Ginza Kyūbey Honten — Restaurant in Tokyo

Truly, a one of a kind experience.

I've heard people say that their chef was a bit off-putting or that it was too much for what it is, but I didn't experience anything like that.

The restaurant is nestled an alleyway in Ginza, you walk through down a small hallway where you should be greeted. The restaurant is actually multiple floors and you should expect to take an elevator down with a hostess.

You are seated at a table with 2 chefs and a few other parties. The hostess will invite you to place any bags behind you on a stand, before seating you and bringing you the appetizers and your towelette.

If you don't speak Japanese, the chef will keep conversation to simple questions, "Where are you from?" "With or without rice?" I'm sure they would've been much more engaging if I could only express my appreciation for their craft. Luckily, the patron next to me could speak English and translated some of the chef's questions and more or less became my conversational partner for the evening.

Most of the time, there's always a moment before consumption where a traveler must take a picture of their meal for social media or just vanity purposes. I found that difficult here.

The heart of omakase is to leave your taste buds to the chef's will and part of that is being presented with food that is meant to be eaten as is, no extra seasoning and at the temperature that it is presented. I didn't bother taking pictures for half the meal as the moment it came, I knew I could not waste any time and to eat it in that exact moment.

One such dish that came into mind was the shrimp nigiri. Mind you this particular dish is not for anyone who is squeamish. The chef brought out fresh shrimp, still wiggling, and humanely killed it in front of us. It was prepared and served within 2 minutes, the body still wiggling slightly from the salt. I had never tasted shrimp as sweet nor as fresh as this.

The final dish of the night was a single succulent melon. It was only after this that I understood why Asia prizes the perfect fruits and sell them at exorbitant prices. It truly is a perfect specimen of the fruit and in many ways exemplify a key element of Japanese cuisine; a bite of perfection, nothing so much as to stuff your stomach, but more than enough to satisfy your taste buds and then some.

I will be back, this time choosing the...

Like the emperor’s new clothes!

I ate at Kyubey during my trip to Tokyo last week. We chose this sushi restaurant based on the number of positive reviews online.

Unfortunately my experience there was very disappointing. We were a party of 4 experienced sushi eaters, and my two friends had lived in Tokyo for years. Upon arrival we were ushered into an elevator and shown to a table. As soon as we sat down a server hovered over us waiting for us to order. We had a few questions about the types of fish which the server could not answer without looking it up. Under pressure we each chose a set menu.

We did not feel welcome or attended to, just treated like cattle in an expensive factory. We each received a simple plate of a few sushi pieces which confirmed our unease. It was the most unappetizing sushi we’d ever seen. It arrived without any explanation as to what each piece was, and was less appetizing than average conveyor belt sushi. The taste confirmed our original impression. It was NOT good at all. This plate was followed up with some small pieces of cucumber roll. A tiny bit of cucumber wrapped in rice, wrapped in seaweed. Something I would never order or want to eat!

In addition, it was very difficult to get a reservation, yet we were the only diners in the dining room when we were there!

The whole meal was very expensive and disappointing on every level. The service was poor. The setting was plain. The food was awful. It is the only bad meal we had in two weeks in Japan, and most were delicious with thoughtful service in interesting settings.

You may read the great reviews and high stars, but I think it is like the emperor’s new clothes, where everyone is afraid to say that the emperor is naked. I would not recommend that anyone waste their time and money at this restaurant. And if you read the reviews carefully you will find other people who had similar...

waste of money and racism I went to this place 4 years ago and loved the experience so I went back to the Ginza location this time which was an absolute waste of money. Most importantly the chef who was in charge of our table was A RACIST.

too much wasabi and salt on sushi During the dinner, he noticed I wasn’t Japanese. All the pieces that were served had a very strong wasabi flavor and some were extremely salty to the point that my tongue became numb.

fly on the plate (unhygienic) , no respect for a left-handed person there was a fly on my plate and although they knew, they didn’t take care of it right away. After a while somebody finally came to change my plate in a very unprofessional manner. Afterwards, Tsukemono was served on the right side of the plate and the chef was even putting it further to the right side which obviously gave me so much discomfort as a left-handed person.

An unprofessional question and absurd presentation on the plate They asked somebody in my group if she likes salt or soy sauce, which was not often asked at a high end omakase restaurant. They almost threw a piece of sushi on our plates whereas they would carefully place a piece of sushi on another's plate.

Rushing us to finish the meal The chef kept asking us why we were eating so slow. The experience did not justify the price at all.

The worst Omakase place I’ve ever been to

One of the crucial roles of a Chef is to give their customer a great dining experience through service and food. Yet, our chef was missing an important skill set. He gave us a horrible fine dining omakase experience during our trip to Japan. They don’t even deserve a star. They are the worst of the worst Omakase places...