Zauo Fishing Restaurant Namba — Restaurant in Osaka

This review is for the customers who dont manage to make your booking in the website and also the owner of the restaurant .

I arrived at the restaurant around 8:00 PM and saw only two small groups waiting outside. It didn’t seem particularly crowded, so I went in and told the staff we had a party of three. The server( lady with gold shoulder length hair ) simply asked, “Do you have a reservation?” When I said no, she immediately responded with “fully booked,” without asking if I wanted to leave a contact number, if I was willing to wait, or even how long the wait might be. The interaction felt cold and dismissive.

What confused me more was that just the night before, I had visited around 10 PM to ask about their walk-in policy and was told that the last walk-in was accepted at 9:30 PM. So why was it “fully booked” already at 8 PM? When I asked again about their walk-in policy, the staff replied because ytd they have table available , but today they are all fully booked . I tried to ask how many guest do u have in your waiting list ? Then she told me to come back between 8:30 and 9:00 PM to see if any tables were available.

I didn’t want to give up, so I waited outside and checked their online booking system at the same time. I noticed that their last available reservation slot was at 7:00 PM, while the kitchen takes last orders at 10:00 PM and the restaurant closes at 11:00 PM. This suggests there should have been some table turnover available.

Ironically, less than five minutes later, another staff member came out and invited us in — and as I expected, our table wasn’t the only one open; several other tables were also empty. It made me wonder whether some staff were making judgment calls at the door, potentially turning away business unnecessarily.

I truly hope the managementof this restaurant not aware about this . rather than an intentional tactic to create an illusion of being “hard to book” in order to seem more exclusive. Honestly, this restaurant doesn’t need to do that — from what I saw, every customer left happy and satisfied, and there were plenty of tourists dining there. Plus, the restaurant is located within walking distance of lively Dotonbori, which already gives it great foot traffic. If business isn’t as good as expected, the owner may want to check whether someone at the door is unintentionally turning customers away.

Thankfully, once we were seated, the experience inside was excellent. Every staff member was friendly and helpful — especially the gentleman at the fishing area, who patiently guided us and even helped us catch our second fish. The food was delicious, and the overall experience was fun and memorable.

In summary, if the front-of-house service were more welcoming and professional, I would have gladly given a higher rating. I hope the restaurant takes feedback seriously and ensures every guest who makes the effort to visit is treated fairly.

PS I visit this Restaurnt in Tokyo years before , I didn’t have this...

We came with a party of 8 last night at 8pm for dinner and even without reservations, was able to get seated quickly. Our waiter spoke English fairly well and was able to go over the instructions enough for us to understand. The menu has the instructions on the fishing rod fee as well. We were confused with the menu as we thought we could order spicy hot pot in addition to our catches but it appears after you catch a sea bream and you have it prepared up to 2 ways, then you need to either fish for another sea bream or order it at the higher price.

Service was lacking after our drink orders were taken as it took the guy a long time to bring 2 fishing rods with bait for our party to fish from our seating area. I later learned they had more sea bream fish outside to fish for too and you don’t need to fish from where you’re sitting at and is probably quicker for the fish to bite too.

My suggestion for this experience as we learned is to catch everything you feel is enough to eat for your party and then have them cook it however way you would like. Or order for the slightly higher price so they can bring out the food timely. We initially caught a sea bream and had them make into the soup and stewed style as we don’t eat raw. Then we fished for a flounder and had them do 2 ways- fried and steamed with soy sauce. We initially ordered 3 rice and later ordered another 3 rice which took 3 reminders and getting someone’s attention to ask about our rice order. We went to fish for 4 mackerels and those took longer to fish for so by the time we put the order for them to be grilled it took forever to come out. We had to inquiry about our grilled fish twice to make sure it was not forgotten which I felt like it was because our other orders in the beginning did not take more than 45 mins to arrive to us. The grilled fish was salty to my liking.

Overall, this place is fun if you have kids or just want to experience the fish and bring to table concept. It’s pricey and food took a long time for us and a one time experience. Our bill was a little over 22,000 yen which included 2 fishing rod, 2 medium beer, one soda pop with souvenir cup, 1 sprite, 1 cola, 1 flounder, 1 sea bream and 4 mackerels and 6 bowl of rice. We prob could’ve ordered another sea bream or flounder in the beginning to feel more full...

Here’s your cleaned-up and slightly polished version that keeps the kid’s voice and energy while smoothing out the flow:

⸻

🎣🍟 My Epic Night at Zauo Fishing Restaurant

Score: 10 / 10 / 10 – it was that awesome! (Review from a 9-year-old boy who loves fishing)

⸻

🎌 Where were we?

We were in Osaka, Japan at this super cool place called Zauo Fishing Restaurant. It’s a fishing-themed restaurant where you actually catch your own dinner. No joke!

⸻

🐟 Catching the fish

The whole restaurant is built around a giant wooden boat surrounded by water, with little tatami-style booths along the sides. You sit on the floor with cushions and slide open a big window to fish right from your seat.

Here’s how it works: Drop your bait through the window. Fish swim around—mackerel, sea bream, flounder, jack, grunt, lobster, prawns, even abalone! When one bites, you reel it in and scoop it up with a big net (just don’t bring it into your room—unless you want a splash zone).

Best part? Every time someone catches a fish, the staff bangs a big drum and sings a celebration cheer. Everyone claps! It’s loud, exciting, and super fun.

⸻

🍽 What we caught and ate

We caught three fish! You can choose from a bunch of ways to cook them, like: • Fried • Grilled with salt • Sashimi (raw) • Stewed • In a hot pot • And tons more

Here’s what we picked: • One was turned into crispy fish and chips (my favorite—I had two and a half plates!) • One was grilled with salt • One was served as super fresh sashimi

Even if you don’t want to fish, you can order off the regular menu.

⸻

👨‍👩‍👦 What Mom and Dad liked • Dad: Said it was the freshest fish ever and loved the salt-grilled one. He also had a sake tasting flight with peach, plum, and mandarin orange flavors. Let’s just say… he was very happy. • Mom: Thought the experience was fun but felt a little bad for the fish 😅

⸻

⭐ Final Verdict

Zauo was the most fun dinner we had in Japan. You get to fish for your own meal, choose how it’s cooked, and the whole place cheers when you catch something.

I’d totally go again—10 out of 10 out of...