Dejima Asa — Restaurant in Nagasaki

Finding a place to eat at 10 p.m. on a Tuesday evening in Nagasaki isn't that easy. We almost succumbed to konbini food when we found the Dejima Asa Izakaya near Nagasaki's Chinatown. It looks quite posh on the outside which made us reluctant to go inside. We entered the establishment only to be greeted by one of the waiters. He was quite surprised when he saw us and had to ask his fellow staff members what he should do with us. They decided to send us upstairs where private seating is available. Since you have to take off your shoes and have to kneel in front of the table my mother-in-law refused to do so because of physical restraints. We told the polite and friendly waiter that this type of seating wouldn't be fitting for us. He told staff downstairs via headseat of this revelation and after a moment of silence he showed us the way down again where we were seated at the bar. There were a few local customers having something to eat as well but we were greeted heartily by staff after all. Ordering was quite fun since we didn't really know what to order in the first place. Our waiter, whose Englisch wasn't that bad actually, apologized for his lack of English skills, which we justified by explaining that our Japanese was even worse (haha). So, after ordering some draft beer, choosing dishes became easier. We ordered, I think, 10 dishes for a group of 4, sometimes unsure what exactly it is we were ordering. (The menu had an English translation but some dishes weren't self-explanatory) Amongst those dishes were, for example, the potato wedges and the rice porridge, as well as a tempura mix. They all tasted amazing. We all had a laugh, the staff included. The chefs watched every move we made and tried to read our faces after each and every bite. We responded with happy faces and delighted hearts. For us, the food wasn't that expensive after all, considering the absurd amount of dishes we ordered in the first place.

Nice staff, good food, had a laugh. 10/10 would...

My second trip to Japan brought me to Nagasaki, a city where I really wasn't sure what to expect. After a disappointing dinner elsewhere, I was on the hunt for a meal that could lift my spirits, which brought me to Dejima Asa. I don't have a Japanese phone number, so I took my chances and showed up with no reservation on a Monday night. I must've been lucky today because they had an open counter seat!

Right away on entering the restaurant, you are enveloped by a level of hospitality that only comes with years of dedicated skill and care. There are attentive staff watching at every moment, ready to answer your "sumimasen" within seconds.

I ordered the fried mochi in dashi broth, spring chicken karaage, and melty cheese pie. You probably don't need me to tell you that it was all delicious. My only caveat was that the melty cheese pie could've done with a few more tomatoes and greens to balance the richness of the cheese and pork, but that might just be my tastes!

When my meal was done, the staff helped me put on my jacket, opened the door for me, and sent me off into the night with kind goodbyes.

In my years of working in restaurants and eating in many more, I have never had such an amazing level of service for what was considerably, to a Canadian, a very inexpensive meal.

You are missing out if you do not eat here on your trip to Nagasaki.

Thank you for the wonderful...

This place is not suitable for foreigners-even if you speak Japanese you are not welcome. We were excited to try this izakaya because of great reviews. Unfortunately we didn’t have a chance to make a booking so we just arrived. My wife speaks Japanese and asked table for two people but they were full. That’s fine we didn’t have a booking but she asked to make a booking for the next night. The waiter then got his booking sheet out and asked the time tomorrow and he clearly had spots available on his sheet - but, before we could make a booking one of the chefs rushed over and said they were full and had no tables. She said that’s fine we want to make a booking another night he said they were full every day. Clearly we were not welcome. They did not say sorry. It was so surprising. Despite us knowing Japanese they were very clear our money wasn’t good at their restaurant. Worst experience we have had anywhere in Japan. Don’t bother visiting if you are not...