Hoto Fudo (Higashikoiji) — Restaurant in Fujikawaguchiko

TOURIST TRAPS!! I would give it 0 stars if I could! The staff are extremely rude and completely inattentive. When I visited on a rainy day, there were only two groups (six people) ahead of me. Despite this, the parking attendant, upon learning we had a baby, refused to let us line up and kept us standing in the rain. He insisted, via Google Translate, that we go to another branch, claiming the restaurant was full, which was clearly not true as others behind us were allowed to queue.

Inside, the atmosphere was chaotic. The staff constantly yelled and rushed around with hot food, creating an intense and uncomfortable dining environment. It felt like they wanted us to eat quickly and leave, making us feel very unwelcome.

To top it off, when our Hoto noodles arrived, they forgot to bring us spoons. We tried to get a staff member's attention, but the manager noticed us waving and responded with a dismissive gesture and a disdainful look, as if we were troublesome tourists. Eventually, we asked another staff member who finally apologized and brought us spoons, but only after we had waited ten minutes.

Thank you for your "great" service, but we will...

1st impression, serving size is huge! Maybe cause it's served in a huge iron pot? But I was stuffed after the meal.

Soup is lighter compared to a other location. But it's still flavourful. Can taste the flavours of pumpkin and sweetness of carrots. Not sure what other ingredients went into it. Was miso used as a base for soup?

Whole dish is basically filled with vegetables. But I can't ascertain if it can be classified as vegetarian (sorry those who're vegetarian).

Grilled miso pork fillet is nice. Meat is tender and flavourful. Not too salty so one can still taste the meat.

Location is out of the way. Takes about 20mins from Kawaguchiko Train Station.

The architecture of this branch (they have several branches) is very interesting. You have to see it to appreciate it (or not). Situated nearer to Mt Fuji so you can have your Instagram moments (if Fuji San...

We came here on 31st December for lunch, queued about 20 minutes to enter.

After entering and ordering our food(only 1 choice) immediately we waited for about 1.5 hours for our food. In between, we told the staff to check our order as the tables around us all got their food, even those who was seated 20-30 minutes after us.

The only difference is those who were Japanese got served faster. The staff did not bother to look at our order sheet, and either pretended not to hear us, only 1 of them told us "busy, need to wait".

The store manager Kinoshita was really rude and asked us "what did we want" as he can only apologise (not sincere at all)

DO NOT BOTHER VISITING HONESTLY, BETTER CHOICES ELSEWHERE.

The noodles are so underwhelming, and tasteless and...