Yamayoshi — Restaurant in Himeji

There was a short queue but the waiting time was under 30mins during lunch time which is short enough by Japanese standard for good food. You can also see the chef cook unagi in front of you through the window so it definitely made the time go by quicker.

The restaurant is small but comfortable. Personally, i think it adds to the charm. The food came quite fast once you're sitting down and the customer service was great.

The unagi broth is one of the best i've tasted. While the unagi is on the mild side because of the lack of sauce placed compared to other restaurants, it somehow manages to bring out the unagi flavour even more. I can see why it's such a popular place.

The overall experience was tremendously enjoyable and if i ever visit Himeji again, i would stop...

The worst dining experience in Japan so far - not only the place is very dirty and smelly, the attitude of personnel feels totally out of place. We haven’t faced this amount of neglect for a long time - half of tables were empty, 1 table was covered with takeaway bags, and these, coupled with already small sitting area, just inflated lines artificially. We were not given any wait time estimates or reactions from the folks. Totally not fun, the only recommendation is for the owner of this place to pay attention to these obvious improvement needs.

Btw, we’ve asked a waiter to provide the complaint book or share WhatsApp of the owner - haven’t received either of these. Still happy to chat with the decision maker here and provide more...

(Trip was made back then on 6 Dec 2019, 2 years before the Covid-19 Pandemic hit)

Sumiyaki Anago Yamayoshi is supposedly very popular and has been recommended by several websites for their thick, tender and juicy eels.

We personally tried it for ourselves yesterday and though the food might look appetising, the taste leaves a lot to be desired. The eel was nothing like what the reviews mentioned. It was so tough and dry that I thought the poor eel was tortured to death.

For the kind of price, we could get better quality eels elsewhere. Heck, even the frozen eel from supermarket would be better (and cheaper too) than what they served here.

If you have enemies or people you hate, recommend them...