お好み焼き酒場 八 — Restaurant in Osaka

WARNING: Tourist trap alert!

We really wish we had read the reviews before coming here, but it was so hard to find the name of this place until it was too late!

When you enter the restaurant, they hand you a sign explaining that there are appetizers—at a cost. It also states that each person is required to order at least one dish and one drink. The translation was so poor that we misunderstood it as something like, “These are the set prices for appetizers.”

What it actually means is that they will serve you an appetizer you don’t get to choose, and you’ll be charged for it whether you eat it or not. In our case, they gave us a quail egg dish that was completely tasteless. It’s one thing to require an appetizer, but not letting customers choose what it is? That’s a strange concept. I don’t even like eggs that much, so this felt like a waste. This came up to a little under $10 CAD I believe but it’s more about the principle than the cost to me.

The rest of the food was good, in my opinion. It was my first time trying this type of cuisine, so I don’t have much to compare it to.

One last note is that on the street, they boasted a high Google review for their place. This really set the bar high for us. However it turns out they have a reviews promotion where if you complete a review, they give you a small free dessert. This could be a good reason why you will see a lot of 5 star...

I don’t usually write reviews, but I felt the need to share this experience.

The waiting time for the food was unreasonably long. It took 30 minutes just to receive the first dish. We had ordered two different types of food, but instead of bringing them together, they served them separately — with the second dish arriving 20 minutes after the first. This lack of coordination made it difficult to enjoy the meal together.

Pricing-wise, there are a few things to keep in mind. The base cost seems to increase with the number of people, even before anything is served. Additionally, each person is required to order at least one food item and one drink, which quickly adds up. The prices themselves are quite high considering the overall experience.

To make matters worse, they only accepted cash — no credit cards or electronic payments were allowed, which was highly inconvenient, especially for travelers.

Despite all of this, there was no apology, no explanation, and certainly no compensation offered. The staff seemed completely indifferent to the delays and inconvenience caused.

If you're on a tight schedule, trying to manage your budget, or expecting even a minimum level of service, I would strongly recommend avoiding this place. The overall experience felt like a waste of both...

Easily the WORST food I've eaten in Osaka since living here for 3 years.

The staff were incredibly impolite in Japanese, felt like they just hated their jobs and made a strange face at me when I requested water before a few minutes later, returning to the table ultimately saying there was a mandatory 1 drink order policy.

There's a table charge on top of a 1 drink order per person and surprisingly enough, the quail eggs they gave as the table charge was better than the okonomiyaki they served!

Buying and making a ready-made kit of okonomiyaki from the supermarket would taste better than the food they served us. It was actually pathetic to call this place an okonomiyaki restaurant. My friends got the kushikatsu and yakisoba and agreed the food was not good.

I only went here because a friend visiting Osaka chose this since other restaurants had long lines, and we had little time but never again!

1700 yen down the drain for shoddy okonomiyaki, a drink and obligatory quail eggs as a table charge.

Don't trust their high ratings! You get some free small dish at the resturant when you leave a good review.

Go to Ajinoya instead - it's right next door. We only went to this restaurant because Ajinoya was...