Motsunabe Rakutenchi Tenjin WEST BR — Restaurant in Fukuoka

This place is so bad it motivated me to take time out of my day in response to the worst ever “service” not only in Japan, but in general.

I saw the excellent ratings and recently tried motsunabe elsewhere, so I was excited to try this place. I’m western and I know basic Japanese and have been to Japan, from Okinawa to Hokkaido and in between, for years. I know busy nights out call for a reservation, so I was glad I booked one.

I put on nice clothes, confirmed my reservation, and headed over to arrive exactly on time.

I grew up eating tripe, and many places I’ve been to have heavy cooking smells. This place exuded a foul odor, so much so I thought someone vomited nearby and that was what smelled. Unfortunately, this place just reeks while other motsunabe places do not.

Luckily, the woman working there was so rude that I didn’t have to smell that awful smell for long. I communicated, in Japanese, that I had a reservation. It didn’t matter as this woman just kept turning me down and never once attempted to hear me. I had the confirmation number and everything, but she was too busy in a very empty restaurant to stop whatever she was doing to listen or care.

It’s too bad the service is so bad but I guess they don’t...

First time having motsunabe and it was delicious. The broth mixed with the offals and veggies was put together very well.

The downside of the experience was the service. From the time we were sat we were provided English menus however no water or explanation of how the menu worked. We later found out each order is for a single person and each person had to get the same thing. As a result we got the main combo, motsunabe, tofu, side and unlimited champon noodles. The waitress dropped off our pot and never explained how to eat it or when we would get noodles. After we were done with most of our course we asked for 1 round of champon which we promptly recidved and after that we asked for another round which took us 4 reminders in order to receive, mind you the restaurant was not busy. Lastly you may notice the thousands of reviews and that is because the waiter/waitress sits with you asking for a review and will wait until the review is sent in order to leave (all this while I was still waiting for my second round of noodles). I found that to be quite intrusive on our experience.

Lastly value for money was not great, we spent 80,000¥...

Worst Japanese service and food for a foreigner. Went this evening with my family. The waitress made no effort to understand your English and treated us like transparent. Then, the food. After 10 minutes wait and a pot of vegetables was placed on the stove and she just ran off. I had to call her back, so she came back to start the fire, that was all she did. After cooking the pot a while, the vegetables were cooked, but not the neef. All the meat was tough. I don't understand why the rating was so high on Google. The place is cramped and uncomfortable. So try others, not this one. Part 2 follow up because of the store manager's reply. I go japan twice a year for holiday for many years. I understand and know Japanese hospitality quite well. I was just so disappointed with the waitress service . Most of Japanese people are helpful and nice especially in the service industry. This waitress has left me with a very negative impression that I had to give the restaurant a one star rating. Please uphold the good service that is signature of Japanese...