Yakitori Zai has finally opened after much speculation and a lot of waiting. I had eagerly written about this tiny neighborhood restaurant with a lot of glee and thought it would be a great addition.
However, my opinion of the restaurant has soured without even stepping a foot in the door. The restaurant’s website includes the following (very unwelcome message in my opinion), indicating that for the first two weeks it is open, walk-in service will not be permitted, there will be only two seatings Tuesdays through Fridays / three seatings on the weekends, and the cost per person will be $120 – less alcohol and gratuity. It appears my hopes for a great neighborhood restaurant have been dashed yet again. 
BosGuy 
A 6/25 review on Yelp indicates they are now serving a la carte. Sadly, the review isn’t good. 😦
http://www.yelp.com/biz/yakitori-zai-boston
Re: not accommodating allergies when they were doing the 6-course meal – that’s not uncommon. MA restaurants have gotten a lot better since the passing of the food allergy law last year (http://www.foodallergy.org/page/restaurants), but with a multi-course meal, it’s often not possible to accommodate allergies. Food is prepped in advance and everything is timed just so. Having to accommodate food allergies would slow everything down in the kitchen. I have multiple food allergies and I just accept that restaurants can’t always accommodate me. I once walked into a restaurant in Watertown, told them what my food allergies were, was told it wouldn’t be a problem, was seated, and after attempting to order the waitress came back and informed me that I couldn’t eat there. I think I’d wasted 15 minutes there. I’d much rather know up front so I appreciate that Zai put that info on their website.
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And they can’t accommodate allergies! For $120, they should be bending over backwards and wiping my mouth after each bite. I don’t think this kind a elitism will work in this neighborhood.
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Too many rules! I would be pissed off too! Also I bet there would be favoritism too!
SteveA
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um… rude. Security!
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wow thats ridiculous.
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