MINATOYA — Restaurant in Onomichi

We stopped in for an early morning coffee and sandwich set before it got busy. While I was finishing my salad, one of the staff came, and without asking, took my plate away. I can speak Japanese fairly fluently, but I didn’t feel like it was as necessary that, as a customer, I should have to explain that I was still eating. It was pretty rude and strange. Then, my husband went to the restroom and another staff member came and started stacking our coffee cups, which still had coffee in them. I told him we weren’t finished, Japanese and he seemed surprised. My husband then came back and I went to the restroom. While I was in the restroom, the staff started pressuring him saying there were reservations and we needed to leave our table. No one mentioned to us prior about reservations and we would have happily cleared out if we knew beforehand. My husband is a local Japanese guy, so perhaps the staff felt it easier to pressure us. There were other overseas guests who were at their tables before us and were completely finished with their drinks and food and had just been hanging out. Nothing was said to them. We left, but this was a really rude welcome for...

It’s kind of place that attracts mostly foreign “hipster” tourists, as one local shopkeeper said.

For breakfast, they open to both hotel guests and walk-ins. I tried their breakfast, the price was reasonable, but the taste was mediocre, nothing special about its “sourdough”bread sandwiches. The space is compact, so it can get crowded quickly. I’d suggest to get there earlier if you prefer harbour facing view seat, there’re only two such tables in total.

We were not impressed with the service of one male staff (who has mid-length curly hair) at the counter. He was visibly standoffish, and seemed not bothered to serve, which is rare in Japan a country renowned for high standards of hospitality. Ironically, he spoke rather decent English, and appeared to be more than happy to have casual conversation with White customers.

So, unless you’re dying to check out this over-hyped cafe, I’d personally recommend to dine in other more authentic local places...

I walked in early Friday evening. The restaurant was completely empty. The waiter asked if I had a reservation, I said no. He looked me up and down (I was in workout clothes, having just biked the first half of the Shimanami Kaido, but showered and presentable). He made like he was going in the back to pretend to ask someone, but turned around and blatantly lied about the table seating being completely full and were unavailable. The restaurant was completely empty of customers except for myself for the entirety of my meal. I got the wild boar ragu (basic and flavorless) at the same waiter's recommendation (probably bc it was one of the more expensive items on the menu), and the carrot salad (really sour)! The only positive was the waitress/cashier who brought my food and took care of my bill. She was super nice and we chatted. Skip this place. Subpar service and the food is not good enough to...