Izakaya Kenta

Ben McDuffie

4.0

New year, new dish to try at an authentic restaurant which serves Japanese cuisine – Izakaya Kenta. This authentic Japanese restaurant’s cuisine is more on Japanese foods and sushi bars where Japanese food lovers usually visit or dine. They also serve lunch, dinner, coffee and drinks that guests could enjoy. Izakaya Kenta’s ambience is nice and I love their wall painting (wasn’t able to take a picture of it though). I also love the comfy space and the restaurant’s accommodation. Two of the foods I’ve tried during my visit there with my school friends were the Spicy Tuna Maki as my main dish followed by their Coffee Jelly which was my dessert, as well some as my friends’. Spicy Tuna Maki (Php 180)This authentic Japanese dish is made from a fresh tuna with spicy sauce which comes along a wasabi paste and ginger as its garnish. What I like about this dish is its right amount of spicy taste. Coffee Jelly One of my favorite desserts here in Izakaya Kenta. I love the taste of their coffee flavored gelatin topped with vanilla ice cream which goes perfectly after eating something spicy.

Andi Tangguh

3.0

Izakaya Kenta is affordable Japanese food. Price point is almost similar to that of fast Japanese food like Kitaro but with better ambiance. Their rice meals are sufficient enough in terms of taste and serving for one. Won’t go out of our way to come to Izakaya Kenta but we might swing by if we’re in the area.

Desa Baking

4.0

AmbienceRestaurant is tiny with a few seats outside, one TV at the far back, and has free Wi-Fi. Of course, I had to test that bandwidth! Free Cold Tea's served here.Bandwidth Test:Download 3.06 MbpsUpload 0.43 MbpsSpeed is acceptable for casual browsing. Uploading photos here teaches patience, multitasking, and maximizing time.FoodTonkatsu Bento was cooked nicely, both rice and tonkatsu. Eating with tonkatsu sauce is necessary to fully enjoy this. I find it expensive based on the serving size though the overall quality was fine.ServiceStaffer smiled as she refilled the ocha/tea and got my bill. She was very polite, coy, respectful, and quick.

Panji Haskoro Radityo

3.0

After having a massage at qi spa along d. Tuason we decided to have dinner its already 5pm and almost all the street are flooded or traffic every where its been a rainy day today 8/11/18. When we arrived we are the only customer we ordered gyudon, gyoza, yakisoba, ebi tempura, california maki and tonkatsu ramen. All the food are ok but nothing special compare to a japanese resto at sto. Domingo. And the gyudon tasted sweet and the egg is separated from the gyudon itself. Usually only the yolk is put in the gyudon but here they give u the yolk and the white part. Service is ok and fast. The place is small i think it can only accomodate 30pax.

Manda Julia

3.0

Izakaya Kenta is a tiny restaurant located in Maria Clara Street, just near Banawe. I didn't notice it at first because it was surrounded by other gigantic restaurants, but I did try it out one Sunday afternoon, thanks to an invite from Whattoeatph.———🚘 ACCESSIBILITY: Izakaya Kenta has enough parking for about 4 cars (only because the commercial space next to it was empty)———🏢 CAPACITY: The restaurant can hold about 30 people total. Their Banawe branch is definitely smaller than their other branches. Malate is the bigger branch that can accommodate more people.———💸 PRICE: Izakaya Kenta serves affordable Japanese food, with a price range of about 100 to 300 pesos on average. The outlier would have to be their Sashimi, which can go for up to 400 pesos and above. They do have a bento option that has more value for money though, given its price and generous servings. For example, their regular-size ramen is already big enough for two. Pretty sure their large ramen can feed about 3 people.———👯‍♀️ STAFF: They're pretty accommodating, and would give what I need right away. When I asked for water, it came as soon as possible. Empty plates were taken away immediately so there would be more space on the table.———🍴MENU: Their selection may not be authentic Japanese dishes prepared by a Japanese chef, but don't worry! The food tastes great given its price, and their portions are pretty generous, so you really do get your money's worth here.Their menu features a wide range of dishes that you'd expect in any Japanese restaurant— from sushi to ramen, bento boxes, rice bowls (donburi), tempura, and the like. The options vary depending on which branch you go to, so try them all out to get a good picture on what they have to offer.———🍽️ FOOD: We tried out their bestsellers. Here are the notable ones that we had.🍡 Tako Potato: this dish is a creative twist to the usual Japanese octopus balls (Takoyaki). It makes use of potato as the base with generous portions of octopus mixed in. The deep-fried balls are then topped with a creamy sauce, fishy Bonito flakes and shredded seaweed. Chewy, warm and springy— these are words I'd use to describe the consistency. Appearance-wise, it's a feast for the eyes.🐮 Gyudon Bento Set: I'm not a beef eater, so I can't comment on the taste. But I do have to say that their portions are very generous. The star here is the beef, which is cooked with some onions in a soy sauce mixture that allows rich beef flavors to infuse through. Their set meal includes numerous side dishes to accent the meat— a steaming bowl of rice, potato salad, Agedashi Tofu with soy sauce for a hint of umami to accent the creaminess of the tofu, warm Miso Soup and some pickled radish to cleanse the palette. And let's not forget dessert! A slice of pineapple that is sweet and juicy.🍜 Geki Kara Ramen: out of the two ramen options served to us, I have to say I enjoyed this the most. Like all their other ramen offerings, they use thick egg noodles here, along with a spicy pork broth as the base. A mix of colorful vegetables adorn the top, along with sliced chasu pork. The broth was thin— not too rich and heavy, and it didn't dry out quickly, unlike the ramen shop near it. Overall, the ramen had a good amount of spiciness, and a nice blend of saltiness that wasn't overpowering. Portions were really big. I doubt I could finish this whole order by myself, and to think that this is just their regular size. Imagine how big their large option is! It could probably feed 4 people!🦐 Ebi Fry Curry Rice: Japanese curry is generally spicier than the yellow Indian curry that I am accustomed to, but thankfully they tone it down here. Deep-fried tempura shrimp soaks in the brown curry sauce that take over half the plate. The other half is a bed of rice with some spicy pickled ginger on the side for more palette cleansing. I enjoyed this dish in terms of taste— though I do hope they serve the sauce on the side so the shrimp stays crunchy when you're about to eat it.🍣 Spicy Tuna Maki: I'm a fan of spicy Tuna so I was excited to hear that they were serving this to us. Their version includes sushi topped with a combination of diced Tuna Sashimi and Crispy bits of tempura, blended together with spicy Japanese mayonnaise. While the sushi rice wasn't as sticky as I'd hope, their spicy Tuna had the right amount of spiciness I was looking for. I enjoyed their version very much, and I would definitely reorder this should I go over again.🍜 Shiyo Ramen: their ramen is made up of springy egg noodles, a pork soup base and a good mix of veggies, egg and thin pork slices. Unlike the other ramen I've tried, their broth had undernotes of pickled ginger in it. To cut through the richness of the pork perhaps? Either way, it was different. Not a fan of egg, so I skipped that one out. Enjoyed the taste overall, but still preferred the spicy one over this.

Heru Apriyanto

3.0

Whenever there is a national holiday, I usually spend the time to eat out with my family, bringing them to new restaurants we haven't been to. Last May 1, I invited my mom to have lunch at Izakaya Kenta, since we miss eating Japanese food (we have been eating a lot of Chinese food lately...)! Too bad my sister wasn't able to join us. 😞We got there at a bit past noon time, and I was quite surprised that the restaurant is really small. It can probably fit around 25 people, at most. It is located quite for from the central area of Banawe which is where most of the restaurants are located.We were promptly seated, and we proceeded to order the following:✅ SALMON SASHIMI (Php 380) - ⭐⭐⭐⭐Basically, I gauge the authenticity of a Japanese restaurant through the taste of their Salmon Sashimi! 😁 Albeit a bit pricey at Php 380 per order, their Salmon Sashimi is fresh and sweet. I could probably eat 3 orders on my own! 🙊 Yummy!✅ SPICY TUNA MAKI (Php 180) - ⭐⭐⭐The spicy tuna maki tasted good, and the tuna cubes were really fresh. The spice level was just right, too! 👍 But, I was a bit surprised that this came in 4 pcs only. Quite expensive, if you ask me. 😟✅ GYOZA (Php 150) - ⭐⭐⭐Their gyoza was just okay. It was a bit oily, as in the oil seeps into the meat inside the wrapper. 😞 I've had much better gyoza than this. But at least, it's not too expensive.✅ For Me: TONKOTSU RAMEN JR (Php 190) - ⭐⭐I was craving for noodles, so I got this. I was pleasantly surprised when I was served with a big bowl of noodles, despite getting the "junior" size. I even asked the server again if it's the junior size, fearing they might have given me the regular sized one. 😅 Anyway. I have always loved the meaty taste of Tonkotsu broth, so I was surprised when I took a sip of the soup and it tasted like mussels / clams. It wasn't what I was expecting. 😟 The chashu slice was okay, but nothing spectacular. I'm not sure if it was because they put in too much ginger, or they really cook their broth differently. Didn't like it, though. 😭 At least the tamago was good.✅ For Mama: GYUDON (Php 300) - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐This was the best dish of the day! 😍 I have read a couple of reviews praising their Gyudon, so I ordered this for mom. And it was definitely a good choice! Upon placing your order, they'd ask you whether you want your egg raw or cooked. I wanted to have it raw, ut my mom preferred having it cooked, so cooked it is. 😊 The beef strips were so tender, and juicy, and flavorful! I love how it wasn't dry, and didn't have too much onions. The sauce was yummy, too! I also appreciated the rice they use -- good quality short grain rice. Serving size was big! Aaand, it comes with free miso soup. 😍 Recommended! 👍Service was actually really good, and the servers were very attentive. 👌 I appreciate how they would give us refills of water, without being asked. Place looked clean and well-lit, which I highly appreciated.If you plan to visit, make sure to get their Gyudon! It's really good. 😍 The others dishes we got, you may opt to skip. 😊#EatDrinkSplurge

Teejay Hidalgo

3.0

An okay budget Japanese place. Don't expect anything to really blow you away, their spicy tuna maki is okay, and their gyudon is as well. It's just so so food for mid-range prices, an okay place to have a decent meal.

Jacky Rosales

1.0

We ordered Katsudon and Gyudon. I’ve tried a lot of katsudon from different japanese restaurant and i think this is one of the worst tasting katsudon i have tasted. For katsudon, it was quite disappointing since it was not flavorful, matabang siya and the meat was hard to chew. For Gyudon, it was also disappointing. It tasted like ordinary beef steak. Will not come back anymore, however, the place was nice with good ambience and parking space.

Hemas Ayu

1.0

One of the worst tasting gyudon and katsudon in the metro. The place was cozy and the interior was nice, but the food is definitely not worth it. It was priced a little bit high, but the quality does not meet the expectations. Surely, I will not come back here again, unless they reinvent the menu.

Suci Melani

4.0

Good food. It’s better than other Japanese restaurants but this place is not flawless. Gyudon’s meat is good but too little for the rice they serve; it has too much sauce. Ambiance is a-okay though. It’s a good place to chill.