KAIKOUBO — Restaurant in Hakodate

This place is a mixed bag.

We were extremely put off by the initial service. We walked in and everyone ignored us. I finally flagged down an older lady working the register and told her we had reservations (via Google translate) and she didn’t seem to believe us. She checked the walk-in waitlist then looked at the actual reservation list on which I pointed out my name. She then called a waitress over to lead us to our table. Not sure what the deal was with the waitress but she basically threw our towels on the table, pointed to the menu tablet and left.

We used the call button twice before someone came over as we wanted to pick a crab from the tank and it wasn’t on the tablet. I felt like the wait staff were skirting our table at the beginning, not sure what that was about. Maybe everyone was just super busy running to other tables. Once a new waitress did come over, she was very nice and patient as we used Google translate to talk and choose the crab. We ordered a bunch of other food and drinks from the tablet and the food tasted fine, nothing super impressive. We had the hairy crab half sashimi and half boiled. Both were good but I’m not sure if it was quite worth the ¥20,000 price tag though the crab did seem to be prepared expertly (pre-cut and plated well). At the end, the total price was ¥32,000. It’s worth it for the experience but I wouldn’t do it again, especially as I felt incredibly...

Overall a very good experience.

My family and I came by about an hour before we closed and got seated fairly quickly.

The servers were attentive and even though they didn't speak English they were willing to communicate with Google Translate.

The manager (at least I think he's the manager) helped us with choosing an appropriate sized crab within our budget.

We ate several grilled seafood dishes, including oysters, scallops and a fish. All were very fresh and delicious.

Because we were the last guests to come, there was a bit of a wait and we stayed past closing. However, none of the wait staff rushed us in any way and we still enjoyed our meal.

We stopped by to see the live seafood before we left and the manager was kind enough to introduce which types they had to us.

Super grateful to the manager and staff for a great experience, they're definitely very friendly and welcoming to tourists. I'd go again if I was staying longer...

visit from previous year . . . FRESH and AUTHENTIC ! although Kaikoubo attracts a lot of overseas and local tourists, the restaurant still keep a very authentic Japanese seafood qualities. this is the port area, Kaikoubo offers a wide varieties seafood menu, from easy appetizers to seriously fresh fishes and crabs. should come as early though as we arrived at 20.00h, some selections already ran out. we started with simple crab sashimi, grilled squid, sea urchin . . . and the way they cut and serve, very elegant. we ordered the sake combo and it was amazing, it came with different sake in small glasses ! we came late and most tourists already gone, only Japanese customers there and that made the ambience a lot more cosy...