The BARN BY ODIN — Restaurant in Kutchan

There are many scammy tourist traps in Niseko, but Odin might be one of the most well-disguised. Food and service = 1/5. In summary, in my 20+ trips to Japan this was possibly the worst overall dining experience. There is 0 Japanese hospitality here.

Reviews from past years touts locally sourced food from the region (having dined here, I suspect they may mean local as in, all of Japan), a beautiful space (very instagrammable, people outside with professional cameras flashing ridiculous lights for 15 mins while you eat), and in previous years food seemed somewhat reasonably priced, for Niseko. A chef’s course a few years ago cost 6,600jpy, it’s now about double the price. Well, if food is good, I’m fine with a higher price, especially given everything is about 2-3x normal prices in Niseko. Don’t believe anything you see on google from past year reviews; the 2023/24 season menu looks drastically different. There is no Basque cheese cake (we asked, in case it was off-menu), no fries, even the design of the menu looks cheapened. Perhaps ownership has changed.

Most importantly, food was disastrous. A friend saw a comment on one of Odin’s posts asking for the chef’s menu, and suggested we respond with “they serve wagyu-flavored chewing gum here”. We were a group of 4 and 2 of us ordered the chef’s course. I wasn’t feeling some of the courses (no options at all), so opted for a la carte. I should’ve known there was a red flag when there was no grade for the “wagyu” course on the menu. Well, the “highlight” of this disastrous evening was no other than the ungraded wagyu of questionable origin and cut. One of the diners in my group got a pretty fatty, melty, piece, he enjoyed it. Mine, was of such a terrible cut it was impossible to slice through without sawing at the meat till the table shook, and impossible to chew. We asked the waiter out of curiosity if the cut of meat of the wagyu a la carte (8,800jpy btw) should be the same as what’s in the chef’s cut. They return saying it’s identical. We tell them it can’t be, and they get very huffy with us, insist it’s the same, but to their credit, at least offer to swap it out (in an angry impatient tone + no apology). They return with a HUGE portion of meat, double the previous portion (as though insinuating we wanted it changed to get more), once again impossible to cut. All 4 of us diners took a bite of the meat to try (at this point incredulous), chewed for about 3 full minutes each, gave up, washed the lump down with water. Obviously, we did not finish this pile of chewing gum and left it behind. The table beside us, a couple, had the SAME problem with their beef (chef’s course). They were hacking at the meat, and at some point one diner surrendered and asked for hers to be taken a look at. It seems the only concession she got was to have hers cooked a little more (don’t think it helped). We exchanged a few words, and she told us what we had witnessed- this beef is inedible, and the staff unhelpful. She looked infuriated; another diner’s evening ruined.

The rest of the food: hamachi is unseasoned, dressing sub-par, tasted like 5$ sashimi from Life supermarket. The bread and butter selection is a few slices of underbaked baguette w/ butter that tastes like those prepackaged slabs of Hokkaido butter you can again find from the supermarket. Not even the fermented ones. Clams were ALRIGHT (thank goodness), some sand and shell bits though, but in comparison with the other disasters this was at least a 2.5/5.

The cherry on top is that at the end of the meal, they come round with a Square reader, and ask for a tip on the screen before you can complete the payment. You know those default ones you see in the US, at like boba guys? 15%, 20%? In Japan?? And when we were getting our coats to leave, the rude manager comes by, says “GOODNIGHT” and slams the door shut in our faces; this is the door to the cloak room so we weren’t even letting in cold outside air. Ok, yeah, thank you, never again. Goodnight and...

My partner and I came in with very low expectations, especially after reading the other reviews and not being able to bail on our reservation due to the 48 hour charge. Overall, however, we had a really pleasant experience and, based on our experience alone, would give the Barn 4.5 stars.

For context, we are not general fans of fine dining. Pretentious restaurants with over priced set menus are NOT our thing. We usually sign up for this stuff because we “need a fancy dinner” on our vacation… which is kinda cliche.

Food: the food is good… not great. We did not get the set menu and were happy about that decision. A la cart felt better here. Nothing blew our minds, per se, but the Wagyu was in the great steak territory (albeit, a bit chewy like the other reviews have mentioned, but cooked and seasoned nicely). The carpaccio was sub par, the fish was solid, the dessert was very good (again, not great). For the price, I think the food itself maybe slightly missed the mark, but only slightly.

Drinks: great. The winter Negroni was VERY good, and I’m a Negroni guy. The wine was good and reasonably priced, as well, which I was surprised by. The espresso was also on point (I hate a fine restaurant with bad coffee…).

Service: phenomenal. I haven’t had a very positive experience like this in a while. Glasses never empty, table service was quick without being overwhelming, waiters were all kind (albeit some seemed amateur, but that’s a ski town for you). Morgan (the header waiter? Manager?) really made the experience hit 5 stars instead of 4. Nicely done, Morgan.

Anyways, I digress. If you’re looking for a break from typical Izakaya food (I don’t blame you if you don’t) and want a nice date night, I think the barn is worthy if your experience ends up like ours. If you’re fine with saving the steak and potatoes for your home country, then have a night at an...

The room is expansive and architecturally impressive but sadly the highly anticipated ‘The Barn’ did not deliver…well it delivered us a VERY large bill for a very average experience but unfortunately not much more than that. Service was ok, it was hit and miss and felt we were always needing to get their attention. They also tried to start clearing our plates before the last of us had finished eating. We had to send back 3 of the 5 Wagyu steaks we ordered (8,800 each) as they were cold and chewy. Medium rare was rare, medium was rare. Was better after we had them cooked more but certainly not what we’d ordered or paid for. Wine list was very expensive and they had no sake on the menu. You honestly wouldn’t have even realised you were in Japan during this meal. Half way through our desserts the bill hit our table and we were told we had to leave as the next booking was due in 15 minutes. No warning of this. No “any last orders or drinks” prior to receiving the bill and our marching orders. We had arrived on time for our booking and were given less than 1hr 45mins for our sitting. So as we shoved down the last of our desserts we put our money on the table and had to leave. Shame that this was to be our last night in Niseko. Still hungry, we stopped by the food trucks on the walk home where we were shown some good old fashioned Japanese hospitality. I feel bad giving such a scathing review. But when you’re paying top dollar, you do expect to get a return for that. Whether it’s a special dish, incredible service. Something. But sadly this time that was not to be. I honestly don’t like giving reviews like this but maybe by doing so, the next person who visits might get the experience they should. The English guy/waiter was lovely but this is by far the worst meal we’ve had in our 10...