Kakiya — Restaurant in Hatsukaichi

To start this review, if you just care about the food, the food was alright. I ordered the oyster set and a drink. Nothing special, but not bad. Inoffensive. I’ve had better oysters in many other places. The restaurant itself was pretty cute. Essentially a long bar with barstool seating for about 15 people.

Now on to why I am leaving such a negative review. Upon receiving the bill (before the food arrived), I pulled out my credit card to pay, and the waitress told me the place was cash only. There are NO signs anywhere that said the restaurant was cash only or I would not have entered. The bill was close to 5000 yen, and I did not have that amount of cash on me.

The waitress then instructed me to go the ATM a few hundred feet away from the restaurant. I leave my bag and sunglasses at my seat to show that I’m not trying to leave without paying.

As I exit the restaurant and get about 30 feet outside, another employee races out and starts screaming at me asking where I’m going. I tell her the waitress told me I needed to get cash. The woman replies “CREDIT CARD IS OK!!!”

I return to the restaurant and wait for my meal, deeply humiliated. As I’m eating I see that the front of the restaurant has a credit card reader where some customers are paying with card. I have absolutely no idea why the waitress gave me that false information about being cash only but it ruined my meal and honestly a decent part of the rest of my day as I...

I’m an oyster lover through and through. I remember as a teenager, we would buy oysters from the seafood market and grill them on the bbq for long weekends and it was always a special memory for me. But as I was driving cross country through Japan and discovered that Hiroshima was the oyster capitol of the country I knew it was destiny. I remember driving towards the Miyajima and seeing the oyster farms in the bay, something inside of me jumped with joy. But it wasn’t until I was on the island of Miyajima and fate guided me to Kakiya. With the multitude of restaurants serving oysters, it had to be the universe telling me that I HAD to eat here. Luckily they had a sampler meal and this gave me a chance to try fried oysters, oyster rice, oyster miso soup, grilled oysters and other preparations. This was a chance encounter at the end of May and this meal made such an impression on me that I made the five hour trek to have it again less than two months later! I especially loved the deep fried oyster and the tartar sauce it came with. This is my ultimate favorite restaurant and lunch that I’ve ever had in Japan, hands down and I’m confident it will hold the top rank for a...

I ordered the standard oyster set, which is the most popular. It's a lot and I'm full. Some reviews said it's a small portion for the price, but when I tried it myself, I think it's about the price.

Grilled oysters, fried oysters, oyster rice, oyster side dishes, and even oyster miso siru.

I love oysters so much that each one was delicious, but the set itself felt heavy because they were all oysters. I felt refreshed because there were some vegetables like water parsley in the oyster rice. It would be nice to add a fresher dessert to it or was the addition of vegetables that give it a fresh texture to the oyster rice.

Grilled oysters were the best among the...