Ebisu Yokocho opened in 1998 on the site of the old Yamashita shopping arcade, just east of the station, and is the rowdier, cheaper counterpart to Ebisu's quieter western lanes. About 20 small, open-fronted stalls — sushi, grilled skewers, oden, Korean barbecue, and a few stalls with unusual specialities — share a single covered space, each seating around a dozen people on shared benches.
The aesthetic is deliberately retro postwar Japan: bare bulbs, hand-painted signs, plastic stools. It stays open very late and gets loud and crowded as the night goes on — the opposite mood from the restrained streets west of the station, and worth visiting precisely for that contrast.