Matsumoto Tsunagu Yokocho — Restaurant in Matsumoto

I am only reviewing one of the izakayas inside this place: Tempura Appare, which sells the beef tongue plates. They tried to overcharge me for every item I ordered. The Yokocho doesn’t get many foreign tourists so places will offer you a menu in English. In the case of Tempura Appare, the menu was one page long. I really wanted to try the beef tongue so I ordered one order of the green onion beef tongue. They informed me that I had to order a drink per person, so my wife and I also ordered a medium beer and an order of fries (we did this by pointing at the menu they had given us). We ate and were surprised to get a bill almost 2x what we were expecting. The bill was in Japanese, so I used Google lens to translate it. They charged us 600 yen per beer (was 500 on the menu), large fries (750 yen) instead the only size of fries available in the English menu (390 yen), and charged us for 2 of the beef tongue plates instead of 1. I quickly pointed out that the bill was wrong and they removed the second beef tongue but charged us for medium sized fries. I didn’t want to make a scene for a few hundred yen so just paid the bill and left. We originally were planning to try multiple izakayas, but decided to leave after this happened. This was the only place in Japan where we felt taken advantage of and left a sour stain on what was otherwise a fantastic trip. Make sure you confirm the price...

Considering our age, this is a wild and crazy and fun place. We were by far the oldest people in the place for dinner on a Saturday night. There was an abundance of younger people having fun. It was loud, but the loudness was joyous noise.

I had the premium beef tongue roasted and it was one of the best I have ever eaten. The wait staff was very friendly and attentive.

If you like good food and don't mind the loudness of the place, I highly recommend it.

Footnote: For the first time in over 40 years I ate at a restaurant for 2 consecutive nights. This is a fun place to...

There're hundreds of restaurants in Matsumoto. However, if you don't or can not reserve a table. You just don't get to dine in any restaurants. This is why we ended up in this food court two nights in a row.

To our surprise. This just happens to be a fun place where you get to choose whatever you feel like and just pull up a seat and order. The food is cheap, alcohol is even cheaper. This is why it is a place to be to hang out with locals, eat, and get drunk together. Had many delicious food there but can't quite remember the rest...