The Little Tokyo location of this small Southern California chain still has huge wait times on the weekends, and with an extensive menu of tasty, authentic Japanese favorites it’s not hard to see why. If you want optimal pairing for beer and sake, skip the sushi and opt for the kara-age, agedashi tofu, charcoal-grilled skewers and pork za sai.

Izaka-ya isn’t the most creatively named restaurant on this list — and it’s not exactly an authentic izakaya, either. The menu boasts the usual fried food suspects (tempura, tatsuta age) and a pretty solid Okinawa Soba, and the creamy popcorn shrimp is a guilty pleasure.

This trendy Little Tokyo spot boasts a full bar (and perhaps more importantly, the sherry cask-aged Yamazaki 18 year) as well as an impressive beer list. The menu also has some affordable, smaller steaks in addition to braised Japanese spare ribs and unagi fried rice.

Carpaccios and small plates seem to be the name of the game at Sasaya, but the chicken kara-age is undeniable, the udon more than serviceable and a highly selective sake and shochu list is there to help diners forget that Sasaya puts way too much sauce on just about everything else.

Kinjiro doesn’t mince words when it comes to their Japanese A5 Plus Kobe beef — they have the agricultural certificates from Japan to confirm their bona fides (and at $70 for a 4.5-ounce sirloin, reassuringly exorbitant prices to match). Slices of sirloin at the restaurant pass the eye test, with char-graced edges that is literally milk-white fat speckled with bits of meat. Bone marrow as a trend is in its post mortem stages, but Kinjiro’s marrow with dengaku miso might just bring it back — the dish uses green onion as a counterbalance to the deep, unctuous umami-explosion to brilliant effect. Kinjiro isn’t just the newest or most progressive izakaya on this list — absent of cost considerations, it’s arguably the best izakaya in Los Angeles.

This brightly lit, uncompromising yakiniku spot in Little Osaka has its daily grilled specials on a markerboard. Pair their fantastic tsukune (chicken meatball skewer) with one of the restaurant’s draft sakes. Late diners beware: Popular skewers tend to run out before closing time.

Robata refers to the charcoal grills where food is cooked on skewers, and so it naturally follows Robata Jinya’s grilled bites have the smoky, savory flavor that’s perfect with a cold beer. Don’t count out the tonkotsu assari ramen, though, and make sure to get the shrimp toast: Delectable little mini shrimp finger sandwiches are grilled to a golden brown and stacked Jenga-style.

Chef Yoshi has served multiple generations of hungry Angelenos at this traditional charcoal-grilled kushiyaki establishment in Culver City, and shows no signs of letting up. Yoshi and his sous chef man an open kitchen and delicately turn chicken yakitori skewers atop a charcoal grill to a level of perfectly charred doneness that can only be established through years of experience.

Aside from Shin Sen Gumi Yakitori, Torihei is probably the place where most South Bay residents popped their Yakitori cherry. Though the location is probably more focused on pouring drinks than serving you a five-course meal, the skewers are nothing to sneeze at and the chicken liver comes in both grilled and paté-style preparations.

With two branches in the Los Angeles area, this traditional Japanese restaurant has izakaya fare (and sushi) but specializes in homemade soba, or buckwheat noodles. The noodles and dashi are prepared onsite daily, and are perfect with a side of the restaurant’s shrimp tempura.

As the name suggests, this restaurant specializes in grilled poultry. Expect all the familiar items grilled on an open charcoal fire: excellent chicken thighs, a decent tsukune and quail eggs. Don’t skip the grilled duck breast, though — few places have one this juicy and this perfectly cooked.