Torikuri — Restaurant in Karuizawa

This is the first time I’ve felt compelled to write a review after a disappointing experience at a restaurant. While I don’t mind mediocre food, my dining companion and I sensed that we were deliberately neglected.

The restaurant wasn’t crowded; it was just us and another table. After placing our order, the waitress informed us that it might take a little longer to prepare our food, which we agreed to. However, we didn’t anticipate waiting over an hour. Interestingly, the chef (presumably the owner) was friendly with other patrons, recommending various specialties to them. Meanwhile, their table seemed to overflow with a variety of dishes, while we sadly waited for our own order.

An hour later, we signaled the waitress and showed her the timestamp on the order app: 8:16, an hour ago. To our surprise, she appeared equally surprised. She promptly brought us a few skewers (were they ready all along, sitting on the grill?). Since half of our orders were still unprepared, we reluctantly decided to cancel our order.

To be honest, bad experience aside, the food was lackluster—under-seasoned, overcooked, and lacking juiciness. I still feel that the yakitori was the worst I’ve tasted in Japan.

I’m awarding two stars for the food, primarily out of sympathy for the waitress.

After reading previous comments, I wondered if our experience was due to our order for bottled water (my companion ordered sake). There are patrons who do not take alcoholic, carbonated, sweetened, or caffeinated drinks due to health conditions. If those customers are not welcome, I will help advertise accordingly

Edit : to owner’s comment - food were suggested to the other patron and served while we wait for our order. So I guess the order processing system was not according to time of the order but...

Delicious local yakitori place with all the basics and a few specialities. Forgot to take pix of everything :(. But took what i could once i remembered. Hehe all towards the end (shime). Should def go for good...

The food tastes fantastic. Only 1 owner runs the entire shop, so need to use the ordering system to order food. If you don’t know Japanese, takes a bit to figure it out. But it’s...