Suzuya Restaurant — Restaurant in Takayama

I always appreciate the effort that goes into running a business, especially in such a hospitable country like Japan. However, I feel compelled to share my experience at this restaurant, in hopes that it might offer some insight for both future guests and the restaurant itself.

During our visit, it was hard not to notice a stark difference in how Western tourists were treated compared to Asian guests, including ourselves and locals. The owner greeted Westerners with extra enthusiasm, offering to take photos for them—a gesture that wasn’t extended to us or other Asian diners. I couldn’t help but feel that this was done with the expectation that these photos would be posted online or added to Google reviews, almost as though Western guests were being used as a marketing tool.

While I understand the business focus on attracting tourists, it created an environment where non-Western guests seemed overlooked. We waited quite a while for service and had to call for assistance, something I didn’t observe happening with other tables. The restaurant appears to prioritize tour groups and tourists, which is understandable from a business perspective, but it left the overall service feeling impersonal and transactional.

Frankly, this double standard is disappointing, and it’s not something I expected to encounter in the modern age.

As much as I believe that good service and products should be rewarded, I also believe bad service like this shouldn’t be complimented or miscommunicated on the internet.

Hida beef is always delicious, but the rest of the meal felt mediocre compared to other options in the area. For those looking for a more inclusive and welcoming experience in Takayama, I believe there are better alternatives.

I share this feedback with the hope that it encourages reflection and improvement, so that every guest can enjoy the warmth and hospitality that Japan...

Just after we arrived an expected big tour bus full of people came in for dinner so we may not have had the best experience. Staff forgot about us sat at the back for about ten minutes (understandable I suppose), but when they did come over they were very apologetic and attentive.

We came here because of all the very good reviews of the vegetarian options but were a bit disappointed. We had the vegetarian hotpot and the vegetarian Hoba leaf. The Hoba leaf was quite good. It's a few different vegetables, tofu and beansprouts in a miso sauce, that you stir fry yourself, served with rice. It was really tasty - I just wish there was more of it as the portion was pretty small, especially seeing as it was quite cheap ingredients. The hotpot wasn't great - it was vegetarian ingredients in quite a tasteless broth. You also have to pay extra for any noodles in the pot (324 yen for udon noodles), for a total price of around 1500 yen for a few vegetables in hot, slightly salty water.

It was a nice experience, all the staff were really lovely and the food was alright. It's also nice to get a vegetarian option at a place like this so I don't want to moan too much. But our food was only okay and for what it was it was very expensive - for the two mains, udon noodles and two drinks it came to 3564 yen. Coupled with the fact it was packed full with a loud American tour group when we were there, it was...

We visited this restaurant on July 7th 2022 for dinner and the place was AWESOME! 👍 My family and I strongly recommend this place! Very friendly staffs including chefs explained us each dish to help us decide what we should order and how to enjoy the dishes we ordered. 😋 The dish I ordered was Sansai Miso Babe 山菜みそ鍋 with chicken. I would love to go back there to eat this again! After trying other restaurants in Takayama before Suzuya, my overall taste impression was 'salty' so I was concerned that it would be salty dish but nooooo, this miso nabe was so perfect and so delicious 🤤 *Sorry, we were so hungry, the dishes were so delicious, and had a wonderful chat with amazing staffs that I forgot to take many pix.

I recommend you checking TripAdvisor for more info. I usually use Google and Yelp so didn't know about TripAdvisor had bunch of pix.

To Suzuya restaurant, thank you for your friendly and amazing service and delicious food. We have this wonderful memory visiting Takayama...