Cafe Ougiya — Restaurant in Naoshima

I believe they are scamming tourists. If you choose to go, be very careful. Here’s my experience: You need to buy tickets at a vending machine and then show the ticket to the staff. A server was helping operate the machine, which makes sense because many tourists may not read Japanese. I ordered a 550 yen ice cream and inserted a 1000 yen bill. But when the change came out, she only grabbed part of it and handed it to me. She was on the side of the machine so maybe she couldn’t see the rest, but this should have happened a lot and she should be trained. I told her there were more coins, and she picked them up, counted all of them, and discovered we had 500 yen. So one of the previous customers lost 50 yen. Then I handed the ticket to the counter staff, who was supposed to tear it in two, give me one, and keep the other one, so I could exchange the food with my half of the ticket. But instead, he took the whole thing. So when another staff prepared an ice cream, I didn’t know whether it was mine as I didn’t have my number (and he didn’t call a number anyways), so seeing no one in line before me I just took it. Had someone ordered and walked away, another person could easily take the order. When I was waiting, I also saw this person taking food for her family. Apparently they ordered 5 items, but in the tray there were only 4. When she was explaining, in English, that something was missing, another staff came out with the fifth item. She tried to take it, but the staff said in Japanese that it was for another customer. So she had to count: there’s four on this tray, and that’s my fifth item. And then the staff gave her all five. I did not see any exchange/showing of tickets. They could easily take away an item if the customer doesn’t remember what was ordered. I guess the ice cream was alright but the cone was very thin and the melting ice cream was crushing it, so I had to rush to finish the ice cream. It’s definitely lower quality than a 400 yen matcha ice cream I got in Kyoto (right outside a famous temple, so also lots of tourists). I guess my advice is: 1. Learn the coins and count your change, 2. Tear the ticket yourself and hand half to the staff, so you have a copy of the order, and 3. Wait at the counter, just in case they don’t call you...

We heard about the delicious ice cream that was available here so we decided to get a couple of cones while we were waiting for the ferry. I have to say these were pretty delicious ice cream cones and so I highly recommend giving them a try. You’d have to purchase a ticket from the vending machine and give it to the attendant and then she will give you the cones The supplies to any food that you purchase from the café they spoke English and were...

It is great that this place runs until pretty late. When you have no other option, having a food stand within the terminal helps a lot. They have warm food, drinks, ice cream, something for everyone.

The interior could get better I think. The building is super minimal and chic just like SANNA’s works, but the way the operating uses the space is a...