Izakaya are gathering places where sushi is served with sake. These sushi bars serve sushi as after-work drinking food (just like tapas in Spain). Izakaya differ from restaurants, where sitting on tatami mats at low tables to eat instead of standing is the practice. Sake shops, where people went to drink, eventually started serving food and turned into restaurants, whereas the sushi bar is the place to drink and have a little sushi while standing and chatting. Miso soup and pickled vegetables are also served along with sushi.

If you are serving warm sake with your sushi, you will need a set of porcelain sake cups, available in Japanese markets, some Asian markets, and stores that sell tea supplies. If you are serving your sake chilled in the summer, you can get a type of sake cup that is a square wooden box, which is filled to overflowing by the host/ess for the guests. The chilled sake is drunk from a corner of the sake box. Sake etiquette to remember is to never fill your own cup.