Izakaya Tori Victoria Park (STIRLING)

Loved, loved, loved the karaage chicken at Izakaya Tori — easily one of the best I’ve had. Super juicy, crispy, and packed with flavour. Absolutely nailed it. We also tried the cold noodle dish, which was pretty decent. The fried side dish that came with it was just okay, nothing too memorable. But honestly, I’d come back for the karaage alone — it’s that good.

On a Friday night arrv 6:30 and was seated quickly. The izakaya is bigger than I thought but still cosy. Love the crate/keg seats, red lanterns and design. Our food came out after 10-15mins. Honestly delicious food. Our croqutte was crispy and hot, karaage so juicy and tender, chicken hearts were pretty good (an aquired taste), yakitori was flavourful and beef nicely cooked and teriyaki tofu was sizzling and well seasoned. Beer was beering, cocktail matcha sooo good and matcha latte was divine (both sweet rather than bitter). I was skeptical due to some reviews, but I honestly had great food. For these dishes, it was pricey, a little over 100 bucks for a couple. But, we dont dine out often (So we dont mind). 4/5 because even though the food was good, didnt give me a big wow factor, i do believe generally due to dish choice. I love tofu but id try something different next time. Only thing genuinely 100% amazing was the karaage and croquettes. I had to brighten the photos purely because its just super red in there! Doesnt do the food justice but 100% yummy.

I had a very disappointing experience at this restaurant. A friend highly recommended this place, praising their amazing grilled dishes, so we decided to try it together last week. Unfortunately, it did not live up to our expectations. The biggest issue was the food quality. I was surprised by how quickly our dishes arrived—within five minutes of ordering. For grilled food, I would expect at least 10-15 minutes of preparation. This made me suspect that the food was precooked and simply kept warm for quick serving. Sadly, this affected the taste significantly. The grilled meat and seafood lacked the freshness and juiciness my friend had experienced before. Instead, they were a bit dry and underwhelming. I understand that this method speeds up service, but at $13 for two scallop skewers, I expected more than fast-food-style grilling. Overall, it was not worth the price, and I wouldn’t recommend it based on this experience.