Review Ken Yakitori Bar Howick - Auckland Central

I used to frequent this restaurant with my family for more than 10 years when I lived in the area. I recently came back to the area with my fiancee for a date, everything was just as I had remembered. The food tasted the same and the atmosphere is still great. I'm glad they have been able to survive the pandemic and hope they keep making the food I love.

AMAZING! Food was outstanding and staff were great! Highly recommend A++!!!!

Have been regulars at Ken Yakitori for over 13 years! Excellent food every single time! Lovely atmosphere and the owner has always been so kind! We have loved every meal and every time we have dined in! We have spent a lot of time there with family and friends and it is our absolute fave! We love all the meals with chicken curry, chicken katsu, teriyaki chicken udon, chicken karagee and beef tataki some of our absolute faves! The mushroom skewers too - so good!!! Thank you William and team for the beautiful food and atmosphere. We realise there is a change of ownership and will still continue to order as per usual! Thank you so much!!

Nice yakitori bar but generalyl come here for dons and have some yakitori sticks on the side. The dons aren't the biggest but they are quite nice. A fairly large selection on the menu and it is all quite good. It is generally self service for water and tea.

Hands down my absolute favourite restaurant, we live in Orewa and travel down just for their food. Their yakitori combo is incredible, highly recommend ordering this dish. Loved every dish I've ever ordered. Thanks so much team for always delivering amazing food :-)

I have been going there for over 20 years... still amazing! Love the food and the atmosphere

Our favourite Japanese restaurant in town! Hot and fresh foods, wash down with sake or a cold beer. Staff are always friendly and attentive. Parking is not convenient but the food and cosy ambience makes up for that.

You can find homemade Japanese food here, good taste.

This was our first time there but we will definitely be back. The food was flavourful and delicious. Loved the decor too especially the "crate" chairs. Lovely experience. Chefs cook with care, tradition and passion.

The food here is delicious, especially the Japanese curry (even though it's kinda spicy for me, but I have a pathetically low spice tolerance). The atmosphere and the owner of the restaurant is very nice. The food is also reasonably priced. I would recommend this restaurant for hanging out with friends and/or family.

Enjoyed our evening at Ken Yakitori. Service was excellent. Very busy on a Friday night, we sat at the bar which we liked, but make sure you book if you want to sit at the larger tables.

The food quality is really good 🙂

A place I used to visit often when I was a student. A place to visit once in old memories. The price has risen a lot, and the analog bill makes customers wait too long to pay.

Good for sharing plates. Good variety, licensed, and service relatively quick. Price reasonable, not too expensive, probably a place to go if you wanted to treat yourself without breaking the bank.

The food was great! I had the fish katsu, chicken gizzards, beef tongue and chicken thigh sticks. My partner got the teriyaki chicken udon and the yakitori set. Everything was great! Great place to eat at especially if you're looking for drinks as well. Love the selection if beer as well.

Excellent Yakitori!!!, the place was a tad too packed and food was somewhat delayed, but we were in no rush so we weren’t too bothered by it.

Used to come here as a family all the time. Nice and authentic yakitori. Best you can get in the East Auckland area. Definitely worth a try.<br/><br/>The Japanese bar style is nice for a change and seems similar to what they have in Japan.

The Yakitori skewers were really really nice, however the Deep-fried oysters were a complete let down as it seemed like they got the oysters premade cause the pastry was so thick and undercooked.  The chicken katsu curry on rice was nice, good amount of flavour but needed more vegetables to balance out the flavours. Overall it was pretty decent, nothing really spectacular but I doubt I'll visit again unless I am out of options in the area.

Had the 5 piece mixed skewer plate, the prawns and the sausage were very tasty. The chicken and beef were okay. For mains we had eel don and a tempura prawns. Overall was an average meal but i suppose our order was very basic too. Will come again to try something else next time.

Rating this place a 2.5!<br/>Walked in on a not so busy night and were seated on a dirty table in which the staff cleaned 5 mins after we were seated :/<br/>The food was relatively below average. Disliked the yakitori set and the teriyaki udon.<br/>The chicken karaage and gyozas were okay but nothing great

Great ambience, very high prices, as is with most yakitori places. Wait time for food can be a bit long though. DO NOT recommend the tuna tataki- no flavour, super dry, felt like eating damp kitchen tissue roll. Salads were nice, kumara was nice. Serving sizes super small (as expected), but overall great service and very suitable for a quick late night snack and drinks.

Went there for father's day last year. Food was alright but it took ages for it to come and when we finished our dishes, the waiter didn't even bother clearing them so there was a stack of them on the table.

Amazing service amazing food ! Bumped into a couple who have been coming for 20 years enough said ! And when the chef comes out and asks if everything was ok !! I’ll be back !

Felt like a light evening nibble, but not a full meal. Discovered this little hidden gem of a place in Somerville. The entrance was inviting & the place has a cozy ambience with the authenticity of a Japanese bar. The staff were friendly & helpful, seating was on comfy stools, but no back on those, so one cannot remain seated for too long, it's a compact place & that's part of the decor. Check the sitting stools out, they are a most original design. I loved the lacquered solid timber slab table tops. I know, I am going on more about the decor than the food. After all it's the decor which is why I was attracted to this place. The menu was placed on a wall bracket & well within hands reach. Their authentic beers are certainly worth trying. As it was evening time I chose a warm 'sake' & it was perfectly heated. A slice of raw cabbage was the free accompaniment & I relished their tempura battered prawns. The prawns were amazingly long, straight & not curled up, this shows the excellent culinary prepping & frying skills of their Tempura Chef. The batter could have been a bit more browned but just a little bit only. The oily taste was not entirely to my liking but still a very nice presentation. The Ken Yakitori combo is a new top favourite & I relished the little skewers of prawns, sausages, beef & chicken mince balls. All of the skewers were beautifully marinaded & cooked to flavoursome perfection. The accompanying dipping sauces were just fine. The service was prompt friendly & most courteous & with a great smile. All in all a very pleasant experience & certainly a nice new favourite eating place has been added today to my growing list of favourites. Quantity was perfect & a very enjoyable meal with the perfectly matched warm sake. Definitely coming again sometime soon to try some more items on their varied menu. Pricing for quantity could have been better. Love this place & great atmosphere too. Thankyou Ken Yakitori team, for a nice & very enjoyable experience this evening.

We had an early dinner at Ken Yakitori. We were seated at the long bar table facing the kitchen - other seats seemed even less comfortable without the backs.  Yakitori combo came with 5 skewers - chicken thigh, chicken-minced ball, prawns, beef & sausage. Squid legs, deep-fried oysters & kumara kushiage were OK. Ebby don was rice with deep-fried crumbed prawns. (Personally, I preferred the lighter tempura batter than bread-crumbs.) (Food - 3/5; Service - 2/5; Ambience - 2.5/5)

Waited for an hour for my food, ended up being told that the chef hasn't started to cook my food yet, OMG! What a waste of time. I decided to give up my food and drive back home without dinner. Horrible "dining" (actually waiting to dine) experience :(

Best Japanese restaurant ever! This has been a family favourite of ours for years. Kens is very small, so if you show up without a booking on a Friday or Saturday night you will probably have to wait awhile. <br/>Food is amazing! Such a great selection and always made perfectly. Highly recommend Kens to anyone who loves Japanese- the Sommerville branch is the only good one.

Waited long to have our orders taken. Waited too long for our food, food wasn't even that big of a serving.Food tasted allright, didn't see any reason for the food to take so long.

Great atmosphere, tasty food. Service was good, food wasn't fast but was well worth the wait. Good selection on the menu and the portions were of a standard size, not too big.

One of my favourite Japanese places! Little put pricey but you get such a lovely meal it's all worth it. Great to go with a group so you can order lots of food and share. Also this place is BYO!

I haven't been to this branch of ken for years! I remembered I really enjoyed this place... We came here for dinner, we ordered the chicken karage, the yakitori set and the grilled rice ball. The karage was still as good as I remembered it. They were just the best! The yakitori was definitely the worst yakitori i've had...... don't get the yakitori! But the grilled rice balls were amazing! They were crunchy, smokey and sweet on the outside.. but soft and fluffy inside. They took about 30 minutes to grill though. <br/><br/>Although its a yakitori place, but don't get the yakitori.. they do the yakitori badly.... but do get their karage and their rice balls!

This has long been a Japanese favourite for years!<br/><br/> Forgotten how good this place this, decided to have lunch here today and I was not disappointed.<br/> Ordered the croquettes and it wasn't the best. . But crunchy and potatoy, lacking cheese but edible.<br/>But the teriyaki chicken udon was so bomb!! Silky smooth udon and generous serving of delicious chicken teriyaki. Highly recommend and must try!<br/> Also ordered kaarage chicken don and it was good! Love the portion sizing here. <br/><br/> Very authentic feel as soon as you step in here, clean restaurant and attentive staff. <br/>I wish they served yakitori for lunch as well but oh well. Lunch menu carters to many ~ <br/> Highly recommend and will definitely be back!

We have been here a couple of times over the past 5 years. The food is average but the kaarage chicken is nice and crunchy. The dishes are on the smaller side. Nice ambience in the restaurant.

Delicious food (we got the yakitori skewers) and good Japanese sake! Lovely, kind and efficient service and a very cool atmosphere. Been here a few times and never disappoints.

Great food，great ppl， great place to be.<br/>We went there tonight, seated by the bar. Ordered four dishes was all perfectly cook . Nice atmosphere felt really comfortable.

I've been to this place several times throughout the years and my go to dishes are the karage chicken, agedashi tofu and beef tataki. I have dined in many Japanese restaurants and every one I go to I pit their karage chicken and agedashi tofu dishes against Ken Yakitori's one. I am yet to find one that will dethrone these two go to dishes of mine. <br/><br/>I've been to the Ken Yakitori in the CBD but for some reason they don't do it quite as well there. <br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>

Looking for places to eat around 8.30pm and most places were closed. One of the few places that were still open.<br/><br/>The food was ok. Would generally get a don or noodle dish with some yakitori on the side. The sizes of the dishes were smaller than other places but taste wise was good.

I have no doubt that you'll enjoy Ken Yakitori bar. It's a small cosy bar that serves decent portions of donburi, noodles and a range of Yakitori options. It's been there for a while, same owner and is consistently packed. I do recommend making bookings :-)<br/><br/>I absolutely love the karaage udon and the teriyaki chicken. They pork katsu is also really good so is the curries. At $10 lunch and $13 dinner, the dishes are super reasonable. Service is good and food is served quick, hot and fresh. Definitely an awesome little place.<br/><br/>

Definitely my regular go-to place for lunch. Prices have gone up over the years but are still relatively cheap for their portions. $10 for a bowl of good quality food? No complaints there. <br/><br/>My favourite is the ebby udon. Love how crispy their prawns are and the udon has a light lovely taste to the broth. Their curry dishes are also really tasty. Definitely worth the value.

A regular spot for my friends and I to go to for some simple Japanese food. The prices are pretty good and food is decent. However, the service can be a total let down at times... waiter and waitress seem so uninterested and arrogant at times... luckily the food seems to always be decent enough to return.

The food here is absolutely delicious and it is incredibly cheap. $12 for a dinner meal is a bargain price. The decor is cool too. However it did take a while for the food to come out, and when it did it came out dish by dish 5 minutes apart. I would definitely recommend this place to anyone, however maybe go in small groups.

A light lunch was the thought of the day. We could have popped in for a curry or had a sushi roll from one of the competitors but we had no idea that we would expect to get from this venue. <br/><br/>We ordered the Tuna Wasabi to start and I added a few other dishes, Prawn Tempura, Sashimi Set, the Spring Roll and the Camembert Cheese. I was pleasantly surprised after a 42 minute wait with not another soul in the restaurant we received our food. Definitely worth the wait, the freshness and quality of the Sashimi was flawless. I wasn’t happy with the Tempura, seemed a little oily and tasted as if deep fried in old oil. I thought we were missing half the meal. The portions were so small, the meal was over in a quarter of an hour. <br/><br/>I got up to pay and was charged more than $60.00. I little overpriced for the meal I think. Although Sashimi was a hit, they need to work on their speed of service as well as their price points.

I have no idea about what they put in the food or what the use to make it but the food is just plain delicious. I have come here so many times I practically live there! The food is bloody awesome and so are the staff; always helpful and welcoming as well. In my opinion some of the food is overpriced such as the tempuras but I believe that the rest of the food was fairly priced.<br/>I feel as though the best things on their menu to try are:<br/>The Karaage chicken, Ebby Don, Spicy Radish Chicken and Tonkatsu don. As for the Yakitori: <br/>Beef tounge, Prawn wrapped with pork, Sausage and the yakitori combo. The cooks at times do look really angry and unhappy at times but still provide excellent service :)

awseome restaurant, my family's favorited place to eat. you can chose upmarket more pricy foods o cheer meals depending on preference but all is great value.<br/><br/>highly recommend the udon noodles with teriyaki chicken, beef tatami, tofu agadshi, goes and green tea ice cream to finish it off.<br/><br/>staff are always very friendly and service is not slow and just as you finish a meal another comes!

Prices are very affordable for the lunchtime menu and the portion sizes are big. However, the service isn't that great and even though we were the only ones in the restaurant at the time, the food took a long time to get served. I had the chicken katsu don which tasted okay.

Amazing place! My fiance and I try not to go three times a week! The people are so friendly and lovely and we just love the food, deffinitley worth the price. Our favorite restaurant by far. Karagi chicken, beef tetaki, kumera kusiage, beef tounge and pork belly is our favorite!!

We love this Restaurant we have been a number of times and with the kids to aged 10 &amp; 15 and they love it just as much as we do. Totally recommend medium priced great food. We will be back no doubt about it. Thanks heaps keep up the great work. Cheers

Terrible service - went there late in the evening with my partner as they had not had dinner yet. Because I'd already eaten we only ordered one meal - the waiter looked at us angrily, went back to the kitchen to talk to the other staff about it (which is an open kitchen so we can hear and see what you are saying!), then proceeds to come back to the table and confirm we are only ordering one meal.<br/><br/>Food is average and expensive for what you get - small quantities for bento bowls which leave you hungry afterwards. Won't be returning.

This has been our favourite cheap to medium priced place to eat by a long margin since moving to Auckland 12 years ago, and we have never had a bad experience despite visiting maybe 100 times!<br/><br/>The food covers yakatori (their specialty), various small plates ranging from cheap and yummy (Karage Chicken) to a little more pricey but not for the quality of the food (Beef Tataki) through to the recent addition of a large range of Japanese curry dishes. They do a great mussel pot and the best green tea ice-cream we've found.<br/><br/>If you're not Japanese it might take a little experimentation to find what you like.<br/><br/>We thought twice about sharing the secret but our desire to see them prosper and remain another ten years was stronger than our desire to keep them to ourselves!<br/><br/>Note that this refers to the Howick (Medowlands shopping centre) <br/>Ken Yakatori. There are a couple of others in the city that we've occasionally visited and while they are also good, they are independently run and this one is our favorite.<br/>

The food takes ages. While the waitress stares at me uncomfortably while I wait for my food, the chef has his arms folded waiting for the exceptionally slow grill to finally cook the rice ball. It took 27 minutes to cook a rice ball.... Long enough for all my friends to finish their meals, and leaving enough time to write this review from the restaurant! <br/><br/>This is nothing like the one on K'rd, which is actually really good.<br/>Never going again.

Great place with a casual lively feel about it. It's easy to get excited by all the options and and order too much food though. There can be lengthy delays with skewers coming out and service can be a bit adhoc but we still keep returning maybe because the squid legs are awesome!

My favourite restaurant - a real crowd pleaser. So many different things on the menu that caters for all ages/ people. The food is consistent (so important) and YUMMY! The staff are friendly and the food is well priced.<br/>I call Ken my comfort place - if you've had a bad day hang out with your mates at KEN!

Very nice place. Hosts are very friendly.<br/>Not the cheapest place, that's true, but it worth this.<br/><br/>By the way, you may have a lunch very cheap. Couple of days ago my friend and me visited the place and had:<br/>karagi chicken and kumara balls with miso soup. We took one portion of chicken and kumara for both to share, believe me, it was enough! BTW, I never managed to eat karagi chicken there to the end despite it's my favorite meal (i took the rest as takeaway). OK, it cost us 18 dollars, 9 dollars per person - very good for a tasty lunch!

great place for a yummy casual meal

Love this place!! awesome place for a few drinks and kebabs after work. not the cheapest of places if you want a full on meal though

This Ken Bar has been around for as along as I can remember. The place is well decked out in Japanese decorations, featuring lanterns, face masks and wall art.<br/><br/>Beef Tataki - the cabbage salad was great and flavourful. The beef itself however was sliced so incredibly incredibly thin that you could hardly taste it. Considering the dish costs $19, not great value at all.<br/><br/>Chicken Karaage - these are great and cooked well. There's 5 of them and they're all large in size too.<br/><br/>Agedashi Tofu - once again lacking in flavour.<br/><br/>Beef Tongue skewers - thank goodness these were still delicious otherwise the grilled bar would have had no purpose left. Super tasty with a sprinkling of the chili flakes provided on the table.<br/><br/>Grilled rice balls - these take a long time to make so usually arrive towards the end of the meal, but it's worth the wait. The sauce gives the rice extra flavour and the exterior is grilled to slightly crunchy.<br/><br/>We came on a Tuesday night and there were a fair amount of diners.