Kobachi Izakaya Dining

In a town practically overrun with sushi places, Kobachi presents izakaya style dining, like tapas.

I am a big fan of small plates, because it lets me try lots and lots of different things. So I secretly knew this would be a great place for me.

The lunch menu is more sushi and rolls, which are good as stand alones. But dinner is the time for izakaya. I went as a group four, we ordered perhaps 6-7 plates to share, and while nobody left feeling like their guts had been busted, nobody left hungry either.

We got a mixed pickle dish, edamame, lotus root chips, seaweed with pickled cucumbers, halibut carpaccio, hamachi kama, japanese fried chicken, chicken yakitori, and lamb chops in fig sauce.

My favorite dish was the halibut. It was also the most expensive item on the menu at $11-$14 (can’t remember). And as the one who ordered the kama, I pretty much dove into it and didn’t surface until I’d stripped that collar clean.

The sweetest ladies work there. As luck would have it, one of my dining companions had spent some time in Japan and ordered all the right items to really please the waitress. The rest of us gave up our menus and deferred to the seasoned pro. Two bottles of sake disappeared in a flash. Even I, who can normally drink about a thimble of alcohol, slurped up the sake, which was cool, smooth, and had a light fragrance of…bananas?! Yummy.

The menu offered some happy hour specials. During the week it was more sake specials. But Saturday night, from 9-11 pm was sake and plate specials. Like salmon and hamachi kama.

It appeared we were not the only ones eager to try Kobachi. The place was pretty packed, equally with Japanese and non-Japanese. But I cannot explain why practically every table was a family with toddlers. It’s like they thought happy hour was playtime or something. Or maybe small plates are perfect as a kids menu, too. It’s all a mystery to me.

But I can say the interior design is a huge improvement to the prior Japanese restaurant in the same space. The walls are now painted a calming grey, with better art and orchids decorating.

What hasn’t changed is the crummy parking. So try to carpool with your friends. And fewer drivers mean Y’ALL can drink more sake. Bonus!

Kobachi Izakaya Dining
4141 State St
Santa Barbara, CA 93110
www.kobachiizakaya.com