Restaurants in Tokyo

[Haley R]

Any restaurant recommendations in Tokyo? We’ll be there next May, spending about 2 weeks in just Tokyo before moving to TDR

 

[dunkindonut]

I mean, it really depends on what you want. There are so many possibilities there. Tsukiji has some great spots, a bit pricy but I think I had the best sushi of my life there. Kaiten Zushi is another unique experience you may enjoy. Mitsukoshi has a ton of small restaurants you can stop at and get food. Nakamura Tokichi in Ginza was a lovely experience, but quite pricey. If you enjoy cafes, then I think you will like nakamura tokichi.

When it comes to chains then I recommend the following: Coco curry house, matsu/yoshinoya/sukiya, gusto/bikkuri donkey.

 

[Haley R]

I mean, it really depends on what you want. There are so many possibilities there. Tsukiji has some great spots, a bit pricy but I think I had the best sushi of my life there. Kaiten Zushi is another unique experience you may enjoy. Mitsukoshi has a ton of small restaurants you can stop at and get food. Nakamura Tokichi in Ginza was a lovely experience, but quite pricy. If you enjoy cafes, then I think you will like nakamura tokichi.

When it comes to chains then I recommend the following: Coco curry house, matsu/yoshinoya/sukiya, gusto/bikkuri donkey.

Thank you! We’re honestly willing to look at any restaurants. Since we’ll be there so long we’d like to have a lot of options. We’ll be staying near yoyogi park so I’ll look and see if any are close by.

 

[MimitoAlex]

There are sooo sooo many restaurants in the Shibuya area alone. We like Kirin City, the food was really good, and the prices were very reasonable, more like a locals spot and of course ramen.

I was so glad that we had breakfast each morning in the hotel. Our friends all said that finding breakfast was super hard for them to find more of a meal.

Plus there are American food chains all over, Subway, McDonald's, Taco Bell.

Check out "Food Show" at Shibuya station area, the desserts were absolutely the best, really really good. Another thought I think that on another floor they had take home meals. Ready to go.

Inside the train stations are alot of options, everything from food carts to table service.

 

[Haley R]

There are sooo sooo many restaurants in the Shibuya area alone. We like Kirin City, the food was really good, and the prices were very reasonable, more like a locals spot and of course ramen.

I was so glad that we had breakfast each morning in the hotel. Our friends all said that finding breakfast was super hard for them to find more of a meal.

Plus there are American food chains all over, Subway, McDonald's, Taco Bell.

Check out "Food Show" at Shibuya station area, the desserts were absolutely the best, really really good. Another thought I think that on another floor they had take home meals. Ready to go.

Inside the train stations are alot of options, everything from food carts to table service.

Thanks! I added Kirin City and Food Show to my list. They’re both close to where we’re staying. For breakfast we will most likely get something from 7-11 or make something easy like toast since we’ll have a kitchen. I know for a fact we’ll do some of the American chain restaurants here and there. We did that last time too.

 

[Kwami]

Another option is to visit one of the large department stores, especially the ones in and near the train stations. They usually have a floor of reasonably-priced restaurants at the top and a basement full of food stalls that sell all kinds of food, such as fruits, ready-to-eat meals, meats, baked goods, and desserts. You can get a lot of variety there for a good price.

 

[MimitoAlex]

Another option is to visit one of the large department stores, especially the ones in and near the train stations. They usually have a floor of reasonably-priced restaurants at the top and a basement full of food stalls that sell all kinds of food, such as fruits, ready-to-eat meals, meats, and desserts. You can get a lot of variety there for a good price.

I total forgot about the department stores, thanks for reminding me. I just put this on my list for our trip.

 

[Sykes]

For breakfast we will most likely get something from 7-11 or make something easy like toast since we’ll have a kitchen. I know for a fact we’ll do some of the American chain restaurants here and there. We did that last time too.

Yeah, Japan doesn't have much of a breakfast culture (in restaurants at least), so finding early food outside of a western-style hotel can be challenging. Definitely don't sleep on 7-11 or Family Mart though--they have surprisingly good food (especially the Family Mart fried chicken).

With a two-week trip I wouldn't get too terribly hung up on specific restaurants. Assuming you don't have any restrictive dietary restrictions that are difficult to convey through the language barrier, chances are some of the best meals you'll have are when you're in a busy area and choose a random restaurant based on the photo on the sign or the plastic food in the window. It's hard to go too wrong. But I do have some favorites that I can share:

If you want unique experiences, I like visiting Gonpachi Nishi-Azabu in Roppongi, which is the restaurant that inspired the setting for the big fight scene in Kill Bill Vol. 1. My friends also rave about the Robot Restaurant in Shinjuku, but it seems to be permanently closed (maybe they'll change their mind by May). If you want something a bit fancy, Mon cher ton ton in Roppongi is my go-to for Kobe beef teppanyaki--they have a reasonably-priced set menu for lunch on weekends (although personally I prefer to just go to a yakiniku place if I want good beef). If you get a craving for some western-style food while you're there, New York Grill at the top of the Park Hyatt is also a fun visit for amazing views (although it's pretty expensive). My must-hit chain restaurants for every Japan trip are Coco Ichibanya (Japanese curry) and Ippudo (Hakata-style pork broth ramen), although that's a bit less important to me now that they have US outlets.

Enjoy!

 

[Haley R]

Yeah, Japan doesn't have much of a breakfast culture (in restaurants at least), so finding early food outside of a western-style hotel can be challenging. Definitely don't sleep on 7-11 or Family Mart though--they have surprisingly good food (especially the Family Mart fried chicken).

With a two-week trip I wouldn't get too terribly hung up on specific restaurants. Assuming you don't have any restrictive dietary restrictions that are difficult to convey through the language barrier, chances are some of the best meals you'll have are when you're in a busy area and choose a random restaurant based on the photo on the sign or the plastic food in the window. It's hard to go too wrong. But I do have some favorites that I can share:

If you want unique experiences, I like visiting Gonpachi Nishi-Azabu in Roppongi, which is the restaurant that inspired the setting for the big fight scene in Kill Bill Vol. 1. My friends also rave about the Robot Restaurant in Shinjuku, but it seems to be permanently closed (maybe they'll change their mind by May). If you want something a bit fancy, Mon cher ton ton in Roppongi is my go-to for Kobe beef teppanyaki--they have a reasonably-priced set menu for lunch on weekends (although personally I prefer to just go to a yakiniku place if I want good beef). If you get a craving for some western-style food while you're there, New York Grill at the top of the Park Hyatt is also a fun visit for amazing views (although it's pretty expensive). My must-hit chain restaurants for every Japan trip are Coco Ichibanya (Japanese curry) and Ippudo (Hakata-style pork broth ramen), although that's a bit less important to me now that they have US outlets.

Enjoy!

We went in 2019 and went to 7-11 almost daily lol. We always managed to find good things to eat. I added family mart to my list though. Our ds will be 4 when we go so we probably won’t do anything fancy or expensive. I saw the robot restaurant closed and the monster cafe also. I thought both looked cool.

 

[Kwami]

Yeah, Japan doesn't have much of a breakfast culture (in restaurants at least), so finding early food outside of a western-style hotel can be challenging. Definitely don't sleep on 7-11 or Family Mart though--they have surprisingly good food (especially the Family Mart fried chicken).

I like to get a pastry and a canned coffee from 7-11 to have for breakfast the next morning. It's not healthy, but I get so much exercise in Japan that it doesn't really matter what I eat!

 

[Kwami]

My friends also rave about the Robot Restaurant in Shinjuku, but it seems to be permanently closed (maybe they'll change their mind by May).

When I visited back in 2017, they offered a few set meals for an added cost on the ticket, but I didn't see anyone eating one. Everyone just had drinks and snacks while watching the show.

 

[Douglas Dubh]

This one was in Osaka but there are some in Tokyo too.

 

[nono]

Our upcoming trip is more Kanagawa and Chiba than Tokyo proper, but if we run across anything fun and memorable, I will let you know.

 

[Haley R]

Our upcoming trip is more Kanagawa and Chiba than Tokyo proper, but if we run across anything fun and memorable, I will let you know.

We’re staying in the Shinjuku area

 

[Sykes]

When I visited back in 2017, they offered a few set meals for an added cost on the ticket, but I didn't see anyone eating one. Everyone just had drinks and snacks while watching the show.

Right--I forgot to qualify that mention with the fact that the food was terrible and it was the spectacle that made it worth it. Gonpachi is also probably more about the experience than the food, but the food (mostly yakitori) isn't bad at all there.

 

[BecBennett]

We always find that our best meals in Tokyo are at the random hole in the wall places. Anywhere that we've looked up reviews for has always just been average.

 

[dunkindonut]

the #1 tip I think I can give is to look for places with Japanese, meaning instead of just searching for sushi restaurant, search for 寿司屋 ect. Look up whatever food you crave in Japanese, using DeepL or Google Translate. You are bound to get better results, because a lot of places are adjusted for google maps with English. You miss out on so many places if you only search for stuff in English. There are places that have English menus but just are not adjusted on google maps. It may take a few more seconds to search for the Japanese word, but you do get better results.

 

[nycdisneygal]

My kids loved 511 steak. We also liked Ichiran for ramen and Tsurutontan udon. My husband and I went to a michelin star restaurant (no kids allowed) Sezanne and loved it.

 

[asc]

the #1 tip I think I can give is to look for places with Japanese, meaning instead of just searching for sushi restaurant, search for 寿司屋 ect. Look up whatever food you crave in Japanese, using DeepL or Google Translate. You are bound to get better results, because a lot of places are adjusted for google maps with English. You miss out on so many places if you only search for stuff in English. There are places that have English menus but just are not adjusted on google maps. It may take a few more seconds to search for the Japanese word, but you do get better results.

Yes. Great advice. I use the 食べログ app and you can use location and narrow down by location and main food type. They also have an English website but sometimes it does not have all but it is pretty good. I can mostly read and use translators to get specifics when I need more details.

https://s.tabelog.com/en/

And of course I like to narrow down in the app for the all you can drink or 飲み放題 or No Mi (pronounced me) Ho Dai.

This is a fun standing sushi bar in Shinjuku.

Paste link in Chrome browser and click Translate.

https://uogashi-nihonichi.imachika.com/store/28

And they have an English language menu on this page too.