Already a delight, Toco Hill’s Bobo Izakaya has a bright future

Like one of the many appetizers at Bobo Izakaya, a new Japanese restaurant in the Toco Hill shopping center, this review arrives sooner than you may expect.

Bobo Izakaya doesn’t yet have its liquor license; it’s a bit like reviewing a British pub or a French wine bar if they only served soft drinks.

With that said, the restaurant has been open to paying customers for more than a month now, making it eligible for a review in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. And diners who visit before the restaurant’s liquor license comes through are free to bring their own beverages, so it’s easy enough to get the complete experience.

Bobo Izakaya opened in a Toco Hill space formerly occupied by a sushi bar, but the new restaurant has different ownership and bears little resemblance to the prior occupant.

The oddly shaped space has been completely transformed into a Japanese village scene, almost like a movie set, including a couple of private tatami rooms. The immersive setting helps create atmosphere in a restaurant that only has a few windows at the very front.

Izakayas are the pubs of Japan, casual meeting houses that are meant to be fun and social. They often have large, wide-ranging menus focused on finger foods and smaller portions, similar in concept to Spanish tapas bars.

Bobo Izakaya is a solid representation of this traditional restaurant style, which Japanese workers often visit to blow off steam, according to the restaurant’s manager, David Liu. The menu includes an expansive selection of appetizers, a section dedicated to yakitori (grilled skewers of meat and vegetables) and a more curated selection of sushi.

The wide variety of dishes makes Bobo Izakaya an option for anything from a quick snack with friends or a long dinner date to a large family get-together. There’s a food option for nearly anyone, whether it’s basic chicken yakitori simply seasoned with salt or a whole fried soft-shell crab.

When restaurants offer such a large menu, I wonder about execution. How can a kitchen that produces so many items ensure that each dish is well-made?

At Bobo Izakaya, the quality is kept high through sheer simplicity. Each yakitori item can be prepared with salt or teriyaki seasoning, but those are the only variations. The cooking method and preparation remain the same, whether they’re grilling chicken thighs, pork belly or bacon-wrapped okra.

The kitchen also has a deft touch with the deep-fryer; basics like tempura vegetables and tempura shrimp arrive at the table with the classic pale, delicately crispy coating that is at its best when it’s perfectly fresh. Bobo Izakaya delivers these dishes with an immediacy that allows diners to appreciate the simple pleasure of tempura, which loses its crispness by the second.

Deep-fried soft-shell crab shows similar expertise, and for just $12, it’s a tough value to beat.

Hewing close to tradition, Bobo Izakaya doesn’t stray too far from simple, comforting Japanese dishes, but the menu does pick a few spots to be creative. The Ocean Fire Jalapeno dish is pure fusion, something like a combination of crab rangoon and jalapeno poppers. It’s a fun dish that was surprisingly balanced between the vegetal heat of the jalapeno and creamy, slightly sweet filling of cream cheese, crab and spicy salmon.

Bobo Izakaya’s sushi bar offers more creativity, including multiple rolls that heavily feature mango. The mango tango roll, from the cold appetizer section of the menu, is wrapped in rice paper and pairs sweet mango with fresh cucumber, crab and salmon. The yellow jacket roll, from the sushi menu, is topped with thinly sliced mango that provides a delightful textural counterpoint to the tempura shrimp in the center. The Bobo Roll, one of the menu’s most expensive items at $20, features a solid surf-and-turf pairing, with crab in the center and sliced filet mignon over the top. Creamy avocado and fresh asparagus round out the ensemble, tidily packaging a full steakhouse meal into a single dish.