Wagyu teppanyaki steak house restaurant Nara-park NAGOMI — Restaurant in Nara

This place is not very foreigner-friendly. The waitstaff are not welcoming and insist on responding in Japanese, even when you speak English. The food is decent, but I wouldn’t recommend it to those who don’t speak Japanese.

What really left a bad impression was an incident involving my father—he accidentally fell in a staff-only area due to a hidden step, which I found quite hazardous. Additionally, some glasses on our table fell over but didn’t break. I immediately expressed my concern and was willing to pay if anything was damaged, but the waiter seemed mad and continued speaking in Japanese, making the situation even more uncomfortable.

I still feel disappointed about the experience, but never mind—we had a great time elsewhere! :) Reply to the owner:

Thank you for your concern. Please note that we did not intentionally enter a staff-only area. We simply wanted to take a picture, and since no staff were present at the time, we had to take it ourselves while standing in front of the table. Unfortunately, my father fell due to an unnoticed step, which led him into that space. I strongly recommend placing a visible notice on the step to prevent similar accidents.

While I had already expressed my willingness to cover any damages, what truly disappointed me was the lack of concern for his injuries at the time and somehow felt like being cursed by some Japanese language I don't know. I sincerely sorry for the incident—neither of us wanted...

Came here for lunch without reservation and was told to expect a 30-60 min wait, which was fine because it's a small place and with such hype reviews I was truly looking forward to a mind-blowing lunch. The place is so understaffed that there was barely any service although we could see that they were trying their best so kudos to them. The staff took our names and told us to wait outside closed doors. No other instructions visible from outside the restaurant so plenty of patrons came and thought the place wasn't open for the day, or thought that they should join the queue. I guess they're not very interested in actually having customers. Finally we were seated and had our orders taken but after a very very long wait during which my mother had already finished her entire unagi teishoku we were told the wagyu beef would take another 30min and to consider other options on the menu. I'm not sure how this is the case because (1) there were only 4 other patrons in the adjacent room with counter seats and (2) the wagyu requires so little cooking time as it is only lightly seared and served medium rare. In the end we ordered the steak donburi which was painfully substandard and definitely not worth the price we paid for: even the beef bento I bought from Kyoto Station Isetan basement food hall was more tasty and enjoyable - perhaps the high rating is mainly for the teppanyaki. Never in my life did I think that wagyu could disappoint but...

On our leisurely stroll through rainy Nara in early June, our family of three happened upon Nagomi. We were welcomed to the restaurant by a kind, professional greeter. We were ushered directly in to our private table, which enjoyed a view of the beautiful, lush garden outside. The menu had multiple dining options, and we all decided upon the set menu. As our chef came to begin preparing our meal, we saw one of the local deer step into the garden to graze. We enjoyed a bottle of Umenoyado sake while our meal was being prepared, and the serving staff was readily available to answer questions and to assist us. The meal was exquisite. From the first presentation of live abalone which was placed onto the grill until our mouthwatering bites of flame-kissed Wagyu sushi, Yonezawa beef sirloin and tenderloin, this was one of the best meals we enjoyed during our entire three week trip across Japan. As a ravenous eater of steak, it is not exaggeration to say that the Yonezawa beef was the most exquisite, delicious, tender meat I’ve ever tasted. As we concluded dining, we had the opportunity to speak with the proprietor about our travels. He was wonderfully kind and he asked us questions about our enjoyment of the meal. He was also interested to know how to better showcase this amazing gem to English-speakers. If you are in Nara, make sure you take the time to enjoy dining here. It is not to be...