Fancy experiencing a super-local standing bar on your visit? Head over to the Osaka Yakiton Center in Namba for delicious grilled pork skewers. There’s no English menu, but the staff are friendly and, hey, you get to pour your own sake!
Osaka Yakiton Center - image © Florentyna Leow
A tachinomi-ya, or standing-and-drinking bar, is one of the great subsets of the izakaya (traditional sake pub) genre of eateries in Japan. It’s exactly as the name sounds: you stand here drinking, and have delicious izakaya food to boot. Yes, you might be on your feet for a while, but it means that mingling with the locals is much easier since you’re all cozied up together at close quarters. And, if you’re at a popular place waiting in line, you probably won’t be waiting too long: turnover tends to be marginally faster at the standing bars.
Osaka Yakiton Center - image © Florentyna Leow
Osaka Yakiton Center in Namba is one such tachinomi-ya, and it’s a good place for most visitors, even if you’re intimidated by the notion of entering! It’s a friendly, popular, atmospheric little place serving grilled pork on skewers. Besides having all parts of the pig from nose to tail available, they even have pork sashimi for the adventurous, and a fabulous pork innards stew.
Unlike most restaurants, the sake - over 100 types in store - is self-service, so customers head over to the fridge and pour themselves glasses! Of course, it’s all priced accordingly, but pouring your own sake is a real novelty. Not surprisingly, this standing bar is popular with office workers in Osaka. This place opens at 3pm, so if you’re feeling decadent, you could even start with a small mid-afternoon tipple.
The small downside here is that there’s no English menu yet. But the staff are friendly and helpful, and you’ll get pretty far by simply pointing - or better yet, using a translation app of some kind!
For more Osaka izakaya choices, see our Best Izakaya In Osaka page.
English name:
Osaka Yakiton Center
Japanese name:
大阪焼トンセンター
English address:
3-19 Namba-sennichimae, Chuo-ku, Osaka-shi, 542-0075
Japanese address:
〒542-0075 大阪市中央区難波千日前3-19
Opening hours:
3pm-11pm
Price:
Non-smoking section:
No
Reservations:
Possible (not tachinomi, 4 or more people)
Nearest Transport:
Subway and Train: 3-minute walk from exit E5 of Namba Station.
Telephone:
+81-6-4396-8109
Website:
Official website (Japanese)
Customer Reviews:
:: Read customer reviews of Osaka Yakiton Center on TripAdvisor.
Near To Here:
Osaka Yakiton Center is located in Osaka's Minami district. See our complete list of things to do in Osaka's Minami district, including places to eat, nightlife and places to stay.
More Restaurant Recommendations:
See more izakaya in Osaka or see all our recommended restaurants in Osaka.
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