Ajikura — Restaurant in Takayama

I'm sad to say that I'm not blown away by this restaurant like other people. The biggest factor might be that it was me and my wife's first time eating wagyu beef and we expected a full service - by which I mean that we get the meat cooked and seasoned properly by a professional chef. Instead, we got the meat raw on a platter and didn't even get any instructions, such as how many seconds/minutes we should cook the meat, should we do flips or just one flip per side, how to use the spices, miso and such.

We came on a Monday in Sakura season 10 minutes before opening time. We got into the queue and got the number 66. The first 30 or so people got to eat immediately. We had to wait 2 hours. The waiting time didn't bother me though, as much as the fact that we lost 2 hours of exploring the city.

I would suggest to anyone that stumbled on my review that, if you like cooking your own beef and if it's not your first wagyu experience, go for it, but come at least 30 minutes before opening time. If you're popping your wagyu cherry, choose another place.

P.s. the meat did not melt in our mouths, nor did any other meat, regardless of how much money I ever paid anywhere. You melt ice cream and chocolate in your mouth...meat,...

I love Hida Beef and have visited many nice restaurants on my last visit to Takayama but this place - no words. Perfection! Just that! Everything, from the meat to the soup, just anything on the menu, tasted perfect. The moment I saw the meat, I knew it was of very high quality. The special cuts were extremely marbled, and the meat simply melted inside my mouth. I was very impressed! I would definitely come back if I’m in Takayama!

The only bad thing is that they have a very limited number of seats available every day, so you’ll have to line up quite early before they open. For example, we wanted to secure a table for the 5pm dinner round, so we arrived at 4:15pm to queue up. When we got there, there were already 5 groups queuing up in front of us, so we really thought we couldn’t make it! Once they finish selling tickets for the day, they just stop accepting customers. So...

Went to Ajikura for dinner. The restaurant will let you in to grab the que at 4:30pm for dinner service that will open at 5pm. We were there at 4:20pm and there were quite a few people lining up before us. We got queue no. 62 and the lady there told us to come back at 7pm. So we wandered off to old town and came back around 6:45pm. Found out after the meal that the last queue the restaurant gave out was no. 64 so we almost didnt make it.

Food was amazing. Hida beef was marbled and juicy. Tons of options for dipping sauce (free: soy sauce, miso, salt&pepper and addtitional 20 yen each for wasabi, gochujang, etc) I enjoyed it with salt and pepper the most. Restaurant itself felt large and the seating was spread out.

We ordered one Hida beef assortment to share. Two rice, a few soft drinks and a few side dishes. Our bills came out 15,XXX Yen.

Great place. Expensive but did...