unrinbo Akihabara" for tantanmen. The restaurant I visited that day is located around the middle of this area. It is a yakiniku restaurant operated by Tsubohachi Co., Ltd., known for "Tsubohachi". Their catchphrase is "delicious yakiniku with horumon (offal)", but they have not yet expanded to a large number of stores, with only 15 stores. They are relatively dispersed nationwide, with only 3 stores in Tokyo, including this one, the Yoyogi Station Front store, and the Asakusa Station Building store. The rest are located in Hokkaido with 4 stores, Kakunodate (Akita), Chiba, Nagano, Hamamatsu (Shizuoka), Wakayama, and Nakatsu (Oita) for a total of 13 stores in Japan. In addition, they have 2 stores overseas (Singapore, Bangkok). The reason for having many stores in Hokkaido may be related to the history of Tsubohachi (established in March 1973 in Kotoni, Sapporo). The first store of Mr. Ito is the Yoyogi Station Front store, which opened in June 2010, so the brand age is about to reach 9 years. This store is the second store of Mr. Ito, which opened in July 2010. I arrived at the restaurant around 12:10 pm that day. The first floor of the restaurant has 2 counter seats and 3 table seats, with a capacity of about 11-12 seats. There seems to be a larger seating area on the second floor. There was only one customer on the first floor, so I took a seat at a table on the first floor. There is only one female staff member. I wondered if everything was okay, but I decided to observe the situation. The lunch menu is placed on the table. There are yakiniku set meals and rice bowl dishes, ranging in price from 700 yen to 1,800 yen. Since the restaurant is known for horumon, and I also love horumon, I ordered the selected horumon set for 900 yen without much hesitation. However, the female staff member who took my order was just doing some work without attending to my order. I started to feel that something might be wrong. However, after a while, a male staff member returned from somewhere. From his conversation, it seemed that he was the owner, and the female staff member was a part-time worker. There may have been some circumstances, but finally, the order was taken care of. It took 10 minutes for the salad to be served. Then, kimchi, horumon, rice, and soup were served in order, and everything was ready 13 minutes after ordering. I was expecting a smooth service from a yakiniku restaurant, but this point was a bit disappointing. The selected horumon includes various parts mixed together, not just the common beef horumon like maruchou or shimachou. This allows you to taste various flavors, which is nice. Since the horumon was already seasoned, I didn't use the sauce, but you can use the sauce on the table if you prefer a milder taste. It would have been even better if they had indicated the parts of the horumon. The kimchi had a matured taste typical of a yakiniku restaurant and was delicious, but the soup was quite salty and overcooked. Rice is free refillable, so the group of young people who came later all had seconds, but for me now, one serving is enough. There was still a decent amount of food. The initial operation was a bit challenging, but considering that there may have been some circumstances, overall, I thought it was a good restaurant in terms of cost performance. Tsubohachi Co., Ltd. was acquired by Nippon Steel & Sumikin Bussan last year, which operates the sake retailer "Yamaya" and its subsidiary, as well as the izakaya chain "Chimney" that operates Nono Maiko and Sakanaya Dojo.

I had some business around Kanda East Exit. I don't usually come to this area, but I noticed that the APA Hotel here also serves lunch, and the scenery has changed. As I passed by Mr. Ito's section, I saw that they were serving lunch. I remembered that they used to only serve dinner. I checked the menu outside and was invited in. I sat down and looked at the menu, which had various options like beef barbecue set meals and beef barbecue bowls. The set meals come with salad and soup, with rice and soup refills available. The bowls don't come with anything extra. Since I didn't want a heavy meal, I ordered the Charcoal-Grilled Beef Kalbi Bowl for 800 yen. Since it didn't come with anything extra, I also ordered soup for 80 yen. After a short wait, the bowl arrived with plenty of meat and a side of kimchi. The beef was slightly sweet with sesame sprinkled on top. It was satisfying, but I wished it had some chili flakes for a bit of spiciness. The soup was seaweed soup, larger in portion compared to the set meal's soup. Although there was plenty of meat, I felt that paying 800 yen for just a bowl was a bit expensive. Perhaps I should have gone with the set meal after all.

Today's lunch was in Kanda. I went to the restaurant I was aiming for, but it was already closed. The phone was also not connecting. Sometimes things like this happen, haha. So, I quickly changed to another restaurant. I had been checking this place before, but since I usually go for lunch at 11:00, restaurants that open at 11:30 tend to get pushed back. Today, I was wandering around Kanda Station, so I arrived at the restaurant at 11:25 in the end. I was looking around in front of the restaurant when the staff invited me in, haha. The restaurant is located under the JR railway tracks that continue from Kanda Station. It's a little further towards Akihabara from the station, near the popular Chinese restaurant called Ajibo. I ordered the charcoal-grilled beef kalbi bowl for 800 yen. You can get free rice refills. The kalbi was delicious. The sauce was slightly sweet, and it reminded me of the taste of a kalbi bento from Seven-Eleven, haha. The portion was sufficient, but if I had to say, it would be nice if there was more of a charcoal-grilled aroma. But for 800 yen, I am completely satisfied!

Ito Section Chief Kanda Store Hand-Cut Premium Beef Tongue 1100 yen Chairman Kalbi 1980 yen Beef Harami 750 yen Pot Pickled Harami 1490 yen Shimacho 590 yen Top Mino 590 yen Marucho 590 yen Beef Shoulder Loin 780 yen Pork Liver 290 yen Cold Noodles

The meat is tender and the sauce is delicious, making it very tasty. The cost performance is also quite high, so I highly recommend it.

I stopped by quickly after a baseball game! The interior of the restaurant is not very big, but you can also drink outside, so it seems like a place I would want to visit in the summer. The meat was delicious as usual! I will definitely visit again!

200617 Ito Section Chief Kanda Higashiguchi Store Harami Bento 1000 yen

This is my second visit. This time, I chose a course with all-you-can-drink option. I think it was the 5400 yen section chief course. It started with a salad, followed by salt-grilled dishes, sauce-grilled dishes, and offal. It was quite a generous portion. I forgot to take photos, so there are none. Thank you for the meal.

It was my third visit, and the restaurant seemed to have mostly foreign customers. They were knowledgeable about how to cook the meat and gave good recommendations. They quickly handled any flare-ups. The drinks were served promptly, but the tables were a bit small and cramped.

This is a place where you can enjoy thick and delicious meat, perfect for those who love hormone dishes. The variety of side dishes was also delicious. I think it's great to be able to eat such high-quality meat at this price!