Okinawa Kitchen Paikaji Onna — Restaurant in Onna

I wanted to love this place but i am sad that i did not and need to share my experience. Not friendly to foreigners... incompetent hostess. Wait staff and music performers were wonderful. Had a great food and drink variety.

As someone who spent many summers growing up in okinawa, and also lived 3 years here as an adult, I was excited to show my wife okinawa. As we are staying across the street, this seemed like a great choice among the MANY options in the area for an izakaya that features okinawan food and music. We have been in Japan for 13 days at this point. The live music was great and the singers were fantastic. The 550 yen per person table fee made sense and I was happy to pay it. The gentleman in front (not the hostess) was super nice and took a picture for us in front.

My first issue is the hostess didn't want to seat us without reservations. It was busy... but tables were turning over quickly. I should have just asked my hotel to call while we were there for us to be seated. They finally put us outside on the terrace as the only people outside. It was dead quiet and super awkward. I excused this at first as maybe there were lots of reservations coming.

Other Japanese customers showed up, were offered the terrace, refused and were allowed to sit inside. They did not have reservations either.

We asked to be moved and the wait staff was super kind trying to speak English with my wife and I. They told us first available they would try to move us. The hostess was not letting it happen. She was not welcome when we showed up. Not friendly when the staff told her we wanted to move. Not geniune.

It ruined our night out and was the most unwelcoming feeling we've experienced on this trip over 13 days. Just a great disappointment.

Would not recommend. Would...

A cute izakaya serving local specialties with live performance.

The place was busy in the evening, so it's easier to make a reservation before heading there. Among all other places near Onna, this one caught our attentions because of the higher rating.

Overall, the food was good with relaxing atmosphere. We ordered several dishes, such as fried bitter melon, sea grapes, fried sweet potato, and grilled chicken. Oh, they had cover charge, and it came with some small dishes. The atmosphere was great with the live performance! I do not speak Japanese but it was indeed a fun...

Food was fantastic, some authentic okinawan food. The pork belly for me was the standout of the meal. Drinks were also very nice, really enjoyed the pineapple juice. They also had traditional Okinawan music which was a nice background to an enjoyable meal. Highly recommend that you make a reservation first just to make sure it isn't a wasted trip. There is a service charge of 550 yen including tax. Budget around 3000-4000 yen per person depending on how...