Otafuku: Experience Authentic Japanese Flavors in New York City

When you're looking for something simple nearby, a Japanese snack or meal, Otafuku is a goto that comes to mind. Their menu is a good definition of "keep things simple, silly!" Taste: 4.5/5 Ambience: (n/a, we ordered delivery) Service: 4/5 Value for money: 3/5 We had: 1) Okonomiyaki: Great and how an Okonomiyaki should be 2) Takoyaki: (otherwise known as an octopus ball) tastes just like the Okonomiyaki, but different texture. This is a must have! But if you order this and the above, it may be over the top of the taste buds! 3) Pork Bun: kind of like Baos, Cbaos, not bad but I would still stick to the first two From a value perspective, if the combos are available try and go for that!

This tiny space serves all kinds of Japanese foods, including okonomiyaki, a flour pancake smothered in lots of sauces. Haven't had it enough times to say what's truly the best, and the last time was a few years ago. Ordered the shrimp one; it was saucier than I remember it being at other places, but had a great flavor. If you like spicy, I ~highly recommend~ the "lava sauce," which is really good and hot, and goes well with a big draft Sapporo.

Price is a little up there, the little shop is really little with limited seating. Definitely made for someone who wants to buy what they want and get out and keep going. Only bought takoyaki from here but 3 different flavors. All came out fresh and hot. Delicious, but HOT! Maybe too hot that I couldnt eat it for 5 minutes and still bit into it and it was super hot. All in all, very delicious. Thankfully they take card!

I remember back when this place was literally a hole in the wall. In one of my first NYC visits, I specifically made a stop here since I'm a huge fan of Takoyaki and I heard great things about this place. I enjoyed the food, but my experience was somewhat ruined since it was raining and there was nowhere to eat inside. When I found out Otafuku has an indoor seating area now, I was excited to have a proper experience here during my recent visit. I had the takoyaki...actually I had 4 since I was in a group of 7. The quality was definitely similar to my previous experience, minus getting soaked in the rain. However I did notice that they somewhat mass produce the takoyaki, so if you get a bad batch, the dough may be lukewarm compared to it being piping hot since it was already made. There are some other options you can get, but we stuck with takoyaki only. Perhaps they're just as good? Nonetheless, this review is strictly for takoyaki, and I overall liked it.

I love this place! I usually get the takoyaki and okonomiyaki combo. I prefer their takoyaki to their okonomiyaki though. I find that the oko is sometimes too thick and mushy but it still tastes good so whatever. I also had their taiyaki split with the green tea ice cream and it's pretty good as well! I like to put the ice cream on the taiyaki and eat it together with the cereal for crunch.