This Lexington drinking, dining spot features no seats and they don’t want you to eat

A restaurant, Hidenori Yamaguchi says, is a place where diners are isolated at their individual tables, cut off from others. “It’s is a place where you have to behave.”

He and wife Shima operated Yamaguchi’s on Codell Drive, a restaurant that developed a cult-like following, for more than a decade but that was never what they aspired to. Instead, they wanted to have a classic Japanese izakaya, a kind of tapas bar where people come in to drink, eat a bit, talk with friends and meet new people.

And that’s what they think they’ve created with Standing Room Only on Lexington’s Sixth Street near Limestone. Opened in June 2018, the Yamaguchis believe their clientele is beginning to understand the concept, beginning to relax to the idea of standing at the bar enjoying saki flights accompanied by Hidenori’s distinctive small dishes instead of sitting down to a dinner.

The Yamaguchis see themselves as educators, bringing a concept common in Japan to an American audience — a place where people go after work to blow off a little steam with co-workers, relax at the end of the day.

Sometimes the lessons are delivered with a smile and information about the almost infinite variety of saki, Japanese rice wine.

Sometimes the message is a bit more blunt: “What’s the point of preparing salty bar snacks if one is not even interested in drinking?” asks a sign on the wall.

You can’t blame the Yamaguchis for being direct. “This is what we always wanted to do,” Hidenori said recently.

They arrived in Kentucky in 1992 to attend school at Eastern Kentucky University, where Hidenori studied physics and Shima manufacturing technology. He worked at a Japanese restaurant on weekends and that led, eventually, to opening Yamaguchi’s in 2004. The idea there, too, was to be more of an izakaya — there were already plenty of Japanese restaurants in the Lexington market. But Hidenori’s cooking was just too good and Yamaguchi’s took off. Soon, they found themselves getting only a couple hours’ sleep each night before starting all over the next day.

In 2015 Yamaguchis closed. They traveled to other cities in the U.S. and Japan but returned to Lexington, where they began selling their own take on Japanese street food at pop-ups around town, often at the NoLi Night Market and at Country Boy Brewing.

Eventually, the location on Sixth Street became available and they decided to give it another try. Standing Room Only — as the name indicates there are no seats here, just a bar and high-top tables — is open Thursday through Saturday 2 p.m. to midnight and, while it does offer food, it has one of the widest arrays of sakis and of shochu, Japanese distilled alcohol you’ll see in Central Kentucky. And, of course, an ample selection of bourbons as well as Japanese beer.

The Yamaguchis go to Japan early each year to attend a saki festival where they can taste new takes on the traditional drink. A recent “modern flight” of sakis at SRO ($18.50) included Bride of the Fox, Kikusi and Fukucho Seaside. All tasty (they were served with Japanese pickles, an added bonus), the last is a sparkling saki made by one of the few female brewery owners. There are shochu flights, too, where you can choose from among those made from barley, sweet potato or buckwheat.

Even though they don’t want to talk much about the food, Hidenori has not lost his touch. The salty delights recently included a miso paste on a banana leaf and, bowing to customers’ demands for his cooking, they are open for lunch on Tuesday. There’s still no seating and there’s no choice, there is one $8 entree. A recent lunch was a Japanese take on Scotch eggs and a selection of vegetables in a spicy broth atop rice.

For now, the Yamaguchis are happy with their Lexington izakaya. They like the community-oriented neighborhood, where friends from nearby businesses like Broomwagon and West Sixth Brewing might drop in. One lunch and three nights mean they’re working about 50 hours a week, leaving time to sleep and, Hidenori says, “play a round of golf once in a while.”

Their one complaint is that online reviews just keep talking about the food and, worse, showing pictures.

But be careful before you post. A sign on the wall warns: “Good Reviews (on food) DESTROY our business…. No soup for you! If you say anything good about our FOOD.”

Standing Room Only

Where: 123 West Sixth St.

Hours: 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Tue; 4 p.m-midnight Thur-Sat.