Otafuku

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.

Reality rating 2.5 but rounded for yelps sake. This was my go to takoyaki place. Otafuku has their own sauce that differs from the typical bulldog sauce a lot of places use.

Although they have some more selection on their menu, but lately I've been seeing a decline and every visit has been getting worse. The place was empty when my friends and I visited. Placed an order for 1 takoyaki and 1 matcha taiyakaki. I was told the order would take 12 minutes to make.

Afterwards more people came and my wait extended to 20-30 minutes...people who arrived after me got their takoyaki before me so I assume the taiyaki took some time. But upon getting the takoyaki it was really undercooked and definitely was not the takoyaki I looked forward to in the past.

Unfortunately I gotta say it was great while it lasted, but I'm not as happy as I once was with this place.

I used to love this place and would come to the city just for their mouthwatering okonomiyaki and takoyaki. The old restaurant that specialized in okonomiyaki and takoyaki no longer exists. It's now a ramen and curry restaurant. Their okonomiyaki and takoyaki are not anything like what was available here and less than desirable (overly sauced, bland, lacks flavor, didn't taste freshly made). So if that's what you are looking for, look elsewhere.

Did you even go to New York if you didn't get a tokoyaki and Okonomiyaki combo from Otafuku?
This is my Shinto shrine I pay my respects every time I come to nyc for the last decade. And the price has remained the same.
But boy has the shrine been left to despair.
I remember the days when there were more options than pork and shrimp for your okonomiyaki. And your food was made by actual Japanese kids and not a buncha guys from Houston (I asked!).
That tough of cred that you might as well be in a street-side stall somewhere in Japan is gone. Just another stall flipping food on a hot plancha.
Changing religions.

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!

This has been my go-to place for okonomiyaki and takoyaki for over 10 years, but I feel like it used to be better when it was a smaller, hole-in-the-wall stall.

In particular, I've been a fan of their okonomiyaki since not many places offer it, and those that do tend to have way too much batter. The okonomiyaki at Otafuku is a true cabbage pancake and is filled with lots of goods and not filler batter. It's cooked well -- slightly charred and crisp on the edges but still soft and moist. However, this most recent visit, I felt like it was more wet than I remembered, and there was very little seasoning in the pancake itself and all the flavor was coming from the sauces on top. Not sure if it was just a bad batch; I'll admit it's been a while since I've been here, so not sure if it was always like this and I just hyped it up in my head as one of my former favorites.

I only tried the medetai once but was disappointed -- the waffle to red bean ratio was way too high (fish waffle was huge and not a lot of filling, and the waffle itself was pretty ordinary).

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.

Came to get the medetai (fish waffle) and was sorely disappointed.

WAIT: No waiting on a Saturday around 6pm, we were able to order right away.

ATMOSPHERE: It's very small inside, a few stools, a counter and then a bench outside. You can see them making the food behind the plastic. Everything seems to be pre-packaged and the medetai was already pre-made by the time we got there so it's not piping hot or anything.

FOOD: Got the medetai. I was misled because in photos the green tea one (seasonal) comes with red bean and mochi but the regular one only comes with the fillings. They have red bean or nutella/banana. I opted for the nutella/banana one.

There's a $15 minimum for credit card so I paid cash, I think one medetai cost about $4. The size of it isn't huge but it's a good amount for 1 person. The batter itself is pretty bland, flavorless and too soft/spongey. Not crispy at all. The inside was meh - it's basically chocolate with 1 or 2 bananas. I guess I was expecting more. For fish waffles, I'd rather go to the one in the K-town Galleria food court that has mochi in the waffle or go to Taiyaki for ice cream + the waffle.

Overall, I wouldn't recommend.

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.