Okinawan Cuisine Gaja Haruko Sakaba — Restaurant in Naha

I have found this place based on google reviews and I really wanted to like it. Everything about it sounded my kind of place, however the experience turn out to be pretty shocking. In 30 years travelling the world visiting more than 50 countries, this is the first time I have been asked to leave because we don’t speak the same language.

Here the full story: I have contacted the restaurant the night before to make a reservation through the LINE application. The owner was only communicating in Japanese and I was translating everything with a translation app. He made it clear that he cannot speak English, from my side there was no problems. And he accepted my reservation. I had the same obstacle in many other places I visited here in Japan. It was always easy to overcome, in most cases the communication obstacle made the experience more jolly and friendly.

The day of the booking he sent me the menu encouraging me to order in advance to avoid waiting. Reading other reviews, several people order the omakase set menu and so I wanted to try the same and said that at the time of the booking.

Finally I arrived, everything was how imagined. Small cosy and homie. There were alcoholic drinks waiting for me on the table. I was very excited and ready to enjoy the feast. The person brought me 2 type of snacks which were delicious and then few other costumers arrived. 30min on without checking on me and I could not see him, so I send a LINE message and basically said (very politely) that he could bring other dishes whenever he wanted. He responded: "please order here on LINE what you want." I replied: "As mentioned last night please the full set, bring everything from the menu" (it was only 7-8 dishes), I want to try everything. His reply was this: "I don't understand English. Sorry. If this continues, we will both be unhappy. I would recommend another store."

I was still in shocked and reply again politely to bring all the dishes from the menu. He then came to me and talked to me in Japanese and even though I can’t speak a word of it, it was very clear that he wanted me to leave. I even try to use the app to translate an order but he didn’t want to hear it. Kept saying No. I was in shock and left.

Never mind how good of a chef you are, how good your reviews are, no matter what cause you are doing your restaurant for, this was so disrespectful and narrow minded without care for the people that actually took time to visit your store.

Given the other positive reviews (and the 2 snacks I tried) the food is probably good, but I don’t recommend any non Japanese speaking costumers to have the same experience.

When I left I headed to the next restaurant on my list. We had the same communication barrier but it was so easy to overcome it and the experience was nothing shorter than great.

This was possibly the most negative cultural experience I had in Japan.

P.S: I now see that he responded giving excuses, saying that my review was an exaggeration. I am a foodie and a chef myself, I travel to try food. I wanted to try and like your restaurant and food why would I try to hurt you. Why were you unhappy and asked me to leave? You didn't suggest, you made it clear that I had to go. Maybe there was some misunderstanding, but just because I ordered too much? You could not approach me at the table to clarify? All it would have taken to clear the communication barrier was to use our phone application. No … although I was very polite for whatever reasons you decided to kick me out. Your behaviour was not...

The store is on the first floor. The master was polite and attentive. For a Friday night it was not busy and we enjoyed the drinks on the table. NOTE that the food is 8 courses and is the set menu. The menu he sends you via email or line is the alcohol menu which you can order. One of the previous 1 star reviews said bring everything on the alcohol menu, which is a lot for one person to drink! I think there was a communication error as most people go for the food and not the drinks. Drinks are unlimited and there is no set time, but after 2 hours of eating and drinking as much as we can, we made our money worth over and over.

We ordered the highball which we were given Whisky to mix ourselves with carbonated water. We also ordered apple juice as we were females and cannot drink so much. I recommend the Umeshu (plum wine) it's very nice.

The food is divine, homecooked and okinawan specialty, we enjoyed every dish and even had ice cream at the end. Portions were big too, we were so full by the end of it!

The decor was modern and if it's your first time in Okinawa or in an Izakaya it's a good place to start. For 3300 yen per person with unlimited drinks and 8 courses, this place is definitely...

【予約について】 タブにある「通話」からお店の携帯に電話しても、留守番電話でラインからの予約を促されます。「席を予約する」から「line.me」を選択して、ラインから予約をしましょう。 店主はワンオペ、聴覚障害がある方なので、電話対応が困難なのだと思います。 当日に飲み物を頼む場合も、ラインから注文するのが良いでしょう。

【料金形態など】2024年12月現在 基本のコースは、 ・もずく酢（前菜） ・食べたいもの７種 ・時間無制限飲み放題（ビールのみ別途¥250） で、女性3000円、男性3300円でした。 品数を減らすことも可能で、その場合は一品当たり、420円の計算で対応してくれます。一品には前菜のもずく酢も含まれますので、例えば「もずく酢＋５種（計６品）＋飲み放題」だと、「420×6＝2520円」みたいな料金で対応してくれるそうです。 ラインで食べたいものを選ぶと、予約が確定します。また、『当日の料理追加は受けかねるので多めに頼んでいただいて、当日料理が多いようでしたら止める事可能です。』とのこと。私達は初来店でもあったので、結局、以下８品の飲み放題にしてみました。（★は個人的におすすめです。） ①もずく酢（前菜） ②ジーマーミ豆富 ③モズクのかき揚げ ④フーチャンプルー ⑤★ソーキ煮 ⑥アグーギョーザ ⑦★ゴーヤーと鳥のトマトソース煮 ⑧★沖縄そば

【料理、サービス】 完全予約制なので、店内は非常に落ち着いた雰囲気。時間無制限ということもあり、ゆっくりくつろげます。 料理はどれもおいしかったです。８品となれば、ボリュームはかなりありますし、時間無制限で飲み放題。とてもリーズナブルで良心的なお店だと思いました。特に沖縄そばは、普通にどんぶり一杯で提供されます。食べるお腹の余裕は、ちゃんと残しておきましょうね(笑) お酒類は、予め席に結構な量を置いていってくれます。置いてあるもの以外が欲しければ、ラインから注文しましょう。 店主の対人距離感も良く、「いい意味で」放置してくれていて、居心地が良いです。それでいて客を見ていない訳ではなく、何も言わなくても氷が少なくなれば、代わりをさっと持ってきてくれる気配り等はちゃんとしてくれます。ワンオペですが、料理の提供スピードも丁度良いです。 その日の混み具合（時間が早いこともあり、この時は私達一組だけでした）や、仕入れ状態にもよると思いますが、サービスで紅芋天ぷらや、さーたーあんだぁぎーも出してくれました。〆の沖縄そば以外の料理は出し切ったタイミングだったので、とても嬉しかったです。〆の沖縄そばは、こちらのタイミングでラインをすると出してくれました。結局全部で十品いただいたことになりましたが、もうお腹はパンパンですね(笑) また、売上の一部を児童養護施設へ寄付する取り組みもされているそうで、応援したくなるお店でもあります。 また来店させていただきます。 くわっ...