CHIKAE Fukuoka Seafood Restaurant — Restaurant in Fukuoka

We were really disappointed with our experience at Chikae Fukuoka. When we walked in, we already had a bad feeling about the service when the waitress greeted us rudely (most probably because we were foreigners).

Japan is known for outstanding customer service. When we go anywhere in Japan, whether it be an average restaurant or expensive restaurant, the service has always been amazing. With Chikae Fukuoka, considering this is a high end and expensive restaurant, we expected good service. When we were there, the waitress never came by to check up on us. They also never provided us with water, and we had to wave at the waitresses multiple times to get their attention. There was also a few times when the waitresses saw us, and purposely ignored us and went the other way. They also forgot to give us our last dish, and we had to remind them that we had one more dish, so we ended up sitting there waiting and trying to get their attention.

The food was mediocre at best. The appetizer that they force you purchase for 330Yen was not good at all. The premium sashimi set was tiny, and they don’t give you a lot of variety. The squid was fresh, but the lady that served us didn’t allow us to enjoy the show and abruptly squeezed the lemon over the squid in hopes to get it over with.

Don’t be fooled by the high reviews. For the amount of money that you pay, I would have rather spent that money at 3 other places with good food and service.

We would not recommend this place to anyone looking to enjoy a fancy dine in experience. Your money is better...

Fish this fresh tastes and feels different. All the fish in the tanks look happy and healthy. It's like sitting in a traditional high-end Japanese restaurant with a front row seat to a busy fish market. The fish you order is scooped up minutes before it's presented and you can watch the preparation. The catching of the squid for the live squid sashimi (which is absolutely delicious) is a sight to see. The fish monger-looking guy comes out and expertly captures the squid in a clear container so you can usually see it squirt ink. After you eat the sashimi, the server will ask how you would like the animal to be dispatched...(fried, or cooked in some other way) we always liked to get the rest of it in sashimi form. The restaurant is always very busy and bustling. People are lined up before opening every day of the week, although there is never much of a wait because of the high turn over rate. Not impossible with a stroller but not recommended. Had to climb a few stairs and do some furniture moving to make it work. Once settled and seated (particularly in the tatami seats) it is not a bad place for kids. Not super quiet, very friendly staff. A family favorite...

Walked in without reservations on an early Sun evening (5.30pm) and staff was happy to accommodate our meal (though i guessed this was due to pre-peak period of dinner service). What luck we had as 1) we were given excellent counter seats giving us full view of the live seafood tanks, and 2) seems they were on full house that night (as tables started filling up around 30min after we arrived). The only downside was the wait staff was explaining some pricing to us in Japanese on our choice of squid order, which we still didn't quite understand. However, partner was huge on ika and given this was more a pre-dinner meal than the main one, we just went ahead to order. What came was very fresh squid sashimi (ika), and we could also choose if we wanted the remainder of squid to be done as tempura, or karaage, or simply grilled or boiled. The squid tempuran was amongst some of the better ones thatnwe have tried. The whole dining environment is quite out of this world, though i must say the pricing is also quite the same. We paid about 7000yen for the squid done 3 ways (for 2 pax), so a note of caution to those going with non-Japanese...