Yotchan Kyobashi — Restaurant in Hiroshima

I first discovered this restaurant back in November 2022 and it became one of my favourite places to eat in Japan. The Okonomiyaki was incredible, particularly the "nikudama" was amazing. I brought my mom here in Spring 2023 and it was just as great as the first time around. A nice, small-ish, cozy restaurant at the time.

Fast forward to late November 2024 and the restaurant is ENTIRELY different. I think the owner might have changed and they revamped the entire place. Bigger, more staff for higher turnover and a seeming focus on foreigners in particular, which I'll tlak about now.

My friends and I entered the place on a weekday and checked the menu. While doing so, the female staff member came over and asked us in somewhat broken English if we wanted to have a picture taken. Now, call me a boring person but we were pretty tired and just wanted some food so we were all a bit perplexed but we played along with it and took a few photos, whatever. The food take a bit to come out, not surprising given how many people were there but after about half an hour we got it.

I immediately noticed that the portion sizes were smaller, which was disappointing. The taste was also not as great as I remembered it, with the Okonomiyaki being somewhat flavourless. While wee were eating, a patron at the kitchen counter left and the female staff member immediately came to us, asking us if we wanted to move to the counter. Again, maybe we're just unfun people but we were in the middle of eating our food so we declined.

After finishing, we paid, left and we're all pretty underwhelmed. I checked the photos on Google and noticed how the only photos of staff together with patrons were ones with foreigners on them. It all made sense then - the store tries very hard to market itself towards foreign customers by making "quirky" photos and the like.

Can't recommend it anymore. The atmosphere was pretty bad, the staff trying to get us into photos and the food all...

Experiences like this are the reason Japan is my favorite place in the world. I saw the other reviews and was shocked at how high the rating was. After eating there I now understand. This was one of the best restaurants I've been to in Japan - and I have been to many. A must have if you are in Hiroshima. My wife had the Hiroshima with oyster and I had the Hiroshima deluxe. We both do not eat much and the chef was happy to make us half sized orders! The Hiroshima style okonomiyaki was amazing. Definitely eat at the counter if you have the choice. The chef and team were passionate about their food and their energy was incredible. They were super friendly and everyone was so much fun to joke around with. I will forever remember this experience and will definitely return the next time I am in Hiroshima!

cheers...

Genuinely one of the best meals I’ve had in my 2 week trip. If you are visiting from out of town please come and support this great establishment !!!

Atmosphere is 10/10 vibrant during the week with locals, waitress speaks great English, chefs are great to watch so I recommend sitting at the counter! If you are staying in the APA hotel definitely choose this Okonomiyaki over the one in the lobby. This was my last meal in Japan before shooting up to Tokyo for my flight and I was sad to have to leave this great country and its people!

FYI, Cash only unless you are...