Ribatei is the yakitori house Yokohama measures itself by. It began in the mid-1950s when the founder bought a bar called Liberty in the occupied city’s nightlife quarter, kept the name in Japanese characters and started grilling chicken; his grandson, Banji Sakakibara, took the counter over in 2016 as the third generation, having worked beside his father since the age of twenty. The shop is still in a back lane of Fukutomicho, a five‑minute walk from Kannai station, and still has the feel of the Showa years. Tabelog has given it a Bronze award every year from 2017 to 2026 and a place in the Yakitori EAST Hyakumeiten from 2018 to 2025.
What you eat
One omakase, from ¥11,000, that opens with a small glass and pickles from a rice‑bran bed the house says has been kept alive for more than ninety years. Then the skewers, twelve or thirteen courses in all: heart grilled to a point just short of rare, skin rendered until the fat turns sweet, the scarce white liver, and cuts from several breeds — young chicken, Kumano jidori, Takasaka chicken — punctuated by vegetables and small plates such as a stewed beef tongue with burdock. The finale is the dish the city talks about: a curry‑scented fried rice, the “fry rice,” a relic of the bar years. The course runs until you are full and the bill rises with the number of skewers, so the ¥11,000 is a floor; recent diners report about ¥17,000 a head with drinks. Wine leans to France and Napa, sake includes rarities such as Juyondai, and one drink order per guest is expected.
The booking reality
For a house this decorated, the door is refreshingly ordinary. The omakase is listed for online booking on Ikyu, and the house takes reservations by telephone in Japanese on 045‑251‑7676 — Instagram messages are explicitly not answered. There is no release day. What there is instead is discipline: the evening runs in four timed seatings from 17:00, the house asks for punctuality, and a same‑day cancellation is charged in full. Reviews in 2026 describe both sides of the ledger — a Saturday’s 17:30 seating booked ahead, a weekday 17:00 table secured online a few days out, and one lucky caller seated fifteen minutes after ringing — alongside the observation that on busy nights only the 17:00–19:00 slots remain.
Two rules are firm: no guests below middle‑school age, and no heavy perfume. Tell the house in advance about ingredients you dislike or a broad allergy; one diner had the offal removed from the course by asking ahead. There is no service charge and cards are accepted. Note that a sister shop, Yokohama Ribatei in Tsuruyacho by Yokohama station, opened in 2021 and is a separate reservation. Our desk books the seating you want — by phone, in Japanese — and passes on the allergy notes.
