Soba Wakimoto — Restaurant in Shirakawa

We came to this restaurant to try their signature soba and Hida beef. When we arrived, the staff immediately handed us an English menu upon realizing we were tourists. However, there were differences between the English menu and the original menu, so it’s a good idea to compare them (with the help of Google Translate).

We ordered cold soba, hot soba, and Hida beef. There were plenty of set meals and à la carte options to choose from. Although the restaurant’s name includes the word “soba,” it turns out that the Hida beef was the most memorable dish. The beef was incredibly juicy, paired with a special sauce that was both savory and slightly sweet, served alongside warm Japanese rice and stir-fried bean sprouts.

As for the soba, there was a significant difference in noodle texture between the cold and hot versions. The cold soba had a firm and grainy texture, making it difficult to swallow, whereas the hot soba was the opposite—chewier and smoother. In terms of toppings, the cold soba was served only with tsuyu (a soy sauce-based dipping sauce), while the hot soba came with ebi tempura.

In terms of taste, the soba was similar to what you’d find in most other restaurants, with no distinctive flavor that...

Very pretty exterior and interior. Was pretty much the only open restaurant in mid october. Waitress was nice, the other one that came to pick up our order was very annoyed but spoke a little English. She asked us, very annoyed, if we needed the English menu, after we had been there for 20 minutes and already picked out food on the Japanese menu. Food came after another 15 minutes, we had to ask for water/tea. Every other table got it automatically. My partner ate the oroshi soba + Hida beef bowl set and I ordered the futsukake oroshi soba. His dipping sauce didn't taste like anything, he didn't mind. His Hida beef bowl was good. My soba tasted like wet dog smells and my oroshi with rice had the consistency and taste of barf. I generally like slimy things (tororo, natto, grated daikon) but this was not for my or my partner. I can't recommend this place, except for a beef bowl, but don't get the set. It cost us 4200¥...

Very bad experience. We waited from 40 minutes from ordering to receive the soba. The staff provide us wrong item and my friends have eaten some of them, she took away from my friend and said that my friend should not have eaten the wrong item.

After that, the staff said that our ordered item are wrong, so they have to redo the items. We waited another 40 minutes because the staff said even though they made mistake, they cannot prioritize our meal. Therefore, we waited 90 minutes in total.

We asked the staff why, she only said she’s Chinese and the boss treated her bad so she is gonna quit...