Tori Beer, the sister restaurant to BUBU on Fillmore, is a new izakaya on Geary Boulevard, which opened on July 1 of this year. We noticed their menu advertising $1 Japanese beers and made a mental note to stop in. You just don’t see happy hour deals like that very often anymore. The casual dine-and-drink style of an izakaya happy hour is appealing because you don’t have to spend a large amount of money on drinks, and you can also get some tasty small bites.

The dining room started filling up quickly after 4:30 p.m., the official start of happy hour. We were given a dry-erase-style menu designed for ordering in rounds. Right away we noticed a sign stating a $15 minimum order per person. This was reportedly a new policy. Nobody was going to get bombed on $1 beers, order one $5 California roll, and walk out in smug satisfaction.

We selected a Sapporo and a mango mojito for our first drinks, neither of which we received. What we did receive was an Asahi Super Dry and a yuzu mojito. No explanation was given until I inquired and learned they were out of Sapporo that night. The yuzu drink was delicious, and beer is beer, so we let it go.

Then came the food: a spicy tuna roll ($5), spicy honey wings ($5), karaage chicken ($5), kakuni pork belly ($5), kakuni fried rice ($5), and a shrimp tempura roll ($5). We also ordered a chicken thigh skewer ($5) that never arrived (no explanation given). All were tasty, with the pork belly and karaage chicken being my favorites. Two more drinks to round out the meal: another Asahi and a mango mojito, and we were done. I would definitely recommend Tori Beer for a casual happy hour with quality cocktails. The service was uneven, but ultimately a good value and tasty food win out.

We finished with a bill of under $50 for six dishes and four drinks. Not easily done in San Francisco.